Food

Coffee Break: A Monthly Box of Healthy Snacks

by Kat on 12/13/2011 · 165 comments

I don’t know about you, but I love trying new foods — particularly snack foods. It’s like I never grew out of that phase where your mom buys you something in the checkout line at the grocery store as a prize for being well behaved during the shopping trip. A new flavor of chips? Sign me up. A new candy bar? Oooh. (When I travel internationally, forget about it — every bodega is like Christmas!) In more recent years I’ve tried to make it healthier snacks, at least — which is why I jumped at the chance to try Lollihop. Lollihop is a monthly “subscription” where they send you a box of healthy snacks, once a month. While not low-calorie per se, my box contained lots of healthier options than the usual candy bar or bag of chips — I particularly loved the amazing popcorn from 479° Popcorn, and I wonder why I’ve refused to try Lärabars for so long — delicious.

A 12-month subscription is $18.95 per month, promising 8 snacks per box, nutritionist approved snacks in single serving sizes. Yum. Since it’s the holidays, the folks at Lollihop are offering a 20% discount to the first 50 readers who sign up for gift subscriptions. Just go to https://lollihop.com/gift_subscription/ and input the promotion code CORPORETTE20 to get 20% off the entire Gift Subscription amount. (And yes, you can “gift” one to yourself.)

Readers, do you share my snack obsession? What are your favorite tasty and healthy treats?

Please note that all reviews are subject to The Corporette Review Policy.

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The Pantry In Your Desk Drawer: Snacking and Dining at the Office

by Kat on 10/17/2011 · 104 comments

in Food, Office Supplies

Last week we talked about what clothes you keep at the office… this week, let’s talk about the food you keep in stock at the office! (Pictured: Desk drawer tea-stash, originally uploaded to Flickr by Kratzy.)

Here’s the thing about hectic, busy jobs, at least in my experience. Half the time, you’re so busy you don’t have time to go grab lunch. And when you’re not busy, well, why prolong your time at the office by lingering over some long lunch unless it’s with a friend (which requires scheduling, which may or may not be something your hectic work schedule allows you to do). So how’s a busy woman to eat during the workday?

My trick has always been to keep food at the office. When I was at my firm, I kept a whole banker’s box full of snacks — it fit right in with all the other boxes of documents in my office! My list of must-haves has always included the following, which I would space out throughout the day in a series of snacks:

Note that this list was written on the assumption that you do have ready access to hot water, but not necessarily a readily-accessible microwave or a refrigerator.

1. Peanut butter. If this isn’t a problem food for you (allergies, calories, etc), it’s a great thing to keep around the office. Spread some on crackers like saltines, and you’ve got protein, fat, healthy oil, and you should stay satiated for at least a few hours. If portion control is a problem for you, you can keep things like PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter in your office and only make as much as you want.

2. Bars. I highly recommend finding a a low-calorie, high-protein, high-fiber bar that you enjoy eating. Meal replacement bars (200 calories plus) never really seem to fill me up, and the low-protein bars — such as granola bars — are kind of like eating a cookie for lunch. My preferred picks: Gnu Foods bars (extremely high fiber and high protein for only about 130 caloreies), PowerBar Pria Bars (mint is particularly good), or, if you’re really craving something dessert-like, the Glenny’s 100-Calorie Brownie. Two other great choices that are super high fiber: Fiber One Bars and Fiberful bars (sold at Trader Joe’s).

3. Oatmeal. This doesn’t have the protein or fiber of a lot of the things recommended above, but it has a warm, cozy, filling feeling — and it’s the closest a busy woman can get to comfort foods a lot of the time. It also smells wonderful. (Be sure to get a box of oatmeal that definitely only requires hot water.)

