Benefits of healthy eating in the workplace

Good for you and for business

Nutrition plays a major role in our health, our mood, and our ability to maintain energy and concentration at work, which boosts productivity and safety and reduces absenteeism.

It’s good for the person, and it’s good for your organisation.

This is important, as we spend a lot of our time at work. But work pressures mean we sometimes eat on the run, grab whatever snack or food is available, or skip meals.

The good news is workplaces that put in place strategies to promote healthy eating have been proven to be effective in improving people’s dietary habits and overall health and wellbeing.

So what is healthy eating?

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), eating a variety of foods and consuming less salt, sugars, and saturated and industrially-produced trans-fats is essential for a healthy diet.

A healthy diet incorporates a combination of different foods. These include staples like cereals (wheat, barley, corn or rice), starchy tubers or roots (potato, yam, taro or cassava), legumes (lentils and beans), fruit and vegetables, and animal sources like meat, fish, eggs and dairy.

To follow a healthy diet, you need to eat a wide variety of food from these groups, but not in equal amounts.

Focus on eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, as they‘re important sources of vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre, plant protein and antioxidants.

People with diets that include a lot of fruit and vegetables have a significantly lower risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain types of cancer.

Avoid consuming food and drinks high in fat, sugar, salt and alcohol.

For a healthy diet, and to avoid unnecessary weight gain, total fat consumption shouldn’t exceed 30% of your overall energy intake, and sugar intake should be less than 10%.

Make healthy choices, like fruit instead of a sweet treat, and water instead of sugary soft drinks, fruit juices, flavoured milk and alcohol.  

And keep the serve sizes down. Only eat the right amount of food to meet your body’s daily needs.

To be honest, none of these tips are new to most people.

Despite this most of us aren’t following the advice.

A recent South Australian study found that less than 1 in 10 adults eat the recommended servings of at least five vegetables per day, and less than half eat enough servings of two pieces of fruit.

Why is healthy eating important in the workplace?

We should always try and eat a healthy diet. Considering how much time we spend at work, our eating habits in the workplace are important. Unfortunately, work can present numerous barriers to eating well, including:

• A lack of affordable and convenient good food options from your local food outlets, and poor options from the food available in the workplace, like the canteen or vending machines.
• Not having an adequate place to prepare or store your food.
• A workplace culture that prevents good eating habits, like always having to eat at your desk while you work.
• Shift work that can prevent establishing and sticking to good and regular habits.
• A limited choice at work meetings or catering.

While the workplace may hinder good eating habits, it’s also one of the best places to form them.

Over the years, it’s been shown that workplaces are an important place for influencing our dietary patterns, with workplace programs having a significant effect on healthy eating habits.

Start new habits

Here are some things you can do to improve healthy eating in your organisation.

1. Provide healthy food options

Give people the choice in all workplaces, including catering for meetings and functions, in canteens and vending machines. Make fruit and vegetables available for snacks, and provide water.

2. Make time for eating

Give people the hours and breaks they need to have healthy meals, like getting some good food, or having time to eat away from their desks, or going home in time for dinner.

3. Provide places and facilities

Clean storage and preparation facilities are essential. like a clean kitchen, a fridge and freezer, microwave and kettle. As well as a welcoming place to sit and eat.

4. Remove or cut down on unhealthy foods

Try to limit the amount of food and drinks that are high in sugar, saturated fats, salt and alcohol, such as replacing the biscuit jar with a fruit bowl. Ask your vending machine provider to add healthy alternatives like nuts, dried fruit and bottled water as options.

5. Educate your team

Provide information about healthy eating and its benefits, and support good habits with posters, brochures, and intranet resources in the workplace.

6. Get expert help

Provide access to qualified professionals, like dieticians, or an EAP to help with goal setting and encouraging behavioural change. Maybe even get a chef in for cooking demonstrations with healthy, budget-friendly ideas.

7. Start a working group

Put together a team of people empowered to create policies and promote healthy eating in the workplace.

Do it together

No one likes being told what to do. It’s much more effective if you get buy-in from everyone.

When people understand the importance of healthy eating and how their choices and habits at work can influence their general wellbeing and performance at work, you have a much better chance of creating positive change.

This leads us to the last important strategy - encourage your people to eat together.

In many workplaces, it’s common for people to eat alone at their desks as they continue to work through a break or check their social media.

Sharing a mealtime is not simply about eating well.

It’s also an excellent opportunity to foster greater team connection and build a positive, more collaborative, productive and engaged work culture.