Working in an office filled with twenty-something, internet-savvy women can be the most entertaining and fabulous of all work environments. There’s a shared appreciation for the cultural pillar that is Love Island; someone will always tell you when you smudge lipstick on your teeth, and there’s always a handy bottle of balsamic vinegar hanging around somewhere. I’ve spent most of my professional career surrounded by women tapping away at keyboards and for the most part, I’ve loved it. Since becoming ill with anorexia and later re-entering the workplace, however, my attention is now somewhat heightened to the perhaps, more destructive, elements of ‘girl chat’.
Thankfully the women I work with these days are pretty kick-ass and couldn’t give a shit about the number of calories in the seven boxes of Pizza Express’s finest we regularly get delivered to the office. As for my former colleagues; well, let’s just say they liked to think they knew a lot about a lot when in actual fact, they knew very little. I can recall several occasions when I’d listen to well-meaning friends and colleagues deconstruct the contents of their lunchtime Tupperware box; providing justifications for teaspoons of salad dressing. They’d kindly inform that they were steering clear of “refined” sugar for a few months – despite the fact that I never asked, or cared for that matter. Although I myself wasn’t immediately applying such rules to my own diet, the faint nuggets of “nutrition advice” were now a permanent fixture in my brain, and would later rear their ugly heads to cause me some serious, serious damage.
In a bid to investigate if others have fallen victim to the same conversational drivel, I called upon a handful of my wonderful, well-spoken pals – most of whom have struggled with their eating behaviours at some point – to recall some of the pearls of wankerdom that they’ve come across over the years.
Special thanks to Dave Chawner, Pixie Turner, Laura Thomas, Georgia Bowen Evans, Nafisah Atcha , Maxine Ali and of course, Laura Dennison.
Where I currently work I moved in to the area about 4 months ago. The team next to me that are in a few times a week discuss their eating every time they see each other: they either talk about what calories are in something/ whether they’ve been good/ bad/ what exercise they’ve done and it goes round in circles and mainly it’s about calories. I really feel like shouting at them to say there’s more to life than calories. Are you gonna Eat the cake and shut up or just don’t eat it and don’t mention calories! Drives me insane. Especially as I have been a yo yo dieter and easily influenced to try another if someone else is doing one and getting sucked in to diet talk. I either now go for a walk or stick my head phones in before i am really to blow