‘Cut the fat’ from workplace obesity to trim health costs

Employees are the most valuable assets a business has, and their health care costs are high.

Health plans are increasingly beset with the rising care costs resulting from the modern obesity problem. The CDC reports that 42 percent of American adults have obesity, and another 30 percent are overweight. Heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression/suicide together are among the top 10 causes of death in the United States and together accounted for 1,665,304 deaths (58 percent of total deaths) in 2019. The obesity pandemic contributed to each of these directly or indirectly, and the leading risk factor for Covid-19 death is obesity.

Besides causing death and serious acute illness, obesity contributes to absenteeism, presenteeism, work- related injuries, and higher costs of routine and chronic medical care.

Obesity is a chronic, multi-factorial, relapsing, neurobehavioral disease. But there is good news. The single factor contributing to obesity and its many related conditions is insulin. Produced by the pancreas in response to the sugar and starch (carbohydrates) we consume, insulin drives the resulting excess blood sugar into tissues where it is converted to fat. Alongside weight gain, this fat production results in dysfunction in various processes that result in dozens of chronic health conditions. The American diet is completely overrun with these non-nutritive types of carbohydrate-rich “foods.” The resulting high-insulin state essentially locks up fat stores. It thus prevents weight loss and makes it easy to gain weight.

Fat in the diet does not cause fat in the body; carbohydrates in the diet do. In
a comparison of low-fat vs. low-carbohydrate diets, low-carb diets caused significantly greater weight loss in 31 out of 31 studies.

You can affect the culture around food in your business to help move your employees away from these disease-causing types of foodstuffs: 

• Recognize where toxic, carbohydrate-rich “foods” are presented to your team, whether by the company, organization, or by employees themselves (birthdays, potlucks, working lunches, etc.).
• Educate your team about the scientifically proven toxic effects of sugar and starch on health, psyches, and waistlines.
• Encourage foods that are low in carbohydrates that all can enjoy without fear of toxicity, such as vegetables, meats, cheeses, eggs, and low-sugar desserts such as berries. 
• Remove sugary/starchy foods from the “menu” of options (sugared soft-drinks, doughnuts, candy, fruit juice, chips, bread, and pasta, to name a few). 
• Provide mineral, sparkling, or ice water with lime or lemon slices, non-sweetened iced tea, and coffee. 
• Model these behaviors in your own lifestyle.

A healthier culture and lower health costs must start at the top. Be the change. 

DAVID J. USHER, M.D., is owner and CEO of ReforMedicine, a near-site and onsite clinic company providing primary care and obesity medicine to employers in western Wisconsin, transforming the culture of health, and reducing health care expenditure. He is a member of the Catholic Medical Association and has been practicing obesity medicine for 16 years.