Promoting Healthy Eating

Consider how you can offer⁽³⁾:

• A variety of different healthy products
  • Healthy substitutes (i.e. whole grain bun instead of a white bun for hamburgers)
  • Combo meals with healthy drinks and side options
  • Offering more healthy side dishes
  • Vegetarian and gluten-free options
• Healthy options in different sizes (i.e. half orders that include half a sandwich and a side salad)
• Healthy pre-order menus or bag lunches for teams, groups or event
• Healthy foods that meet the goals or needs of external challenges (i.e. elite sports tournaments that require tournament facilities to provide healthy options; or free water for outdoor community events)

Consider how to make your healthy eating program or event unique by:

• Tailoring it to be culturally relevant (i.e. traditional Indigenous foods cooking class or community garden program focusing on growing food from new Canadians homelands)
• Building multiple food skills such as cooking, shopping for healthy foods, meal planning, growing food, and increasing nutrition knowledge
• Offering opportunities to learn about and try new healthy foods
• Increasing access to healthy options
• Reducing barriers to eating healthy (i.e. lowering costs, and displaying healthy food in prominent locations)

For more information on how to make Healthy Food and Drink options attractive, check out the Product marketing posters from AHS Healthy Eating Starts Here⁽⁴⁾!

Consider how you can make buying your healthy options more attractive to the consumer by⁽⁵⁾: 

• Making the price of all the items easy to see
• Charging less for healthy options in comparison to unhealthy choices. Use the price difference to subsidize the cost of purchasing healthy ingredients. 
• Offer discounts for half portions 
• Offer frequent buyer card discounts for healthy options on the menu
• Create cost-saving healthy combo meals
• Remove cost-saving combo meals for unhealthy options as it incentivizes unhealthy options

Boost your sales by building more value into your healthy options. Offer healthy food and drink products that align with your consumer’s values. For example, you could offer:

• Vegetarian food and drink options
• Dishes featuring locally sourced and seasonal ingredients
• Convenience, frozen or grab-and-go options

With your team, consider how to increase participation though Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) within your pricing strategy:

• Offer a sliding scale for fees
• Leverage partnerships to reduce costs (i.e. partnering with a grocery store or farmers market to source discounted food for a cooking class)
• Provide additional services to reduce cost barriers (i.e. providing programming or child care for the children of participating adults)
• Partner with agencies or organizations to provide discounts for participants (i.e. coupons/ discounts for produce at a farmers market or grocery store for people who participate in a diabetes awareness program)
• Seek funding from grants, donors or other funding options to offset program costs

Check out our other resources on: 

• Applying/Using an EDI Lens 
• Building Partnerships 
• Building Healthy Eating Programs 

Use these tips to place healthy choices where customers will see them first. Place healthy food and drinks⁽⁶⁾:

• Near the checkout to increase impulse purchases
• At eye-level so they are the first product people see
• Within easy reach to reduce the effort to access the healthy option
• In high-traffic areas where people are more likely to see them

Consider the context of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in where you host the program or event. Increase accessibility to your Healthy Eating program or event by choosing locations that have:

• Accessibility infrastructure (i.e. ramps, wheelchair accommodations, visual markers for people with limited eyesight, etc.)
• Public transportation access 
• Services such as child-care or food retailers nearby

If your program is virtual, consider how to address virtual accessibility by:

• Increasing digital literacy of the participants. (i.e. provide simple how-to steps for how to navigate and log onto platforms)
• Providing alternatives for those with limited internet connection and speed
• Choosing platforms and websites that are user-friendly and easy to navigate

• Place promotions where they are most likely to be seen (i.e. most used social media platforms, frequented locations, etc.)
• Place physical promotions near eye-level where they are easily viewed
• Choose eye-catching graphics/design, and font that is easy to read
• Place physical promotions in high-traffic areas
• Post online promotions at peak activity times
• For word of mouth or verbal promotions, choose locations and times the target audience will be available. (i.e. calling parents later in the evenings after children are in bed)

Use these tips from AHS Healthy Eating Starts Here (6) to make your healthy options stand out!

• List healthy items on the menu first
• Use catchy titles to name the healthy options
• Use descriptive and appealing language to describe the flavour, texture and cooking method of the healthy food
• Use colourful, vibrant and attractive images or packaging

To communicate and promote your healthy eating program or event, create promotions that use: 

• Repetition
• Persuasive messaging
• Mood and tone
• Sticky messages 
• Stories
• Plain Language

For example: 

• Share a program or event testimonial story of a staff member, volunteer or participant in your newsletter, social media and the local newspaper
• Distribute advertisements, fliers and posters that include positive images and highlight the benefits of the program or event
• Share a video of your program or event featuring an endorsement from a leader that the target audience respects
• Share the call to action (e.x. A registration form) with teasers about the program or event or memorable catch-phrases on social media, online and through radio
• Create and share a healthy eating challenge with your community through social media

1. Canadian Parks and Recreation Association/Interprovincial Sport and Recreation Council. A Framework for Recreation in Canada 2015 Pathways to Wellbeing. [report on internet]. The Association; 2015 [cited 2022 October 22]. Available from: https://cpra.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FrameworkForRecreationInCanada_2016wcitation.pdf 
2. National Recreation and Parks Association. Best Practices Guide: Increasing Access to Healthy Foods through Innovative Strategies. [report on internet]. The Association; 2020c [cited 2022 October 22]. Available from: https://www.nrpa.org/siteassets/grant-evaluation-nrpa-ost-best-practicess-access-food.pdf
3. Alberta Health Services. Healthy Eating Starts Here Product Poster [report on the internet]. N.d. [cited 2023 January 14]. Available from: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/nutrition/if-nfs-hee-product-poster-rec-centre.pdf 
4. Alberta Health Services [Internet]. Healthy Eating Starts Here: How to Market Healthy Food and Drink. 2023c [cited 2023 January 14]. Available from: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/nutrition/Page17170.aspx 
5. Alberta Health Services. Healthy Eating Starts Here Price Poster [report on the internet]. N.d. [cited 2023 January 14]. Available from: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/nutrition/if-nfs-hee-price-poster-rec-centre.pdf 
6. Alberta Health Services. Healthy Eating Starts Here Promotions Poster [report on the internet]. N.d. [cited 2023 January 14]. Available from: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/nutrition/if-nfs-hee-promotion-poster-rec-centre.pdf 
7. Community Tool Box [Internet]. Section 1. Developing a Plan for Communication; 2022c [cited 2023 January 14]. Available from: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/participation/promoting-interest/communication-plan/main
8. Government of Canada [Internet]. Calendar of health promotion days; January 2023 [cited 2023 January 14]. Available from: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/calendar-health-promotion-days.html
9. Government of Alberta & Alberta Health Services [Internet]. Healthier Together: Eating Healthy Messaging Toolkit; 2018c [cited 2023 January 14]. Available from: https://www.healthiertogether.ca/living-healthy/eat-healthy/eating-healthy-messaging-toolkit/