Help Employees Prevent Annual Holiday Weight Gain

These healthy eating tips can become a part of your wellness program.

Office potlucks. The annual holiday party. Beth’s famous sugar cookies. 

From Thanksgiving until New Year’s Day, there are dozens of overindulgence opportunities just waiting to derail us from our regular healthful eating and exercise habits.

According to a study from the New England Journal of Medicine, the average American gains weight during the holidays every year, and if we don’t stick to our resolutions, those pounds can add up over time.

Healthful eating is just as important as fitness for maintaining employee wellness. But it can be challenging to incorporate such practices into your wellness program. Helping your employees stay happy and healthy will lead to a more engaged and productive workforce. Focus on overall employee wellness can also help reduce absenteeism and better increase job performance.

And it’ll help your bottom line.

Here are 8 simple and effective healthy eating ideas to include in your organization’s wellness program:

Offering nutritious snacks is almost a given, but consider hiring a chef to present a healthy cooking class. This can be a fun way to mix things up and get everyone engaged.

1.  Make wholesome foods available in common areas to encourage smarter snacking. Try veggies and hummus, fresh fruit and nuts.
   
   
2. Swap the pop in the office fridge for flavored, unsweetened seltzers.
   
   
3. Offer occasional healthy lunches to influence your employees’ food choices. When the office isn’t providing lunch, find a fun way to encourage employees to pack their own
   nutritious lunches.
   
   
4. Hold a monthly healthy potluck, where everyone brings in a good-for-you dish of their choice.
   
   
5. Encourage staff to drink more water by handing out reusable water bottles emblazoned with the company logo.
   
   
6. Provide employees with nutritional education in the form of online or printed materials.
   
   
7. Send out a weekly or monthly workplace wellness newsletter that’s filled with tips
   and recipe ideas.

Organizations that realize that the financial health of a business is directly tied to the physical and emotional health of their employees turn to Ulliance Life Advisor Wellness programs to help staff members improve their health. For every $1 you invest in a wellness program, you can save $3 to $5 in health care costs as your employees reduce risk behaviors such as smoking and overeating. How can we help you? Visit www.ulliance.com, or call 866-648-8326.