Terri Lynch knows the workplace from all perspectives: employer, employee, vendor and customer. Issues of obesity and "fat acceptance" play out in the workplace with a cost in cold hard cash. Terri is ideally qualified to probe all angles of size issues in the workplace.

You've taken the plunge. You've embarked on your weight loss program. So far, you've been keeping kind of quiet about it. You're still afraid to broadcast your decision until you've got real results. But you've been sticking with it for a while now, and it's working.

And then comes the announcement. Next Thursday, the entire department will be having a luncheon meeting. You've going to be eating surrounded by your colleagues, served a standard menu with the only choice being beef or chicken. And you know that the piece of beef or chicken could be held in the palm of your hand, while the deficit will be made up with a big heap of mashed potatoes. What do you do now?

The easiest thing is to come out into the open about your weight-loss objectives. Or better yet — much better yet, for many people - be half-open, with the old excuse that "my doctor says I need to reduce my cholesterol." Fortunately, the medical recommendations for weight loss and reducing cholesterol are very similar.

"Whoa!" you're suddenly saying, "That would be great except that I'm on a low-carb regimen, which unfortunately means lots of high-cholesterol foods. So I can't use that one."

Surprise! The research says otherwise.

Study: Atkins diet good for cholesterol

CHICAGO (APOnline) - Multitudes swear by the high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, and now a carefully controlled study backs them up: Low-carb may actually take off more weight than low-fat and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too.

For years, the Atkins formula of sparing carbohydrates and loading up on taboo fatty foods has been blasphemy to many in the health establishment, who view it as a formula for cardiovascular ruin.

But now, some of the same researchers who long scoffed at the diet are putting it to the test, and they say the results astonish them. Rather than making cholesterol soar, as they feared, the diet actually appears to improve it, and volunteers take off more weight. (USA Today, 11/18/02)

So you can certainly say the doctor told you to go on Atkins for your cholesterol. And blaming the doctor (and your cholesterol) has a lot of advantages. It shifts the focus away from your weight, with the added benefit of getting the other person worrying about their own cholesterol — their attention is now off you entirely. And who can argue with your doctor?

Furthermore, with a doctor's prescription, you can specify exactly what you've gotta have (or not), and they've gotta give it to you (or not). And no one can complain that you are being unreasonable, different or a spoil-sport. This is what your doctor said, and what can you do about it? You shrug with a helpless smile, and all any decent person can respond with is sympathetic support. Just make sure, then, that you follow the "prescription"!

How do you do that, though, with the limited menu so often available at these functions? Easy. You've got to speak up well in advance. That's only fair to the organizers of the affair. And don't be concerned that they'll regard you as a nuisance. That's only if you do wait until the last minute. Any host or hostess will consider it perfectly normal to be asked to accommodate your doctor - especially these days, when more and more people's doctors are saying the same thing.

But what, precisely, should you ask for instead of the standard fare? That depends on where the function will be held. A coffee-and-donuts breakfast meeting or pizza lunch in the department conference room offers different opportunities than a retirement party or parental-leave sendoff at a local restaurant.

If the gathering will be at a restaurant, you can spare the host or hostess extra work by contacting the restaurant yourself. Just have them fax you their menu, then decide exactly what you want and either order it at the time (if that's what's being done) or inform the person in charge if the meal is being pre-ordered. Bear in mind, though, that restaurants often lower their prices for large group orders of the same thing, and the meeting organizer should be made aware of the potential impact of your different choice.

If the meeting will be at the workplace, don't hesitate to BYOB (Bring Your Own Beef — or whatever low-carb alternatives you'd prefer in place of the midriff-stuffers normally provided.) This would likely be frowned upon at a restaurant, but will only earn you gratitude from a harried department secretary who might otherwise have to virtually double his or her trouble just to look after you.

As you can see, with a sensible attitude and good strategy, the problem shrinks to manageable size as rapidly as your waistline on the Atkins diet!

Copyright © November 2003  Terri Lynch and Low Carb Luxury
Title photo Copyright © 2003  Neil Beaty and Low Carb Luxury