Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER February 20, 2017 NEWS 9 RECRUITING FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS? O er positions to over 200,000 Members Highly targeted advertising Immediate matching resume database access FOR MORE INFORMATION, cpacanada.ca/CPASource TELEPHONE•416 204 3284•EMAIL•TGardiner@cpacanada.ca 14-126a_EN_CPAsource_fullpagead_9.625x7.indd 1 1/5/2016 3:24:31 PM Combatting 'cake culture' Nutrition can get missed in employers' focus on wellness, fitness initiatives BY SARAH DOBSON IT'S a scenario that plays out on a daily basis in many a workplace. A colleague is celebrating his birth- day so people gather round to sing well wishes while enjoying a slice of cake. And more than likely, just a few days later, it happens all over again, for a birthday, a baby show- er or an anniversary. But this "cake culture" is a problem, according to the Faculty of Dental Surgery in the United Kingdom, which put out a mis- sion statement on the topic. Its concern? e workplace is now the main place where many peo- ple eat sugar. "Managers want to reward staff for their efforts, colleagues want to celebrate special occasions and workers want to bring back a gift from their holidays. While these sweet treats might be well-mean- ing, they are also contributing to the current obesity epidemic and poor oral health," said Nigel Hunt, dean of the dental faculty at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. "It is something that is happen- ing worldwide, as a culture, this idea of just having sweets and snacks constantly available, par- ticularly in open plan offices and so on… and really what it does do is it accounts for well over the daily recommended intake of sugar in that period of time (six teaspoons of sugar)." e faculty is really concerned by the rising number of children and adults who need to have their teeth out, for example, because of severe tooth decay, he said. "We've got this obesity epi- demic now and over 63 per cent of adults in England are classified either as obese or overweight, so we really did feel that it's time to bring about a cultural change to the way that this cake culture is developing." Bad habits One of the biggest predictors of what people are going to eat is what's around them, said Krista Merner, dietitian and owner of Bent Fork Nutrition in Halifax. "Often, we spend more time at work than home, so that can be a pretty big indicator of what might be tempting us. Even we if pack our lunch at home, if you've got vending machines or there's cake in the snack room or someone's selling chocolate bars for a fund- raiser, that's going to be the envi- ronment we're often in the most." And in trying to be more health- conscious, many people bring the bad stuff from home, she said. "Workplaces can become the dumping ground, particularly after Valentine's Day or Easter or Halloween… but then we sit at work with it all day." In looking at hunger cues, peo- ple don't necessarily eat because they're hungry, said Merner, "so if you're stressed or you're tired or you're looking for that quick sugar fix because you had a slump in the afternoon, if that's what's around, that's what we're going to grab." It's a crash-and-crave cycle, she said. "When you are low in the sense that you haven't eaten in a while, your blood sugar might be starting to dip down, we're not always going to take time to cut up the vegetables, get out some whole-grain crackers and pair it with some hummus. We're go- ing to grab whatever's easiest and it's typically a higher calorie but maybe not as nutritionally balanced choice… and because there's nothing really nutritious in there to keep us stable, we crash again." Employer's role Employers can be the voice of health and reason, according to Andrea Holwegner, founder and president of Health Stand Nutri- tion Consulting in Calgary. "It's such a critical time for health because so many more meals are consumed at work for a lot of people than they are at home," she said. "It's such an important con- sideration for employers because workplace productivity, on a ba- sic, fundamental level, is tied so strongly to nutrition habits." Companies spend thousands of dollars on systems and technolo- gy, project management tools and productivity experts "when they fail to actually look at the most basic reason people struggle with productivity, which is our people are either underfed, overfed, over- caffeinated or over-sugared," said Holwegner. "It's completely overlooked and so basic and immediate; it is an immediate connection to productivity, confidence for the sales team, how you feel for over- all energy, how nice you play with others. Our blood sugars are so tied to nutrition so if we're either not getting enough or not getting the right nutrition, it's directly go- ing to affect our ability to focus, concentrate, and just have a good overall mood." Many companies with wellness programs tackle fitness initiatives and stress reduction, but they completely neglect the nutrition piece, she said. "It's almost like 'We don't know what to do with it, we know it's an issue but we don't know what to do with it.' So there's a lot of things you can do that are super cost-effective in just the way you restructure things." Healthier alternatives ere needs to be a culture change in the workplace that encourages healthy eating and helps workers avoid caving in to sweet tempta- tions, said Hunt. "ere's almost a pressure as- pect to the office culture, and that is you get in one office worker who brings in a cake for a birthday or is back from a holiday destination, or whatever it may be, and there's almost this feeling of obligation that everyone else has to do the same. We have got evidence of people who have been on weight- loss programs and say they find it incredibly difficult to cope with this office situation because they feel so much peer pressure and don't want to be the odd one out," he said. "We're not trying to be party poopers here, we're not trying MAKE > pg. 18

• Cover