In news designed to terrify women, screaming, tenner aloft, towards a spin instructor/Zumba shimmier, it was ‘revealed’ last week ‘average women’ consume 100,000 calories a year, snacking at work.
100,000! That’s, like, huge! Disgusting! We’re basically those humans in Wall
Wrong. Just because you work at a desk, doesn’t mean this applies to you, every day. And 100,000 sounds terrifying, but broken down, it’s not totally catastrophic – in fact, it’s a joyful little treat-sized number. We snack a lot at work – and I didn't put on 52lbs (three and a half stone) last year. Because I’m a person in context, not a stat. We’re lucky enough to get lots of goodies sent to us here at Grazia, but I did not last year (as the survey claims) enjoy 90 slices of cake, 45 doughnuts and 45 cupcakes… less than a third of the list apparently consumed by ‘average women’.
What I did enjoy was the odd snack-and-chat with my hard-working colleagues, bonding over debates about the best biscuit, treating them to their favourite dark chocolate when they’d had a tough day, making friends by sharing crisps I’d been sent in.
And loathe as I am to give this survey any credit, in this time where everything from milk to breathing wrong is ‘bad for you’, it’s heartwarming ‘average women’ are ignoring the wellness noise and enjoying an elevenses with our friends.
The survey was carried out by low-cal snack company Kallø – for 425 cals, you could eat 14 of their lightly salted rice cakes. I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d opt for 94g of my favourite M&S Crunchy Combo Mix, 200g of Green & Blacks or three and a half glasses of rosé (yes at work… what?).
And, unlike a quarter of the women surveyed, I won’t feel bad about myself.