Food Rules -- Our first wellness book club discussion.

Last week, we held our first wellness book club discussion on Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan. I talked about how we chose the book in this earlier post. 32 people participated in the discussion (31 staff and one retiree.) We provided copies of the book to the 16 individuals in our heart health initiative and encouraged them to attend. We also had 10 copies in the HR library for staff to check out -- 39 individuals checked a book out of HR.

Diana Levin Cohen lead the discussion for us. Diana interned with ASHA last summer and continues to do some contract work with Lifework Strategies. (If you're looking for a workplace wellness professional, Diana will be graduating from American University with a master's degree in health promotion management in June. She'll be a great hire for some lucky organization. I'll be happy to forward her resume.)


Diana broke the participants into small groups and each group had a cute little bowl of questions to prompt discussion. People seemed interested and engaged as I walked around and listened in as they talked.


Diana prepared a brief survey for the participants to complete at the end of the discussion. The feedback was positive. People really liked the small groups and the questions Diana developed. When asked how they thought the book club could be improved, we received the following suggestions:

• Use a room with better acoustics.
• Have a few more question cards.
• Encourage quiet people to talk more.
• Include action steps.
• Serve wine.

We should be able to do most of those things easily enough ;-)

Of the 27 people that completed the survey, 22 said they'd participate in another book club discussion. The other 5 were maybes. They suggested the following books.

• French Women Don't Get Fat
• Diet for a Small Planet
• Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food--includes CD
• Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy - Until You're 80 and Beyond
• Eating Animals
• And, anything by Andrew Weil or Dean Ornish

As you can see, people honed in on nutrition and eating with these suggestions. I've also thought the book club could be a way to expand our wellness activities into other areas described in our branches of wellness, but I'm happy to continue along the nutrition line if that's what people want. Please pass along your thoughts and recommendations.