Access to Registered Dietitians Supports Healthy Eating Habits, Prevents Chronic Diseases

One in three adults struggles with obesity, which puts them at a higher risk for heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and several types of cancer. This creates staggering costs for employers, with one study noting overweight and obese workers causing $425.5 billion in economic costs to U.S. businesses and employees in 2023.

With employees spending the majority of their time at work, employers are particularly poised to address these challenges through wellness programs and access to registered dietitians. 

“Nutrition sets the stage for our health,” says Marathon Health Registered Dietitian Jessica Mella. “If employees have access to help with their diet, it can greatly prevent disease progression.”

Here are ways registered dietitians help support healthy eating habits at work:

Introduce Employees to Nutrition

To introduce healthy eating in an approachable and non-intimidating way, dietitians use webinars, challenges, meet-and-greets and bulletin boards.

“Often we’ll set up a table in the cafeteria at the location I work,” Mella says. “I usually have food to draw employees over, and then I can introduce myself and start a gentle conversation.” 

Example webinars and challenges include: 

• Hydration Challenge: Participants strive to drink the recommended 64 ounces a day and self-report their daily water intake.
• Food Labels and Calories: Review nutrition fact labels, break down the amount of calories you need each day, and create sample menus. 
• Meal Planning Made Easy: Learn strategies and tools for meal and menu planning.

A particularly engaging activity is one that allows employees to learn through taste. To teach healthy seasonal eating, Mella conducted a taste-and-learn class, where employees got to try different root vegetables. 

For National Nutrition Month programming, Marathon Health Registered Dietitian Nicole Boon Lopes taught employees how to use fruits and vegetables that are past their prime to prevent waste. 

“Food demos really work well to bring people in,” Boon Lopes says. “Then we can teach them how to think outside the box and provide them with new ideas. We work for working people. They lead busy lives and maybe don’t think about these things that we as dieticians have been trained to know. So we’re there to remind patients, to keep them accountable, to give them ideas, to lend them a hand.”

Meet Employees Where They Are

When people understand the reason behind a lifestyle shift or dietary change, it helps drive success.

“A health coach or RDN (registered dietitian nutritionist) can uncover an employee’s motivation, and also help them use their strengths to develop goals to get to where they want to go,” says Monica McCorkle, Marathon Health Director of Health Coaching and Nutrition Services. 

Members can meet with dietitians in person, over the phone, or via a video call. 

“You have to meet people where they are,” McCorkle says. “That could be on the factory floor, in the classroom, or out driving a truck.”

Boon Lopes meets virtually with her clients. 

“It makes it very accessible,” Boon Lopes says. “When we’re talking about preparing a grocery list and we want to take inventory, it’s easy as, ‘OK, let me see your pantry.’” 

Other ways to support employees at work include:

• Offering healthy options in the breakroom vending machines
• Creating a wellness committee within your organization
• Having a dietitian create the cafeteria menus

“We just want to partner with our clients and have a conversation around food, which is very personal to everyone,” Mella says. “Our goal is to make it less scary and more approachable, and hopefully meet them where they’re at, so they feel like they can make a real change.”