In a culture of over indulgence, fast food, emotional eating and busyness, self-care and good nutrition have taken a back seat. Obesity levels have reached every age group. Exhausted working mothers may serve up hamburgers or pizza and receive applause. Employers can help by promoting relationship-based, hands-on nutrition practices in the work place. This can range from a demonstration on sprouting grains, to bread making, healthy nutrition bars, juicing or dehydrating foods.
Have you considered adding just one raised bed? Employees with gardening knowledge can teach others how to grow anything from salad greens and annual herbs to tomatoes or cabbage for kraut.
Try offering a fruit dehydrator. It takes only a few minutes before a shift to add fruit to a dehydrator and many items such as apples or pears would be dry by the end of an eight hour shift. These snacks may be eaten on the way home to help boost energy, before work for those who skipped breakfast or as a mid-day pick me up. Think about providing a vacuum pack machine to keep a portion of dehydrated food as part of an emergency food supply for disaster preparedness.
How does this improve nutrition practices? Instead of a coke machine, consider adding a self-serve smoothie bar stocked with fresh fruit. Provide refrigerator space for fresh prepared vegetables or salads. Nuts are also a good option for those who are not allergic. When employees participate in growing and food preparation at work, they may be more likely to try it at home. The social benefits are just as important. Consider the relationships that can be built by planting a few seeds, harvesting, sharing meals, exchanging information or recipes and gaining new skills.
One of our traditions is pressing cider each Fall. We purchase 1-2 orchard boxes of apples, wash and sort, fill the hopper, press the cider, pasteurize and bottle it. This press is an original design
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| Hydraulic Cider press |
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Pressing Cider |
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