A retired Navy SEAL commander never accepts office snacks - and he says there's one food everyone should avoid at all costs

Echelon Front

Retired US Navy SEAL commander Jocko Willink.

• Jocko Willink is a retired US Navy SEAL commander whose latest book is a "field manual" for instilling discipline into your life.
• He said that donuts are the No. 1 food he avoids, due to their lack of nutritional value and their ubiquity in offices.
• He recommended making a habit of avoiding free food in your office.

It's Friday and your team had a great week. Your coworker brings in a box of a dozen donuts - glazed, chocolate, jelly, Boston cream.

"Donuts? Poison," retired US Navy SEAL commander Jocko Willink wrote in his book "Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual."

Business Insider interviewed him about the book, a collection of insights from his time in the SEALs and his leadership consulting firm Echelon Front, and he told us why he thinks it's important to bring discipline to your diet.

"I would say there are some foods that I strongly recommend that you do not eat," he said. "No. 1 on that list, I believe, is donuts. Comfort food. Zero value. Don't eat them."

While donuts come in plenty of varieties, the base of fried dough is high in fat, and about a half of that fat is saturated. In high doses, saturated fat is linked to heart disease, and a single donut can usually account for about a third of the recommended daily intake.

It's one of the ubiquitous office foods that you probably shouldn't be eating, at least regularly, and it's why Willink has made it a rule for himself to never accept free snacks.

He said that when people want to be nice - especially in office settings - they'll bring in some comfort food to their break rooms, but "They're actually sabotaging the health of their coworkers."

"So what do you do in those situations?" he said. "It's really easy. Don't eat. Don't eat the donuts. Don't eat the bagels. Don't eat the slab of pizza."

"We have food all around us all the time, and if we haven't eaten for three hours we think we're starving," he said. "You're not starving. Human beings can go for 30 days without food."

Either get something healthy or ignore the desire to consume a lump of fat and carbohydrates that will spike your blood sugar, he explained.

Skipping that donut will not kill you.