Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Crossing the Minefields


No, I’m still here.

I am actually living in a house (renting a room), working a good job that I like and have blazing Internet access. Life is good.

New job means working among other human beings again and facing the pitfalls of office work. There is the obvious “hours at a desk” issue, but that’s dealt with by getting self to gym after work (my day ends early enough that  I avoid most of the rush). And if you turn to www.nerdfitness.com (Like I keep telling you to…), you’ll see that gyms are not necessary to getting exercise (they are for me. I can’t play outdoors for too long. I should be a theoretical physicist like Sheldon Cooper on “The Big Bang Theory”)

No, the big challenge has been avoiding temptation and sticking with the Paleo plan. This particular workplace has a potluck every Friday morning and I can smell the bacon (ooh, lovely) and see the big poofy croissants coming in. And in the afternoons, there are other treats.

In addition to the above challenge, there are the desk treats,  like a Sam’s Club sized jar of peanut butter pretzel nuggets available to all and one of my co-workers is married to a Mars (as in Snickers, M&Ms and Kit Kats) employee and he frequently brings in full-sized candy bars to share. He’s nice guy.
People will look askance at my bags of raw almonds or grapes or baby carrots. “Oh, you’re eating healthy,” as if I had just shut down a party or announced that I was going to vote for Nixon (yes, I know he’s dead).

Time to put on the armor.

Actually, if you’re eating Paleo, it looks more like this:

Well, maybe it looks more like this.Let’s slay these Komodo dragons one at a time (Steve Kamb, if you’re reading this, I’m stealing a little from you. Only a little. These are small dragons but you have to get past them to get to the big guys):
1) The potluck. I eat before I leave the house and come with lunch (generally grilled chicken and salad greens) and snacks aplenty. I remind myself that if I eat the big poofy croissants, I will have oozy blisters on my hands and scalp the next day as well as goopy sinuses and ears (yes, gluten does that to me). One of the ladies lectured me on eating turkey bacon (“You know, for some people it’s going to save their lives”)instead of the real deal when I commented on how pork bacon smells better and I bit my tongue to keep from replying “Yeah, it’s a highly processed food. All yours.”  For the record: pig tastes good.

2) The desk treats: they can be tough to ignore. BUT, if you have an adequate (and then some) supply of good stuff like almonds, carrots, grapes,etc., temptation is reduced by 90%. The “and then some” comes in handy to share. Carrots seem,  to be received more readily than almonds.

3) “Oh, you’re eating healthy.” Yeah, I am. Of course, this can lead to the following conversation: “What are you doing?”

“I’m eating Paleo/Caveman.”

 “What’s that?”

“No sugar, no processed food, no grains, grass-fed meats, no dairy (well, I get organic grass-fed dairy when I do indulge).”

 “That’s Atkins.”

“No, it’s not Atkins. You can knock yourself out with vegetables and fruit (well, be reasonable with fruit).”

 ”Don’t you go crazy with no sugar and no bread?”

“No, I have fruit. Look, check out this website: www.nerdfitness.com. It’s funny and informative.”

“How long do you have to eat like that?”

“It’s lifetime. It’s like someone allergic to strawberries not eating them.”

“Yeah, I could never do that.”

 And then, I get to listen to ongoing whining about how the person who inquired just can’t lose weight no matter what. Usually, this is between pulls on a straw inserted into a Subway or McDonald’s super-sized cup of Coke or Diet Coke. No comment.

We all chart our own paths. Mine seems to be through a minefield and requires the occasional tap dance. Lucky for me, I have the map, thanks to Nerd Fitness.




1 comment:

  1. Glad to hear things are going well for you.

    ReplyDelete

Keep it civil.