4. Nuts. Portion control can be a problem here, also, but if you can keep nuts around they really are a power food. Go for nuts that are as close to natural form as possible — avoid things that are roasted, salted, processed. Raw almonds have always been my favorite — they taste good but not SO good that I want to eat the entire bag. If portion control is really a problem, you may want to try pistachios or peanuts — in their shells. Everybody’s Nuts! makes some great portion-controlled bags of pistachios.

5. Instant noodles. There are a ton of options for meals that can be heated by the microwave — from EasyMac to LeanCuisine — but it’s harder to find ones that only require hot water to “cook.” In general, these things won’t fill you up, but they are a nice alternative to the bars and other things mentioned above. Trader Joe’s has some great dry soup mixes that only require water; I’ve also had good luck with Thai Kitchen and Annie Chun’s products.

6. Raisins. Dried fruits can be a bit too much like candy, which is why I like the old standards — raisins and dried plums. They may not be “sexy” fruits, but you can keep them in your bottom drawer and a handful from time to time will help you feel like you got your fruit in for the day.

7. Emergen-C. When your energy is dragging — or you feel a cold coming on — or you need some extra pep before heading out for dinner or drinks with friends, I swear by Emergen-C. These lemonade-like packets contain only about 5-25 calories, but pack a wallop of vitamin C — more than 1000% of your daily requirements. Just add water, and you’re good to go.

8. Canned tuna or salmon. I highly recommend going to the office kitchen to drain the cans first and dispose of them (or else your office will smell of tuna for a week!) but with a packet of mustard or mayo mixed in, these healthy fishes are great eaten with crackers or by themselves. Of course, be sensible about potential mercury poisoning and don’t eat them too often. (If you’re unfamiliar with canned salmon, be sure to get cans that contain skinless and boneless salmon.)

9. Cereal. This is another great thing to keep at the office — either to keep a high-fiber cereal to mix into yogurt and oatmeal, like Fiber One — or to keep a favorite cereal from college or childhood, like Cap’n Crunch. Steal some milk from the fridge intended for coffee, and you’ve got a meal.

10. Pudding. It’s a little-known trick, but if you bring in a box of Jell-O Instant Pudding, you can mix 1 heaping Tbsp with 1/2 cup skim milk, let it sit in the fridge for about 60 minutes, and enjoy a single portion of office-made fresh pudding. Is it a meal? Not really, but it is a dairy serving — and it’s yummy.

Bonus Round: Refrigerated/Fresh Foods to Keep on Hand:

1. Organic apples. This is one of those fruits where it’s allegedly worth it to pay for the organic version, but even if you just get the regular version, they’re great to keep at your office. I’ve always liked to bring one with me each day and eat it for a late-morning snack before lunch. (Be sure to wash the apple well if you’re not buying organic.)

2. Lemon juice. I love a little lemon juice in my life — I use it to squeeze on salads (I swear, it makes every.single.dressing taste better and go farther with less dressing), as well as to add to water, hot water (particularly when I’m sick, I love hot water with lemon and honey), and to add to fish (canned or otherwise).

3. Cheese. My all-time favorite is the light string cheese you can get at Trader Joe’s — it’s cheap, low calorie, and tastes the best to me compared with other string cheese. Still, almost any cheese is handy for a snack, though: those mini Babybels, a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese (which technically doesn’t need to be refrigerated, but personally I find it a bit gross if it’s not chilled)

4. Yogurt. I always like to mix in Fiber One so I’m more satiated.

5. Vitatops. These fiber-filled treats are great if you have access to a freezer at the office. (They have no preservatives, which is why they require freezing.) They come to room temperature in about an hour, or else you can get a cup of hot water or tea and warm them up a lot quicker.

Alright ladies, let’s hear it — what kind of foods do you keep in your desk drawers to nibble on throughout the day?

