If Your Health and Wellness Program Doesn’t Incorporate These Four Things, It’s Time to Adopt a New Program!
Searching for a solid health and fitness program for your employees? There are hundreds of options out there to consider. But which one will fit your employees’ needs best? Which one satisfies your list of must-haves? And which one of those is actually within your budget?
When considering health, wellness and fitness programs and challenges, I wrote in my May newsletter that you may not be surprised to learn that most wellness programs tend to focus on exercise and fitness over diet quality. And that research indicates that one’s diet quality and nutrition need to be the focus of an effective program.
But what else is key? Consider each of the following:
Evidence-based: Adopting a health and wellness program that is based on the latest, evidence-based scientific knowledge is an incredibly important program attribute. You don’t want your employees misled or adopting new habits that aren’t grounded in the latest findings in health and nutrition. Set them up for success by avoiding programming rooted in a fad diet or the latest quick fix to improved health. Do those programs ever truly work? No! Make sure it is evidence-based!
Team support: Teaming up within one’s organization for the benefit of the group is a win-win. They benefit from outside motivation, support and accountability. And you benefit from increased participation, motivated employees and improved retention rates. Read more about offering a program that takes a “we’re all in this together” approach.
Slow adoption: You’ll also want a health and wellness program that takes the time necessary to help your employees learn new habits. These will not stick if they’re not given time to find new ways to adopt behaviors that work for them in their lives. For a new habit to last, that new habit should be in practice for approximately 65 days, according to a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology. A ‘quick fix’ or short-term program that promises huge changes to one's health, fitness or appearance is one to walk away from – quickly!
Sustainability: Adopting new healthy behaviors and adhering to them is key for long-term success. What good is a short-term fix – a program that doesn’t set people up to be able to instill these new, healthy habits – for life? Look for one that can both be slowly adopted over time and sustainable – resulting in a program that changes habits for the better for the duration. Your employees will thank you.
My 12-Fix Challenge program is all of the above – evidence-based, provides a team approach, allows for slow adoption, and is sustainable over the long term. Treat your employees to a program that encompasses all four – and much more!
The program was created by me – a registered dietitian nutritionist – who is constantly refreshing program content so that it offers the latest in nutrition science. It also takes place over time – 12 weeks – allowing for more practice in converting to new habits. And lastly, yes, it is sustainable. My program participants email me at the end of the program and beyond to tell me they are still going strong and putting their lessons into practice. Daily. In fact, 98% of participants continue making and implementing behavioral changes beyond the challenge program:
"This 12 Fixes challenge is awesome and has helped me in many ways. I had many wrong ideas about dieting, but I appreciated the ‘be patient’ approach that resonated throughout the challenge. Following even some of the Fixes got me results. Thanks for the coaching during the challenge. I feel like I've graduated to a new and improved lifestyle!" - Laurence H.
Now is the time to offer nutrition-based health and wellness programming to your employees. Contact me – let’s set them up for sustainable health and wellness success.
