In today’s high-paced world, nutrition challenges have become an innovative way to engage teams and boost workplace wellness. Whether you’re a registered dietitian or part of a corporate wellness program, nutrition challenges offer a unique opportunity to promote healthy habits among employees and clients alike.
But: coming up with the perfect idea can feel pretty daunting. That’s why we published this post!
In this article, you’ll take a personalized tour of ten different ideas to host a fun and engaging nutrition challenge. They’re creative, impactful and we have all of the tools and resources you need to pull the challenge off – no heavy lifting on your end! As you explore each idea, we will share the top-rated products that will allow you to host a memorable challenge simply and smoothly – you’re welcome!
First stop: a few tips and strategies for hosting a successful challenge, no matter which option you choose!
Disclosure: contains affiliate links. As an affiliate, Well Resourced earns a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
How to Develop a Successful Challenge
Creating a successful nutrition challenge is about crafting an event that is engaging, informative, and rewarding – the details matter! This is the groundwork that can help to ensure that your company wellness challenge knocks your participants socks off:
Optimal Length and Structure
When planning a nutrition challenge, consider what length of program will have the biggest impact. It is a balance between long enough to form habits but short enough to maintain interest.
For many settings, a 4-week challenge works well. It’s long enough to build some healthier habits. This is also long enough that even if someone isn’t consistent every single day, they can still get back on track and see progress.
Encourage Participation
Participation is key to the success of any challenge. But how can we do this? We have a few tricks up our sleeve.
The first tip is to ask for feedback from your audience before you even begin. You’ll have more engagement with your wellness challenge if there is buy in from the beginning. Ask your employees what kinds of habits that they’d like to focus on and use that information to guide what wellness challenge will serve them best.
Next, make the challenge fun and interactive.
We all love a prize, right? One way to nudge participation is by offering incentives such as gift cards or wellness products to the most engaged participants.
Another option is to create a friendly, competitive atmosphere with leaderboards or team challenges. Your most competitive participants will definitely want to know if they’re in the lead…or if they need to pick up the pace on their challenge!
It’s also helpful to offer updates as the challenge progresses; let folks know what the results are in your employee newsletter throughout the challenge.
And finally, if your participants are on social media, encourage them to post and share their efforts. Use a custom hashtag to make it simple for everyone to stay in the loop, comment on one another’s post and to engage in some friendly competitive banter.
Tracking and Accountability
We can manage what we can measure. For your challenge, we recommend that you be very clear about what the goals are and to make it simple to understand how success – and winning – can be achieved.
If you choose a month-long event, it may be helpful to structure your challenge by breaking it down into weekly goals, allowing your participants to build on each success gradually. This approach maintains motivation and helps participants stay on track.
And whether you’re a dietitian or an HR manager, we know that it is important to track and document, well, everything! This applies to your challenges, too – if it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.
Be sure to provide simple ways for your participants to track their progress and participation. Depending on which challenge you’re hosting and your specific work setting, you might consider:
- Paper tracking sheets (some of the challenge kits available for purchase here include these!)
- An app (we have several suggestions here: The 28 Best Apps for Dietitians to Use in Their Business)
And if your office has a centralized messaging system, such as Slack or ClickUp, you can track individual or team progress right where your employees are already looking each day.
Regular check-ins and group updates also foster a sense of community and support.
Offer Samples
We can all be a bit nervous when stepping outside of our comfort zone, especially around new foods. One way to bridge this gap is by offering samples of any foods or drinks that support the participants’ success with the challenge.
Good news: many companies will offer free samples for dietitians. Check out our round up of opportunities to share products with your clients without paying out of pocket for them: 20 Companies with Free Samples for Dietitians.
Nutrition Challenge Ideas for the Workplace
Workplace wellness programs can benefit significantly from incorporating nutrition challenges. Here are some ideas to get you started:
1. 30-Day Plant-Based Challenge
Did you know that the more variety in fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and beans, the happier your gut microbiome is? However, many folks are rather comfortable in their usual routines and don’t try new things very often.
This challenge comes to the rescue by encouraging employees to incorporate more diversity of fiber-rich foods into their meals with a 30-day plant-based challenge. This challenge comes with three printable options for tracking the various plant-based foods that your employees are trying.