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Office Stress v. Your Diet

by GuestPoster on 10/11/2011 · 98 comments

in Food, Personal Care, Stress, Weight Control

Are you guilty of stress eating at the office (or failing to eat because you’re so stressed out)? Today’s guest poster, Ying Ying Li, tackles the issue. I’ve known of Ying’s hilarious first blog, Last Day at the Office Emails, since I linked to it here during a Weekly Roundup. She’s also recently started sharing more of her reflections on her life as a recovering lawyer at her newer blog, The Ying-a-Ling – check her out! You can also read her other guest post on Corporette, on downsizing your budget after you cast off your golden handcuffs. – Kat

When I was a young associate, I was continually in a state of fear or trauma. As a result, I didn’t really have the time or desire to make sure that I was eating healthily. To make matters worse, I still had a student mentality about saving money. I pretty much ended up subsisting on the little cups of cream that I would put in the free tea my office offered (I drank a lot of tea). Over the years, I have seen many female associates who have difficult workloads put eating on the back burner. They start to have that sort of adrenaline rush that starved people have, the beady eyes, the cold aggressive handshake.

But later on, when I was a slightly more experienced lawyer, I dealt with stress and exhaustion the opposite way, by eating a lot! I remember when it first started, I would come home from work, sit on the couch, and calmly polish off an entire pint of Haagen Dazs. When SeamlessWeb came around, and we could order food from hundreds of different restaurants with the click of a mouse, I began to order extravagant, heavy, meals that I swore to myself would be divided into two smaller portions — one for next day’s lunch– but I always ended up eating the whole thing, plus the free bread or fortune cookies.

Eventually, I realized that neither coping mechanism — eating very little or eating too much– was a healthy way to deal with stress. In this post, I share some tips and tricks for breaking the association between workplace stress and food:

1. Afternoon doldrums: snack with a friend.

I have never seen an office worker, male or female, walk so quickly to their office as when they’ve just picked up a delicious treat or meal. Nor have I ever heard an office door shut with as much urgency as when such an employee firmly closes the door to their office in order to be alone with their afternoon cupcake. I am just the same. Something strange happens when I eat by myself at work. A primal creature takes over and devours everything in a matter of seconds. Yet these torpid moments of private indulgence never really made me feel better afterwards. I’d just sit there with a, “What just happened,” look on my face, and feel gross.

But instead, when I am feeling sluggish and need to snap out of it, if I find a friendly colleague and we both go down to the bodega and get a sleeve of chocolate chip cookies or a dense and syrupy piece of South Asian dessert, and eat it together while chatting about work or whatnot, it is much more pleasurable (and civil) than snacking alone, and I always feel genuinely refreshed afterwards.

2. Early morning after all-nighter: take a walk.

One morning after pulling an all-nighter with a team of associates, two of us decided to go downstairs to the Duane Reade together and buy some toothpaste and toothbrushes. That turned into a nice brisk walk around Bryant Park at 6 AM, which was super invigorating. Though my companion and I were practically strangers, we were able to chat about work and life and have a nice, energizing break before we went back into the office for another work full day of work. Normally after an all-nighter, prehaps taking a cue from the kind of all-niters I used to do, which were related to drinking and partying, I’d automatically reach for a greasy breakfast sandwich involving copious amounts of butter, egg, and cheese. Nothing wrong with those fine ingredients of course, but if you’ve pulled an all-nighter and need to work another full day, that is not the best food to wake up to.

3. Too stressed, no appetite: easily digestible carbs.

Sometimes when your stomach is full of butterflies, it feels like there is no room for food in there. And I know a lot of professional women who see a busy period where they are too preoccupied to eat as a godsend, a painfree and natural way to lose weight. But you need fuel to keep a body functioning and healthy. Plus, under-eating can lead to a pretty annoying pattern of fluctuating weight. The best way to sneak some food in there when you’re not hungry is through juice and fruit, which I have found to be relatively palatable compared to other foods. If you can add a little fat in there by having a smoothie, then all the better! I’m obviously not a doctor or a nutritionist, but according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, rice is easier for the body to digest than bread and pasta, so that’s another food to try if your adrenaline level is making it hard for you to eat.

