{"id":66588,"date":"2016-03-24T12:10:37","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T16:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=66588"},"modified":"2016-03-23T21:38:19","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T01:38:19","slug":"how-healthy-is-your-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=66588","title":{"rendered":"How Healthy is Your Workplace?"},"content":{"rendered":"

American Heart Association Offers Free Resources<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"american-heart-logo-black\"<\/a>March is National Nutrition Month and the American Heart Association is asking employers,\u00a0\u201cHow healthy is your workplace?\u201d<\/p>\n

More than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, putting them at risk for heart\u00a0disease and stroke as well as many other chronic illnesses and conditions, according to the\u00a0AHA, and less than one percent of Americans have an ideal diet, as measured by sodium and\u00a0sugar intake; fruit, vegetable and fish consumption; and more.<\/p>\n

As part of the American Heart Association\u2019s (AHA) health impact goal of helping all Americans\u00a0improve their cardiovascular health, the AHA is encouraging employers to create a healthy work\u00a0environment and promote a healthy lifestyle for their employees. The AHA has created the\u00a0Healthy Workplace Food & Beverage Toolkit to assist companies achieve a culture of health.<\/p>\n

Making healthy changes in the workplace, where many adults spend much of their day, is an\u00a0important way to help people be healthier, according to the AHA. A 2010 study showed that\u00a0improving the types of foods and beverages served and sold in the workplace positively affected\u00a0employees\u2019 eating behaviors and resulted in net weight loss.<\/p>\n

The AHA wants to create an environment where the healthy choice is the default or easy\u00a0choice. Maintaining a healthier workforce can lower direct costs such as insurance premiums\u00a0and worker\u2019s compensation claims. It will also positively affect many indirect costs such as absenteeism and worker productivity.<\/p>\n

The toolkit is designed for organizational leaders or anyone involved with providing workplace\u00a0food and beverages, from choosing offerings in the office vending machine and cafeterias, or\u00a0off-site special events involving catering.<\/p>\n

The toolkit recommends that organizations support healthier choices to help create a culture of\u00a0health at the workplace. Priorities include offering nutritious food and beverage options in\u00a0vending, cafeterias and at meetings and events; offering physical activity opportunities that help\u00a0workers achieve at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day; and providing a tobacco-free\u00a0environment.<\/p>\n

By following these recommendations, employers can foster a culture of health in the workplace\u00a0where healthy choices are the easiest choices.<\/p>\n

For example, at company meetings, organizers can make a policy to replace pastries and\u00a0donuts with healthier yogurt and fruit. They can remove sugar-sweetened beverages as a\u00a0choice at meetings, and only offer water or 100% juices. They can put the healthiest choices, like salad, whole grain breads or fruit, at the beginning of the food buffet, or use smaller serving\u00a0plates.<\/p>\n

Other nutrition recommendations include reducing and ultimately eliminating sugar-sweetened\u00a0beverages, candy and other non-nutritious foods; reducing sodium, added sugars, saturated fat, grains high in dietary fiber; providing reasonable portion sizes; and identifying and using food\u00a0vendors who offer healthier choices.<\/p>\n

According to the AHA, the aim is not to take away personal liberties, but to create a healthier\u00a0work environment that will benefit everyone, and avoid the devastation and personal loss that\u00a0heart disease and stroke causes in employees and their families. To learn more, visit\u00a0www.heart.org\/foodwhereur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Heart Association Offers Free Resources March is National Nutrition Month and the American Heart Association is asking employers,\u00a0\u201cHow healthy is your workplace?\u201d More than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, putting them at risk for heart\u00a0disease and stroke as well as many other chronic illnesses and conditions, according to the\u00a0AHA, and less […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-hk0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/american-heart-logo-black.jpg?fit=512%2C482&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}