Workplace Health Strategies
Nutrition
The healthy choice is not always the easy choice and it’s no secret that good nutrition plays an essential role in maintaining health. By providing the workplace with delicious and nutritious choices, you are supporting employees and directing them toward a healthier lifestyle.
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Consumption Summary
South Dakota data was analyzed to learn how fruit and vegetable consumption is related to the following factors. As an organization, take a look at your overall workplace to identify how you can provide strategies to target those who are consuming less fruits and vegetables than recommended and those who are maintaining recommended consumption.
Benefits of Healthy Eating
- Decrease risk of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers
- Decrease risk of being overweight and obese
Strategies to Improve Healthy Eating
- Provide healthy choices in vending machines
- Offer healthy food alternatives at meetings, company functions, and health education events
- Make available reliable resources on general nutrition related to portion size (for example, portion size placemat or plate, food models)
- Provide lunch and learn education sessions
- Provide a bottled water dispenser in your workplace break room
- Offer nutrition education classes based on assessments of interest and need
- Make refrigerators available for employees to store food
- Provide incentives for participation in nutrition and/or weight management/maintenance activities
- Start a healthy recipe exchange where employees swap recipes
- Limit consumption of sweetened beverages
- Label foods to show serving size and/or nutritional content
- Email messages to employees about the importance of eating a healthy diet
- Bring in a dietitian from a local hospital or university extension office to talk about nutrition, heart-healthy diets, how to lose weight, and managing diabetes
- Implement a healthy meeting policy where at least a healthy option is available if food or beverage is served at a meeting
- Offer local fruits and vegetables at the worksite (i.e. farmer’s market or a community-supported agriculture drop-off point)
- Encourage increasing fruit and vegetable intake of employees
- Promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables in catering/cafeteria through motivational signs, posters, etc.
- Organize a water challenge to encourage more water intake
- Partner with a local restaurant to deliver healthy lunch on site
Better Choices, Better Health® SD Workshops
Millions of people live with chronic health conditions. BCBH-SD offers FREE workshops for adults and their caregivers to help them manage symptoms, be more active, and improve quality of life. Find out more about virtual & in-person sessions in South Dakota.
