my employees’ juice cleanses are disrupting their work

by Alison Green on January 14, 2025

A reader writes:

I manage a team of five. One of my staff, Helen, does some variation of a week-long juice cleanse or other liquid diet about once per year, and has for the four years she has been on my team. During that week each time, she arrives late or leaves early for three to four days due to headache, dizziness, or generally feeling crummy.

Helen is a highly reliable employee the rest of the year and rarely gets sick. It’s not a terribly busy time of year, and she finishes all required tasks in that week during her cleanse. As a result, I’ve never raised the issue, figuring “her body, her choice” as long as she gets the work done and/or notifies me that she will be using sick leave and needs someone to help out on a project.

This month, however, she wrangled another person on my team (Pearl) to join the cleanse, too. In the last four days, one or both of them have arrived late or left early every day due to some variant of feeling crummy. Pearl is less reliable and efficient than Helen, causing a slight backlog of tasks this week. They are trying to convince someone on the next team over that she should participate.

I worry about next year having multiple staff feeling poorly, at the same time, and intentionally. This seems different to me than when a nasty cold hits several people in the office over the course of two weeks—this is planned and synchronized.

I do not want to become the sick-leave police. But I also feel like these employees are not coming to work prepared to do their jobs, for several days in a row. Is there a reasonable way to approach this?

I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

You may also like:
{ 126 comments }

{ 126 comments… read them below or add one }

  1. Archi-detect*

    I thought her work was suffering too, and it was just more noticeable with 40% of the staff doing it instead of 20%, no?

    Reply ↓
    1. Silver Robin*

      Regarding Helen: “she finishes all required tasks in that week during her cleanse”. She is just not present as consistently and is clearly feeling unwell. Since that does not prevent her from doing her work, LW, rightfully, leaves her alone about it. And the advice is to continue leaving her alone about it.

      Reply ↓
    2. CityMouse*

      If someone’s a high performer most of the time, you’re also going to notice, but not get upset when they have a week where their performance is just average.

      Reply ↓
      1. Starbuck*

        Yes if she was just getting the flu or something once a year, that surely would be understandable and raise no issues. If she simply hadn’t mentioned that it was a juice cleanse and that she was just ill (or even imagine if she said the juices were to help while she was sick, whatever) it would still be a non-issue in any reasonable workplace.

        Reply ↓
        1. Elan Morin Tedronai*

          If you’ve tried a juice cleanse before, the word “shard” might actually be quite apt. Just saying… >.<

          Reply ↓
    4. AlsoADHD*

      Sounds more like her work comes down to a standard quality from high (which is generally acceptable—one way to run off your high performers is to nitpick and expect high performance 100% even when they’re doing good work, but less/slight dip) and she still gets it all done.

      Reply ↓
        1. Goldenrod*

          Great link!

          I knew someone with this years ago. He clearly had disordered eating, but there was no word for it at the time.

          Reply ↓
      1. Archi-detect*

        I agree, it is a short reset not an obsession. I put it under goofy nonsense at worst, but that is a me issue not a her issue. I would never try to undermine it, fliers or otherwise

        Reply ↓
      2. JP*

        Absent any other disordered eating, one juice cleanse a year does not indicate that a person suffers from orthorexia.

        But, juice cleanses are an almost textbook example of the type of restrictive dieting associated with orthorexia.

        Reply ↓
        1. I'm just here for the cats!!*

          I agree that someone doing a juice cleanse once a year, with no other outside signs of ED concerns does not fall into an orthorexia diagnosis. However, it is something to keep an eye on that if Helen or Pearl keeps bringing it up in conversation or tries to make others join them. Then they should be told to stop talking about their cleanse or making people join them because the do not know peoples medical issues and it makes people uncomfortable.

          Reply ↓
      3. Goldenrod*

        I low-key disagree, but I guess it depends what kind of cleanse. There are some where you are practically starving, which I would classify as borderline disordered eating.

        Agree that the context makes a difference, though.

        Reply ↓
        1. Drago Cucina*

          Bad flashback to an aunt chastising me because I added lemon juice to my water. It was my Lenten practice on Fridays to abstain from tea, soda, alcohol. She wasn’t Catholic. Just insisted that it wasn’t a good cleanse.

