Chalk one up for companies that are making a difference in enforcing Wellness in the Workplace. I wrote about my opinion that wellness should determine health benefits more than a year ago and this week I found out that Clarian is answering this clarion call!

Clarian Health, a large provider of health care services to the residents of Indianapolis, Indiana began 2007 with a new Mission Strategy, “A Call To Change”, urging the residents of the Hoosier State to take charge of bettering their health. In addition, Clarian is boldly going where pretty much no other company has gone before. Putting it’s money where its mouth is, the company is tying employee compensation and benefits with the individual’s health and habits.

Clarian Health is announcing changes to employee medical insurance plans in order to promote healthier lifestyles. Beginning in 2008, all employees wishing to enroll in Clarian-sponsored plans will have to report all potential health risks, including whether they use tobacco. A health risk charge of $5 per paycheck will be assessed to employees who have used tobacco within six months of their health risk assessment completion date. Beginning in 2009, employees will also have to participate in a complete health screening.

-Inside Indiana Business

Now, that’s what I call getting serious about making people value their health insurance (often provided free or at reduced premiums). When the individual employee realizes that there are no rights without corresponding responsibilities, everyone benefits. It goes without saying that a company’s group insurance premiums would reduce considerably if the average health-levels of its members increased and if no member smoked or was overly obese.

Workers who were moderately obese had health-care costs that were 21 percent, or $670 a year, higher than workers with normal weight, according to a recent study by Thomson Health Care. For those with severe obesity, annual health-care costs rose 75 percent, or $2,441 per person.

- IndyStar

From 2009, Clarian will begin to charge employees $30 every two weeks if certain serious issues are not brought under control. Employees will be screened for 5 major health indicators: Body Mass Index, LDL (bad) Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar (Glycemia) and Smoking Status. While the company will provide for free smoking-cessation and wellness programs, employees who still don;t make an effort will see themselves being hit where it hurts the most – their paycheck.

But is it legal? Well, while employees cannot be discriminated against (by being provided less coverage than others), …

employers, who typically pay the bulk of employee health insurance premiums, are allowed by law to use financial incentives in wellness programs to motivate workers to adopt more healthy lifestyles, said Mike MacLean, a partner at Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels.

Kudos to Clarian for leading the way for large companies that are making an exceptional effort to bring America’s workforce onto the fitness bandwagon.

As always, it looks like nothing will make a person sit up and listen like money can!

[tags]health, fitness, exercise, overweight, obesity, Clarian Health, workplace wellness[/tags]

When you pick up an issue of BusinessWeek magazine you expect to see news about the latest twists and turns in the stock market, maybe even some good old fashioned corporate corruption. But the cover of the February 26th edition grabbed my attention when I realised it focussed squarely on workplace wellness (just one of my many obsessions).

Scotts Miracle-Gro of Marysville Ohio is, by this account, a great example of a company that has gotten workplace-wellness programs right. Get Healthy-Or Else describes the efforts made by this lawncare company to not only get its employees to eat and live well but also makes them accountable for their actions. During the middle of last year I asked if Wellness should determine health benefits and I was heartened to see many similarities between what I wished for and what is already being done at Scotts.

Getting employees involved

Just like household budgeting which works best when the kids are involved in the whole money-in money-out equation, Scotts’ wellness program began with CEO Jim Hagedorn’s honest and straight-forward approach with his employees.

Hagedorn wanted employees to know what he was up against. Using a PowerPoint presentation, he showed that his annual health-care bill had soared 42% since 1999, to $20 million, which amounted to 20% of the company’s net profits in 2003.

Getting employees policed

Enforcing workplace programs especially related to such personal matters as smoking and eating is always a tricky issue, but Hagedorn, a former F-16 pilot was not one to be discouraged. Hiring a third-party firm to prevent managers from discriminating against subordinates, he managed to institute a smoking ban with the understanding that “If people understand the facts and still choose to smoke, it’s suicidal,” he says. “And we can’t encourage suicidal behavior.”

A little extreme? Sure, but then so is the problem.

Getting employees the resources

Well, talk about fitness is cheap, but Hagedorn puts his money where his health is:

During one of Hagedorn’s straight-talk sessions, workers told him a company gym would make wellness easier to swallow. “Done,” Hagedorn said. But his vision went far beyond installing some StairMasters and throwing up health pointers on the Scotts intranet. Hagedorn built a soup-to-nuts medical and fitness center across the street from headquarters. Operated by Whole Health, the 24,000-square-foot facility cost $5 million and can meet pretty much any health-related need an employee might have, including a drive-thru for free prescription drugs.

When employers don’t stop at just making recommendations, but go that extra step to actually provide a convenient, usable service, everyone benefits.

