Debate: Office Candy or Not?

[Rhea]

We’re having a spring Office fitness challenge. Get everyone to walk 10,000 steps a day for a month. And I feel like the biggest Scrooge, but I want to say, “Well, can we have all the admins remove their Candy bowls for the month, too? Otherwise what’s the point?”

So here’s the debate: pros and cons on Office Candy.

 

[Toni]

We’re having a spring Office fitness challenge. Get everyone to walk 10,000 steps a day for a month. And I feel like the biggest Scrooge, but I want to say, “Well, can we have all the admins remove their Candy bowls for the month, too? Otherwise what’s the point?”

So here’s the debate: pros and cons on Office Candy.

Maybe replace (temporarily) with bowls of fruit? Cheese platter? A nice plant?

 

[rousseau]

This kind of thing is a problem in our office too, but people like it. I find it funny that it's just assumed that I want chocolate, donuts, etc. But most of the time it's true: put food out and people are like moths to a flame.

Eventually I just, get this, exercised my willpower and stopped eating anything put out that wasn't healthy.

 

[Rhea]

Eventually I just, get this, exercised my willpower and stopped eating anything put out that wasn't healthy.

So that’s the debate. Is it appropriate to make it harder for people to be healthy, especially during a health challenge?

Is it inappropriate for a person to say, can we not have a continuously refilled chocolate bowl at my office doorway?”

 

[rousseau]

Eventually I just, get this, exercised my willpower and stopped eating anything put out that wasn't healthy.

So that’s the debate. Is it appropriate to make it harder for people to be healthy, especially during a health challenge?

Is it inappropriate for a person to say, can we not have a continuously refilled chocolate bowl at my office doorway?”

Well, if you want a serious answer I'd say a fitness challenge that encourages steps is already encouraging health in the wrong way, so I'd say that the candy bowl can stay. Likely few people are invested in taking the challenge that seriously, and would rather just have the candy.

But if you want to have a real fitness challenge, then take away the candy bowls permanently, and encourage something like a daily stretch and more reasonable number of steps per day.

 

[Politesse]

We’re having a spring Office fitness challenge. Get everyone to walk 10,000 steps a day for a month. And I feel like the biggest Scrooge, but I want to say, “Well, can we have all the admins remove their Candy bowls for the month, too? Otherwise what’s the point?”

So here’s the debate: pros and cons on Office Candy.

A certain Silicon Valley (ex)startup company I knew had to shutter its doors exactly three weeks to the day after they took away the free candy and snack cabinet that had formerly been placed in the employee lounge. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[steve_bank]

To snack or not to snack, that is the question.

Exercise washout learning to control food impulses is pointless. This much I know for certain.

Consider the candy part of the exercise to control your health. Use the candy as a talking point.

 

[ZiprHead]

A bowl of nuts would be a much healthier snack, even better than fruit if trying to diet. A lot of sugar in many fruits.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Eventually I just, get this, exercised my willpower and stopped eating anything put out that wasn't healthy.

So that’s the debate. Is it appropriate to make it harder for people to be healthy, especially during a health challenge?

Is it inappropriate for a person to say, can we not have a continuously refilled chocolate bowl at my office doorway?”

Jebus! If the candy bowl was bottomless, the company would end up spending thousands a week for candy!

 

[rousseau]

A bowl of nuts would be a much healthier snack, even better than fruit if trying to diet. A lot of sugar in many fruits.

It's all about portion size, and the total calories you're consuming in a day. Fruit packs a pretty good nutritional benefit, not a big issue if eaten in moderation

The problem with most people's weight comes down to drinking 600 ml of pure sugar water every day.

 

[Rhea]

So that’s the debate. Is it appropriate to make it harder for people to be healthy, especially during a health challenge?

Well, if you want a serious answer I'd say a fitness challenge that

Well the topic is the candy bowl, actually.

I'd say a fitness challenge that encourages steps is already encouraging health in the wrong way,

What? How is that part controversial?

Likely few people are invested in taking the challenge that seriously, and would rather just have the candy.

Our comapny has been supporting this for a while now. People are pretty invested. They take circuitous routes in the office, saying, “gotta get my steps.” The company gave out pedometers for a couple of years when they first started promoting it.

But if you want to have a real fitness challenge, then take away the candy bowls permanently, and encourage something like a daily stretch and more reasonable number of steps per day.

What’s more reasonable? 10,000 steps is about 2.2 miles (3.5km). Is that too much? Or too little?

 

[Rhea]

Jebus! If the candy bowl was bottomless, the company would end up spending thousands a week for candy!

