Should nutrition and lifestyle tips be in your club?
This is one question that I believe 100 percent should be “YES.” I come from a family where one side has a history of heart disease, so I find myself hyper sensitive to nutritional information and exercise tips — nothing too extravagant, just a basic tip.
I feel like each bit of nutritional advice I receive helps me fend off the disease that has plagued my family for generations. I’ve watched them go down the road of bad health for many years, and for a while, I followed along. However, I, and many of your members, am no longer on that path. Although, as we all know, that path isn’t always easy.
Every day we are placed in a world surrounded by fast food and easily unhealthy decisions. Even though I might know that most fast food is bad for me, if I have advertisements for it, instead of something healthy, I’m likely to fall off the wagon.
Your club should have a responsibility to the health food industry. This doesn’t mean that you should advertise name brand health foods, but you should give members short tips of healthy information on a regular basis — call it, “Healthy Bits.”
I know that it would be difficult to put every member on a nutrition plan for three or more meals a day. But, what if each Monday you provided members with a print out that gave them an idea for what to eat for lunch that week, or just that day? That simple gesture could be highly beneficial to the member.
You could also partner with one of your local health food stores. Have them hand out free trial memberships (provided the individual goes through a sales presentation) and you hand out a coupon, coupon packet or buy one get one free offer from the deli at the health food store.
Additionally, I know that pizza is a wonderful food, but it’s not always wonderful for you. What if, instead of a pizza party, you have a “healthy party?” It would provide you time to appreciate your members and show them a healthy recipe that is tasty as well.
We all know that there are healthy options. However, we are also a people consumed by marketing — not necessarily marketing for good things. If your club doesn’t help to be part of the healthy marketing that your members consume, they are more likely to see a higher volume of unhealthy advertisements. Just by looking around us, we can already admit that it appears that people are currently NOT seeing healthy marketing. What are you going to do to change that this week?
Tyler Montgomery is the Editor of Club Solutions Magazine. Contact him at tyler@clubsolutionsmagazine.com.