The state’s Choose Healthy Now program, which has blind vendors using stickers on their products to denote whether snacks are healthy, celebrated its first anniversary in May and now has plans for expansion.

The vendors operate their snack shops in state and federal government buildings, and some offer healthy, hot meals, as well. The stickers are used to identify healthy snacks: Green is healthy, yellow is in the middle and red indicates that the product is higher in sugar and fat.

THE program, a partnership between the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services’ Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Ho‘opono Vending Program, now includes six snack shops. There are plans to add 12 additional sites by the end of the year.

Customers were surveyed throughout the first year of the program.

“There was a 106 percent increase in green item sales. More than one-quarter of the people surveyed said that the stickers influenced their choices,” said Carolyn Donohoe Mather, nutritionist for the Health Department’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division.

If there’s a lack of healthy food available, people find it difficult to stay healthy, but having the healthy options helps them to stay on track.

Small changes add up, she said: “For example, some studies have shown that when people eliminate one sugary drink a day, they lose weight.”

WORK-SITE wellness programs have proved effective in improving the health of employees, which lowers overall health care costs and improves morale and productivity, according to Lola Irvin, chief of the Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division.

“We found that people want a healthy environment,” Irvin said. “Focus groups were conducted during the past year to make modifications to improve the program and determine what employees needed. Our focus is on improving the program.”

According to the Department of Health, half the adults in Hawaii are overweight or obese, and 4 in 5 adults are living with chronic disease or conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer. Irvin hopes that these types of programs can help decrease those numbers. Numbers for personal health improvements were not part of the survey, but that’s something being considered as improvements are made to the program.

“We have a rich food culture here,” said Irvin. “We’re hoping to help people switch to healthier foods … get them thinking about what to bring to potlucks or offer to their families. They can shift to healthier foods and still maintain a culture of hospitality.”

Visit www.healthyhawaii.com/choose-healthy-now for more information.