4. Sit with the feeling.

It’s very common to respond to strong emotions illogically. Sometimes over or under eating is a way to fill a void, dull a pain, or exercise control when you feel like you have none. A lot of times, I know that I am doing something unhealthy and pointless because I am trying to run away from an unpleasant feeling, such as anxiety, fear, or rejection. And even though there are a million tips floating on the internet on how to deal with your feelings, the truth is that a warm bath is not that different from a pint of ice cream if you are not learning to deal with the fact that you will have unpleasant feelings, but they can’t bully you around if you don’t let them.

5. Be connected to your body.

You can’t just be a brain, you have a body too. Sometimes in the office, when your job demands nothing of you physically than to sit and move your finger tips, it can be easy to disconnect from your body. When this happens, it’s easier to deny it food when you’re hungry, or load it with food when it’s full. One way to make sure you are grounded in your physicality is to be physical throughout the day. Not everyone has the luxury to go to the gym during office hours, but there are a ton of things you can do in the office, from taking off your shoes and sitting cross-legged on your chair, to doing deep breathing exercises, to givng yourself a shoulder massage, to raiding the cleaning closet and taking five minutes to spray down and wipe your desk and shelves, to taking the stairs instead of the elevator. One of my favorite things to do is to brush my teeth. The purpose of these activities is not to expend calories, but to reunite your brain with your body and remind your brain that no matter what happens at work, your body deserves to be fed regular, healthy meals on a regular basis.

What are your tips for breaking the food and workplace stress association?

Interested in writing something similar for Corporette? Check out our guest posting guidelines.

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The Busy Woman’s Guide to Freezing Food

by Kat on 09/28/2011 · 143 comments

in Food, Kat, Lifestyle, No Time, Organization, Tool of the Trade, Weight Control

When you’re a busy woman, taking the time to cook for yourself can be a luxury. It’s better from a health perspective — you know exactly what’s in the dish, as well as how fresh/healthy the ingredients are– and you can much more easily accommodate special desires (low calorie, low sodium, low fat, low carb) by cooking for yourself. Furthermore, frequently it’s far cheaper than eating out. The easiest way that I’ve found, when I get time to cook for myself, is to cook large batches — but then the problem becomes that my schedule is so unpredictable that half of the batch (or more) goes to waste. Not to mention you get “food fatigue” from eating the same dish so many days in a row.

My personal answer has been to cook large batches and then freeze them with a fairly, um, elaborate system. (I’m a bit crazy, but we all knew that.) A friend came to visit a while ago and was fascinated by my system, so she encouraged me to share it here. When I was single, I used this system ALL the time for pasta sauce — I hated opening a jar of sauce, then seeing the jar in the fridge a week and a half later and throwing it out 3/4ths full because I hadn’t had time to make myself more pasta.

1. Get good quality freezer bags. I like to buy Ziploc bags that are designed for the freezer — when I’ve used no-name brands or non-freezer bags I’ve had problems (leaky bags, freezer bite, etc). I prefer to buy quart-size because I’ve found that those tend to hold two servings — the perfect amount for me and my husband.

2. Cook a bunch of food. I’m a big fan of the crockpot, so a lot of what I cook for myself and the hubs are things like stews and soups. I also will freeze a lot of raw chicken and raw beef, as well as things like leftover tomato sauce. I haven’t had a lot of luck freezing fresh vegetables or fish, but your mileage may vary. Two things to note about the food: It’s going to be easier to fill the bags when the food is not piping hot — either lukewarm or chilled is preferable. Second, when possible I try to freeze my food as soon after cooking it as possible (rather than waiting 3-4 days) — I’m not sure if it’s right or not but my perception is that as the ingredients (like veggies) age, they loose some of their health factor. That said, freezing will kill a multitude of bacteria (I think), so you shouldn’t be too shy about freezing food at the tail end of the time when you would be eating it.

