Healthy eating at work: Experts note how convenience and stress impact daily nutrition

16 Aug 2019 --- Convenience, taste and work-related stress can significantly impact food choices during the workday, Dan Wainfan, Vice President Brand, Health, Wellness and Nutrition at Aramark, tells NutritionInsight. Aramark collaborated with the American Heart Association (AHA) on a study to discover the eating habits of Americans in the workplace. The study was conducted in support of AHA’s Healthy for Life 20 By 20 program which has set out to improve the lives of Americans by 20 percent by 2020. Wainfan notes that offering healthy and tasty food options in the workplace may inspire a significant change in dietary habits.

“Voluntary private sector approaches, when practiced widely, can favorably impact health behaviors. In an ideal food system, the healthier choice would be the easy or default choice,” Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, D.O., Cardiologist and AHA Medical Expert, tells NutritionInsight. “To establish a healthy food system and improve health outcomes, innovation needs to take place at multiple levels, including the food industry, agricultural industry, public health and communities.”

According to the study, eating an unhealthy lunch in the workplace is impacted at least in-part by convenience (89 percent), taste preference (90 percent), cost (83 percent), limited availability of healthy foods (85 percent) and the choices of peers and coworkers (60 percent).

“Lunch at work can be particularly challenging. The research Aramark fielded with AHA helped to demonstrate why. When having lunch at work, employees put convenience (60 percent) and taste (54 percent) at the top of their list. Both of these factors rose to the top of reasons why employees make unhealthy lunch choices,” Wainfan says. 

“Convenience and taste preference impact workers’ decisions to eat an unhealthy lunch. If in a rush, one might go for whatever is convenient. If deciding to purchase lunch, it could be easier to go for the more indulgent comfort food. Cost is also an influencing factor,” notes Dr. Steinbaum.

Convenience and taste preference impact workers’ decisions to eat an unhealthy lunch. Planning meals ahead, she says, may be a good tactic to avoid consuming indulgent, unhealthy foods. Alternatively, Wainfan believes that if healthier food options that also rank highly on taste are available, people may opt for them. 

“According to the AHA study, more than nine in ten employees are interested in improving the healthfulness of their typical workday lunch. By helping people discover new, healthier favorites we see the opportunity to help make the healthier choice the first choice. Although this may not be every day, but frequently enough so that less healthy options start to become more of a special occasion treat,” he says. 

Healthy for Life 20 By 20 is an evidence-based community nutrition and well-being program that empowers people to make healthy food, nutrition and lifestyle choices. It aims to change food and health attitudes and behaviors, equipping individuals with new skills for healthy living. AHA initiated the program back in 2015 and is expecting to see results within the following years. 

Aramark Corporation is an American food service, facilities, and uniform services provider to clients in areas including education, healthcare, business, corrections and leisure. Aramark’s recently implemented a plant-forward initiative, which helped the company achieve a 15 percent average reduction across calories, saturated fat and sodium to-date. Additionally, education programs have increased participants’ confidence to prepare healthy meals at home.

Stress eating
The daily stresses of work may impact food choices and lead to unhealthy indulgence, according to the findings. The study also found that on a stressful day at work, about one in three employees (35 percent) who typically eat lunch during work say their lunch is less healthy than a typical day.

According to Steinbaum, among employed adults in the US who typically eat lunch during work hours, those under 40-years-old (40 percent) are significantly more likely than those aged 40+ (31 percent) to eat a lunch that is less healthy than a typical day on a stressful day at work.

“Workday stress definitely plays a role in food choices. On a stressful day, employees across the country have a less healthy lunch than they would have had on a typical day. From other research it’s also clear that stress can have many negative consequences on our health and in our lives – from sleep to mood and food,” says Wainfan. 

Aramark chefs employ a style of cooking that emphasizes healthy plants at the center of the plate.“Understanding the impact of stress on food choices gives us additional insights as we create healthier workplace solutions. A variety of solutions from healthier grab-and-go offerings, to workplace health engagement and education programs can help address the issue. These programs encourage stressed employees to stop and think, and make their choices mindfully.  Armed with knowledge, they are helped to make the healthier choice that best fits their lives, even when they’re having a stressful day,” he adds.

Tackling the issue
The first and most important thing for those looking to adopt a healthier workday lunch routine is to realize that healthy food can be delicious and satisfying, notes Wainfan. The trick to making healthy choices a habit at work and throughout your life is finding healthy choices you love, he says. 

“Our research with the AHA clearly showed that the vast majority of employees say that having healthy food options at work is important to them. However, from our experience in workplace cafes around the country, it’s clear that these positive intentions don’t always result in healthy choices. Good intentions only result in healthy choices when employees visiting their workplace café discover that the choices are delicious and satisfying,” Waifan says.

Aramark launched its plant-forward initiative to elevate the role of healthy ingredients on menus in support of its work with AHA. “Our focus is on introducing innovative recipes that appeal to everyone, whether or not they are following a traditional, vegetarian or vegan diet. With a plant-forward approach, our chefs employ a style of cooking that emphasizes healthy plants at the center of the plate,” he adds. 

As part of its plant-forward initiative, Aramark introduced more than 200 new plant-based recipes, reached a 30 percent share of menu offerings that are vegan or vegetarian, reduced the amount of red meat by 5 percent and trained more than 1,200 chefs in plant-based culinary innovation workshops.

“Our research with AHA demonstrated that there is a strong link between healthy habits at work and outside of the workplace. More than 77 percent of US employees indicate that they are more likely to make healthier decisions at other times in their day when they eat a healthy lunch at work,” Wainfan concludes.

By Kristiana Lalou