Christmas time barrrr humbug

stevesellars said:

So this time of the year most employers supply their staff with lots and lots of goodies normally high in sugar and carbs

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Do they? I don't remember that.

Hmmm, sorry but I personally do not think you have anything to complain about. I am all for management being thoughtful but come on, should they really have thought of buying low carb stuff for their staff with diabetes?, or those on a diet, or those with other conditions? As Mr Pot says, not all companies do anything at all anyway. It sounds like you were a bit upset at having to do 'extra work' whilst they were tucking in but you could have just sat with them and had a cuppa and it's not their issue if YOU decided not to because you would have got tempted. I'm guessing you're newly diagnosed, when I was, I went around grumpily jealous of anyone scoffing carbs (in whatever form) but soon realised that rather than envy those who didn't have diabetes it was best to decide what was good for ME and adjust accordingly.

stevesellars said:

Afternoon all.

So after being diagnosed with types two my employer (government) had to do a risk assessment on me, nothing new there. However i had to make a complaint to my line manager. So this time of the year most employers supply their staff with lots and lots of goodies normally high in sugar and carbs so why the rest of my colleagues sat in the office filling there faces with all these goodies I've found myself doing more work then anyone else so i wouldn't be tempted. I know at my place of work there about 10 staff with either type 1 or 2 but management didn't cater for us which has made me a little p***ed off.
Has anyone had their manager cater something for them?

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Most companies don't supply. Mine did prior to pandemic but they tend to bulk buy and distribute the same to everyone. In previous years my company did a little hamper of chocolates and biscuits, I just gave it to someone else

they can't possibly differentiate between every possible food intolerance, condition and similar. There are potential diabetic sweets but those are usually foul. Supply fruit and its bad for low carb... So really, The thought that counts...

Is it really thought this that you are so annoyed about? You talk about a complaint, is it really this that's the issue or just ****** off with the company in general?

I once worked for a multi national company and have visited quite a few plants in Europe. Prior to the turn of the century and just after before taking early retirement,
I went to many tea meetings or team building education or being in a situation where food was dished out. I was supposed to be on a healthy diet. According to my health team at that time, which included many vegan, vegetarian and carbs. There was usually a few little it's, but anything that didn't look normal to eat, I passed. In Germany, I had a lot of sausage, in Belgium it was Argentina beef, in France it was bread, in Spain it was fish and in Greece it was the racked lamb or chicken., I once had a gammon steak in Germany that was to die for!
But the usual party food you can give it to the birds!

@stevesellars as an ex-manager I can remember buying cakes for my team, with no idea that that might have been problematic for anyone (I wasn't aware that any of my pretty large team had diabetes, but they could have). Times have changed since then in general, with much more awareness of healthy eating. However, surely the whole point of this gesture was to say 'thank you'; it wasn't intended to exclude you and I think the point about you being the only person not to have to self-isolate is irrelevant - if the others were required to, they had no choice, and if it was because they'd been in contact with Covid I don't envy them the worry of waiting to find out if they'd got it. Perhaps rather than making a complaint you could've just had a quiet word with your manager and asked that if, in future, this kind of reward is given again, it could include something like (insert your own preferred treat here). I think this is a simple oversight or misunderstanding.

Hello and welome,

I also assume that you are fairly recently diagnosed but I will let you know that I had a pity party for one this year as the decision was made to go to a dumpling place for our Christmas party. Small firm so no chance of not going but I did consider being 'ill'. But you know most people don't really understand low carb- they were surprised I couldn't have orange juice for example. I had Diet Coke with Bacardi and had san chou bow which turned out to be full of onion so I ate very little. So yes I felt some self pity but really this is my decision and I decision I have made for my health and it is one meal a year. We went out afterwards (again on a bus so no chance of opting out) and I had Diet Coke with Bacardi. I kept my levels in the range so that was a victory. So I completely understand. But generally people don't get it. They genuinely don't understand what diabetics can and cannot eat (that also applies to some in the medial profession so hard to blame others). I sometimes provide my own drink and snack if I know there will be food offered- keep some in your drawer for example- pork crackling or some nuts measured out. Or bring your own cake in for your birthday which is what I did- I got a low carb packet and made brownies and the consensus was they weren't too bad.

It is easy to feel sorry for yourself and I do that regularly though less regularly than I used to. If you know something is coming up think of ways around it- have a treat you have got yourself or keep busy- which is what you did (and try not to say anything when everyone complains about how much weight they have put on) and remember you are looking after your body.

But feel free to vent here- I have done so many many times- I am the best at feeling sorry for myself so I do get it.

