March is National Nutrition Month® and the perfect time to remind employees about the importance of nutrition. So many packaged foods boast that they’re “high fiber!” or “all-natural!” but some of these claims can be misleading and it’s hard to know what’s actually healthy and what’s simply clever marketing. I’m not a dietitian but I do know that it’s pretty hard to go wrong with the unpackaged foods that don’t need fancy ads or boastful claims—fruits and vegetables.
One of our TOPS employee chapter’s favorite contests was the TOPS Fruit and Veggie Contest. All participants were given a Fruit and Vegetable card that included spaces for the letters “A” through “Z.” The challenge was to eat a fruit or vegetable that begins with a different letter of the alphabet—for example apples for “A” and beets for “B”—and then write the name of the fruit or vegetable on the card. Participants completed the challenge once they had eaten a fruit or vegetable from every letter of the alphabet.
The contest ran for a month and we kicked it off with a tasting where each of us brought in an exotic or less-common fruit or vegetable. We had fun broadening our fruit and veggie horizons with quince, kohlrabi, beets, and white peaches.
This spring, head for the produce aisle and encourage your employees to do the same by running a fresh and fun contest.
