NG5 SHERWOOD JUNE/JULY 2021
Local business directory and community magazine
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Fifteen Years<br />
of Lunches<br />
Tale<br />
Fifteen years sharing an office (and lunch time) with<br />
these girls – what can I say? What goes on (or gets<br />
eaten) in the office stays in the office…or it did until<br />
now.<br />
Looking back at the last fifteen years a lot has<br />
changed. Babies have been born, pets have come<br />
(and gone), houses have been bought and sold, kids<br />
have flown the nest and then come back (grrrrr) but<br />
one thing has remained a constant. Our collective<br />
obsession with food and, no coincidence, but also our<br />
weight.<br />
Lunchtime at NG mags HQ is always midday. It’s the<br />
absolute earliest we can get away with, although Cat<br />
has been known to crack at 11.45. Then it becomes<br />
like feeding time at Twycross. Heads pop over desks<br />
like meerkats to see what everyone else is eating. The<br />
envy is palpable if you have a soggy, limp salad while<br />
across the desk someone is tucking into a cheese and<br />
ham toastie.<br />
Over the years our customers and contributors have<br />
treated us to burgers, pork pies, pizza, graze boxes,<br />
samosas, Indian wraps, cream cakes, cup cakes,<br />
strawberry cakes and the list goes on, but you get the<br />
picture. Food is a big part of our day.<br />
There was a point about eleven years ago when Cat<br />
was on maternity leave and Sarah and I totally lost the<br />
plot, creating huge lunches for each other every day.<br />
Toasted bagels, half a sharing pack of crisps each,<br />
salad, piles of couscous and hummus. At the time I<br />
genuinely couldn’t understand how I had managed to<br />
put a stone on in six months. It was all healthy stuff<br />
– apart from the crisps – but we had absolutely no<br />
portion control whatsoever.<br />
We finally came to our senses when neither of us could<br />
do our jeans up. But then, typical of us girls, we went<br />
completely the other way and jumped feet first into the<br />
5:2 diet. That was fun…not.<br />
For those not familiar with this diet, you eat normally<br />
5 days a week and on 2 days you limit your calorie<br />
intake to 500. That’s 500. For the whole day. Just a<br />
note about the definition of “normally”- for Gary (who<br />
I persuaded to join in as well) this meant a full-on fry<br />
up on “normal” days and a bottle of wine, although<br />
not at the same time. All in the name of research, you<br />
understand, to see if the diet would still work (it did).<br />
The novelty of trying to find anything tasty and filling<br />
with virtually no calories soon wore off. Even now, if I<br />
dare to mention cauliflower rice to Gary, he breaks out<br />
in a cold sweat and reaches for the takeaway menu.<br />
Not content with starving ourselves, we had to prove it.<br />
After watching a programme on the telly that showed<br />
us how to check whether our bodies were burning fat,<br />
we were straight on to Amazon ordering ketone sticks.<br />
You had to wee on the stick (a messy business) and<br />
wait to see what colour it went. That particular craze<br />
lasted about a week. I still have a pack of these sticks<br />
- a lasting reminder of how ridiculous we were!<br />
The next fad was a detox and sugar free diet. Sarah<br />
gave up after 35 minutes, complaining of a headache.<br />
The rest of us limped on for another few days before<br />
we all cracked, the sweet bag was ripped open and<br />
another diet bit the dust.<br />
The best idea we have ever had was our Wednesday<br />
lunch club. No fat free nonsense. No sugar free. No<br />
low calorie. Just homemade, healthy food.<br />
Although I have to say, even now we can tell you the<br />
calories in a double dipped chocolate toffee - and mild<br />
panic rippled through the office yesterday when we<br />
realised Sainsbury’s rice cakes had 10 more calories<br />
that the Asda ones. Old habits die hard!!<br />
© Ali Wale