Strategies to increase the consumption of fruit at work
What makes people eat what they eat?
Everyone (well, pretty much everyone) knows that fruit is good for you—five a day, and all that. The basic nutritional facts and health benefits are certainly out there. Yet compliance is still dismayingly low. Why is it so hard for people to eat their daily allotment?
This is a concern not just for parents, schools, and health care professionals. The benefits of eating fruit extend to the workplace as well, since every employer stands to gain from having healthier and more energetic workers.
Nutrition intervention studies among kids and populations at risk for certain health problems have consistently identified several factors that can increase the consumption of fruit in those groups: education and external support and encouragement make a difference. But the single most important factor seems to be ready access.
If it’s not right there, available and convenient, people are much less likely to go out of their way to seek out fruit and other healthy foods they know they should be eating.
So for employers who want healthier workers, growers and grocers who want to sell more fruit, and all people who want to develop better health and habits for their own sakes, what are some things that might encourage us to eat more fruit, every day, all day, whether at work or at play?
Modern marketing has taught us that form factor is a key to selling all kinds of products. For fruit, this can mean: make it finger friendly. Some fruit naturally comes this way—bananas, strawberries and grapes, for instance. Appearance also counts. Though externally blemished fruit is often perfectly good, people are much less likely to choose to buy or eat it.
Quality matters. Many shoppers and consumers find it hard to select fruit —they don’t know what to look for in a melon, a mango, a pear or a peach, how to know if they are ready to eat and how to ripen or store them properly. Every time someone picks up an orange or spends the money to buy a pear and it turns out to be dry, hard or bland, that disappointment is a disincentive to choose that item again.
Employers can make fruit more convenient for staff by providing facilities for storing the perishable and preparing those that need to be washed, peeled, and cut before eating. Management can also promote healthy habits by making sure that fruit is on the menu for workplace social occasions and catered events.
Who knows? If we make fruit sufficiently accessible and inviting, over time people might actually get the habit and seek it out even when it’s not the easiest choice.
Author: Wendy Visontay - Founder of Fruit at Work