          I’ve adjusted to one caffeine drink in the mornings because I like people too much to subject them to my cranky self :-) It’s supposed to be my discipline, not their penance.

          Reply ↓
      4. Moose*

        And even if it did, nobody ever recovered from an eating disorder by coming across passive-aggressively scattered pamphlets at their work. It’s the type of action that literally helps nobody but does make the person doing it feel superior.

        Reply ↓
    4. ubotie*

      Nope, not appropriate. It’s weird how a website obsessed with “my boss/coworkers have no right to ever comment on my life ever!” and “my health!! my privacy!!!” seems to have no qualms about going all Mean Girls about Helen just because they don’t like this particular thing she’s doing with her body.

      Reply ↓
    1. Double A*

      The idea is you feel crummy during it and feel better after; exercise doesn’t always feel great while you’re doing it, especially if you’re just starting, but the long term effects are beneficial.

      (I’m not saying this is actually true of a cleanse, I’m just explaining the logic).

      Reply ↓
      1. CityMouse*

        You have to file stuff like this under “not what I would do but not my business and not something I should interfere on”. I personally don’t believe the touted benefits are supported by evidence, but it’s also unlikely to cause harm done once a year.

        So LW’s focus has to land on work performance, not on the activity.

        Reply ↓
        1. I Have RBF*

          Sucking your coworkers into what is basically a “health fad” of unproven effectiveness is not a good thing, IMO. I don’t know what the right way to discourage this is, but I would hate to be in an office where a coworker was “encouraging” me or others to “do a cleanse” or some other diet crap. I would get angry the second time it was mentioned.

          Reply ↓
          1. AlsoADHD*

            Sharing your experience and why you do it isn’t necessarily “sucking” people in though. If Helen is pressing anyone to do it, that’s messed up, but otherwise it’s not much different than sharing anything else, since it doesn’t sound actively harmful health wise.

            Reply ↓
  4. Generic Name*

    I don’t know why, but I find this kindof hilarious. I had to do what you could call a jello/juice/broth cleanse to prep for a colonoscopy. The person scheduling the appointment and giving me instructions for the prep said I could work as normal during the prep day (you don’t start taking the meds until 5 pm), which I thought was absurd. I took 2 days off for the procedure because no way would I be able to be a functional/pleasant coworker not eating for an entire day. I can’t imagine only having juice for an entire week.

    Reply ↓
      1. The Formatting Queen*

        Well, usually you don’t actually start the meds until later in the afternoon (for me it was 3pm, Generic Name says they started at 5pm), so the impact for most of the workday is “just” hunger and grumpiness. I was able to manage just fine since half the time I forget to eat lunch anyway, but everyone is different and it makes sense some will take the prep day off too!

        Reply ↓
        1. jane's nemesis*

          I started having intestinal disruptions much earlier in the day before I started the meds! Just drinking the clear fluids only after a week of low fiber sent my digestion into a tailspin. Everyone’s bodies are different. Luckily I work from home so I was able to work that day before the colonoscopy, but I think next time I’ll take it off just so I can lay about and be miserable lol

          Reply ↓
    2. FricketyFrack*

      Same. I had a bisalp a couple of years ago and was last on the surgery schedule, but they told me to stop eating at 8pm the night before (or thereabouts) in case an earlier slot opened up. It was an absolutely miserable day and I was probably kind of a jerk because I was so hangry. I would never do a juice cleanse for a lot of reasons, but I definitely wouldn’t do one and try to work.

      Reply ↓
      1. Slow Gin Lizz*

        I once made the mistake of having an early dinner the night before a surgery. I was scheduled later in the day and because the surgery had to happen at exactly the right time of day there was no chance it’d be moved up earlier in the day. My mistake was that I had dinner so early and then didn’t have a snack later that evening – I was supposed to not eat anything after midnight, like a gremlin. But instead I went a full 24 hours without food and I was SO hangry before the surgery; I was even mad at myself for being so mad at everyone else.

