Implementation aspects of the Seattle “5 a days” intervention project: Strategies to help employees make dietary changes

National health recommendations endorse eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily for good health. In this project, a worksite intervention designed to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables is tested. The project is a randomized controlled trial, with 28 worksites randomized to either an intervention or comparison condition. The intervention is based on the stages of change model and provides worksite activities in a sequence designed to move employees along the stages of change during the intervention. A baseline assessment of a random sample of 125 employees per worksite was conducted. For the 1,032 respondents, the mean number of fruits and vegetables consumed daily was 3.9, with 43.X% self-reporting that they ate between one and two servings per day and 38.9.X% reporting eating three to four servings per day. The stages of change for eating five or more servings per day show 32.4.X% in precontemplation, 4.8.X% in contemplation, 47.9.X% in preparation, 1.1.X% in action, and 13.8.X% in maintenance.