Anyone else work around food??

I work in a coffee shop, and we always have muffins and pastries, and of course, mochas, lattes, and smoothies. I usually work the closing shift which is in the late afternoon. This shift tends to be very slow. I clean alot, but almost everyday I'll make myself some sort of drink or eat a pastrie( usually only half of one, but still) I just get so tempted, mostly because I'm bored, and because it's all free! Does anyone else have a similar problem, or does anyone have any ideas on ways I can fight the temptation?? Thanks in advance!

I worked in restaurants my whole life and not eating all day is next to impossible, especially when you get bored.  Eventually, you get sick of all the food that you have to look at all day, but anykind of bread or sweet stuff is always hard.  You can't chew gum around food, so that's out.  Smoking works, but isn't healthy.  Try some ripped fuels or something like that.  They always take the edge off.  Plus, coffee should help you as well (caffeene)SP?

which coffee shop do you work in - i work in starbucks and find it actually does quite the opposite for me!  working with it day in and day out makes it somehow feel like some sort of desk object i.e a muffin feels like a computer mouse, so therefore no appeal to eat it at all ; )

it's weird how we are all so different yet still share the same problems in one way or another!x

I worked in a store that started selling fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. The smell of them use to drive me crazy. Then for some reason the smell woul make feel sick.

YES.  I'm the same way.  I work in a deli with a million crazy-good dishes. My main thing is the pastries/sweets.  We cut them up for samples, and I eat an average of 10000 samples a shift. The only thing that's helped is drinking water.

i work at a ruby tuesday, mainly day shift. i would be hungry around lunch and just order whatever i wanted until i decided i wanted to lose weight... exercising... counting calories. and now that i know how many calories that are in some of the things i used to eat, it kinda grosses me out :S... might sound weird but it's true. since i'm there during the day, i've been 'packing my lunch'.. i'll take a fruit cup with me and a yogurt. maybe a small salad instead. and my bottle of water that goes with me everywhere. just something small that way i won't be tempted to eat there. if i'm a double shift like i am sometimes on weekends, i'll wait until shift change, say around 5-ish to eat my dinner. usually consists of a small piece of grilled chicken and either a veggie or a salad or perhaps something i bring from home that way i won't get off work at 9-10pm and need to eat dinner. that was definetly a problem for me-- being there around the food, being bored and not actually being hungry, and eating late. like i said, maybe taking something healthy from home with you if you are allowed. and jenpistone is right about the water too.

I work in the freshmen dining hall at my school... the all you can eat kind... where everything is deep fried... or sugar.  It's SO hard to find a balanced meal there.  Luckily they started making grilled chicken breast available daily as a burger substitute so I usually grab one of those, some brown rice, and a heaping portion of steamed veggies.  They also have a pretty nice salad/fruit bar that I munch on through the shift.  Now if they could only move the cereal dispensers away from the "break" area, I'd stop downing Apple Jacks for three hours.

i eat a high protien meal before work and i ignore the food at work, i make myself not c it as an option to eat there; and i drink water.

Well I think I have you all beat...I work at Good Humor which also makes Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream...and let me tell you it isn't the ice cream that does me in it's all the yummy cookie dough and brownies and nuts and chocolate that goes into it.....I've been there for about 14 years and every year I say I'm not going to eat anymore and every year my pants get tighter and tighter...

I used to work straight midnights which was all bad cause we didn't have any supervisors around so we ate as much as we want....Monday I'm going to days so hopefully that will help that little problem.  Now if I could just figure out something to help all my other little problems...lol.

I used to work at an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet, and I worked the night shift so we were insanely busy.  Being insanely busy meant you had very little time to eat, so whenever you had a slow moment you'd shove a handful of pepperoni down your throat or grab a slice of calzone.  Then at the end of the night, after you're done doing your kitchen clean up you collected excess pizza to take home that they'd throw out otherwise.

I, and this took a lot of time to accomplish, worked out a schedule.  I knew what times I'd have to sit down and eat something and always scheduled my break for those times.  If I needed to snack on something, I'd eat something I couldn't really stand, like banana peppers (I ate less of them that way).  When my break finally came around, I went straight for the salad and if I was really hungry I'd get a piece of pizza to accompany it, or make a fat salad that raked in the calories.  Then went back to snacking on banana peppers.

It's something you've got to figure out with everywhere you work.  Snack on something you dislike or save your calories for something you do like, even if you only eat half of it.  If you're working on improving overall health and not just counting calories, keep trying to eat something that's a little better for you, even if it tastes terrible.  Over time you'll learn to appreciate it's flavour and maybe even like it.

FIGHT THE TEMPTATION. I worked at a cafe once where we ate cakes at closing, cookies in between, icecream on breaks, and free drinks now and then, mostly containing chocolate syrup, some alcohol or other sinful things. In a few months, i gained 5 kilos (that's 11 pounds, which would take about 11 weeks of calorie counting and exercise to lose!) Just remembering this is enough to make me refrain from binging on cakes and blended drinks, as and when i feel like it.

There's a difference between temptation and hunger though. If it's just temptation you are facing i.e 'oh! yummy free food that i can snack on though i'm not especially hungry', think of how much sugar and transfats there might be in the stuff that you'll eventually end up eating every day when you're at work if you don't refrain. If your main problem is genuine hunger (which doesn't sound like it's the case), i guess it might help to bring an apple or banana to work--healthier alternatives to pastries and cafe beverages, which will ease the hunger without you packing on the pounds!

Hope this helps!

try bringing in ur own healthier snack..maybe like a luna bar its still sweet but less cal's and more protein and vitamins.

I have absolutely no idea how to help you because I am not very smart.  That's why I cheated off of you in Astronomy....

;-)  I found you, like the stalker I am.  Add me right now.