Developing Healthy Choices Policy

In February, a Healthy Choices Workshop was run at the MSAC Sports House training room for the SSAs focused on developing policy guidelines. This included some guidance around developing a strong policy that is suitable for your organisation. Here is a recap:

Why do we need a policy?

A Healthy Choices policy across sporting organisations will aid in creating sustainable and supportive environments that can successfully provide healthy food and drink options to all stakeholders including staff, sports participants, spectators and the broader community.

A Healthy Choices policy:

1. Demonstrates leadership and drives cultural change
2. Communicates and promotes Healthy Choices (made available and encouraged)
3. Uses an organisational approach engaging all stakeholders to keep in line with club values
4. Creates sustainability of achievements
5. Can be embed in organisational policies, tenders and contracts and leases
6. Establishes a purpose and way of implementing goals

Creating a policy

A policy is a document that can be adapted to meet the need of your organisation and therefore no two policies are required to be the same.

Some suggested questions that could be considered when creating a policy covers the following key areas:

• Why? Rationale/ Purpose (support the health and wellbeing of community)
• What? Aim (ensure a variety of healthy choices)
• How? Implementation/objectives (increase availability of healthy foods and drinks)
• Can it be applied beyond a canteen? Location (sponsorship, staff, catering)
• Does it link with existing policy? Links (other health policies)
• Is it supported/ endorsed? Endorsement (committee or manager)
• How will it be reviewed? Evaluation (6/12 monthly by committee)
• How will it be promoted? Promotion (newsletter, website etc.)

Templates and Policies:

Healthy choices policy guidelines for sport and recreation centres (includes Healthy Eating Policy Template page. 20) (Download)

Basketball Victoria have successfully created and implemented a Healthy Eating Policy (Download)

You may also be interested in...