Judy's Turn

You Can Eat Healthy in the Office Too!

Eat healthy in your office

Every once in a while, I plan a long walk with a friend of mine to catch up. Both of us have spent many years working on contract in different offices in the San Francisco area, and on our latest walk the discussion focused on eating healthy in the office. A lot of people who work a 4 to 6 hour day don't take time for lunch. Some of us decide to take contract work so that we have flexibility and an hour lunch break usually doesn't work out.

Over the last 10 years, many offices started offering snacks for their employees and contractors. However, sometimes the options are not very healthy, full of the flavors that tempt us - salt and sugar - but aren't good for us.

My friend and I started talking about some good ideas for snacks. It helps that between us, we have 7 children, and have done a lot of feeding over the years. We're watching our kids enter the job market now, and noticing the emphasis on local, organic, healthy food. We decided that you can get a lot of healthy snacking in with just some simple ingredients. Whether they're provided by the office or you bring in your own stash, munching on these snacks will keep you alert, help you resist temptation, and probably even change your lunchtime habits.

In a recent blog post in the Harvard Business Review, Tony Schwartz writes about the personal energy crisis we're facing every day in the workplace:

The companies that build competitive advantage in the years ahead aren't going to do it by seeking to get more out of their people. They'll do it instead better meeting people's core needs — physical, emotional, mental and spiritual — so they're freed, fueled and inspired to bring more of themselves to work every day.

The pictures below provide a sampling of some of the ingredients that make for healthy office snacks.

Foods that combine to make healthy snacking habits

Whole grain, multigrain, or seeded crackers with hard cheese

Dried fruit mix

Fennel seeds

Raw, unsalted nuts

Oatmeal or mixed grain hot cereal

Easy office snack ideas

Most offices provide a microwave and hot/cold water dispensor for their employees. Lots have refrigerators. Although you don't need a refrigerator, it's nice because you can bring in items that will stay fresh for a few days.

Start with oatmeal or another grain cereal. Trader Joe's has plenty of options. Or you can make your own multi grain cereal by mixing oatmeal with flax, barley, rye or other ingredients. I have a nutritionist friend who buys oatmeal in a container, mixes it with cinnamon, nutmeg, dried fruit and a small amount of brown sugar and keeps the container in her office. She scoops out a small amount each day (1/2 to 3/4 cup), adds water and puts it in the microwave for a few minutes. If you're running to get to the office in the morning and don't eat breakfast, this is a great way to start your day. I don't like eating early in the morning, so when I'm ready for this type of snack, it might be closer to lunchtime. I'll also add fennel seeds and some high fiber granola to my bowl. In a six hour day, that might be enough for me. If not, I'll snack on some dried fruit mixed with raw unroasted almonds later in the afternoon.

Make your own dried fruit/nut/seed mix to add to the oatmeal. Several years ago, after a long flight from San Francisco to New York, we were greeted at the apartment of my husband's aunt with a mixture of dried apricots, dried cherries, walnuts, and almonds. I thought it was a delightful departure from a typical pre-dinner snack. Since then, I've always kept a bowl of this around in my own home. I'll sometimes add dried herbs or seeds to the mixture, but it keeps you from reaching for sugary items. Every once in a while, I'll add a few dark chocolate covered raisins to the mix. When I purchase my dried fruits, I make sure that they have no sugar added. As you can imagine, dried cranberries have a lot of sugar. You can eat the mixture by itself, or add it to your hot oatmeal/grain cereal after it's been heated in the microwave.

Want to impress your workmates and have them ask you where you got such a delicious soup? This recipe takes a microwave, organic chicken broth, a handful of spinach or arugula leaves, and some shredded hard cheese like a parmesan or romano. If you've got a fridge in the office, it's easy to store these items. Make sure that you buy a boxed organic broth - it eliminates that canned taste. Again, Trader Joe's has many options, or you can almost always find Swanson's (make sure you get the low salt and no msg option) in any market. If you want some advice about the best chicken broths, check out this Chowhound discussion. Add some broth to a bowl and heat it up in the microwave. When it's hot, take it out and add the spinach or arugula - it should wilt instantly. Top with a small amount of the shredded parmesan and you've got an incredibly satisfying and healthy snack. If you want to make it a lunch, add more shredded cheese to two healthy grain crackers. Pop them in the microwave and melt the cheese. The soup and cheesy crackers will be satisfying and healthy.

There are lots of variations to snacking with these simple ingredients. You've probably got many of your own ideas. As we were finishing up our walk/talk, my friend and I both commented that we worry so much these days about the food we eat, we neglect to include that huge portion of the day when we're working. We'll eat candy from candy bowls when we wouldn't otherwise, or settle for a processed ultra sweetened "healthy" granola bar. If you're like many people and work 10 to 12 hours a day, you can decide to bring your healthy eating habits into the office. There's no doubt that a well nourished, rested employee is more productive.

