The holidays are here, and Active SWV has the tips and tricks you need to stay on track!
It’s that time of the year! The leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and events are taking place constantly. We are surrounded with friends, laughs, and more sugary sweet snacks than we can imagine. Follow along and learn about creating healthy and engaging holiday events at YOUR workplace!
Where do we begin?
It can already be tough to eat healthy and stay active when we are at the office all day. Especially during the holiday season, when stress can run high and unhealthy snacks are abundant. It can be increasingly difficult to avoid sugary sweets and over consumption of our favorite holiday foods.
It isn’t a trick! We can avoid the unwanted effects of holiday binge eating with a few simple tips to keep you active and on track.
We don’t have to completely cut out our favorite foods each holiday season, but making sure to be mindful about how much and what we consume is always key.
- Substitute sugary sweet treats with your favorite veggie or fruit.
- Bring healthy options along side any sweets or heavy dishes you plan to share at the office.
- Take group walks throughout the day.
- Create policies to minimize sugary sweet beverages and snacks at office events.
- Partner with Active SWV to learn more about diabetes prevention and management.
- Practice moderation with sugary sweets and home made treats!
Surveying Policy and Environment changes
To see what measures your organization already has in place to increase physical activity, nutrition, and maternal health, all you have to do is ask!
Active SWV can assist you in surveying your workplace using the CDC Worksite Health Scorecard – giving a full view of what resources, barriers, and successes you already have in place.
Especially during the holiday season, adding or updating a policy at your workplace to minimize or ban sugary sweet beverages and snacks at office functions can help decrease over consumption of unhealthy options! We don’t have to completely dissolve luncheons and fun treats, but including a healthy option or substitution is always important.
Taking measures like this can help make the healthy choice the easy choice for you and your coworkers! Policies are also long lasting and far reaching, so they will have the greatest impact on those currently working and those being recruited for future employment.
You can also make physical changes to your workplace to increase physical activity, nutrition, and maternal supports.
With funding from an Active SWV capacity building grants, your workplace can add healthy food and snacks to each office event you host, install water bottle filling stations, increase educational and awareness signage, and much more! These physical changes to your workplace environment can make it easier for workers to make the healthy choice every day.
When workers feel supported to eat healthier and participate in physical activity events, they are more likely to stay happy, healthy, and working to their fullest potential.
You can find more information on Policy, System, and Environment (PSE) changes, grant funding, and Active SWV Workplace Wellness programming here.