Take care of yourself.

stevesellars said:

Afternoon all.

So after being diagnosed with types two my employer (government) had to do a risk assessment on me, nothing new there. However i had to make a complaint to my line manager. So this time of the year most employers supply their staff with lots and lots of goodies normally high in sugar and carbs so why the rest of my colleagues sat in the office filling there faces with all these goodies I've found myself doing more work then anyone else so i wouldn't be tempted. I know at my place of work there about 10 staff with either type 1 or 2 but management didn't cater for us which has made me a little ****** off.
Has anyone had their manager cater something for them?


Edited by moderator in line with the forum policy on acceptable language.

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but where does it all end, vegans not wanting meat, hindus not wanting beef, jews/muslims pork, nut allegies, celery allegies, milk allegies etc. The list is endless.

You cant cater for everyone.

Its the thought that counts, me I just say thank you and dont partake. I understand you cant cater for everyone and I wouldnt expect them to.

In the year leading up to my retirement, there was a great deal of competitive baking of cakes by the women in the office inspired by GBBO. There were some excellent cakes to sample every week. This may well have been the final straw that led to my diagnosis soon after I left. If only I had had the willpower to politely refuse.

When I did work (medically retired 2007) in the NHS, despite the posters everywhere there were always sweets, biscuits and cake at various times throughout the year. It always seemed strange to have table with ‘unhealthy’ foods under a poster of ‘5 a day’. My boss was vegan but did bring in plenty of meat treats because she knew not everyone had chosen to change their diets when she was around, and non vegan bought in vegan foods. ‍just be nice, and often foods were taken onto wards for the patients too, not sure that would be allowed now

I worked for one of America's largest Corporations, and every year I had to sign a self-certification that I had neither received nor made any gratuities over the value of $2. This was part of my annual assessment, and I also had to have completed the Company training session on bribery and corruption and passed the mandatory exam at the end. When we had a celebration, we had to provide our own vittals or buy them with our own money at the till. Even when visiting another company on business these regulations applied especially if they were a supplier of ours. The annual Xmas binge up was a prepaid ticket affair, by invite only. Guests also had to pay their own way.

Oldvatr said:

I worked for one of America's largest Corporations, and every year I had to sign a self-certification that I had neither received nor made any gratuities over the value of $2. This was part of my annual assessment, and I also had to have completed the Company training session on bribery and corruption and passed the mandatory exam at the end. When we had a celebration, we had to provide our own vittals or buy them with our own money at the till. Even when visiting another company on business these regulations applied especially if they were a supplier of ours. The annual Xmas binge up was a prepaid ticket affair, by invite only. Guests also had to pay their own way.

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As a civil servant I have the same regulations - we are even expected to provide our own tea and biscuits when we organise a meeting with people from outside of the organisation.

If they stopped working to enjoy food and chit chat, you could have stopped and socialised without the food.
Or you could have done what I used to do (before switching to working from home full time), which was to take my own suitable (and decadent) food in to eat while they enjoyed the sugary stuff.

I do appreciate that you were feeling left out and resentful, but from the info you have given so far, I’m not sure how you felt justified in putting in a formal complaint. Anyone with food allergies or ulcerative colitis or any one of 50 other special dietary requirements will have been in the same situation that you recently found yourself, but they will have had it happening for their entire lives.

also, remember back in the day when all the smokers used to disappear off outside for what seemed like endless gossip and work dodging, every day? My fellow non-smokers and I never blinked, yet we must have averaged about an hour more work a day than the smokers did, what with all their walking up and down stairs, nipping round to the bike shed and huddling out of the wind and all that coffee making to try and warm themselves up after the puffing...

Yes, I find this a very interesting situation - food in the workplace when you have a metabolic disease and are treating with diet.

My point of view is - no-one wants to be hungry at a social function, which are of course often centered around food and drink. So it would be in our best interests and convenience if our dietary needs were catered to, for sure.

And, I also see it as educational, for reasons I spell out below, at least in my own country, for the good of the country!

My own experiences with various workplaces has been at best amusing, but yes, can at times be, well, mildy insulting.

But I give a lone wonderful positive workplace story re food and a Christmas party menu. Not a Government job or a large corporation, but a Mom and Pop outfit which has done well.This is in Aotearoa in the South Pacific - so this was summertime-casual, a Xmas BBQ, with lots of food and drink on the house.

A lovely administrator had sent me an email in October asking all this workplace's workers coming to the end of year party for any special dietary requirements. I was delighted, but checked that it was for real. The administrator assured me it was.