 

 

 

Thanks for the Giving

 Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that you grow to love more as you experience life. Although a lot of food is involved, it's also a time to look around the table and appreciate each member sitting at it. This Thanksgiving was extra special for us. Sam had arrived safely in Taipei for his 6 month studies, Leah was home from Humboldt, our niece and nephew were with us from Los Angeles and Becky seemed to finally be kicking the Mono (as in Nucleosis) that had beaten her down for over a month. 

Our table consisted of 14 people. Just two were not immediate family - Laurie and Dan. Laurie had been with us for Thanksgiving a few times, but this was the first time that Dan joined us. Dan has a PhD in Organic Chemistry and is a scientist at Gilead. He spent a lot of time talking to Becky at dinner and offered to help her with her backlog in Physics and Algebra. She came home from her first day back at school yesterday overwhelmed with the amount of work that she had missed (Junior year of high school) and said that she would indeed need to take Dan up on his offer. I told her to contact him, but to be aware that he had an important job and might not be able to come over this week. 

Dan is sitting at our table tonight (one day later) talking about acceleration and friction with Becky. This is after a 10 hour work day and the only payment he'll take is the knowledge that he helped Becky catch up with her studies. It is truly wonderful to hear them talking and I know back there in West Virginia where Dan grew up, there was someone special in his life raising him to be a good man.

I am constantly impressed by the goodness in the people that I meet and know that many Dans are working tonight helping others without any expectations in return. And, as an older "early adopter" of social communication products, I'm glad that I have the ability to let you know about this little slice of life. Let me know if you have a story to tell.

OKAY NOW FOR THE BIG DEALS I GOT TODAY WHILE HANGING OUT ON THE PENINSULA:

Fleur de sel Caramels from Trader Jacques (for those of you who need a translation - caramels with salt from Trader Joe's) -- $6.99 (really taste good - up front at the Hillsdale TJs)

Really beautiful boxed soaps from France and Italy at Tuesday Morning in San Mateo for $7.99 - I think they'll go fast. At the front of the San Mateo store just to the left of the cashier.

 

Happiness Delivered

A couple of years ago, my niece was over at my house. She mentioned that she liked the shoes I was wearing and asked for the brand and style. I pulled the shoe off and told her, and as I was describing all of its benefits in detail, she was typing away on the computer. I assumed that she was checking her work emails and was surprised that in the middle of my discussion of the non skid soles she turned around and said, "I just ordered a pair. They'll be here in a few days." Zappos.com. Cool

I was familiar with Zappos, but had not yet purchased anything from them. That experience registered with me. A few weeks later I set up a twitter account (late 2007). Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, was one of the first people that I followed. 

Forward to prom time, 2009. My daughter found orange tipped grey pumps to wear with her dress. The problem was that we were just a few business days away from the prom and I didn't want to pay for one day delivery service. The shoes were inexpensive, so I told her I'd order them from Zappos, but she might need to have a backup because I didn't think they'd make it here on time. A day later, Zappos sent me an email saying that my order had been rushed at no extra cost and would be delivered in two or three days. They made it here in time for the prom and they were the perfect finish to a beautiful look. 

Today Tony tweeted a memo he'd written to his employees about the completion of the Amazon.com deal. Since I was a customer, and Tony seemed like such a nice guy, I decided to send him a DM (Direct Message) on twitter and congratulate him. Somehow, in 140 characters I let him know that his success was well earned,  wished him good luck on the upcoming publication of his new book, Delivering Happiness and mentioned that I wished CEOs were so great in the 1980s, when I was just starting out my career. He replied within a few minutes and thanked me with a smile :-) . He delivered. I was happy.

Of Cupcakes and Muffins

My husband and I were laughing the other night driving through San Francisco. We were remembering working in the Financial District in the early 1980s. In just about every block was a muffin shop (or shoppe). Where coffee stores now bloom, we had muffins sprouting out of our ears. In every size and flavor. It was considered the perfect food, because at that time carbs were the rage. I never much liked them, because, truthfully if I was going to spend the time eating a muffin, I would rather it be a cupcake (with gooey things inside and yummy frosting).

About 10 years ago, I was looking through a bridal magazine and saw that one ingenious bride had fashioned a beautiful cake out of individually decorated cupcakes on tiers. I tore the page out of the magazine and told my little girls that I had just decided on their future wedding cakes. It made wonderful sense to me. No muss or fuss, just have each guest pick up a cupcake and eat it. You wouldn't even need plates, if you didn't want to have one.

