Kaiser Permanente Launches Mix It Up Online Nutrition Program to Improve Better Eating in the Workplace

Program Offers Employees a Fun Way to Track Fruit and Vegetable Intake

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May 09, 2012, 12:00 ET

OAKLAND, Calif., May 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente has launched a new online nutrition program designed for employers to help their employees improve their daily eating habits by including more fruits and vegetables. The Mix It Up program, from HealthWorks by Kaiser Permanente, emphasizes a varied selection of colorful produce and introduces participants to healthy eating patterns anyone can readily and easily adopt. There's no calorie counting, fat-gram measuring or food weighing involved.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research shows fewer than 25 percent of American adults consume the ideal 5-plus daily servings of fruits and vegetables. "Employers are uniquely positioned to support employees in making healthy changes," says Jennifer Christian-Herman, PhD, executive director, HealthWorks by Kaiser Permanente. "Employees spend about 2,000 hours a year at work, so businesses are in a good position to promote prevention, influence employee decision-making and support their workforce in living healthier lives."

Employees sign up online with the goal of eating at least five servings of produce each day. Easy-to-remember daily food selections include more than 120 possible fruits and vegetables. Participants click on images of the foods they've eaten, drag them to a virtual blender and process their choices. Mix It Up does the rest by totaling numbers of fruits and vegetables consumed and tracking progress over time.

This low-cost online program offers nutritional tips, features a team competition component, as well as one for individuals, and is accessible via computer and smartphones on the iPhone and Android platforms (available in the App Store and Google Play, formerly Android Market).

"Mix It Up is a fun and easy way to engage their employees in making healthy changes to their diet. The team challenge component taps into the power of social networks, which supports, reinforces and sustains healthy behaviors," adds Christian-Herman.

This Mix It Up video explains how it works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKnUmSoBTjw

The program can be found on Kaiser Permanente's BusinessNet website. In addition, HealthWorks provides several customized workforce health programs, such as Thrive Across America, to help businesses reduce absenteeism, presenteeism and other hidden costs that can add to the bottom line. Kaiser Permanente's integrated care and groundbreaking electronic health records and other online tools help create effective employee wellness programs with measurable results.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We serve approximately 8.9 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.

For more information, contact: Diana Yee, 510-271-6671, [email protected]

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente