Office indulgences

Chances are, there’s a conference table in your office still littered with leftover Halloween candy.

And it’ll soon be replaced by Mary from Accounting’s to-die-for brownies. And Bob from Legal’s Christmas rum cake. And Sue from Marketing’s world-famous sugar cookies.

And then there will be the office potlucks, with their creamy pasta salads and bags of potato chips.

This time of year, the company break room morphs into a dieting minefield. The downward spiral begins with Halloween and won’t likely end until the New Year.

“I was just thinking, ‘Oh no. It’s starting,’ ” says Karin Gilchrist, a Spokane dietitian.

(Though Gilchrist herself admits she’s little help: “Anytime I want to get rid of food, I bring it to my husband’s office,” she says.)

Vonne Thurman, an administrative assistant at Spokane’s Integrus Architecture, says her office is packed with tempting treats this time of year.

“Ours are sitting out in the open, on the coffee table,” Thurman says. “I caught myself there three times yesterday.”

Thurman, though, has a battle plan when it comes to those inviting goodies.

“The strategy is you eat dessert first, lunch later,” she says, laughing.

While that might be a popular strategy at many offices, it’s also one that can lead to some heartache on the scale come January.

But curbing in-office snacking is tricky.

Food, especially the comforting, carb-laden stuff, is a go-to stress reliever for many folks. Deal fall through? A cookie will ease the blow.

And second, a stroll to the break room for snacks is the perfect work-avoidance technique. What better way to procrastinate than with a brownie?

“It’s hard, but you have to have the strength of saying, ‘No, thank you,’ ” says Joyce Anderson, a Spokane-area captain for the weight-loss support group Take Off Pounds Sensibly.

Being mindful of what you’re eating and having a dining strategy is the smartest plan of attack, experts say.

“With all the treats, the best thing is you’ve got to go in with a game plan of how you’re going to handle it,” says Penny Smith, a longtime Weight Watchers group leader in Spokane.

Smith tells her group members to tell themselves they can have a treat only at the end of the workday, when they’re ready to go home. Put the goodie into a plastic bag, take it home and eat it slowly.

That way, you’ll actually get to enjoy the food – and will remember having eaten it, rather than wolfing it down at your desk.

And if you can’t wait that long, consider stalling just 15 minutes. If you still want the treat after some time has passed, you can consider fitting it into your food budget for the day.

“A lot of it is the mental strategy game,” Smith says. “I look at it as going into battle, and I’m going to win.”

She also encourages people to be smart about their indulgences.

Why waste calories on foods you can get any day of the year? Save them for special things, she says.

At a couple of recent Halloween parties, Smith passed up many temptations simply by telling herself, “Nah, I already know what that tastes like.”

And at Thanksgiving, she budgets all of her calories around having a slice of pecan pie.

“I don’t care about the potatoes,” she says. “I don’t care about the rolls. Pecan pie is at the middle of my menu.”

If you’re planning for a big potluck at the office, Gilchrist says, have a small breakfast that day. And maybe just soup and salad for dinner, if you’ve really indulged.

Survey the buffet table before diving in, so you can decide what you want most, she says.

“You want to taste everything because everything looks so good,” she says. “(But) you don’t have to eat everything.”

You could always buck tradition and bring in something – gasp! – healthy for the break room. Think fruit basket or veggie tray or low-sugar baked goods.

That’s what happens at the Spokane bank where Anderson works.

The next office potluck will feature waistline-friendly foods such as low-fat cheese and a vegetable platter with low-fat dip.

“Everyone’s trying to be a little bit more careful this year,” Anderson says.

Find a healthy-eating buddy who will buck up your resolve when it swings low. The buddy’s also a good one to call on for a quick exercise break, Anderson says.

A walk around the block can do wonders, she says.

“Sometimes it helps just to clear your mind,” she says.

Still not convinced you can avoid the siren song of the break-room munchies?

Here are a few more tips, courtesy of Weight Watchers:

• Always keep a mug of water on your desk. Sometimes you can seem hungry when you’re really just thirsty.

• Pack a sack lunch. Eat half at 11 a.m. and the other half around 2 or 3 p.m., when the afternoon hunger pangs strike.

• Bring healthy snacks to eat, but store them in a cabinet so they’re out of sight. (Do the same thing with more indulgent treats, too.)

• Schedule exercise breaks on the calendar as you would an appointment.

• Place your phone and wastebasket a little out of reach so you’ll have to stretch and reach.