Nutrition Culture

Building a Strong Nutrition Culture

A Military Leader’s Guidebook for Optimizing Nutrition Readiness

The U.S. Armed Forces are expected to maintain and display physical and mental excellence at all times. To achieve this, Service Members must maintain nutritional fitness as a foundation for readiness and performance. Despite the clear link between nutrition, health, and performance, Service Members face barriers to achieving nutrition readiness across the force. Military leaders are uniquely positioned to improve the military nutrition environment and culture to enhance operational readiness.

The concepts in this guidebook are grounded in principles found in Currie et al.’s article titled “Building a Culture of Health Through Leader-Inspired Nutrition.” Leader-Inspired Nutrition (LIN) is an evidence-based framework that focuses on a military leader’s role in building a culture of health and performance by promoting healthy nutrition behaviors within their organization.

Who this is for

The Building a Strong Nutrition Culture Guidebook by Human Performance Resources by CHAMP (HPRC) helps military leaders — both formal and informal — support nutrition readiness within their organizations.

Objectives

  • Assess current nutrition culture within your unit or organization
  • Build an action plan to improve nutrition readiness through leader-focused strategies

How to use this workbook

  1. Begin by conducting a brief Pillar Assessment to prioritize pillars for improvement within your organization.
  2. Choose one (or multiple) pillar(s) to address based on your assessment scores. Choose the number of pillars you address on your needs, resources, and bandwidth. 
  3. After choosing which pillar(s) to address, refer to that specific “Pillar in Focus” section for more in-depth pillar-specific information, strategies, and ideas to help improve the nutrition culture. Each “pillar in focus” section includes: 
  • Conversation starters: Informally assess the culture by talking to Service Members and peers, or reflecting on the conversation starters yourself. Converse with curiosity and without judgment to get a clear picture of the organization’s nutrition culture and needs.
  • Barriers to consider: Service Members may face barriers that leaders are unfamiliar with. Additionally, systemic barriers may exist that require collaborative efforts to change. You must acknowledge barriers, both big and small, for effective organizational change. 
  • Things you can do: Military leaders can apply these strategies to improve the nutrition culture in their units. These lists are not exhaustive, and you may find other strategies that work better for your circumstances. 
  1. Finish by creating a targeted action plan to address gaps and build a strong military nutrition culture. You can come back to this workbook any time to reassess and apply new tips and strategies to your organization. 

Nutrition subject matter experts cannot enhance military nutrition readiness alone. Leaders at all levels must engage to promote a nutritionally ready force. 

Ready? Let’s get started! Click on the links below to develop your own leader-inspired nutrition strategies, starting with the Leader-Inspired Nutrition Pillar Assessment:

  • Leader-Inspired Nutrition Pillar Assessment
  • Pillar 1: Integrate Nutrition Education and Training
  • Pillar 2: Promote a Mission-Ready Food Environment
  • Pillar 3: Model Performance-Focused Nutrition Behaviors
  • Pillar 4: Advance Informed Use of Dietary Supplements
  • Leader-Inspired Nutrition Action Plan
  • Appendix and Other Resources

A PDF version of the full HPRC’s Building a Strong Nutrition Culture Guidebook (PDF) is available for download.