Brighten Up Your Diet

Throw together a colorful stir fry of mushrooms, green peas, cabbage, onion and chard.

Mix up some fresh guacamole using avocado, tomato, onion and even a dash of corn.

Got a sweet tooth? Grab some passion fruit, apricots or nectarines.

Eating a variety of vegetables and fruit will push up your point count – and could even win you a prize – through the County’s newest employee wellness challenge.

Mix It Up, offered in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, encourages employees to add more vegetables and fruits to their daily fare—and a bigger mix of both. The quarterly program lays out a goal for employees of eating at least three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit per day.

Employees who rack up the highest point counts will win prizes, said William Erese, the County’s Wellness Coordinator. The top five teams and top three individuals with the most points will receive awards.

Employees can sign up either individually or in teams of four to 10. All you have to do is log your daily veggie and fruit intake through the County’s Mix It Up website. Totals are automatically calculated and immediately broken down by color. For example, if you ate blueberries, red apples and asparagus, the online program would create a table showing what you ate by color.  

Eating a good variety of vegetables and fruits provides a mixture of vitamins, minerals, fiber and other health benefits. That, in turn, can help reduce the risk of obesity, heart disease, some cancers, diabetes and hypertension.

Erese said the County hopes the program will not only encourage participants to eat healthier but that it will have a ripple effect, raising awareness among other employees as well.

Many teams have already signed up, and the names show they’re having fun with the program. Among the clever and funky names listed on the program’s website: Orange You Green with Envy, The Veggie Masticators, Lettuce Be Winners! and Giving Peas a Chance.

For more information or to sign up, visit the County’s Employee Wellness website and click on “Quarterly Wellness Challenge” or the Mix It Up website.