Tips To Encourage Healthy Eating In Your Workplace Wellness Program

There’s a fine line between what you shouldn’t and should encourage your workforce to do. After all, you’re an important part of their everyday work life, therefore caring about their well-being is also your responsibility, but without traipsing too much into their personal life.

So, how would you encourage healthy eating amongst people? Here, we’ve come up with some ideas that will help you promote healthy eating habits in your workforce without imposing the things.

Encourage Company Cooking Lessons

This is an excellent option as it’s something different and fun that you can present as the section of your workplace wellness program. All you need to do is, bring in a cooking instructor who can teach your workforce a few healthy recipes once a month. This will not only boost excitement among your employees to learn more but will give them the means to make at least one healthy meal.

Organise A Healthy Potluck

Have you ever heard about a healthy potluck? Well, it works on the same concept of bringing home-made food in the workplace like fruits, salads, chicken etc and sharing it with each other. It is a great step for employees to stay healthy. It also offers an excellent opportunity to try new healthy & tasty recipes and share with your coworkers.

Educate About Nutrition

One of the biggest drawbacks of our country’s nutrition level is that very few people know how to read the nutrition label on the food packets. It is very important to know the ingredients and nutrion information for what you eat. You could get associated with a nutrition expert who could train your employees regarding which food is bad or good for their health based on its nutritional value and key ingredients. Incorporate this as an option for your workplace wellness program. This will really educate your employees in terms of healthy diet. Consider reading about health coaching at workplace.

Organise a Healthy Eating Program

You can start a healthy eating program in the workplace by creating a volutnary group of such employees who want to improve their eating habits. In this way you will have the list of employees who are really interested in the program. Ask these employees to provide their suggestions in terms of cafetria menus and work together to come up with scope of improvement in the workplace. Let them work together to decide the menu for the next event in the organization.

Since the group is voluntary, you can allot a health coach to teach them healthy eating behavior. The learnings need to be based upon the choices of employees rather than strictly imposing them as you cannot force anyone to make certain lifestyle changes. So just encourage them to adopt healthier choices and make them understand the importance and effect of diet on overall health.

How Frequently Should You Eat?

Whether you eat three times or five a day, there’s no any strict rule when it comes to eating. Many people prefer smaller meals in short durations while on the other hand, some people consume larger portions twice a day. Both approaches can actually work untill and unless the quantity and quality of your food is suitable for your body need.

Encourage Eating Seasonally & Locally

While a lot of us get excited about the idea of eating seasonally and locally, going back to roots and hunting for foods isn’t realistic for most of us. So how should we make sure about getting fresh and best-tasting foods for ourselves?  One simple way following which we can easily accomplish this is by eating locally and seasonally. Purchasing seasonal and local foods is not only great for your health and community but also your wallet. Let’s look at a few benefits of eating seasonally and locally.

More Flavorful, Fresh & Nutritious 

Vegetables and fruits remain fresh when they don’t require travelling far to reach their consumers. As a result, their additional processing is saved that in turn extends their shelf life. Also, foods that are consumed closer from where they are picked tend to have a higher nutritional value. Vegetables and fruits that are at their peak in this season of winter include apples, beets, broccoli, kale, pear, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins.

Less Expensive

The local farmers offer several seasonal and local foods at prices lower as compared to grocery stores. Fruits and vegetables that are grown in season, when the weather is best suitable for the plants, typically grow well. Hence, farmers usually have a surplus of crops, which they usually sell at a lower price. Everyone might not find a farmer’s market close to their home, but even then purchasing seasonal foods in the grocery store is much cheaper as compared to getting foods that are out of season.

Support For Local Community

When you buy from local farmers, your shopping directly benefits the local economy, as money flows directly from consumers to farmers without the need for any middlemen. Farmers can utilize this money to reinvest in the community by purchasing goods and supplies from local businesses.

Get To Know About Your Food

Start speaking to farmers for better knowing about the vegetables or fruits you buy from the local market. Since the farmers have produced it, you will get the details about the quality and nutrional information. Speaking with farmers helps you to understand where the food actually came from and in what condition was it grown, which can help you gain a better judgment for your food.