I do not know how much the admins spend on candy. I do know that there has been a full chocolate bowl outside my office door for 4 years, and there is a steady stream of people who visit to eat from it. I tried putting out salted chickpeas one time, but the admin thought that was disgusting.

 

[ideologyhunter]

1. Office trail mix -- goes along with those who use stairs, not elevators. Irritation level: about a 2.
2. Office kale chips -- presumably for those learning Esperanto and playing old Weavers LPs at home. Irritation level: about 6.
3. Office fortune cookies, the Christian kind with Bible quotations inside -- for those in peril of damnation. Irritation level: doesn't matter, and SCOTUS will back you up.
4. Office condoms -- as a conversation starter. Can be mixed with the Christian fortune cookies.
Irritation level:
(a) by themselves: probably a 9.
(b) with Christian fortune cookies: probably a 10, and a 'WTF!'
(c) with a smiley face note and 'Hey, it burns calories!': probably a class action lawsuit.

 

[Toni]

1. Office trail mix -- goes along with those who use stairs, not elevators. Irritation level: about a 2.
2. Office kale chips -- presumably for those learning Esperanto and playing old Weavers LPs at home. Irritation level: about 6.
3. Office fortune cookies, the Christian kind with Bible quotations inside -- for those in peril of damnation. Irritation level: doesn't matter, and SCOTUS will back you up.
4. Office condoms -- as a conversation starter. Can be mixed with the Christian fortune cookies.
Irritation level:
(a) by themselves: probably a 9.
(b) with Christian fortune cookies: probably a 10, and a 'WTF!'
(c) with a smiley face note and 'Hey, it burns calories!': probably a class action lawsuit.

Hey, I like my Weavers on CDs, thank you very much and WITHOUT the kale chips.

I'd much rather have spinach in my salads and soups than kale.

 

[ideologyhunter]

See, I was right about the irritation level.

 

[rousseau]

Well the topic is the candy bowl, actually.

I'd say a fitness challenge that encourages steps is already encouraging health in the wrong way,

What? How is that part controversial?

Likely few people are invested in taking the challenge that seriously, and would rather just have the candy.

Our comapny has been supporting this for a while now. People are pretty invested. They take circuitous routes in the office, saying, “gotta get my steps.” The company gave out pedometers for a couple of years when they first started promoting it.

But if you want to have a real fitness challenge, then take away the candy bowls permanently, and encourage something like a daily stretch and more reasonable number of steps per day.

What’s more reasonable? 10,000 steps is about 2.2 miles (3.5km). Is that too much? Or too little?

Yea I know, it's a bit counter-intuitive. I was half-joking, aerobic activity is important, but pretty much everyone over-emphasizes the role of cardio in health, and under-emphasizes diet. If you move your body a bit more you're not really being healthy, you're doing the bare minimum that the body requires for a normal lifestyle. People were meant to move, and ideally should be moderately active every day, it shouldn't be a challenge.

And on the flip side diet is huge to overall health. Absolutely no amount of cardio will ever make up for an unhealthy diet.

So fitness challenges that encourage steps do a few things. First they encourage the false notion that cardio is king to well-being. And second they reinforce the notion that exercise has to be a thing you do that's not fun, that you have to do a lot of to be healthy. Rather than going for a walk in any way you see fit because outside is beautiful and interesting.

 

[Rhea]

Just an FYI to all because it seems to have been confusing....

I was not asking for diet advice.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Jebus! If the candy bowl was bottomless, the company would end up spending thousands a week for candy!

I do not know how much the admins spend on candy. I do know that there has been a full chocolate bowl outside my office door for 4 years, and there is a steady stream of people who visit to eat from it. I tried putting out salted chickpeas one time, but the admin thought that was disgusting.

I meant to say the place I work.

I brought in PB chocolate eggs, decent size, and put then out, and brought a number back to my area. One guy said he ate three of them before I told him I brought some back to our area so no need to rush.

These things were butter incarnate and I told him he was doomed. Took about 30 minutes when it hit him of having a rock in his gut.

 

[southernhybrid]

I workout every day. It's helped me lose almost too much weight. I snack as much as I want and I even eat Lifesavers while I'm working out. So, I say the candy bowl can stay. Leave it up to each person to decide how much or how little candy they can get away with eating. We're talking about adults, not children. So, since you asked, I vote for the candy!

 

[steve_bank]

Just an FYI to all because it seems to have been confusing....

I was not asking for diet advice.

UIs not candy about diet, or am I missing something?

Are there junk food machines in the building?

 

[steve_bank]

I workout every day. It's helped me lose almost too much weight. I snack as much as I want and I even eat Lifesavers while I'm working out. So, I say the candy bowl can stay. Leave it up to each person to decide how much or how little candy they can get away with eating. We're talking about adults, not children. So, since you asked, I vote for the candy!