You can expand on this challenge by offering samples of plant-based foods that your employees may not have tried before. Not only does it take the pressure off of spending their own grocery budget on foods that they may not like, there can be some friendly peer pressure to try the novel foods.
Lastly, this challenge could be an opportunity to explore different cultural backgrounds; your employees might be proud to share their favorite cultural foods and offer the opportunity for more people to try them. Bonding over samples? Yes please!
2. Hydration Challenge
What do constipation, tiredness, excess hunger, and brain fog all have in common? They may be caused by dehydration!
As much as we love our coffee and tea, this hydration challenge is focused on water and encourages employees to track their daily intake. They can easily track their cups of water each day using this free 30-day water challenge tracker. Make it fun to stay hydrated by offering recipes for infused water or doing a taste test with different flavored water products. You could even present a prize to the person who creates the office favorite infused water recipe.
A recent reviewer of this product wrote, “this is a great hand-out. Simple and easy to fill out daily. Everyone is dehydrated!”
No matter who wins this challenge, we are all winners when we feel our best thanks to top notch hydration status. Grab your favorite water bottle and bottoms up!’
30-Day Water Challenge Tracker (Free!)
3. Self Care Challenge
Do you have employees who are so busy taking care of everyone else that their own care is on the back burner – probably this description applies to many of your employees. Let’s offer a challenge that helps to refill their cup: a self-care challenge. This sort of challenge is especially beneficial for new parents, people with ADHD, and anyone else who might benefit from building structure and routine for the self-care basics.
We aren’t talking bubble baths; the goal is to have a good night’s sleep, have enough water, and make room for joy. This is unbranded and ready to print today.
4. Whole Foods Quick Start Challenge
Help employees switch to optimize their nutrition with several different evidence-based strategies, including swapping processed foods to whole foods, improving satisfaction with meals, nourishing your body with enough protein and more.
With this challenge, participants will have a multi-page guide complete with plenty of tips and strategies for success as well as tracking for each section of the challenge. Your participants will be able to rate their own proficiency at the beginning of the challenge and then compare that to their own rating at the end.
Anti-Inflammatory Whole Foods Quick Start Guide with Tracker
5. Weight-Neutral Wellness Challenge
We know better that weight is not always the best metric for health and that a weight loss challenge comes with risks – people can pursue weight loss in ways that aren’t actually healthy. We recommend skipping the “biggest loser” kinds of challenges that celebrate the scale, and instead cultivate other aspects of wellness that apply to all of us. This is what we mean by “weight neutral”, we aren’t using pounds to measure success.
Instead, we can help to promote a healthy lifestyle through healthier behaviors; these changes will improve the participants’ health, even if the number on the scale is the same. For example, one of the sections of this free weight-neutral wellness challenge is centered around having more fruits and veggies each day, a goal that most of us could use a little help with.
Weight Neutral Employee Wellness Challenge Ideas
P.S. For a deep-dive into the weight neutral approach to clinical care, check out this guide:
Nutrition Challenge Ideas for Private Practice or Group Coaching Clients
Not in a corporate setting? No worries! For registered dietitians or fitness trainers, here are five nutrition challenge ideas tailored for private practice or group coaching.
1. No-Sugar Challenge
Did you know that the average adult in the US has four times the recommended limit of added sugar each day? Yikes!
This challenge can help your clients to reduce sugar intake with a no-sugar challenge. With this 79-page eBook, you’ll be giving your participants educational materials on how to identify hidden sugars in their usual meals and snacks and lots of ideas for tasty, satisfying alternatives.
This product is a comprehensive plan to empower your clients to break free from their sugar cravings and improve their nutrition and health.
2. Food and Activity Tracking Challenge
Looking for a simple alternative to food logging and apps and wearable fitness trackers?
This tracker sheet may not be high tech, but excels at simplicity and strong use of visual reminders. It’s perfect to use as a conversation starter in client sessions or as a valuable takeaway at your next group coaching call.
The Nutrition and Activity Tracker includes sections for: meals. Snacks, water and exercise.
