Mix It Up Online Nutrition Program to Improve Better Eating in the Workplace
Kaiser Permanente has launched a new online nutrition program designed for employers to help their employees improve their daily eating habits by including more fruits and vegetables. The Mix It Up program, from HealthWorks by Kaiser Permanente, emphasizes a varied selection of colorful produce and introduces participants to healthy eating patterns anyone can readily and easily adopt. There’s no calorie counting, fat-gram measuring or food weighing involved.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research shows fewer than 25 percent of American adults consume the ideal 5-plus daily servings of fruits and vegetables. “Employers are uniquely positioned to support employees in making healthy changes,” says Jennifer Christian-Herman, PhD, executive director, HealthWorks by Kaiser Permanente. “Employees spend about 2,000 hours a year at work, so businesses are in a good position to promote prevention, influence employee decision-making and support their workforce in living healthier lives.”
Employees sign up online with the goal of eating at least five servings of produce each day. Easy-to-remember daily food selections include more than 120 possible fruits and vegetables. Participants click on images of the foods they’ve eaten, drag them to a virtual blender and process their choices. Mix It Up does the rest by totaling numbers of fruits and vegetables consumed and tracking progress over time.
This low-cost online program offers nutritional tips, features a team competition component, as well as one for individuals, and is accessible via computer and smartphones on the iPhone and Android platforms (available in the App Store and Google Play, formerly Android Market).
“Mix It Up is a fun and easy way to engage their employees in making healthy changes to their diet. The team challenge component taps into the power of social networks, which supports, reinforces and sustains healthy behaviors,” adds Christian-Herman.
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