        Anyway, I get that OP doesn’t want so many people out sick for something they can control. It’d be one thing if they both got the flu at the same time, or even if they had to have pre-planned surgery and they both had appointments in the same week (because scheduling surgery is such a PITA I think you have to allow people to schedule it when they can get an appt), but for this kind of planned health thing…Pearl needs to be aware that she can’t go doing this if her work is going to be sub-par.

        Reply ↓
        1. coffee*

          This is definitely not me asking you to share any health information (please do not feel any pressure!!) – that said, I’m fascinated that you had a surgery that had to happen at a particular time. How interesting.

          Reply ↓
    3. Samwise*

      I take off the day of and the next morning, then work remotely.

      It’s not that hard to not eat for a day or so. Or rather, I don’t find it that hard. It’s somewhat distracting. Now, I would not want to be at work once I start taking the meds — that’s strictly a be close to a toilet situation.x

      Reply ↓
    4. Turquoisecow*

      Yeah husband tried to work as normal (from home) the day before while doing the prep and regretted it because not eating makes you tired and miserable, surprise.

      Reply ↓
    6. Thinkerdoodle*

      Everyone is different but taking a day off just because of hunger seems absurd to me personally. I have to get colonoscopies yearly and I just take the day off the procedure off unless of course I have to start the prep early. I don’t find the hunger that bad—working distracts from it. But people should definitely do what they need to do to be functional.

      Reply ↓
  5. Richard Hershberger*

    I don’t know what a juice cleanse actually is. I am hoping no one tells me, leaving it to my imagination

    Reply ↓
      2. Strive to Excel*

        The one thing I will grant juice cleanses – and it’s not a big thing – is that a lot of people do not drink enough water or other liquids. Having a big boost of how much liquid is in your system might contribute to why people perceive they feel better.

        It’s still quackery.

        Reply ↓
    2. the Juice Janitor*

      It’s a nice volunteer thing, people bring in their dirty juice and then have hobbyists like the LW clean it for them. She must be running herself ragged with all the juice she’s cleaning, but hey, I’m not here to yuck anybody else’s yums.

      Reply ↓
      1. H.Regalis*

        I like this fantasy version. I’m picturing a free spay-and-neuter clinic, but with a queue of people holding giant containers of juice.

        Reply ↓
        1. Strive to Excel*

          I don’t know if there’s any parts of the world where unpasterized fruit juice is a significant issue, but this would be a nice interpretation! Making food safer for people to eat is always good.

          Reply ↓
    3. Amber Rose*

      Obviously it’s when you use juice instead of body wash. The poor health/work habits are because of the ant infestations.

      Reply ↓
      1. Starbuck*

        Though the equally quacky practice of putting various cleanses (including coffee) in the opposite end has a very long and storied history as well!

        Reply ↓
    5. Web of Pies*

      You stop eating solid food and only consume (usually) very sugary juices. You feel like garbage because you’re not eating and also getting sugar highs and crashes all day.

      The “Master Cleanse” one is water, lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne. I tried it twice in college, it sucks.

      My opinion is that a lot of people use ‘cleanse’ as a mask for “I’mma just crash diet but I also want points for ‘being healthy’.” If people are trying to break bad eating habits, I think intermittent fasting and/or more mindfulness around food is a much better route.

      Reply ↓
        1. Web of Pies*

          Not to mention your teeth feel constantly fuzzy because of the maple syrup and lemon onslaught. 0/10 not recommended!

          Reply ↓
      2. Emily Byrd Starr*

        Ah, yes, the Master Cleanse. The character Sue Sylvester on “Glee” claimed to have invented them. I had no idea that they were a real thing- they sound so bizarre that it’s totally something I would expect the writers of a comedy TV show to come up with.

        Reply ↓
      3. fallingleavesofnovember*

        The Maintenance Phase podcast did an episode on the Master Cleanse (if you’re not familiar with the podcast, their whole thing is critiquing wellness and diet trends)

        Reply ↓
  6. Snarkus Aurelius*

    Anybody remember Virginia’s former First Lady Maureen McDonnell? During her husband’s trial, her staff’s emails were released. Apparently anytime she was on a juice cleanse, everyone steered clear of her. Low blood sugar will bring out the rage.

