Why bother with healthy eating at work? What we eat and drink affects not just our health but our work performance too. Prospective benefits for employers include:
- Improved health of staff
- Increased productivity
- Lower rates of absenteeism and quicker return to work after illness
- Increased physical capacity, energy levels and mental alertness among employees
- Improved morale and working atmosphere
- Reduced stress and anxiety
- A positive corporate image
Examples of the types of foods that should be provided through a healthy workplace catering initiative include:
- Plenty of vegetables and fruit, including dried fruit
- Wholegrain breakfast cereals, pasta and noodles; wholegrain or wholemeal bread; and brown rice
- Legumes; pulses, including canned beans, dried peas, dried beans and chickpeas; and lentils
- Lean meats, fish and poultry with skin removed; limit processed meats
- Reduced, low or no fat dairy products (no cream)
- Boiled, poached or scrambled (no cream or butter) eggs
- Spreads and margarines made from canola, sunflower or olive oil: no butter
- Oven-baked, grilled, boiled, stewed or poached foods; limit deep fried foods
- Foods with no added salt, such as plain, unsalted nuts
Ideally, healthier foods should be well promoted, displayed in a prominent and attractive manner, and competitively priced.
For more information on developing a healthy workplace catering policy follow this link:
http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/workplace-catering.pdf
How Wesley Corporate Health can help you!
Serving healthier food in the workplace is an important part of promoting health and wellbeing among your staff. To support a healthy workforce, healthier workplace catering would be more effective if initiated as part of a larger employee wellness program. WCH can help you plan, implement and evaluate programs that are evidence-based and results-driven. For assistance please call Louise on (07) 3234 2609 or visit http://www.weshealth.com.au/.
No comments:
Post a Comment