Medical City Healthcare and HCA Houston Healthcare are excited to present the 21-Day Snacking Challenge @ Work!
Mission
Our mission for the 21-Day Snacking Challenge @ Work is to empower leaders within a company to guide their teams to a healthier lifestyle — one change at a time. By educating and encouraging employees toward healthier habits, we can assist employees in making effective and lasting lifestyle changes through diet and exercise initiatives.
Background
The 21-Day Snacking Challenge @ Work is a direct result of the overwhelming success of our kids’ version of the 21-Day Challenge. With childhood obesity more than tripling in the last 30 years, Medical City Children’s Hospital recognized the need to educate children about healthy eating habits. The kids teaching kids® program challenges high school culinary students to create a recipe book full of healthy, flavorful snacks featuring fruits and vegetables for elementary school students. As parents participated with their children, they saw the need for a challenge of their own at their workplace, where they feel that they do the most frequent and the unhealthiest snacking.
Why is this program necessary?
The USDA reports that snacking makes up 25 percent of calories (and an even greater percentage of the diet in teen and child populations) and suggests that eating nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce the risk of chronic diseases — such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Each snack choice is an opportunity to improve and safe guard one’s health.