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On Track Despite Ridiculous Office


aliciadunn

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Small vent here that ends with a silver lining.

 

It's summer, and my office has gotten out of control with the junk food everywhere. I started my second Whole30 yesterday. Last night was our summer office party, at a restaurant with a bunch of fried-food passed h'ors doerves (sp) and an open bar.

 

This morning, they served a "hot breakfast" of powdered eggs/sausage/bacon etc. Then, we had a pizza party lunch for somebody's going away party.

 

It is not usually this bad, but I feel like this is an EXTREME 48 hours of junk food, especially at the beginning of this Whole30. I don't like that food much anyway, but now it looks so obvious.

 

So how did I get around this?

Office party - This is really bad. But at the last minute, I just didn't go. It is frowned upon to not participate, but I couldn't think of a way to just stand around for 3 hours. There were no activities or other things to do. It was a straight up open bar with restaurant food, no adjustments. No thanks.

Hot breakfast - I closed my office door until 11am, so that I wouldn't smell or see the breakfast. I brought my own food for lunch and thought about that.

Pizza party - Well this one was pretty awkward. I had to sit in a conference room with my 12-person team and watch them all eat pizza from 12pm-1pm. It wasn't brown bag so I couldn't bring my own food in. There was no way around me saying I was Paleo and simply couldn't eat the pizza. So I said it, and then changed the subject. Then in the middle of the pizza party one of the coworker passed out chocolates and maple syrup candies from her trip last week to Canada. This is just all too much.

 

While I am partially annoyed by all of this crap (ahh!), I was actually really glad that I am on Whole30 and not given the opportunity to indulge in any of this junk! So much better having my own stuff.

 

It also made me think about the corporate culture here towards food and lifestyle. It's so easy to fall in line and partake without thinking twice.

 

I feel like if I made it through yesterday and today without any issues, the rest of the month will be a BREEZE!

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Small vent here that ends with a silver lining.

 

It's summer, and my office has gotten out of control with the junk food everywhere. I started my second Whole30 yesterday. Last night was our summer office party, at a restaurant with a bunch of fried-food passed h'ors doerves (sp) and an open bar.

 

This morning, they served a "hot breakfast" of powdered eggs/sausage/bacon etc. Then, we had a pizza party lunch for somebody's going away party.

 

It is not usually this bad, but I feel like this is an EXTREME 48 hours of junk food, especially at the beginning of this Whole30. I don't like that food much anyway, but now it looks so obvious.

 

So how did I get around this?

Office party - This is really bad. But at the last minute, I just didn't go. It is frowned upon to not participate, but I couldn't think of a way to just stand around for 3 hours. There were no activities or other things to do. It was a straight up open bar with restaurant food, no adjustments. No thanks.

Hot breakfast - I closed my office door until 11am, so that I wouldn't smell or see the breakfast. I brought my own food for lunch and thought about that.

Pizza party - Well this one was pretty awkward. I had to sit in a conference room with my 12-person team and watch them all eat pizza from 12pm-1pm. It wasn't brown bag so I couldn't bring my own food in. There was no way around me saying I was Paleo and simply couldn't eat the pizza. So I said it, and then changed the subject. Then in the middle of the pizza party one of the coworker passed out chocolates and maple syrup candies from her trip last week to Canada. This is just all too much.

 

While I am partially annoyed by all of this crap (ahh!), I was actually really glad that I am on Whole30 and not given the opportunity to indulge in any of this junk! So much better having my own stuff.

 

It also made me think about the corporate culture here towards food and lifestyle. It's so easy to fall in line and partake without thinking twice.

 

I feel like if I made it through yesterday and today without any issues, the rest of the month will be a BREEZE!

Well you're right, that's probably the WORST scenario!!!  Kudos!!

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Sounds like you had some really good strategies.

Office life makes it really difficult to stay on track. It makes me really glad I now work from home as a freelancer! I don't miss the hellish temptation of 1-3 birthday celebration cakes a month, the year round seasonal candy bowl, and the holiday client gift basket smorgasbord. Plus I work in fashion so the co-worker awareness of dietary habits was Devil Wears Prada style snark city.

Anyhow, killer first day! Sounds like you are totally committed! :)

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Well done for getting through it all! Don't feel bad or awkward - you've chosen to look after yourself first. They won't care if you ate or not!

You don't just have to be on a whole 30 to avoid the junk though - I've said "no thanks" or eaten my own food at work for about the past 3-4 years! It gets easier, although people still wave giant trays of cake, or party food under my nose. I'm not even tempted anymore! I'd rather not eat than eat junk because its expected.

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One of our executives is celiac - he found out 3 years ago and it has changed our corporate culture some.  He usually brings his food when food is supplied, so others of us can do that too without a problem... I feel very lucky, I've never worked anywhere before where that was OK.

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Screw that "lunch wasn't brown bag, so I couldn't bring my own lunch" nonsense! If you were allergic to wheat, you wouldn't think twice about it. You can ALWAYS bring your own food! I've brought my own food to restaurants! Great job avoiding the temptation, but you need to know that you can do this in a way that will work for you. Who knows, you might even change some minds about what they are doing for celebrations and whatnot!

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