Peer Pressure

There is nothing more annoying than having everyone around you eat cake while you're stuck nibbling on a carrot stick. A friend recently mentioned how hard it is to avoid temptation at the office when coworkers bring in sweet treats for everyone. I used to work in an office where retirement parties, birthdays, and any kind of special meetings that involved a formal report from the boss always seemed to be accompanied with an enormous sheet cake or platters of cookies and donuts, or both! In fact, this is apparently such an issue in some offices that Seinfeld devoted a hysterically funny episode to it with the character of Elaine rebuking her coworkers because of their "any reason to eat cake" attitudes.


If you can deal with eating one small cookie or half a piece of cake, that's great. Good for you! But if you know one bite of cake will lead to three more pieces and send you on a full binge, try to have something really yummy available that you can eat instead. The idea here is to have a treat you already know the calorie count for, so you don't blow your day's allotment with a piece of cake or chocolate chunk cookie that can be anywhere from 200-to-400 calories.

A number of the nutrition bar makers are now coming out with snack bars: smaller, lower calorie versions of their meal supplement bars. They taste pretty good and this can give you the satisfaction of having something sweet and 'snacky.'

Also, those mini versions of candy like Dove, Snickers, and Milky Way bars are great to have around. They're very satisfying and most are less than 45 calories each. A couple of those might go quite a long way to satisfy your craving and keep you from feeling left out of the celebration.

If you keep these items in your purse or in your desk, (away from the greedy little fingers of coworkers who might learn of your stash!), you will always have something on hand that's satisfying and a better choice for you. Remember, it's about taking back your control and taking back your life. Others can tempt you, but no one makes the decision but you. Smile to yourself as you watch your coworkers bend and break to temptation. Decide you will win not only the battle, but the war.