Little did I know that several years later, the cupcake fad would come around full force and there would be stores all over the place that sold cupcakes. I still like that idea better than the old muffin stores. The cupcakes are so cute, they are creatively decorated and it's great to buy one in a special box and take it to a friend.

So I was so delighted to hear that my friend Dee Dee from college has started a cupcake business in Louisville, Kentucky. Dee Dee studied nutrition in college and was always an excellent cook. She has an MBA and still works at Jewish Hospital in Louisville as a nutritionist on the world famous heart surgery team. She's hooked up with an old friend who has a background in fashion to create a beautiful shop that is getting a lot of attention these days in Louisville. Stop by when you have a chance and appreciate the simple cupcake - beats a muffin any day.

Sorry, I've been on Facebook

While I'm waiting to have an interesting idea come into my head, I've been spending some of my online moments getting sucked into facebook. I've had an account for quite some time, but haven't really done anything with it. Now, family members are starting to use it so I've decided to learn more about it and try to find a way for us all to join a group. This will be the third time I've tried to get our family group to use the internet as a spot to visit with each other and stay informed on family progress. In 1997, I tried to use a free intranet service (WAY too early on that one) and in 2004, I started a blog for our family. That was too hard to manage. This time, in 2009, most of the 40 and under crowd in the family are already facebook users, so to get them to move over to a group within  the application should be pretty easy. We'll see.

In other news, I finally replaced my modern halogen light fixture with a new one that takes 60 watt bulbs. Progress sometimes goes sideways.

Another Holiday Tip

Save the holiday cards that you get each year and use them the following year for gift tags. This obviously works best with traditional holiday cards that feature a peaceful snow scene or a festive graphic picture on the front. These days, most of the cards we receive have a group photo of children or an entire family, so you need to save the few that will work as gift tags. Just cut the front of the card and either use the whole card or a portion of it to attach to the gift and identify the recipient. If you reuse gift bags too then use a whole puncher and put some ribbon through the card to attach to the bag. I've been saving our cards for years for this purpose. Each time I reach into the bag to choose a card for a potential tag, it gives me the opportunity to think of those friends again as I read their card. 

Regift Bagging

With apologies to my friends, I actively engage in regift bagging.

No, not regifting, the practice of taking unwanted presents and passing them off as recently purchased gifts to unsuspecting family and friends. Anything I receive that doesn't fit, doesn't suit, or is out of place in my life gets carried to the deserving folks at the American Cancer Society's Discovery Shop, where the gift gets put to work for the greater good.

Regift bagging is saving the wrapping of presents, especially gift bags, and then reusing the wrap for other gifts. (N.B.: A successful regift bagger does not try to save colored tissue paper for re-wrapping. That's just tacky. Saved colored tissue paper is good for packing: keeping layers of clothes wrinkle free in suitcases, for example, or stuffing in the bottom of cartons when mailing packages.)

Every Martha Stewart type has a system. I store my used gift bags in three places. There's a place in a cabinet for birthday-themed gift wrap. One whole shelf of my linen closet contains a Rubbermaid bin with generic gift bags, sorted by size and set on edge like filing folders in a file cabinet. Then there's the massive gift wrap box stored with the Christmas ornaments that contains the holiday assortment.

My husband and two daughters have never commented on the fact that each year, the same Santa Claus bags make appearances under the tree. Either they are supremely unaware of detail, or they view this as some sort of family tradition. Either way, I'm saving money, and keeping tons of Santa Claus bags out of what sanitary engineers call the waste stream.

Besides the economic and ecological benefits of regift bagging, there's also the fun. It's like a puzzle. Somewhere in that bin is a bag that will be just perfect for this gift. Aha! Found it!

So if that gift bag looks familiar to you, dear friend, it probably is. Now pass it on!

Note from Judy: our 3 children have had the same Hanukkah bags for 10 years. That's 8 nights a year times 10 years. Sorry Diane, but I retissue also!

Strategies for a Pre-Holiday Warehouse Sale

Note:  This is different from a Black Friday Walmart sale

So a friend of mine has introduced me to pre-holiday warehouse sales. And, at first, they were sort of scary. The doors open and people, in a mad frenzy, rush in with their baskets and boxes and start loading them up with items. They don't seem to know or care what they're buying. I'd never seen this type of shopping behavior before. What I have learned in these linen/holiday decor/kitchen item/stationery warehouse shopping events is that you load up and then get in the long line to purchase. As you're in line, you purge items out of your basket. So, if you're a really smart shopper, you shop the discarded items around the checkout line as well as on the actual floor. It's taken three years but I think I might have reached an intermediate level in my warehouse shopping skills.

