Health Wellness ProgramHealth and Wellness Programs and Wellness Program Consulting

Quite often people  shy away from low fat foods because they think these foods do not taste good.  To help inform personnel, buy a selection of low fat foods and put them out in a conference room for an hour or so for a drop-in tasting session.

Or, arrange for low-fat potlucks stimulating staff to bring and share their favorite low fat or healthy dishes.

Considerations –

• Be sure the selections actually taste good.

• Provide a “fact sheet” with the names and price of the various products to assist participants when they want to buy these products from the grocery store.

• Provide other written information on good nutrition for any interested participants to take. Make use of web sites and other resources listed in the Resource Section after this guide.

• Give small tasting spoons or wooden ice cream tasters.

• It does not take much of each item to give participants a taste of the food or dish. It is not necessary to purchase enough, or bring enough, food to provide a meal.

• Make sure to set up the tasting room after lunch so participants can go in on their own and sample.

• Watch for overly sugary items…sometimes low fat means high sugar – so make sure to check the label.

• Typical buys for a worksite sampling could include –  two boxes of low fat crackers, a package of low fat cheese, a box of low fat cookies, two or three low fat spreads like hummus, low fat cream cheese, a package of honey nut or other flavored rice crackers, and one or two other low fat items.

• Put signs on the table politely reminding participants that the idea is to sample, not have a meal.

• Make available a beverage like a new type of fruit juice or herbal tea.