Long-Term Support for Nutrition and Physical Activity

Management support is critical for the success of Take Action!, but it is also an important part of creating an environment that supports healthy eating habits and regular physical activity throughout the year. Your Take Action! program can lay the groundwork to create a work environment that encourages people to adopt a healthy diet and to be physically active. The kinds of environmental support your workplace can implement will depend on the size of your company and the type of work you do. Here are some examples:

  • Add healthy options to the cafeteria menu. Provide appealing menu options that meet healthy nutrition standards at all workplace food service stations and cafeterias at reasonable prices. (See www.ca5aday.com/worksite for examples of nutrition standards.)
  • Add healthy options to vending machines. Provide food choices, such as fresh, canned and dried fruits, salads, and 100% fruit or vegetable juice, in vending machines that meet healthy nutrition standards. (See www.ca5aday.com/worksite for examples of nutrition standards.)
  • Establish healthy meeting policies that support healthy meals and snacks at all work-sponsored events, as well as physical activity breaks during meetings that last more than 90 minutes. (See www.ca5aday.com/worksite for examples of healthy meeting policies.)
  • Implement simple changes to the physical environment, such as making stairwells and parking decks safe for walking, adding walking trails around the property, and providing shower and changing facilities.
  • Organize ongoing wellness programs that address risk reduction for various diseases and injuries. These include small group sessions for issues such as smoking cessation and weight loss. The facilitators for these types of programs can be provided by staff wellness personnel or companies that specialize in corporate wellness programs.
  • Provide reduced rates for memberships to fitness facilities or partial reimbursement to staff members who join fitness clubs.
  • Form a partnership with a local fitness facility to do one or all of the following:
      Allow employees from your worksite access to the fitness facility;
    • Provide fitness equipment and proper supervision, supplied by the fitness facility, at your worksite;
    • Provide guidance as your worksite takes on the responsibility of setting up its own onsite fitness room and of providing proper supervision for employees.
  • Offer group health care policies that include coverage for preventive and wellness services and reimbursement for gym membership.

©2005 California State Department of Health Services