Workplace wellness programs have not been successful, as evidenced by the continued rise in every company’s healthcare costs. These expenses are growing to unsustainable levels and people are scratching their heads asking, “Why doesn’t our workplace wellness program deliver results?” It is because most wellness programs don’t address the underlying root cause of the problem: FOOD. Companies continue to serve, sell, and reimburse for the very foods that are making employees sick. No amount of steps on the Fitbit can make up for a poor diet.
The chronic diseases of the heart and brain, as well as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers are linked to diets high in animal products and nutrient-poor highly processed foods that are exploding healthcare costs and reducing productivity. A company’s best option to address what has been a failure of most wellness programs is changing the workplace food environment, and providing employees with nutrition education and lifestyle strategies to make behavior changes at home as well.
Health
Chronic disease conditions cost employers billions of dollars annually. Since most chronic conditions are preventable and even reversible, the sooner lifestyle behavior change is implemented, the more money is saved. People can begin to see reversal in as little as a few weeks. A whole-food, plant-based diet is the only dietary pattern shown to address the root cause of many chronic diseases. The proof is confirmed by countless studies, and in fact Medicare and private insurers will provide coverage to participants in certain programs that prescribe a whole-food, plant-based diet. Some of these private insurers are also reimbursing for patients with type 2 diabetes and early prostate cancer. Changing the workplace food environment and culture to one that promotes nutrient-dense whole, plant-based foods in (or close to) their natural state has the best potential to lower healthcare costs, and improve productivity and health outcomes of its employees—because it addresses the main root cause of chronic diseases.
Planet
The interconnection between the health of our bodies and the health of our shared planet can no longer be ignored. The old model is a myopic focus on the energy and transportation sectors, while the new model looks holistically at all contributors, direct and indirect, and seeks ways to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs).
For example, Starbuck’s in its 2017 Environmental report on climate change acknowledge that its GHG emissions totaled 16,581,000 metric tons, of which 15,900,000 (or 96%) was from indirect sources including the food and dairy it sells. The corporation’s electricity usage comprised only 390,000 metric tons; company transportation and store operations totaled just 291,000 metric tons. So if Starbucks wants to lower its footprint, perhaps promoting plant-based milks while charging a premium for cow milk might be a good place to start.
Sodexo, a large global food services company, is responding to rising consumer demand for environmentally friendly plant-based options. Leaders in environmental stewardship will look beyond utilities, eliminating plastic straws and recycling efforts to incorporate all aspects that contribute toward lowering a company’s footprint.
There are significant health, cost, and environmental benefits to changing the menu to plant-based, so why haven’t more companies done something about it?
Barriers to Change
Interestingly, the barriers to implementing change are not cost-related. There is no large capital outlay or changes to infrastructure involved in moving toward a company policy promoting a whole-food, plant-based menu. Nor does there need to be incremental, ongoing administrative expense impacting the P&L beyond implementation. Instead, the two main barriers are:
- leading and managing the people side of change, beginning with the leadership; and
- not knowing “what good looks like” in terms of a health-promoting (disease-preventing/reversal) whole-food, plant-based lifestyle.
Fortunately, these barriers can be addressed.
How to Overcome Barriers to Change
Of the many ways to approach making a change, the best way starts with leadership. Those guiding the company can embrace that this change may require personal lifestyle behavior modifications that are uncomfortable for them. Why are these changes uncomfortable? In large part, it’s because for many people, habits and routines eventually feel like identity: “I’m a carnivore,” or “I’m a junk-food foodie” or sadly, “I’m a diabetic.” For many people starting out, giving up meat and dairy, or healing your body by reversing diabetes, can feel like taking away part of a person’s identity. I would argue that leaders don’t need to “go vegan.” They may just need to be more “plant-based” than they currently are.
You can think of it as a continuum by incorporating more nutrient-dense whole plant-based foods into your diet at least while you are at work. You can learn what a health-promoting dietary pattern looks like, and personally experience the benefits of it: more energy, improved mental clarity, lower cholesterol, improved insulin sensitivity, and weight loss. When leaders can get to a place where plant-based is the “new normal” (at least at work), then a leading-by-example approach allows broader organizational changes that will improve health outcomes for employees and leave a lighter environmental footprint on the planet.
If you have any doubts that this will actually work, I encourage you to first ask, “What do I have to lose by personally trying it?” Then ask the medical professionals that specialize in lifestyle medicine to share the results they’ve seen with patients, or simply read what the experts have written.
Below is a reading list to help convince you of the tangible benefits: reduced medications and procedures, lower healthcare costs, increased productivity, and the priceless PR win that comes with environmental stewardship. In addition, check out The Plant-Based Workplace: Add Profits, Engage Employees and Save the Planet for a more comprehensive business case.
The Alzheimer’s Solution: A Breakthrough Program to Prevent and Reverse the Symptoms of Cognitive Decline at Every Age by Dean Sherzai, MD and Ayesha Sherzai, MD
Dead Execs Don’t Get Bonuse$ by Joel Kahn, MD
Undo It!: How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseasesby Dean Ornish, MD and Anne Ornish
Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure by Caldwell Esselstyn, MD
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger, MD
Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes Without Drugs by Neal Barnard, MD
Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession with Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It by Garth Davis, MD and Howard Jacobson, PhD
About the Author
Gigi Carter, nutritionist, personal trainer and author, resides in Washington state. She earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from John Carroll University and a master’s in business administration from Cleveland State University. Over the last two decades, Carter’s career has been mostly with Fortune 500 companies in financial services and manufacturing. Carter made a career change in 2016 to pursue her master’s in nutrition sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she graduated with honors, and launched the socially conscious nutrition and wellness practice, My True Self, PLLC. Carter is a licensed nutritionist in the State of Washington, and certified personal trainer and senior fitness specialist with the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is the author of The Plant-Based Workplace and co-author of The Spinach in My Teeth.