I need advice and support!

I am a manager at a very large and busy convenience store. We are one of those places that has it's own sandwich cooler with about 40 different varieties, three roller grills with hot dogs and 6 six varieties of taquitos and two types of egg rolls. We have every kind of chip and candy bar known to man. We have 12 varieties of cappuccino (with only two being sugar free).

So, finding something to eat that is low cal and healthy is VERY hard. The big problem is that I'm usually so incredibly busy that I'm stuck eating whatever I can throw in my mouth while waiting on customers.

We have Slim Fast in the can and a large section of protein and granola bars that I can and do have. I worry about the carb and sugar count in these items, but find them a better solution than Doritos and a mocha cappuccino, which helped me put 50 lbs back on.

So, any advice? I need super quick and easy and stuff that can be eaten without any fuss. I REALLY need to be successful and my stress and hunger at work have made it so hard on me.

Thank you.

This is just off the top of my head--but if I had to eat what's there, I'd get a sandwich, preferably without too many condiments, eat the filling and throw out the bread. And have an apple or some other fruit, if you have any in the store.

For a snack I'd eat a protein bar if it's under 200 cals. South Beach Living High Protein bars aren't bad.

Is there no way you can make your own foods at home and bring them with you to work?

Jay

If eating food from work is not "working" for you, you may want to rethink things and start bringing food from home. More costly? Yes. More time consuming? Yes. Why not make a STRICT rule? ABSOLUTELY no food from work? Hard for sure, but it will take the decision making process away and I really, REALLY think it will be worth the effort. A great quote comes to mind right now - "The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and EXPECTING different results."

You could bring fat free/sugar free yogurt from home. Add in some Fiber One cereal. You could bring canned tuna in a small whole wheat pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes, and onion. Hard boiled eggs. Salad. Grilled chicken. Turkey breast. Leftovers from the previous nights supper. The list is unlimited.

Unfortunately eating "convenience store foods" are convenient and nothing else. And while they're convenient in the short term, having added pounds in the long run, is not so - convenient.

It's real important to set yourself up for success. I know it won't be easy (short term, the prep work involved), but in the long term, bringing food from home is a MUCH better option.

Pita, I can so relate having worked for 7-Eleven for 11 years!! Those years I gained easily 60 lbs because having so much food around was too much temptation. I was working full-time and going to school full-time so I think the only time I ate was at work or I would take food home or get fast food for eating at home. I wish I could offer you some words of wisdom but I failed totally to control my eating at work. The only thing that I would offer is to try and stick to a regular routine of eating ie scheduled breaks, not mindless munching while you are doing your paperwork.

I was thinking what rockinrobin said...

Good luck to you!

Slimfast is good and quick, do you have low fat or non fat yogurt? How about Laughing Cow Cheese? Crackers such as Wasa or Rye Krisp These are all things that need no preperation and are low calorie. If you don't carry them in the store bring them from home.

Since you're manager, can you make suggestions for healthy things to sell? Solves your problem and helps others, too.

Sign my name to Robin's post.

Plan, plan, plan. Bring your own food. A small lunch cooler can be bought at Target for $5 or so. Pack that with yogurt, boiled eggs, sliced veggies, apple slices, string cheese, etc. Grab a V8 from the cooler and drink that as a snack. Drink lots of water during the day ... bottled or otherwise. Stay away from the sodas and even the fruit juices which are lots of sugar.

Honestly at this point, putting together containers of snacks takes me about an hour on a Sunday afternoon. Then I'm ready for the week and all I have to do every day is pack things in my lunch bag and go.

.

Yeah, bringing your own food may be hard in a variety of ways. But as you said in your post, eating from work isn't working too well either.

Probably there are better and worse choices at work. But I'd have a hard time advising on them, because I try so hard to avoid processed, preserved food. Even the better choices, say lower fat meats on whole wheat bread, are unlikely to work for me on a daily basis because they're probably highly processed, preserved versions.

omg, hot dogs!!! ...drool...

okay actually, I cannot imagine working there and not weighing a million pounds, so give yourself some credit for having some restraint!

But I agree, you got great advice.
Best option: bring from home
Alternate options: slim fast, yogurt, fruit, salndwich fillings or something on whole wheat.
Do they sell little microwave cups of soup? Those can be healthy, just watch the salt. Bags of nuts, in small quantities, for a good snack.

Let us know what you end up doing.

If you sell Nature Valley Granola bars (180 cal for 2 bars) and fresh fruit I'd stick with those.

I am with UFI, as manager, can you suggest having a few healthier items? While traveling during the holidays, I saw convenience stores with some fruit, 100 calories snack options and Snackwell Cookies. The cookies and 100 calorie packs are not healthy but at least are not too harmful.

You may find that they sell well.

Thank you everyone and especially Robin. I just did a big head slap because I really hadn't thought about bringing my own food to work. It seemed too complicated, but really it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I brought my own food. I have a lunch box that I could put an ice pack in it and I pack me a sandwich, veggies, fruit, yogurt, etc. Not to mention I bet I would save a lot of money in the process.

Today, I worked from 5:30 am to 3:00pm. I had 729 calories from two protein bars, a Slim Fast, and half and half in my coffee. I'm switching to hot tea because I don't use creamer in it, but dang it's hard to give up the H&H and this morning I slipped and had a cup. I did drink two quarts of bottled water.

I can't really suggest that they get healthier foods because that stuff comes from corporate. They do what they think will sell the best.

I have high hopes of changing career paths in the next few months and then this won't be an issue.

Thanks again and I'm off to make a list of all the foods I can bring with me.

You're very, very welcome.

I think lots of people think it's too "complicated" to pack foods and take them with them to work or to wherever. I know for MANY years I sure did. But that's short term thinking. In the long term the affects of relying on store bought foods - being overweight - is waaaay more complicated. Much better to spend a little more NOW and prevent problems down the road. And as well all know - those complications crop up pretty quickly, not that far down the road at all. And really, taking care of yourself is definitely time well spent.

And for some reason, I don't know why, but I thought the food at work was coming to you at no cost . Apparently it's not, so yeah, there is REALLY no reason whatsoever to subject yourself to that kind of food day in, day out. You have much better things to do with your money.