AM Food’s ‘Four Pillars of Nutrition’

Neil Cooper talks about AM Food’s ‘Four Pillars of Nutrition’ in Healthy Eating Week – 13-17 June 2022

Every year, the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) runs the Healthy Eating Week campaign as an opportunity to bring the UK together to focus on healthy lifestyles.

This year, from 13-17  June, the message during Healthy Eating Week is Eat well for you and the planet!  The week’s themes will focus on getting fibre in your diet, putting plenty of fruit and veg on your plate, being creative with your protein, staying well-hydrated, and knowing your portions to reduce food waste.

Here, our Operations Director Neil Cooper explains how AM Food supports healthy employees through its workplace food offering…

“Our AM Food team understands just how important it is to encourage healthy eating in the workplace. Healthy eating has a massive impact at work – fit and well employees have better energy and morale, and are proven to be more productive. That’s good for the individual and good for the company.

It’s important to encourage a focus on healthy eating with quality rest and nutrition. AM Food enjoys successful relationships with businesses that make this a central focus of their staff wellbeing strategy, ensuring that the food offer is comfortable, welcoming, accessible and attractive and matched to the unique needs and differing demands of the workforce.

However, a one-size-fits-all solution to healthy eating at work doesn’t exist. The nutritional needs, choices and eating times of the office staff are going to be very different to someone who is working in a production or a logistics role.

And being prescriptive in workplace catering therefore isn’t the answer to having more healthy employees. You need to signpost information that will help them to think better about how they eat and drink to give them have a healthier, happier and more productive day. It’s about having easily understood, easily accessible information available for the food on offer to be able to make healthier choices.

That’s where AM Food’s Four Pillars of Nutrition come in, we’ve created a poster which can be used to illustrate them – DOWNLOAD BELOW

“It’s an uncomplicated concept:

• eat regularly
• stay hydrated
• cut down on caffeine
• rainbow of fruit and veg

These Four Pillars are used in simple visual design concepts around the restaurant and in menus and are very visible, easy reminders of how to stay healthy. They are supported by special promotions and regularly changing menus, centred around the four pillars. It’s easy for people to come on board, if they wish to.

People are increasingly discerning about what they eat and drink. They want to have the restaurant and high street eating experience when they come to work, so it’s not appropriate to dictate to them what they eat and limit their choice.

Through the Four Pillars, we introduce new things and encourage new thinking… here’s a great opportunity to try something different … you might quite like it!”

Read more about why the Four Pillars of Nutrition matter…

Eat regularly –

Eating a balanced, varied diet, which allows you to get the right amount of nutrients every day, helps us keep healthy, fight off sickness, keep energy levels up, keeps our minds working, affects our mood and many other important things.

Stay hydrated –

Having enough water in your body regulates body temperature, keeps joints lubricated, prevents infections, delivers nutrients to cells, and keeps organs functioning properly. Being well-hydrated also improves sleep quality, cognition, and mood.

Cut down on caffeine –

Drinking healthier levels of caffeine can help to improve sleep, increase energy and reduce stress, as well as enabling better absorption of nutrients and improved digestion. It also has health benefits such as improving menopause symptoms, lowering blood pressure and reducing cardiovascular disease.

Rainbow of fruit and veg –

Plants contain different pigments, or phytonutrients, which give them their colour. Different-coloured plants are linked to higher levels of specific nutrients and health benefits. Micronutrients are one of the major groups of nutrients your body needs. They include vitamins and minerals. Vitamins are necessary for energy production, immune function, blood clotting and other functions. Meanwhile, minerals play an important role in growth, bone health, fluid balance and several other processes.