    Also you don’t need to cleanse at all because your colon and kidneys do it for you, but whatever.

    Reply ↓
    1. JMC*

      I wonder if anyone thought about people with a chronic illness, like diabetes, where doing just a juice cleanse could really whack out blood sugars. Not a good idea.

      Reply ↓
        1. boof*

          This is is veering off topic but, while perhaps not something a stranger on the internet could or should ever totally address – my experience is it varies wildly – especially juice is often perceived as “healthy” and not really realizing it’s all simple carbs.

          Reply ↓
    2. Slow Gin Lizz*

      Yup, it’s a nice PSA to get it out there that if you really feel that a cleanse works for you, go ahead and do it, but there are precisely zero actual health benefits from it. It’s all placebo effect/psychological. And hey, making yourself feel better mentally is absolutely valid, but you’re not flushing out toxins or cleaning out your bowels or whatever, your body can do all that even if you keep ingesting solid food.

      Reply ↓
    3. Coffee Protein Drink*

      I don’t remember hearing about Maureen McDonnell, but I’m not surprised about the comment. An unstable blood sugar is just one of the risks of doing a juice cleanse.

      Reply ↓
  7. CRM*

    Is it possible that she was relying on Pearl or someone else to help get her work done during these cleanses, and now someone who isnt participating in the cleanse is dealing with a higher workload?

    Reply ↓
    1. HonorBox*

      As I noted below, this isn’t dissimilar to managing time off requests. It might not work well on a team of five to have two or three people out the same time for vacation.

      Reply ↓
      1. Smithy*

        Yeah – in offices where a majority or significant minority observe Ramadan – there’s an adjustment to recognized that productivity or output may be changed. In different countries, workplaces, etc – they address this differently – but it’s done with an understanding that so many people changing both their sleep schedule as well as eating, drinking and smoking inevitably impacts work.

        Reply ↓
    2. I'm just here for the cats!!*

      I don’t see how that could be the case. The OP says Helen is a “highly reliable employee” and gets all of her tasks done even during the week of the cleanse. They say that Pearl is less reliable and efficient. So to me it sounds like the issue with Pearl is ongoing and is exasperated by being sick during the cleanse.

      Reply ↓
  8. HonorBox*

    I think you need to address Pearl because if the choice to do the cleanse (or any activity) is adversely affecting her work, you have a right to say something. Just like the example of staying up too late reading… if an employee is tired, falling asleep at their desk, leaving early, coming in late… it is impacting their work and that’s an outside activity that you can definitely discuss.

    I think a chat with Helen is warranted, too. She’s been able to cover her work even with some absence during her cleanse week, and that’s awesome. But I think you can certainly let her know that a) she’s not a medical professional and should be conscious of offering health advice to others and b) because others may not be able to balance the cleanse and work the same way as she, you don’t want her advocating for others to join her in doing that the same week. Just as you might need to govern time off requests with a small team a little more than you would with a larger team, you need to be able to ensure you have proper coverage to get work done.

    Reply ↓
    1. AnReAr*

      Yeah, it really doesn’t feel unreasonable to ask that they stagger their cleanse weeks. While the commiseration is probably great, especially at lunch time, maybe they could instead focus their group bonding activity on the non-cleansers of the week helping out more with daily tasks or whatever the current cleanser doesn’t have energy for.

      … That word really feels weird to use as a pronoun.

      Reply ↓
      1. HalJordan*

        Agreed on the staggering–it’s sort of like “I’ll be out for planned minor elective surgery”. Ideally that wouldn’t happen at the same time, though if it did–surgeon’s schedules are what they are. Cleansing, though, has nobody else’s schedule to think of, and isn’t a religious fast in this instance.

        (I think you just mean that ‘cleanser’ and ‘non-cleanser’ are weird words though–which very much yes–not *weird to use as pronouns*. They’re both nouns, just like ‘actor’ or ‘wife’, or ‘person doing a cleanse’ (which would be a noun phrase). Pronouns replace nouns, not names.)

        Reply ↓
      2. MigraineMonth*

        Yeah, it seems more natural to call them “cleaners”, but “juice cleaners” has a very different connotation.

