Year round I hear my clients say they are inundated with sweets in the office. They face bagel breakfasts, leftover cakes and cookies from co-workers’ weekend parties, and candy bowls on colleagues’ desks and in reception areas.
In an era when employers are faced with high health insurance premiums, and where work staff has been cut so that more is expected of each individual, why are sweet items that derail the employee’s health and compromise productivity so plentiful?
I am a weekly guest in some of the largest companies to present wellness programs. I talk about good eating habits, stress reduction, movement, relaxation, healthy relationships, good sleep habits, etc. in an effort by the employer to support a healthier work environment. Yet I hear from participants in my programs just how challenging it is to face a constant barrage of unhealthy items in their workplace.
Beginning at Halloween and throughout the entire holiday season, the amount of sweets in the workplace is intensified.
You can enjoy a happier holiday season by being in control of your sweet intake.
- You will feel better when you are in control.
- During this busy season, you will have more energy to get extra holiday tasks accomplished.
- During your workday you will have more stamina, focus, and productivity without processed sugar in your system.
It is hard to break a habit. It’s easier to never start one.
- Breaking a habit takes more energy and thought than never starting one.
- The more you do something, the harder it is to stop.
- Ask yourself what this habit stops you from doing?
Overcome these ‘sweet’ obstacles or they will derail your health. This is easier to do than you imagine. Form new habits and walk past the seasonal bowls of candy offered by your co-workers because once you start eating them they become addictive and habitual. You either consciously or subconsciously reach for more. Your body craves what it is accustomed to having. When you eat sugar, you crave more.
Sugar gives you a spike in energy, but soon you feel fatigued and your thinking is clouded, making your daily tasks and commitments overwhelming. On the other hand, awareness that you are stronger than candy and other outside forces builds self-esteem. It strengthens when you avoid attempts by others to entice you with their sweets. Your focus, productivity, and energy level is optimal without processed sugar in your system. Your tenacity becomes stronger and it overflows into every other life choice you make.
Improved self-esteem is demonstrated in your career path in numerous ways. Nobody has to notice that you walk past the candy, cake, bagels and anything else that comes your way; what they do notice is your stamina and your steady focus on your duties. While others are struggling with sugar-induced fatigue, you are operating efficiently, making you the one to be considered for upward movement in your company.
Pay attention to your new habits and realize how walking past one bowl of candy strengthens you.
Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.com
Margaret Marshall The Healthy Living Expert is a media personality, an international speaker and the creator of “The Five Finger Food Guide”. She is the author of “Body, Mind & Mouth” and “Healthy Living Means Living Healthy”. She is an articulate communicator who employs realistic strategies to maintain a healthy mindset and lifestyle that result in successful career paths for her audiences.
Margaret enjoys almost three decades in the wellness/weight loss industry. She had a seventeen- year run as a speaker and trainer for Weight Watchers and now is an international speaker who presents wellness programs for corporations such as:
Amtrak, Pepsi, JDA, Amex, Metlife, Cannon USA, National Grid, Sterling Equities, Fort Hamilton USAG, Time Inc, Time Warner Music, Verizon, Morgan Stanley, Sterling National Bank, KPMG, Neuberger Berman, Fordham University, Hofstra University, The New York College for Health Professions, Molloy College, United HealthCare, St. Francis Hospital, Winthrop Hospital, The Catholic Health System, The Mets Organization, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises.
Her articles are published in The Huffington Post, Forbes.com, Thrive Global, and in women’s magazines, news outlets, and government publications, nationally and internationally. She appears on national and local television and radio programs, regularly.
Margaret Marshall is a past executive board member for The National Speaker’s Association in New York City and a past Area Governor for Toastmasters.
Learn more at www.MargaretMarshallAssociates.com