Hello!
I'm new to the forum as of this evening and was wondering if there was a group or thread about working in a food based job.
I currently work at a large, open air, public food market filled with dozens of restaurants and food stands. My days are 10 hours and I find it EXTREMELY difficult to keep within my calorie goal for the day. All day long the smells are calling to me. You can smell the moment the cilantro hits the broth at the Phillipino place across the way, the fresh waffle cones cooling at the ice cream shop next door. Oh what's that? Smoke from the new BBQ place over there? And the carnitas taco is only $1.25? I gotta stop....I'm getting myself worked up.
Definitely helps to remind oneself....also I do bring my own food or have my couple of "ok splurges" (lentil soups, theres a great place with lots of healthy salads and vegan dishes) ......my biggest problem is the CONSTANT food thought/obsession that is not helped out by the smells and sights. I've tried JUST DONT THINK ABOUT FOOD....but of course much easier typed than done. I think nose plugs are in order.
this might sound silly but how about aversion therapy? go over at the end of the day and look in their food waste bin, sniff it and look at it for a while. next time you smell them cooking you will remember that bin and how it stank - might work?
Wondering if there's anyone out there working in the food industry (cooking, food sales, work in a market, work in close proximity to a food court, anything where you have to handle , smell and possibly taste food as your job) and trying to lose...what sort I of tactics do you use? I work at an open air market at a cheese shop. Ironically I don't have that much of a problem abstaining from cheese, but the Phillipino place across the way, the ice cream shop next door that makes their own cones all day, the gyro place next door to the bakery.....the dozens of other food places, thats what i have a problem with. All of this open air (so you can smell it all) and my boss eats a ton but has the metabolism of a hummingbird so theres leftover food everywhere in our store. And we're surrounded by tons of other delicious eateries.
I've started making my own lunches (I calorie count and make 4 - 200 calorie "meals" to bring with me). That's definitely helped but when I start to get the munchies its hard to turn it off there.
What do you do to resist constant temptation?
I love to go against the grain, but why not try NOT resisting it?
I worked 2 years in a chocolate shop and 4 years at Whole Foods Market. At least a year of that Whole Foods Market job was spent in the kitchen prepping food.
People would ask me all the time how I didn't gain tons of weight being around all the food or chocolate. The owners let us eat as much as we wanted and because we had abundance of choice, the need wasn't so pressing to eat everything in sight. I think the first week in the chocolate store I went crazy. Then I was over it. Whole Foods kept me running around all the time and we could get samples when we wanted. Also I find that when I have to cook the food myself, I get overloaded by smell, taste, touch for at least 30 minutes. That leads me to not want as much.
Maybe approach it as---"I can have it all, it better be high quality and worth my tastes buds."
Oh---love your quote in your signature, by the way.
Vicks will do the trick, but has drawbacks that have been found in the last 20 or so years. The petroleum base can cause respiratory problems if it makes its way down to the lungs, and the camphor soaking through the mucus membrane can build up to toxic levels.
I used to work for a big chain coffee shop, and I could smell coffee, donuts, breakfast items, and sandwiches all day long.
Not only that, but if you worked an eight hour shift, you were entitled to one free donut, one free coffee, and the ability to make any sandwich any way you want and only pay 1.50 for it. Pretty tempting, right?
I loved the smell of coffee but I hated the taste of it, so the drink itself never tempted me. The donuts, however did. For the first few weeks, I promise you I had a honey crueller every single day. But it got boring pretty fast. And I only ever partook in the "employee sandwich" maybe once a week at most.
What I did was bring a lunch to work. And then I'd hide in the back or go outside to eat, so I could enjoy the healthier food without having to smell the unhealthy stuff inside.
It worked at the time!
Another person who worked there saved her free donut and took three timbits instead. She then handed the timbits out to her favourite dogs when the cars invariably came through the drivethru (always with the permission of the owner, of course).
I smell food all day long where I work - and I don't work amongst restaurants like you.
In the AM, I smell bacon and eggs, pancakes with syrup, sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches from WaWa....at lunch, I smell meatloaf and mashed potatoes, pasta, cheese steaks, Chinese takeout, fast food. It's endless.
So what I do is put peppermint oil under my nose and inside my nostrils. Yeah, sounds silly, but it works Because all you smell is fresh peppermint oil. And the bonus? It keeps you alert!
Work around food?
Because all you smell is fresh peppermint oil. And the bonus? It keeps you alert! 
