Eat smart, meet smart: clean up your next work meeting with healthy food options.

• Author: Biton, Adva
• Position: Corporate Meetings

Everyone knows the old adage: You are what you eat. As more and more people embrace wellness initiatives to better their health, it's become clear that businesses should be doing the same. A good place to start? Examining the food served at corporate functions, meetings and events.

Dr. Thunder Jalili, associate professor at the University of Utah's College of Health, Division of Nutrition, says there can be major disadvantages, both short and long term, for businesses that serve unhealthy fare at events. Offering carbohydrate and sugar-loaded foods can add up.

"If you have sedentary employees and you provide food that promotes weight gain, it increases the risk long-term for obesity-related diseases," says Jalili. "It can affect the workforce and the business by increasing healthcare costs and [lowering] productivity.'

So what options are available to a business that wants to keep its employees happy and healthy? Learn some tips from the experts here:

Avoid Misinformation Jeff Palmer, CEO of Salt Lake City-based catering company Have Party Will Travel, says many corporations are talking the talk but not walking the walk when it comes to healthy foods. Many times. Palmer says he has clients interested in serving healthy foods at their events, but when the food shows up, complaints start to filter back to him.

Both Jalili and Palmer agree that problems are exacerbated by a lack of general knowledge about nutrition. Most businesses also don't realize they can request a nutritional consult, like the ones offered by the University of Utah, before planning wellness initiatives or corporate events.

Often, Palmer explains, the misinformation leads to clients trying to exchange foods they believe are unhealthy with foods they assume are--such as trading eggs with cheese for store-bought granola--only to find out their "healthy' options are actually loaded with sugars and salts. Worse, the foods are not filling, which causes people to return for seconds and thirds.

Jalili says in general, foods with fat get a bad rap, but they can actually be a healthy snack option at a meeting or event.

"People shy away from [foods containing fats] because of a lack of nutrition knowledge," he says. "Offering cheese, nuts and eggs--people may think they're high-fat foods, but they're not...