Calories and nutrition are not the same thing. In the long run you can be thin but unhealthy.which is an average can be fine, but there still can be degeneration due to the glucose pikes. It creates a constant demand for insulin spikes on the pancreas.

Or so my doctor says.

You can live on potato chips and not gin weight.

 

[Rhea]

UIs not candy about diet, or am I missing something?

The question had been about having candy dishes in office spaces, and (sparked by the juxtaposition to a health challenge) what people’s thoughts pro or con on having them in the office space is.

Are there junk food machines in the building?

Yeah, they are several hundred steps and 5 flights of stairs away.

 

[DBT]

Eating candy should be discouraged rather than promoted. Once in a while as a special treat is not a problem. But sometimes special treats have a habit of becoming more frequent and habituated.

 

[steve_bank]

UIs not candy about diet, or am I missing something?

The question had been about having candy dishes in office spaces, and (sparked by the juxtaposition to a health challenge) what people’s thoughts pro or con on having them in the office space is.

Are there junk food machines in the building?

Yeah, they are several hundred steps and 5 flights of stairs away.

Sheesh...no elevators? Sounds brutal.

About 6 years ago I was in ICU for heart failure. It took about 10 years to go from reachable health to a damaged heart.

When I made it to assisted living for recovery I'd find myself walking to the machines without thinking. Habits are hard to break.

These days in the store it does not occur to me to get junk food, or alcohol for that matter.

Climbing stairs done repetitively is considered aggressive exercise. One thing that went a long way for recovery for me was a $30 step platform. If you climb a flight of stairs around 10 feet you have raised your body weight 10 feet.

The equivalent energy to lifting your body weight on a bar 1 foot 10 times. Climbing stairs twice a day every day will have an impact.

I work with weights most days, climb stairs instead of elevators, do steps in my apartment, walk hills outside, and use an exercise bike.

In the hospital I started getting all the old sayings like 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pond of cure.

 

[bigfield]

Don't remove the free candy simply because some people can't help but overindulge.

 

[DBT]

No self control....may get sue for entrapment.

 

[bigfield]

No self control....may get sue for entrapment.

"Your Honor, if the defendant's office manager had not insisted on maintaining a bottomless bowl of Twizzlers in the office break room, my client would have at least two fewer chins."

 

[southernhybrid]

I workout every day. It's helped me lose almost too much weight. I snack as much as I want and I even eat Lifesavers while I'm working out. So, I say the candy bowl can stay. Leave it up to each person to decide how much or how little candy they can get away with eating. We're talking about adults, not children. So, since you asked, I vote for the candy!

Calories and nutrition are not the same thing. In the long run you can be thin but unhealthy.which is an average can be fine, but there still can be degeneration due to the glucose pikes. It creates a constant demand for insulin spikes on the pancreas.

Or so my doctor says.

You can live on potato chips and not gin weight.

Nobody has said that one can be healthy living on potato chips and candy. Everything in moderation works for most people, assuming they have some discipline. I only voted for the candy because I think adults should decide how much candy they can or can't afford to eat and Rhea asked us to vote. If you know that you can't eat just one piece of candy, then walk quickly past the candy bowl. But, seriously, if the people in Rhea's office decide to take the candy away, that's their decision. We are simply giving our opinions since we were asked. What I think has absolutely no influence on what Rhea's office decides to do.

 

[steve_bank]

I workout every day. It's helped me lose almost too much weight. I snack as much as I want and I even eat Lifesavers while I'm working out. So, I say the candy bowl can stay. Leave it up to each person to decide how much or how little candy they can get away with eating. We're talking about adults, not children. So, since you asked, I vote for the candy!

Calories and nutrition are not the same thing. In the long run you can be thin but unhealthy.which is an average can be fine, but there still can be degeneration due to the glucose pikes. It creates a constant demand for insulin spikes on the pancreas.

Or so my doctor says.

You can live on potato chips and not gin weight.

Nobody has said that one can be healthy living on potato chips and candy. Everything in moderation works for most people, assuming they have some discipline. I only voted for the candy because I think adults should decide how much candy they can or can't afford to eat and Rhea asked us to vote. If you know that you can't eat just one piece of candy, then walk quickly past the candy bowl. But, seriously, if the people in Rhea's office decide to take the candy away, that's their decision. We are simply giving our opinions since we were asked. What I think has absolutely no influence on what Rhea's office decides to do.

All things considered getting worked up at a candy bowl at work is rather silly. Unless you live in a cave i the wilderness you are bombarded with junk food. The propaganda/marketing indoctrination is eat 24./7, just order from yor phone and it arrives at your door.