        Reply ↓
  9. Heidi*

    “They are trying to convince someone on the next team over that she should participate.” I might push back against pressuring other people to join. I wouldn’t have a problem telling Pearl and Helen to buzz off, but I know people who are too polite for that and will suffer through a cleanse they never wanted.

    Reply ↓
    1. jess*

      I don’t think an employer needs to be a nanny, though, to make sure that no employee is ever exposed to a coworker’s suggestion that they try a diet that may not be healthy for them. Employees need to have some individual responsibility to say “no thanks” or “hm I’ll look into it.”

      Reply ↓
      1. Bast*

        I think it depends how persistent they are in trying to recruit others and how disruptive it is to office life. I recall a letter awhile back that I believe was someone going on some type of diet and harassing the other employees to join in. It was consuming work conversation, employees felt harassed/bothered by it, and the person couldn’t seem to take a “no thanks” and leave it be.

        Reply ↓
      2. HonorBox*

        I’ve been on a team of this size, and have been in situations in which two or three of five are all in on something. That makes the peer pressure harder to stand up against.

        This isn’t pressure to join a lunchtime book group or a crochet club. This is something that has more serious impacts, and I don’t think it is unreasonable to tell people that pressuring people in any way to make health-related decisions is not going to be tolerated. I hate even thinking about the litigious nature of people, but what happens if the next person has a very bad reaction and ends up hospitalized or severely harmed?

        Reply ↓
        1. I Have RBF*

          IMO, it’s just plain rude to be evangelizing any sort of diet thing at work. What may be fine for one person could send a vulnerable coworker into a peer-pressure induced eating disorder. I know when I get around a gaggle of “health pushers” of any sort (diet or exercise) I am severely uncomfortable because my health issues are not a group project, and I resent the peer pressure to participate in stuff that is harmful to me.

          Reply ↓
  10. Alice*

    “different to me than when a nasty cold hits several people in the office over the course of two weeks”
    At least with the juice cleanse, people are choosing to do it or not.
    When a nasty cold hits several people in the offie sequentially, it’s a clue that maybe the company should offer more sick time or more WFH flexibility, increase the frequency of surface cleaning, and improve the office’s ventilation/air filtration set up.
    The good news is that as a manager you may be able to bring about some improvements on those points. Good luck!

    Reply ↓
    1. Strive to Excel*

      Sometimes a nasty cold just spreads – someone comes in before they realize they’re contagious and everyone comes down with the sniffles. Or everyone has kids in the same district. Right after the COVID lockdowns started to life a strain of flu went through the local district and got absolutely everyone.

      But for something you pre-plan for? I would absolutely rule that at minimum everyone can’t do it at once.

      Reply ↓
      1. Work Bestie*

        You can’t just tell people they can’t eat what they want because it inconveniences you. This cleanse does not seem like a long term issue, its one week a year and people are getting work done, just not at the same quality they do the other 51 weeks of the year. This is different than managing PTO, since PTO is allowing people to not come to work, not deciding when and what people are allowed to eat or what heath fads they can engage in. If it were my staff I would just resign myself to a lower productivity that week and address work issues as they come up.

        Reply ↓
        1. HonorBox*

          But people AREN’T getting their work done. Helen is, but Pearl is not. LW has actively not said anything to Helen because she’s handled things well before and even when she’s absent, her stuff is done. This has nothing to do with telling people what they eat. It isn’t telling people they can’t engage in a health fad. If Pearl was acting in a community theater performance and in the week leading up to performances, she was leaving early and not getting her work done, LW could definitely tell her that doesn’t work in the future.

          I don’t think that LW needs to tell them they can’t do the cleanse. Rather, they need to not do them the same week so there’s appropriate coverage AND Pearl needs to know that if she does it in the future, it can’t adversely impact work.

