Step 2: Recommendations

Recommendations to the employees

• Plan all your meals in advance, eating at irregular times and snacking fduring the day promotes obesity;
• Choose brown or whole wheat bread for your snacks;
• Don’t forget to introduce a dairy product in snacks;
• Always start your meal with a vegetable soup. Occasionnally add beans;
• Choose water to accompany your meal;
• Include a piece of fruit in your dessert and snacks;
• Reduce salt, give preference to herbs for cooking;
• Choose olive oil for season foods and salads, but use sparingly;
• Prefer simple cooking: steam or grill. These type of methods will preserve the nutrients of food;
• Avoid soft drinks;
• If eating out of your workplace make sure you get some exercise and go by foot. If accompanied, so much better;

Recommendations to the restaurants

• Favour cooking methods such as steam, oven, or grill;
• Have jugs of water available;
• Provide vegetable soup;
• Provide mini dishes;
• Don’t have salt on the table, only provide if asked for;
• Provide vegetables (raw or cooked) and beans, as an accompaniment;
• Offer brown bread or whole grain;
• Provide fish and white meat dishes;
• Provide the usage of seasonal and national products and its promotion;
• Include fresh fruit in the “Menu of the Day” as an alternative to a sweet dessert;
• Use herbs as a salt substitute;
• Use olive oil as the main fat for cooking, starters and accompaniments.

Criteria to respect in order to be part of the FOOD restaurants’ network

Following the creation of the FOOD recommendations for restaurants, a network of restaurants respecting a certain number of recommendations was created.
In Portugal, restaurants have to apply 10 out of the 12 recommendations in order to be part of the FOOD restaurants network.

To see the map of the entire network of FOOD restaurants, click here.