Healthy Snacking in the Workplace

Offering healthy snack food alternatives is an easy way to start showing your organization's commitment to Workplace Wellness.

Keep records to see that they are actually being used. Make sure the supply is fresh, clean, and attractively presented. If necessary, charge a fair price, but remember that the continued wellness of your employees impacts morale and your bottom line.

Healthy Snacking Tips

• Read the label!
• Choose snacks that are nutritious and unsweetened.
• Drink water rather than snack out of boredom.
• A microwave on site with popcorn helps cut down on the urge to run out and grab something unhealthy, as does a fridge and a water cooler.
• Bring fruit into the office - leave a large bowl in the kitchen area and in meetings.
• Share an exotic fruit with the office - try something new. Have "exotic fruit" day where everyone brings in something unusual!
• Bring Healthy snacks in through a vending machine or "honour system."
• Start a "5 a Day Challenge" in your workplace.

Some Healthy Snack Choices

• Fresh fruit
• Vegetables (e.g. carrot sticks)
• Single serving applesauce
• Nuts (be careful of allergies)
• Dried fruit
• Cereals
• Yogurt
• Melba Toast
• Rice cakes
• Rice chips
• Cheese
• Cottage cheese
• Graham Crackers
• Healthy muffins (no, not chocolate - that's a "cupcake")

The 5 a Day Challenge

A well balanced diet of fruits and vegetables is an important step to healthy lifestyle. They contain vitamins, minerals, and fibre, which help to reduce your risk of obesity and high blood pressure.

Nutritionists recommend eating between 5 and 9 portions per day, where a "portion" is considered to be a half-cup of the cut fruit or vegetable. The exception is leafy greens, which require a full cup to be considered an entire portion.

We have provided printable scorecards to help you keep track of how many minutes you are putting in each day. You can also order dry-erase versions that match the new posters from Wellergize.ca, or you can choose to do Challenge point tracking online as part of the EmployeeWellness.ca suite of tools.

Tools:

To help you implement the 5 a Day Challenge, we are providing you with the forms necessary to help track participation in the challenge. These items have graphic effects that are best rendered in Acrobat Reader 6.0 or later.

• 5 a Day Challenge Scorecard
• 600 DPI - Healthy Snacking Poster - letter size (PDF, zip-compressed)
• 600 DPI - Healthy Snacking Poster - legal size (PDF, zip-compressed)
• 600 DPI - Healthy Snacking Poster - letter size (PDF, rar-compressed)

For more information on this subject, visit the 5 a day programs of the National Cancer Institute and the Produce for Better Health Foundation.

You can find workplace wellness statistics and quotes among other great wellness program tools at our Wellergize.ca site.