My absolute favorite warehouse sale is the one at Cavallini Stationery in South San Francisco. The quality of the calendars, picture frames, wrapping paper and other odds and ends is the very highest. If you like to always have a few nice notecards around, then this sale is a must. The people attending it wait patiently in line outside, while the employees of Cavallini serve coffee and donuts and discuss the upcoming purchasing frenzy. Then the doors open, the basket handles part, and all hell breaks loose. This year I went specifically for the vintage calendars and then ran around all the tables grabbing things and stuffing them in my basket. At the 20 minute wait in the checkout line, I took a look at my holdings. And got rid of most of them. But, I did keep the French alphabet flash cards and the book plates. Random, but neat.

The book plates were glued into some of my cook books and then labeled with our family name. As I was doing this, I instructed my daughter that when I had passed away, to look for the cook books that were labeled with the book plates and keep them. She could toss the other ones. She said that I was morbid.

Choosing the top 12 cookbooks in my collection to wear a beautiful inscribed Cavallini book plate was more difficult than I thought. I don't cook much and I also rarely use cook books. "Joy of Cooking" got a plate. Also, "The Fannie Farmer Cook Book" that had belonged to my husband's mother. Then I stopped and got lost in another cookbook that will become a MOFBC (Michelle Obama Fantasy Book Club) selection for Friday's post. So please tune in. 

Shopping the Holiday Catalogues

The holiday catalogues are arriving -- in such numbers that a visit to our streetside mailbox now qualifies as part of my daily exercise regime. We share a mailbox stand with the rest of our neighbors, so first there's the aerobic walk to the bottom of our court. Then there's the upper body workout as I tug to extricate the mail from our normally well-sized box: all the extra catalogues wrapped and curlicued around the usual fliers, bills and occasional letter. Finally there's the trudge back home. Who needs mini bar-bells when you have so much mail?

But it's fun to browse the store aisles from home. Sometimes I spot something that gives me an idea for a gift or pings off that place in my brain that says, "I may want -- or could use -- that." Big pinging the other day while I was browsing the Neiman Marcus catalogue. A sweet green purse -- good color, nice size. I really want that!

So I put on my glasses and read the fine print. Okay, it was a Chanel. It was going to be pricey. I'm not by nature an extravagant girl, but I began to bargain with myself: How much would I be willing to pay for my heart's newest desire? $300? $400?

For those of you who get the Neiman Marcus catalogue, it's a given that the holiday version is spiked with fantasy items. Outrageously priced one-of-a-kind trips, toys and tchotchkes. Usually I can spot them among the rest of the stuff. It's all in good fun.

But I never thought my purse was one of them. CHANEL. 4a. Jade alligator "Medium Classic" handbag. $28,950.00. Designer Handbags.

Catalogues have lead times, so the purveyors at Neiman-Marcus might be excused for not knowing this would be hitting mailboxes at a time when the stock market is in the tank (for Obama?) and $29,000 handbags seem more obscene than cute.

Somewhere in the world there might be someone -- a Saudi princess or a newly wealthy Chinese factory owner? --  who might be sporting this bag come January. But in the new reality that is America at this moment, conspicuous consumption seems so yesterday.

Sorry, bag. You really were sweet.

Nick, the Zen Plumber

Remember my plumber woes of last week? Well, it turns out that the plumber recommended by my neighbor was just great. He stopped by the house, took a look at the problem and offered two prices and recommendations. One recommendation was very inexpensive and he felt he had better than a 50% chance of making it work. The other was very expensive, in case his first plan didn't work. I took the gamble and told him to try to fix the "waste and overflow" problem (as I now knew it was called) on our 70 year old bathtub trying the inexpensive approach and then we'd talk about moving into the next phase.

We made an appointment for the work to begin the next day. He called me from his truck and said that he was ready to tackle the job. He said that he was relaxed and that was a good thing. I imagined him meditating out in his truck between jobs, so that he could approach each one with the right mind set. He came in and told me that he could visualize the 70 year old waste and overflow contraption because in his youth, he had been an apprentice to an old plumber. In their spare time, they would assemble old pieces of plumbing just to see how they worked. Somehow, even after the experience with the trash talking Yelp loving plumber, I chose to believe Nick. He was upstairs no longer than 20 minutes when he called and said that he had good news. The pieces that he had visualized were accurate and he was able to perform the job using the first and inexpensive method.

I now have a plumber that meditates and visualizes what's going on in the inner workings of the pipes in my house. You won't find any complaints here - but this review will not go out on Yelp. Call me if you're in the area and need a plumber. I'll be happy to give you Nick's card and phone number.