Tips for helping employees eat healthier

Several employers have been taking an active role in their employee's health. It has been shown that overweight or un-healthy employees are increasing the health insurance at several organizations. Many businesses have begun encouraging their employees' to eat healthier and increase their daily exercise. Studies have shown that healthy employees lead to increased productivity, reduced illness, improved morale, and increased job satisfaction.

There are several things you can do to encourage your employees to eat healthier. Take a good look at the food that is served during staff meetings or that is available in the cafeteria. Begin by ordering healthier alternatives such as muffins, fresh fruit, milk and water instead of doughnuts, cookies, and coffee with sugar and cream.

The food that is offered in your cafeteria may be another place you need to re-vamp. If the cafeteria serves chips, friend foods, rich pastas and other heavy items, it is time to throw them out. Replace the fatty, heavy foods with vegetable and fruits, sandwiches, salads with light dressing on the side and water versus soda. The same philosophy should apply to your lunch meetings too.

Daily or weekly email sends to your staff can include a recipe for healthy living on the bottom or attached. Encourage everyone at the company to get involved and submit healthy eating recipes.

Vending machines tend to be overloaded with potato chips, soda, and sugary sweets. If you order the supplies for the vending machine, replace the "bad" items with raisins, fruit bars, 100% juice, dried fruit, and bottled water. Many people will tell you the temptation to eat unhealthy food disappears if it is not there to begin with.

Everyone likes an incentive. Encourage your employee's to eat healthier by offering incentives to healthy food choices. Reimburse your employees who purchase items that are geared toward improving their health. Have a monthly or weekly drawing to a healthy restaurant and reward an employee who is making an effort to improve their eating habits.

Some companies have begun creating spreadsheets for their employees to fill out and track their eating habits. On these spreadsheets you can include information on healthier food choices and have the employees select which unhealthy eating habits they are going to give up and which healthy eating habits they are going to implement into their diet.

Another thing you ca do is hire a professional dietician to come and provide free health evaluations to each staff member. The dietician can inform the employee's of their poor eating habits and provide ways on how they can improve their eating habits to include healthier food choices.

Post the daily food group listing in the office in places where employees are prone to see it often like the break room and common area. Next to the daily food group listing, you should also include a daily recipe with extra copies in case an employee would like to have a copy. Be sure to include information on following the portion size for the foods your employees are eating.

Have a day where employees are taught how to cook healthier meals. You can invite demonstrators to come and teach employees individually or as a large group on how to prepare healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

Get creative with the ideas you come up with to encourage your employee's to eat healthier. This project should be looked as a fun project instead of an insurance cost saving solution. Find ways to improve the overall health of your company by starting with a few food changes. You will find that healthier employees will lead to increased productivity in the workplace and overall job satisfaction.

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