          Reply ↓
          1. Work Bestie*

            Again you are advising the OP to dictate when people can diet, how would you enforce that – I didn’t see you eat a sandwich today so you’re on a PIP. And according to the OP there is only a “slight” backlog is Pearl’s performance. Pearl is working, but there is a very temporary decline in her production. If she was in a play and leaving early or her work was slightly backed up for ONE week, I would also advocate letting it go. There are often times when the company might need volunteers or people to step up in crunch time; its better to build goodwill and respect from your employees for times like these than police people personal. Sometimes personal lives can’t only happen after 5pm and sometimes people feel crappy whether they chose to or not.

            Reply ↓
            2. Emily Byrd Starr*

              You wouldn’t need to enforce it unless you noticed that their work was suffering because of the juice cleanse.

              Reply ↓
        2. Strive to Excel*

          Yeah, that’s fair – in retrospect I wouldn’t tell them to time things. That said, I’d still talk to Pearl. Depending on how reliable an employee she is, I would probably let her know that if she cannot complete all her work in a timely manner the office expectation is to take PTO for leaving early/coming in late. A team of 5 people absolutely feels it when 2 people are moving less effectively, even if one of them is still meeting benchmarks, and letting people dip like that for a purely optional activity is iffy to me.

          Reply ↓
      2. Alice*

        People used to think that cholera and typhoid “just spread.” Then they thought “ok, it spreads via dirty water, but cleaning the water is just too expensive and difficult.” But now, it’s national news if people in the US get waterborne diseases. It reminds us that progress is possible!

        Reply ↓
  11. Skippy.*

    I think the OP should shut down advocating personal health & nutrition behaviors at work! I would tell my staff to cut it out if they were trying to convince each other to be vegetarian or gluten-free or do crossfit or diet or take supplements or avoid vaccinations together–it’s inappropriate to lobby your colleagues about this stuff. Yeesh, imagine being one of the many many people recovering from an eating disorder and having to sit through this nonsense every day.

    Reply ↓
      1. JB (not in Houston)*

        Sounds like the OP says it is? They are lobbying another person to join them. They really shouldn’t be doing that. They can talk about what they do, but they shouldn’t try to talk someone else into doing it.

        Reply ↓
      2. MigraineMonth*

        It sounds like Helen convinced Pearl to do it with her, and now the two of them are actively trying to convince another person to join them. It’s hard to tell just from that how pervasive diet/health/nutrition talk is, but that would be considered very odd in my most recent workplace.

        The workplace before that was a toxic mess where we were required to listen to nutrition advice such as “you should really be eating meat like bacon at least 3 times a day”, so obviously there’s a range.

        Reply ↓
    2. I Have RBF*

      This.

      I don’t think the workplace is the right place to be evangelizing your health choices. I know that I get really irritated when that stuff happens around me. My “health” is between me and my doctor(s). I shouldn’t have to put up with that crap at work.

      Helen cajoling Pearl into joining her on her “juice cleanse” has crossed a line, IMO.

      Reply ↓
  12. Anon2025*

    Is it weird to see “her body, her choice” applied to juice cleanses? It feels a little weird to be using that phrasing for this.

    Reply ↓
    1. jess*

      I think it’s meant quite literally here. I don’t think it’s meant to trivialize reproductive rights, i think it just means that the boss understands that the employees should be free to make their own decisions about diet, health, exercise, medication, etc.

      Reply ↓
    2. Silver Robin*

      I get the weird, the scale feels completely off. But, I also personally see “her body, her choice” to be about autonomy writ large. Yes, it started with reproductive choice, but the vehemence with which that is controlled is the same thing behind women/femmes/femininity being judged for juice cleanses, or clothing choices, or literally anything we do with our bodies. Feminine autonomy is not considered worth respecting. The slogan reminds us of the value of that autonomy and using it is a way to retrain ourselves not to undermine it, even if we think that person is doing something silly.

      Reply ↓
        1. Silver Robin*

          I am not sure what you are responding to? I was giving my reasoning for why using “her body, her choice” still applies in this situation even if we are used to seeing it relating to reproductive justice because Anon2025 felt weird about the LW using it.

          Reply ↓
  13. MissMuffett*

    I wonder how much time is lost to them talking about this, because everyone I know who ever does a cleanse is making sure EVERYONE knows about it!

    Reply ↓
    1. Pizza Rat*

      I’ve run into cleanse evangelists too, complete with pamphlets and free tea bags.

