Helping you to promote Healthy Eating at Work

• Walk the World
• Return of the Walkers
• A Healthy Lunch

Walk the World

In March 2007, Kent County Council launched the ‘Walk the World’ initiative. This was aimed at encouraging employees to take more exercise. To help promote healthy eating, I was asked to attend the launch.

Together with the organiser, I developed a ‘Fabulous Fruit’ competition. This required people to guess the name of the exotic, tropical and distinctly different fruits they tasted!

This proved to be a huge success with many people enjoying the colourful varieties of fruits on display. Not many people managed to name all ten fruits but everyone enjoyed trying something new. Dragon fruit amazed people and chikoo fruits from India were something most people had never seen before. People were surprised at the variety readily available and were all encouraged to try something different in their lunch boxes.

Return of the Walkers

In July the walkers retuned to a heroes welcome. Some walkers had lost weight while others had found a new and enjoyable pastime. Everyone agreed that they had benefited from walking and eating better.

To help welcome the walkers back, I provided some tasty, nutritious dips and snacks for people to try. I used easily available ingredients and made them as quick and simple to make. There was a spicy tomato salsa, a home made humous flavoured with garlic and lemon juice, as well as an aubergine dip spiced with cumin.

People commented on how much better the taste was in comparison with shop bought equivalents. People were surprised at how easy it is to make good tasty food and for a fraction of the shop prices. Everyone was given a recipe sheet so they could make their own at home.

A Healthy Lunchbox

Rail Europe has a large office base at Kings Hill and the HR Manager was keen to promote a healthy lifestyle to all employees. As in many offices, the staff are sat at desks most of the day. They tend to graze on unhealthy snack foods, such as crisps and sweets and often use birthdays as an excuse to eat cakes or lunch at the local Chinese restaurant.

To give people some ideas for healthy lunches, I presented a healthy eating workshop. I took along a selection of different bread and made a choice of sandwich fillings. I wanted to show how you can have variety whiles still using everyday ingredients. I demonstrated how to make fillings which included; grated apple mixed with grated cheese, spiced salmon, using tinned salmon mixed with a little mayo, lime juice and tomato ketchup, as well as a minted houmous. Even before I had finished demonstrating, people were tasting and trying the tantalising new treats!

Some people asked me to l have a look at their lunch boxes. . They were surprised to find that with just one or two small changes they would have a perfectly healthy lunch. It's easy to achieve!