While we all know that eating right is “good for you” sometimes we forget why. Diet is a major factor for several chronic diseases from diabetes, to cancer, to heart disease. These are major illnesses that not only impact lifespan, but also contribute to absenteeism and long-term disability. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally, and 90% of cases are thought to be preventable through lifestyle choices.
Furthermore, dietary factors have been linked to the development of a number of cancers including breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cancers of the mouth, oesophagus and stomach. Cancer costs both individuals and employers, billions of dollars per year.
There are many simple steps that organizations can take to help their employees build better wellbeing habits. Creating a work environment that promotes employee health increases productivity and develops a better corporate culture. Here are 9 research based tips to help employees develop healthy nutrition behaviours in the workplace:
- Provide and promote truly wholesome food options.
- Use a nutrient profiling system to show the range in nutritional quality of foods. Nutrient profiling ranks foods in order of their nutritional composition.
- Routinely distribute recipes for healthy, wholesome, family friendly meals.
- Host cooking groups, team-building off sites at a local cooking school, to encourage shared engagement in healthy meal preparation.
- Trade up the contents of vending machines.
- Provide water coolers.
- Consider contracting with a company to provide fresh produce in the office on a routine basis.
- Send out a daily or weekly healthy eating tip over the company intranet.
- Make sure company event catering reinforces healthy eating to show that food can be both delicious, fun and nutritious.
For further advice & support contact EAP Assist: https://eapassist.com.au/