They all know I have Type Two diabetes, as does one of my immediate bosses, and a few of the other workers as we discuss it in the staffroom, rather frequently. (I am the only one treating with diet and exercise, but this is not used against me!) I like this very much - us discussing our treatment openly. My immediate boss/manager jokes with me about his own treatment, and his HBA1C, whch is all good. (Metformin, for all my co-workers and this manager, no treating with diet.)

So I asked for high-meat percentage sausages, and salad with no dressing - dressing on the side. (As we know low-quality sausages have high-carb 'fillers', and bought salad dressings are loaded with sugar.) I also asked for unmarinated steak (steak is always offered at Antipodean BBQs when it is a party such as this. If it was a wealthy business, which it is not - local seafood would also be offered, as in Australia where "Throw another shrimp on the barbie" comes from.)

Sadly, marinated meat has become the norm at BBQs.

I also explained to the administrator why added sugar in the marinade, and re the sausages - carbohydrate level of the fillers was important, regarding my treating with diet.

She thanked me for educating her on matters of food. She wasn't being sarcastic, which was nice . As is often the case - this subject about nutrition becomes about weightloss (not my doing - this is what interests non diabetics, in my experience), and about vegetarianism.

Yes - it is without exception assumed until I say otherwise, that eating healthily is to eat vegetarian, and assumed that I am a vegetarian. My saying otherwise is to say there is no way I could work on salads, that I am an enthusastic eat-meater. And unadulterated with sugar meat and seafood is wonderfully filling and nutritious and very very healthy.

Aotearoa/New Zealand has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, and our neighbouring Pacific islands are major hotspots for obesity and type two diabetes. NZ is a diabetes hot spot. And lots of people are interested in weight loss. And lots of people eating our present high-carb low-healthy fat diet are struggling with body-fat issues. This admnistrator in question, also. I told her about low-carb, high-healthy fat.

I also told her not to worry about desserts for me. And on the day there was wonderfully lots of cheese and carrot sticks, because it took a long time for the BBQ to be ready. Thankfully I took my own non-sugar soda. Unfortuntely I didn't even know people bought sweet (ie sugar added) sparkling whites here, but I found they do! (Yuck!) But - baby steps. (I will tackle the non-sugar drink issue next year.)

When I went up to the local firefighters doing the BBQ, and asked about the sausages and meat they knew all about my special dietary requirements - it was very nice, and very Xmas-jolly. I had lots of steak and sausies, and the excess went on the table for others to unknowingly eat low-carb. I was very very thankful to the administrator for being true to her word, and for the company for catering to those such as me.

I am really pleased that they now really understand that I eat meat and seafood, and substitutes for high-carb fare, and am not keeping normal weighted, or able to work hard, by eating a diet of salads (which it is often assumed).

We live in very interesting times when it comes to knowledge about nutrition, about the kind of food that is readily available and eaten en masse, and about diet's role in metabolic disease and cardio-vascular disease, gout, athrititis, and increasingly - auto immune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis. Many people get their nutritional information from the medical profession, which, as we know, is, ahem, not expert in this field, and from 'Big Food' which is very successful in informing our governments around the world, and has done since the 1970s when our food environment changed so hugely, and brought us into these 'interesting times' when it comes to food.

That's my new year speech!

When I was working, retired now, we used to contribute to a communal food fest at celebration times. I used to provide food I knew wouldn’t spike my sugars and make sure I had my share of it! I do the same now when friends meet up for an American supper. I avoid the high sugar and fat stuff others love, I just know that my beta cells aren’t like theirs.
Management can’t really be expected to provide for every possible food need when organising bulk buying of treats. It’s a shame. Maybe you could ask in future if you could be excused from the thank you delights, say you appreciate their desire to thank you and hope they won’t be offended if you don’t eat any of it because . . .

stevesellars said:

Afternoon all.

So after being diagnosed with types two my employer (government) had to do a risk assessment on me, nothing new there. However i had to make a complaint to my line manager. So this time of the year most employers supply their staff with lots and lots of goodies normally high in sugar and carbs so why the rest of my colleagues sat in the office filling there faces with all these goodies I've found myself doing more work then anyone else so i wouldn't be tempted. I know at my place of work there about 10 staff with either type 1 or 2 but management didn't cater for us which has made me a little ****** off.
Has anyone had their manager cater something for them?


Edited by moderator in line with the forum policy on acceptable language.

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err we live in a carb centric world and its easy to buy cheap carby ****. Its the same for me. Lovely people bring in biscuits and chocolates. I occasionally indulged. I never expected them to bring me a tray of fine cheeses and I did feel quitely smug as they moaned about getting fat. Not that anyone had any party dresses to squeeze into!