How to combat unhealthy office snacking

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An office birthday, a baby shower or maybe just donuts for a staff meeting are treats that are part of office culture.  

But recent research says that all of those office treats are expanding our waistlines.  

Cleveland Clinic wellness expert Dr. Michael Roizen says most of us are taking home more than a paycheck from our job.

"What they found was that people at work get an extra 1,322 calories a week or so of snacking and most of the snacking is unhealthy," he says. 

The study looked at a national survey of more than 5,000 working adults and found that nearly a quarter of them obtain food while at work, most of it for free. The leading foods were pizza, soft drinks, cookies/brownies, cakes and pies, and candy.

In fact, researchers said free food accounts for more than 70 percent of all extra calories acquired at work.  

Dr. Roizen says that it's okay to snack at work, as long as the snacks are healthy. If you like to feed your coworkers, he suggests bringing in a favorite dish to share that's loaded with fruit or vegetables such as a summer salad, but skip the bread and cheese.  

If you like to keep snacks in your drawer or on your desk, DR. Roizen recommends thinking about replacing candy with walnuts. And when others bring in the not-so-healthy stuff, don’t torture yourself. He says it's best to find a buddy and take a walk to get away from the treats.  

"You can't use willpower to defeat this. You've got to use techniques. The techniques are having healthy snacks, doing a walk, and making sure that, in fact, there are regular rules."

Some help if you're trying to avoid the extra calories: don't position yourself close to the food; bring your own food; or don't hang out with people who bring all the fun food.

Dr. Roizen says that it's impossible to stay away from bad foods every day of the year. He suggests allowing yourself a couple of freebie days on special holidays, which can help make it easier to bypass the urge to snack on treats every day.