At Work teams face nutritional choices, challenges together

Two weeks into the Fittest Loser at Work Challenge, the teams have learned the biggest challenge they face is making solid nutritional choices, all day, every day.

That's tough when the average American faces more than 200 food-related decisions every day.

Surrounded by diverse culinary offerings and armed with new awareness, At Work team members set out to sort through all the choices and learn more about nutrition.

Team Beauties and the Beast members were surprised once they started studying nutritional labels, especially at the amount of sodium in food they thought was healthy.

Member Betty Berngard plans to simmer more homemade soup, while Stephanie Sherrod is watching serving sizes and Kim Holm has agreed to taste test kale smoothies.

Team Straight Outta CellTrak in Schaumburg transformed their office lunchroom into produce nirvana.

This makeover includes a veggie-stuffed fridge, cupboards stocked with protein powder and blenders to make nutritional magic come to life. In addition to reading nutritional labels, this team journals food choices and bid farewell to beloved pizza.

Straight Outta CellTrak focuses on team spirit, sharing and cooperation in an effort not just to survive, but thrive, at the office. Navigating their food decisions, this group relies on a 4S plan: sledgehammer bad habits, support one another, share nutritional knowledge and start the day with a fitness strategy. New foods on their menus include quinoa (hold the rice), yam noodles sampled by member Kym Malkin and awesome stuffed green pepper soup from Mark Miller.

Team Elmhurst Waist Management tossed processed foods packed with sodium and carbohydrates to the curb.

Team members are spending weekend time planning nutritious meals, which also gives them a chance to rope in family members and teach kids healthy nutrition.

One team member relies on broiled fish and meats to set the good food foundation for meals. The recipe for success continues with choosing organic produce when available and watching those portion sizes.

Team Wildcat Warriors from Wheeling High School came to the realization that the group was consuming way too many carbohydrates. They now know that paying attention to food labels and putting in time to understand what that information truly means will give them the results they signed up for.

This group remains dedicated to turn their strong determination into quality nutritional decisions. They know weekends pose challenges, but with support from family and co-workers, they are pushing ahead.

Your At-Work Challenge quote of the week: “It's not how you start, but how you finish that matters.”