      The ingredients on the tea bags, as you can imagine, were stimulants and senna leaf.

      Reply ↓
  14. Boss Scaggs*

    If this is only one week per year my advice would be to stay out of it. Meddling in your employees’ diets isn’t likely to go well

    Reply ↓
    1. HonorBox*

      It isn’t meddling in diets. This is managing. LW has not said anything to Helen for four years because Helen gets her work done. Pearl is not. And while that has to do with the diet, LW can very easily say that work needs to be done and accounted for. If Pearl was acting in a community play and not getting her work done, the conversation could be the same.

      Reply ↓
      1. Boss Scaggs*

        Yes but it’s the “not getting her work done” that should be discussed, not whether she’s drinking juice or not

        Reply ↓
        1. HonorBox*

          The diet is the reason she’s not getting her work done. So while LW shouldn’t say, “Don’t do the juice cleanse ever again” they can absolutely say “While you’re doing this, I know you might not be feeling 100%, but I still need you to have your work done.”

          Using my other example, if someone is in community theater, if LW tells them they have no problem with leaving early for tech and dress rehearsals and performances, but they have to have their work done. They’re not telling someone they can’t act. They’re just saying that the outside thing can’t impact work product.

          Reply ↓
    2. Peanut Hamper*

      I’m wondering if you read the advice, because that was pretty much it. You can’t tell them they they can’t go on a cleanse, but that they need to do it in a way that doesn’t seriously impact their work.

      Reply ↓
  15. Bob*

    juice cleanses are hilarious “Sure I feel bad during it, but great after I finish” oh really? you feel better once you stop starving yourself?
    It like the old wives tale that having a hot shower stops sunburn.

    Reply ↓
    1. Bulu Babi*

      When I get home and drop the heavy rucksack and uncomfortable shoes, it feels so good! I must be doing something with my healthy “heavy bag and high heels” routine. /sarcasm

      Reply ↓
      1. Starbuck*

        Is this how everyone approaches exercise? It should be fun while you’re doing it! I have a lot of fun biking, roller skating, dancing etc. If you are doing exercise that is just miserable then yeah, maybe switch it up! You don’t have to suffer.

        Reply ↓
        1. boof*

          Agree – it should feel okay while doing it + sure, often there are endorphins and good vibes after too! That is a bit different than feeling good because of the relief of discomfort XD

          Reply ↓
  16. Work Bestie*

    We have a similar issue every year around Ramadan. Since most of my employees not exempt from the practice (pilots, pregnant women, emergency workers, etc.) we usually have roughly 10-15 precent of our staff fasting. While I have not noticed much reduction in work quality, the mood in the office is usually a little more…tense. I do not think three of four people doing a juice cleanse for a week is really something that needs to be handled. Employees are people and as long as its not a long-term problem just let it be (and mostlikey once will be enough for most people)

    Reply ↓
    1. HonorBox*

      Tense is one thing. Not getting stuff done is another.

      And I think we need to remember that LW has said nothing to Helen for four years because while Helen feels crummy and might not be in as much, Helen is still getting her work done. The question is about Pearl and not getting stuff done.

      Reply ↓
      1. Work Bestie*

        I still don’t think it warrants addressing. There are thousands of reasons people do not operate at their best throughout the year, self inflicted or not. I know I have had many weeks over the decades, where a boss could have called me out, but their grace for my different situations (good and bad) was always appreciated. If this was an ongoing or weeks long issue with Pearl then I would suggest more heavy involvement, but its a temporary decline in her work.

        Reply ↓
  17. Qest*

    I don`t understand why they feel so bad during that cleanse.
    I mean, they drink calories, how bad could that be?
    My H does a water only fast every spring for 10-21 days, while physically active.
    If people feel bad during a cleanse, the execution of it is not optimal.
    Sometimes even changing the start date to the weekend can help, so yes, I would say something.
    Lighthearted, friendly, but I would say some, because people do not automatically connect the dots when in this while from the outside you can.
    I mean, if some body/breath odor, often a result of fasts, happens, they would want to know too, right?

