Treating colleagues at the office just as harmful as passive smoking?
It’s someone’s birthday, hooray hooray! The very best thing about having colleagues is that there’s regularly a reason to celebrate—with delicious treats, of course. But if we are to believe Professor Susan Jebb of the FSA (the British equivalent of the Netherlands Nutrition Centre), that is a particularly bad idea. Say what?!
Yesterday was a party in the newsroom. A colleague celebrating their birthday treated us to the most delicious chocolate pastries and macarons. According to Susan Jebb of the Food Standards Agency, that isn’t exactly a smart choice. Because all those sweet and fatty treats are terribly unhealthy. She would probably rather see us dipping carrots in hummus with the birthday person. Where’s the fun in that?
Passive smokers
In an article for The Times, Susan even compares unhealthy treats with passive smoking. ‘Bringing cake to work is just as harmful as passively smoking with colleagues. We think we are all rational, intelligent people who make the right choices, but we underestimate the influence of our immediate surroundings. If nobody brings cake to work, I won’t eat it either. But if cake is placed right in front of you, you give in. Try resisting that temptation’, Susan explains.
Where does that bold reasoning about passive smoking come from? The number of overweight British adults has doubled over the past thirty years (dishes such as deep-fried fries sandwiches will certainly contribute to that..) People in the Netherlands are also too heavy; according to Statistics Netherlands, half of the Dutch population is overweight.
Personal responsibility
But comparing it with passive smoking—isn’t that a little exaggerated? And aren’t we being patronised a bit too much? No more drinking in the presence of children, no more treating colleagues to cake at the office—isn’t this a case of ‘personal responsibility’? Obesity is a disease, and being overweight is a growing problem in our society. But are people helped by keeping the ‘problem treats’ completely away from them? When you walk through the supermarket, you pass the pastry section anyway, don’t you?
Treats that make you happy
After the commotion that arose over passive smoking when eating office cake, the FSA and Susan fortunately spoke out once more. ‘Comments made by Professor Susan Jebb in an article for The Times were made in a personal capacity and in no way reflect “current or planned FSA policy.”’
Fortunately, because I believe you should mainly treat people to things that make you happy yourself. Not things imposed from above. Is that carrots with hummus? Then I’ll happily eat them on your birthday. But cake lovers should just as well be able to treat colleagues to their favourite Red Velvet Cake, even if it doesn’t quite fit into the Dutch Wheel of Five. Of course, you can always politely decline.
Also read:
- Man challenges his dismissal for not being sociable and wins court case against employer
- A quarter of working Dutch people find their colleagues disgusting
- 13x cakes for the colleague you’re glad to see the back of
Source: AD, New Food Magazine
