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?