    Reply ↓
    2. Raida*

      It can be they are at a caloric deficit.

      And it can be that they have gone cold turkey on everything they didn’t realise their body/brain craved and it takes a couple of weeks to adjust:

      Caffeine, alcohol, salt, fats.
      Plus the things that gave them a dopamine hit along with sugar like desserts, starbucks, boba, etc.

      It is absolutely possible to have nothing but juice (and soups in some versions) and feel fine. But it’s the adjustment and the possible caloric deficit that hits up front, as opposed to a consistent, everyday diet where it’s bedded in. Human bodies are great at adjusting, it’s the adjustment period where everything sucks the most… (right up until the “my hair is falling out, holy shit everything is slightly wrong wtf” period if the diet has been lacking in needs – which can take a surprisingly long time to happen, and snowball.)

      Reply ↓
    3. MigraineMonth*

      Some people’s moods (and energy levels) are strongly affected by blood sugar levels. I would not be a good candidate for fasting because I get cranky and lightheaded when they haven’t eaten recently. I’m also physically dependent on caffeine, so I’d get withdrawal headaches.

      Others are probably distracted from work because their bodies are sending a constant signal that they’re *beginning to starve and should do something about that immediately* instead of filling out spreadsheets.

      Particularly if the juices contain a lot of fructose, there’s also the issue of repeated sugar crashes and the fact that the intestinal tract is accustomed to… well… food. This can cause diarrhea, which is not fun.

      Being able to do a 10 to 21 day water-only fast without negative side effects like fatigue, headaches, digestive issues, weakness, fainting or hunger is extremely unusual.

      Reply ↓
  18. DJ*

    This is why more workplaces need flexible hours. So that staff can come in later or leave earlier during rough times. And have worked up the hours and gotten ahead with work so there’s little to no backlog. Or be able to do extra hours afterwards to clear the backlog!

    Reply ↓
    1. Raida*

      Absolutely! We’ve got a few people on our floor that fast for Ramadan, two of them build up some flex the month before to work shorter, more productive days during the period.

      Reply ↓
  19. Emily Byrd Starr*

    If the supposedly “healthy” thing that you’re doing is making you so uncomfortable and miserable that it affects your performance at work, then it’s probably not a great idea to do it.

    Reply ↓
  20. Raida*

    If you are going to do something that reduces your available work hours, and it’s planned 11.5 months ahead, you can help plan the workload management at the time.

    Look up best practises for managing staff fasting for Ramadan, and then tweak it to be clear since this is not a religious right.

    Maybe they could build up flex time and do half days, but they can’t just spread the “we work less hours and less well for a week” with no management oversight in place of just… eating better all the time?

    Reply ↓
  21. Jennifer Juniper*

    Those juice cleanses are ridiculous. Your body is a self-cleansing organ unless there’s something seriously wrong (like liver failure).

    Reply ↓
  22. Lisa Simpson*

    I temped at a startup (maybe 20 people?) where probably half the office banded together and did a cleanse. It was not a healthy environment. Pressuring people to do the cleanse, talking about how healthy the cleanse was going to make them, complaining about how miserable they felt, etc., etc. It was bonkers and unhelpful.

    There were Serious Food Issues in that office and the cleanse just amplified them.

    Reply ↓
  23. January*

    Be careful using this script in California. If an employee has sick time saved it’s against the law to be disciplined over taking it.

    Reply ↓
    1. Peanut Hamper*

      I honestly think that’s the solution to this problem: take the entire day off, not just come in late or leave early. Then the entire office knows you’re not available (rather than just unreliable) and can plan accordingly.

      Reply ↓
  24. AmoretteA*

    Ah, the juice cleanse. One of those incredibly stupid “health” fads with no basis in scientific fact but people feel so virtuous and superior because they induced diarrhea for a week. I had a co-worker who was a big fan of these. Sadly, she died of a heart attack, at work, when she was only about 55 years old. No connection but I do think she made herself suffer for nothing.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Comment

Before you comment: Please be kind, stay on-topic, and follow the site's commenting rules.
You can report an ad, tech, or typo issue here.

Subscribe to all comments on this post by RSS