3. Body Affirmation Challenge
When your clients notice their inner monologue, are the messages about their body constructive and kind…or could they use a reset?
With the body image affirmation challenge, your clients will foster a positive relationship with food and body image. As the host, you’ll feel confident leading this challenge with your 12-page guidebook; your participants will easily feel on track with their journaling prompts and 45 different affirmations to choose from. As a bonus, you’ll also have access to phone wallpaper so that participants can keep their favorite affirmations top of mind.
Body Image Affirmations (Free!)
4. Mocktail Mania Hydration Challenge
How can we make a challenge more flavorful and fun? By sampling lots of new drink recipes!
Hydration is a running theme because many of us need a boost…but what if a lot of us are simply tired of plain water. Never fear: with this challenge, you’ll help clients explore the benefits of hydration with an ultimate hydration guide complete with 30 tasty mocktail recipes.
Stay hydrated and on track with your wellness goals and have a tasty time doing it.
5. Mindset Magic Challenge
Is your client’s inner belief system building up their self-worth…or holding them back?
Our mindset is the lens through which we see the world, for better or for worse. With this challenge you’re encouraging your clients to develop a growth mindset that is solution oriented instead of stuck.
With the mindset-magic challenge, your crew will zero-in on positive thinking, goal setting, and resilience. This challenge can empower clients to overcome obstacles and achieve their greatest potential.
Even more workplace wellness ideas and resources
Wasn’t this a fun round-up of ideas? Good news: we have even more ideas to share. Let the good times roll as you check out the following articles for even more ways to engage and inspire your ideal audience:
No matter which idea you choose for your next nutrition challenge idea, success depends on your marketing strategies. Let’s chat through our best ideas to ensure your event is a big success.
Marketing Tips for Your Challenge
An event to remember comes from the right plans, a clear marketing plan and a motivating guide. Here are our top tips for promoting your challenge:
In-Person vs. Online Marketing
Where are your ideal clients most available? Market there!
In-person marketing works well in corporate environments, where you can distribute flyers or hold informational sessions.
Online marketing, including social media and email campaigns, is ideal for reaching a wider audience, especially for private practices.
Either way, your potential participants will need multiple reminders and nudges to join a challenge as well as encouragement to keep going. Make it clear what the benefits are of joining the specific challenge and make it simple to participate.
Encourage Signups
Create a sense of urgency by offering early-bird discounts or limited-time offers. Use engaging visuals and testimonials from previous participants to showcase the benefits of your challenge.
BTW: If you need a quick template to get permission to use a client testimonial, we’ve got you covered: Client Testimonial Consent Form.
Post-Challenge Engagement
Encourage clients or employees to continue their wellness journey after the challenge ends. If you’re a private practice dietitian, make it simple for challenge participants to continue working with you individually or in the group programs that you offer.
You can also offer follow-up services or workshops to maintain their progress – cooking classes to learn how to prepare new dishes and build confidence in the kitchen, yoga or meditation classes. You can build further interest by providing access to exclusive resources (digital goods! Workshops! Meal plans!) or membership in your community groups for ongoing support.
The Bottom Line
Nutrition challenges, when done well, are a powerful tool for promoting health and well-being in various settings. Whether you’re a registered dietitian or part of a corporate wellness team, these challenges can drive engagement, foster healthy habits, and create a sense of community.
By following the tips and ideas outlined in this blog post, you can design and implement successful nutrition challenges that benefit both individuals and organizations.
Ready to take the next step? Explore our resources and start planning your nutrition challenge today!
Recommended reading
Ready to learn more? We’ve hand-picked a few favorites from the blog.
- 11 Health Fair Ideas Everyone Will Love (with Photos!) – Whether you’re planning a wellness fair for your employees or you’re a dietitian or health care professional that’s setting up a booth at a health fair, you’ll find tons of helpful ideas and tips in this post.
- The Ultimate Guide to Workplace Wellness Challenges – Looking for an idea that you can start at your workplace – or just want a fun nutrition or fitness challenge to try on your own? Check out these health challenge ideas that will help inspire and motivate you!
- 20 Companies with Free Samples for Dietitians – Trying to find product samples for your health fair booth? Here are 20 companies that offer free samples for dietitians!