Walk through a supermarket and there are rows and rows of chips, candy, frozen pizza and ice cream. Temptation is inescapable. The question is how you deal with it.

I just don't see how a bowl of candy in the workplace is an issue.

Have a healthy food pot luck lunch.

Is it sugared or sugar free????

 

[Toni]

Nobody has said that one can be healthy living on potato chips and candy. Everything in moderation works for most people, assuming they have some discipline. I only voted for the candy because I think adults should decide how much candy they can or can't afford to eat and Rhea asked us to vote. If you know that you can't eat just one piece of candy, then walk quickly past the candy bowl. But, seriously, if the people in Rhea's office decide to take the candy away, that's their decision. We are simply giving our opinions since we were asked. What I think has absolutely no influence on what Rhea's office decides to do.

All things considered getting worked up at a candy bowl at work is rather silly. Unless you live in a cave i the wilderness you are bombarded with junk food. The propaganda/marketing indoctrination is eat 24./7, just order from yor phone and it arrives at your door.

Walk through a supermarket and there are rows and rows of chips, candy, frozen pizza and ice cream. Temptation is inescapable. The question is how you deal with it.

I just don't see how a bowl of candy in the workplace is an issue.

Have a healthy food pot luck lunch.

Is it sugared or sugar free????

"Healthy" is a matter of opinion.

My workplace take on potlucks (from the women--the men just brought pop or chips, etc.) was that it was just extra work. They had to make dinner at home and then make something else to take to work the next day that could be reheated easily or served cold or stay in a crock pot. That's one thing if you're going to a family potluck where people eat soon after they get to work. It's another altogether if you have to be at work by 7:30 a.m. and the potluck will run from 11:30-12:30 AND you have to get time to go and and make sure your dish is ready BEFORE then, still find time to go and eat your lunch (potluck) and someone whose work schedule was a little lighter that day had to clean up AND you had to collect your stuff to take home and wash THOSE dishes. It was work. AND you had to pay for an extra meal for a bunch of people that you may or may not actually have time to eat. Now, our workplace was different than many in that we were running tests all day and depending on what you were doing that day, you might be able to easily get away or maybe you could not get away until 3 p.m. It really kind of sucked. I used to 'cheat' and just bring a fruit salad because it could just come straight out of the fridge and was ok if it sat on a table for a while.

What was nice was if management ordered out a catered lunch.

 

[Rhea]

All things considered getting worked up at a candy bowl at work is rather silly.

No one has reported being worked up over a candy bowl.

The intent for a lighthearted discussion of the pros and cons of candy bowls in the offfice has been rife with assumptions and sprint runs up the ladder of inference.


Really, the whole topic was just: “what are the pros and cons of office candy bowls” and there is no evidence anyone is worked up. It’s not an “issue” any more than “what are you eating today” or “part your hair in center or on the side: discuss.”

 

[steve_bank]

All things considered getting worked up at a candy bowl at work is rather silly.

No one has reported being worked up over a candy bowl.

The intent for a lighthearted discussion of the pros and cons of candy bowls in the offfice has been rife with assumptions and sprint runs up the ladder of inference.


Really, the whole topic was just: “what are the pros and cons of office candy bowls” and there is no evidence anyone is worked up. It’s not an “issue” any more than “what are you eating today” or “part your hair in center or on the side: discuss.”

Silly me to get carried away.

 

[DBT]

Just don't get carried away with lollies and sugar drinks...

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The candy bowl is small potatoes to me. If someone in the candy bowl area doesn't want the candy bowl then the candy bowl is not small potatoes.

 

[steve_bank]

To be honest, when I first saw the OP title I was thinking of women n shot skirts.

 

[Elixir]

All things considered getting worked up at a candy bowl at work is rather silly.

No one has reported being worked up over a candy bowl.

{{{raises hand}}}

Yeah, I'll eat it all.

Don't remove the free candy simply because some people can't help but don't want to overindulge.

FIFY


Of course I don't care - the charts say I'm at ideal weight (i.e. looking like a Biafran) no matter what I eat.

 

[none]

We’re having a spring Office fitness challenge. Get everyone to walk 10,000 steps a day for a month. And I feel like the biggest Scrooge, but I want to say, “Well, can we have all the admins remove their Candy bowls for the month, too? Otherwise what’s the point?”

So here’s the debate: pros and cons on Office Candy.

search?q=brown+soap+shaped+like+Candy

 

[laughing dog]

In this day and age, I am surprised there are candy bowls at work. Where I work there is a candy bowl after Halloween but no other time.