3. Label your bags before putting any food inside; this way the writing is neater. I like to include the name of the dish, the date I made it, and occasionally the amount (1lb chicken) or the Weight Watchers Points value per serving.

4. Next, get tall glasses (or sometimes even a vase if it’s a gallon-sized bag) to help my Ziploc bags “stand up.” This is hard to describe, so hopefully the picture helps — you push the bag inside the glass and then open them up.

5. Ladle the soup or stew inside. You’ll find that the Ziploc-inside-the-glass gets full faster than the Ziploc will, so after a while you have to remove the glass from the equation and let the Ziploc stand by itself.

6. Continue to fill the bag(s) until all of the soup is ladled out. If there’s some spillage on the bag, wipe it down. Next, you may want to weigh the bags using a digital scale — I really do use mine frequently and it has been a great investment for the kitchen. If there’s any huge inequity between the bags, you can take this opportunity to balance it out; otherwise you can just eyeball the bags and close ‘em up.

7. A note on closing the bags: there should be as LITTLE AIR IN THE BAG as possible. Air causes freezer burn, and no one wants that.

8. Next, get out a plastic cutting board (or other smooth, flat surface). This is key to a neat freezing process — even if you’re just freezing chicken breasts or something simple like that. Layer your Ziploc bags on the bag — it’s okay if they overlap a bit — and then slide the plastic cutting board into the freezer.

9. Then, let it sit for 4-24 hours. The bags freeze nice and flat, at which point you can remove them. If you like an organized freezer you’ll find that the flat quart-sized bags even fit in a shoebox, pictured at the very top of the post. (I bought a box of 20 clear shoe boxes from The Container Store when I was changing up my shoe storage system, and have found that they come in ridiculously handy in a lot of places, including the freezer.) Here’s one bag after it’s been frozen.

10. Voila! Healthy, homemade dinners (or lunches) for the next 3-6 months, depending on ingredients. If you’re heading off to work in the morning and want some of the leftovers for lunch, it’s easy enough to grab one of the frozen Ziploc bags and chuck it in your purse — it should stay frozen for your commute, and should defrost (either in the freezer or under a watchful eye just on your desk) enough to get it out of the bag before heating it up for lunch. I’m also a fan of taking out a Ziploc bag in the morning and putting it on a plate (or in a large bowl) to defrost in the fridge during the day, meaning all my husband or I have to do at night is to heat it up. Personally, I prefer to let the food defrost entirely so I can transfer it to a proper bowl or pot to reheat it — I like to avoid putting plastics in the microwave whenever possible (both because it is never pretty when you overcook plastic, and because I’ve heard rumblings that plastic in the microwave may not be so safe for you).

OK, readers, that’s my insane little system for freezing food. What tricks do you use when you cook? Any favorite recipes that work particularly well for the freezer?

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The Business Lunch, Gluten-Free

by GuestPoster on 09/13/2011 · 141 comments

in Business Etiquette, Comfort, Food, Issues, Lifestyle, Networking, Organization

If you have special eating needs, how do you navigate the business lunch, as well as other noshing and networking events? Today’s guest poster, Valerie from City|Life|Eats, tackles this very issue. Valerie is an old friend to Corporette, having posted here before about makeup and a favorite shirt. Enjoy! – Kat

It can be difficult to manage dietary restrictions with the demands on being a professional woman. Learning that certain foods are off-limits, whether because of Celiac disease, other autoimmune conditions, food allergies, food intolerances or sensitivities, means a lifestyle change that takes adjustment. When I learned I could not eat gluten, dairy, eggs and a host of other foods, I was concerned about how to manage these new restrictions, particularly with regards to my professional life. As an associate at a law firm in Washington, DC, I was acutely aware that business entertaining was only going to be a larger part of my life moving forward, as would business travel and conferences. It has been a couple of years now, and along the way it has gotten a lot easier. I do not hide the requirements of my restrictions, but manage them in such a way that the way I eat does not become a focal point of interacting with me either. (Pictured: gluten free and dairy free ranch dressing, originally uploaded to Flickr from elana’s pantry.)

