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Dear Friends and Clients,

Not long ago, I coached several executives at a company with a strong record of providing for the well being of its employees. The HR department specified that its external coaches would be expected to discuss exercise and other issues related to health matters.

The clients appreciated the opportunity to focus on fitness, and established weight loss and other health-related goals in the course of their coaching experience. Each of them committed to keeping a food log for a couple of weeks, which is an excellent beginning to a serious effort to lose weight or increase energy.

The logs documented that the clients were eating a lot of food that was high in calories and simple carbohydrates, and low in nutritional value. While that kind of eating is widespread, what struck me with this group was that they seemed to eat fairly well at home but pigged out on unhealthy food at the office.

Their morning meetings featured pastries and large bagels, their afternoon meetings seemed to invariably include giant cookies, and when they worked late somebody would offer salty snacks or send out for pizza.

They all noticed that their wellness efforts were undercut by the food culture at work, but not one of them was willing to raise the issue with their colleagues. They believed that the lavish provision of sugary and salty food was highly valued by company employees, and they didn’t want to look like bad guys by questioning the tradition.

Like other companies, this one was struggling with insurance costs and concerned about the prevalence of heart disease, diabetes and other health challenges among its employees. But management had not yet realized that poor nutrition is an American workplace issue.

If you are concerned about health issues in your organization, I urge you to consider whether the food served around the office is sabotaging the health and diet goals of your colleagues. And if you’re at the top of your hierarchy, please look at the potential impact of the ways your organization manages food.

Much has been written about how eating impacts energy levels and thus productivity. In this issue, I’ll talk about an elegantly written book that offers an eye-opening look at the broader link between nutrition and health.

Warm wishes,
Bev

What You Eat Can
Impact Your Work
And Your Life

August 19th, 2008 * Number 86

Michael Pollan’s latest book – “In Defense of Food – An Eater’s Manifesto” – is a good read with the potential to change the way you shop for food.

In the first of three parts, Pollan takes on “nutritionism,” which is the term he uses to refer to the policy wars among proponents of various diets. Nutritionism, he says, is great for big food producers, who make more money each time diet fashions change, but not so good for the rest of us.

Pollan writes that “thirty years of nutritional advice have left us fatter, sicker and more poorly nourished.” It is time, he says, that we stop trying to pick among ideologies that promote low fats, low carbs or other nutritional fads, and instead find “a whole new way to think about eating.”

In Part II, Pollan makes a convincing case that many of the diseases widespread in the West are a by-product of the way we eat. He argues that people who eat like Americans suffer substantially higher rates of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity than people eating any number of traditional diets.

He challenges the idea that dietary fat leads to chronic illness and argues that the problem isn’t so much our fat/carb balance as it is the highly processed nature of our food.

In the book’s final section, Pollan recommends an approach for healthy eating: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” He suggests that we:

Eat food. Pollan urges us to eat “real food” instead of “the cascade of foodlike products that now surround and confound us, especially in the supermarket.” To make it simple, he suggests that you:
- Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. Pollan urges us to avoid “foodish” products like breakfast bars, cheeselike substances, and other highly processed alternatives to traditional foods.
- Avoid unfamiliar or unpronounceable ingredients. If a grocery item includes a list of ingredients that sound like chemicals, it is probably a “food product” rather than something that your body can handle as actual food.
Eat plants. According to Pollan, “if you manage to just eat food most of the time, whatever that food is, you’ll probably be okay…but “some whole foods are better than others.” In dozens of interviews with nutrition experts, he says, “the benefits of a plant-based diet provided the only point of universal consensus.” Plants, and especially leaves, are nutrient-rich, provide antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, and have plenty of fiber.
Don’t eat too much. Pollan argues that there is a trade-off in eating between quantity and quality. He suggests that we stay away from bulk buying of cheap calories and eat small amounts of the best quality food that we can afford.
- Good quality, to Pollan, means well-grown food from healthy soils, rather than food mass produced from over-farmed chemically-drenched fields.
- One way to reduce our massive intake of calories is to follow the model found in France and many other countries, and eat only at meals.

Want to learn more about managing your energy and productivity? For discussion of many issues related to achieving your workplace goals, check out the Newsletter Archive on Bev’s website. You’ll also find links to Helpful Books. Also, know that, in addition to providing executive coaching, Bev is available to speak about a broad range of issues related to your work life. Visit her website at www.clearwaysconsulting.com or email to Bev directly. Bev is associated with Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates.

Bev’s Tips for a Better Work Life is published on the first and third Tuesday of each month by Beverly E. Jones of ClearWays Consulting, LLC. Bev is a lawyer and former executive who now coaches accomplished executives and other professionals to bring new direction, energy and enjoyment to their work lives.

All rights in all media reserved. However, the content of Bev’s Tips for a Better Work Life may be forwarded in full without special permission on the condition that (1) it is for non-profit use and (2) full attribution and copyright notice are given. For other uses please contact Bev Jones.

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