The confession of a vending machine user…

I like chocolate. There I said it. Ok so some days are better than others but seriously, haven’t we all felt the need to grab a bit of choccy to keep us going through the seemingly long slog of the working day?

Call it what you will; a treat, elevenses, part of your ‘pack-up’ or just ‘mine get your hands off it’. We all need a good balance of food groups to keep us well fuelled to take on the every day challenges we have in the workplace.

Chocolate has some great qualities to it like:

• It’s yummy
• It stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure (I should definitely mention here that exercise does the same thing by the way!)
• It contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant (see above!)
• It contains theobromine, caffeine and other substances which are stimulants (this can of course be a good or bad thing depending on quantity)
• Chocolate is partly made up from plant extracts containing flavonoids, which act as antioxidants (these protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which in turn can cause damage that leads to heart disease.)
• Did I mention it’s yummy?

The down side is that Chocolate is a high-calorie, high-fat food. With all that sugar and fat content, it can really bump up weight gain which can of course cause other health problems far more serious such as diabetes, and heart trouble.

Did you know that chocolate vending machines are on the decrease in schools? It is recognised that sugar highs (and of course the resulting sugar crashes) definitely disrupt attention and focus…

So is there a way of having a healthy alternative to vending machine chocolate binges?

• If you’re a real chocoholic and want to cut down, perhaps try it in a drink (bought in sachets so you know the calorific content, not just one after the other from a vending machine!) or try dark chocolate with a higher percentage of coco solids. (Dark chocolate contains more of the flavenoids I mentioned earlier.)
• You should perhaps avoid anything with caramel, nougat or other fillings. These are just adding sugar and fat after all.
• Avoid milk?? It may taste good but some research shows that washing your chocolate down with a glass of milk could prevent the antioxidants being absorbed or used by your body.
• Or perhaps try products that can be shared out or eaten over a period of time like a bag of malteasers for example – although beware, I’ve seen solitary instances of seemingly harmless acts of kindness in the bringing in cakes and other goodies which then turn into weekly rota system… or its evil twin, the bake –off!

At the end of the day the message with any kind of fattening food is ‘Everything in moderation.’

So how can employers help?

Should we ask them to remove temptation all together? Some may think his a step too far removing free choice from adults who are perfectly capable of making rational, informed decisions.

Perhaps a better way forward is to provide healthier alternatives such as bowls of fruit in the workplace?

Do you rally around your work colleagues to provide moral support?

Do you take more exercise to offset the calorie intake? (maybe getting involved in more team sports events like the annual 5 a side business cup could be the answer?)

Either way, if you’re seriously going to avoid the 11am/3pm need for a sugar boost, there’s plenty of ways of approaching the problem. One thing is for sure however, if there were any quick fix products out on the market to help with this, they’d all have the following words in the small print…Willpower required.

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