The Big Picture

I have an abnormal immune reaction to eating gluten, which means I must avoid all forms of wheat, barley and rye. When eating out, this means both avoiding foods containing gluten and exposure to gluten through cross-contamination. Anything less than 100% compliance with avoiding gluten is not an option, nor is eating other foods I should avoid. My goal is always to minimize the number of opportunities of being exposed to foods that would cause a reaction but also not let that get in the way of business situations that require dining out.

The Business Lunch

The key with business meals for me is being able to order a meal without my dietary restrictions turning into a conversation piece that detracts from business at hand. I have a short list of restaurants that I know from past visits have procedures in place where they can feed gluten-free diners safely. I always call ahead to go over my dietary restrictions and, if I am not going to a go-to place, ask questions about cross-contamination. I also remind the host when I arrive at the restaurant to let the wait staff know. Setting expectations repeatedly and going to the same restaurants has generally worked, though I am lucky to generally have at least a day’s notice for such meals.

Another option is to order “off-camera” – this is helpful at restaurants without gluten-free menus where I need to order a dish with several substitutions/modifications. When I call ahead, I essentially place my order, such that by the time I am actually sitting at the restaurant, all I have to do is reconfirm with the waiter/waitress what I am ordering, rather than go through it from scratch. This is also a good strategy if you foresee the lunch being time-constrained for any reason. I also encourage you to check out these good tips on eating out when following a gluten-free diet, or these for dairy-free dining out.

Other Business Obligations That Involve Food

Business lunches and dinners are generally the setting where I have had to manage my dietary restrictions. There are of course many other settings, such as:

Socializing with Colleagues: My office does not have a culture of lunch with colleagues, so I generally I bring a lunchbox which includes a meal and snacks every day I am at the office. However, there are a couple of lunch places within a few blocks of work where I can eat a gluten-free meal also suited to my other food restrictions, which also comes in handy for the occasional lunch with colleagues.
Networking Events/Receptions: I usually stick to not eating in these situations, but make sure that I have something to drink so that my hands do not look obviously empty.
Conferences: At conference luncheons, I tend to just ask for a plain salad without dressing and/or steamed vegetables and supplement those with nuts and other snacks that I bring with me.
Business Travel: I have not had to travel much for work, so am including these links on traveling to a conference, business travel and Celiac disease, and a gluten-free blogger’s resort experience.

Valerie is an associate at a law firm in Washington, DC and intent on thriving in all aspects of life – professional and personal. She balances the demands of her work and long hours with her interests in food, healthy and mindful living, and a love for lists and planning, all of which you can find at her blog, City|Life|Eats. You can subscribe to City|Life|Eats via RSS or email or connect with Valerie via Twitter or Facebook.

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Interested in writing something similar for Corporette? Check out our guest posting guidelines.

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Coffee Break – Stainless-Steel Insulated Thermos

by Kat on 08/15/2011 · 115 comments

in Coffee Break, Food, Money

Reader K wrote in to recommend this thermos, noting “Maybe I’m the only nerd who brings her own coffee in a thermos to the office, but this one is FABULOUS for anyone looking to break their Starbucks habit. I make my coffee at about 7am and have my last cup at about 3pm, when it’s still piping hot out of the thermos. Well worth the $28 and saves a bunch of money I’d otherwise spend at the coffee shop. This 26 ounce version fits nicely in my briefcase and holds almost 3 standard coffee mug cups for me.” Nice! I’ve never been such an aficionado of coffee that the office swill wasn’t okay for me, but if I were, I’d definitely be looking for a thermos like this one. It’s $27.95 (was $35) at Amazon. Thermos Nissan 26-Ounce Travel Companion Stainless-Steel Insulated Bottle