Get employees accountable

Of course, you can provide the world of benefits to employees, but that benefit is only going to be as good as its usage. This is why:

Scotts employees are now urged to take exhaustive health-risk assessments. Those who balk pay $40 a month more in premiums. Using data-mining software, Whole Health analysts scour the physical, mental, and family health histories of nearly every employee and cross-reference that information with insurance-claims data. Health coaches identify which employees are at moderate to high risk. All of them are assigned a health coach who draws up an action plan. Those who don’t comply pay $67 a month on top of the $40. “We tried carrots,” says Benefits Chief Pam Kuryla. “Carrots didn’t work.”

As I have said many times before, insurance companies work like that – the safest, most responsible people pay the least. It’s time health insurance followed suit. Complacence that one’s individual habits don’t matter because someone else is paying for health insurance is the root of irresponsible eating behaviour. It’s time people (especially at the workplace) realise that their habits don’t affect just themselves but others too. “Why should you care whether other people are healthy or not?” – well you can stop wondering now.

Getting employees motivated (and rewarded!)
Often Hagedorn will walk around motivating people and making sure people are on the right track. And with rewards aplenty for good behaviour general wellness at Scotts is only going one way – up:

The nudging begets peer pressure. Gym rats earn special pins they display on ID badge lanyards; these have become a coveted status object. Competition for trips to Hawaii, free massages and facials, and other cash and prizes is fierce. One group of employees started having lunch together every day to keep each other from peeling out of the parking lot for a smoke. Doughnuts have disappeared. “The message is: If you’re not trying to do something to make yourself better, then you’re going to pay more,”.

Getting employees results

The best part of any program is seeing the results right before your eyes and employees of Scotts are luck to be able to do so:

So far, the company says, more than 70% of headquarters staff belongs to the fitness center. The smoking-cessation program has already had a 30% success rate. The wellness program, which costs $4 million a year to run, is a financial drain. But the company expects it to pay for itself in three to four years.

The Challenges From Tough Decisions

The guy on the cover? He is Scott Rodrigues who was fired on his 30th birthday because he didn’t stop smoking … and promptly filed a discriminatory lawsuit against the company. While Scotts Miracle-Gro agrees it’s a difficult decision it believes it can get the case dismissed.

Path-breaking policies are never easy to implement – but kudos to Jim Hagedorn for making the effort, sticking to his values and making a real difference to his employees. Do read the complete article which also links to a tips page on How to Launch a Wellness Program.

How does your company rate at motivating its employees to lead a healthier life? Do you have any tips for making it easier to implement similar policies at work? Do let other readers know by commenting!

[tags]health,fitness, exercise, workplace wellness[/tags]

Did you know that there’s one exercise that’s free, has the lowest drop-out rate of any physical activity, and just one hour a day can add two hours to a person’s life? Yes, I am talking about walking and this week, the American Heart Association launched “Start!“, a national campaign for individuals and employers to get people moving.

Supported by sponsors like Astra Zeneca, HealthyChoice and Subway, the Start! Walking Program is a literal wake-up call to Americans to start incorporating a regular exercise program into their daily lives. Walking – the brisk, heart-rate-raising kind – has numerous benefits other than weight-management, including the lowering of bad-cholesterol(LDL)-levels and high-blood-pressure while also reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Start! has something for both individuals and employers and is built around four key elements to help Americans live longer, heart-healthy lives:

1. MyStart! Online, a Web-based fitness and nutrition tracker, is the hub for a walking program that offers constant, measurable, personal improvement.
2. The Start! Fit-Friendly Companies Recognition Program officially recognizes employers that champion the health of their employees and work to create a culture of physical activity in the workplace. The Start! Fit-Friendly Companies Program has several key aspects to help companies embrace a culture of physical activity and wellness.
3. The Start! Walking Program encourages companies to promote walking at work and recognize and reward employees who move from a sedentary to a more active lifestyle. It is a key component for removing a significant barrier to regular exercise for millions of American workers.
4. A reinvigorated Start! Heart Walk, the American Heart Association’s premier fund-raiser, gives people an opportunity to improve their health through walking while helping fund the fight against heart disease and stroke.

Start! for Individuals is where a person can begin by creating an online profile for oneself called My Start! Online. The free online tool helps you enter your activities and what you ate for the day and gives you reports so you can adjust your balance of calories in vs out. You get to learn about the benefits of walking and how to get started on a walking program in the Start! Moving section which also includes a list of calories burned from various comparable activities (did you know that for the same amount of time, you burn more calories walking at 5mph than when using a push mower?!).

Finally, Start! Eating Right describes easy ways to make healthy choices like using at least as many calories as you take in and a guide on buying healthful foods when you shop next.

As a big proponent of making it easier for employees to incorporate fitness into their work schedule, I like the Start! for Employers program which encourages employers to set an example by making health a fitness and priority at the workplace, thereby increasing productivity and, more importantly, reducing the cost of healthcare. Start! Moving for Employers reveals encouraging studies that show the benefits of having a fitness program at work (for every $1 the average company spends on its worksite wellness program, it receives an average net benefit of $3.40 to $7.88!).

Companies can even sign-up for the “Start! Fit-Friendly Companies Program” which awards employers for their commitment to increasing fitness awareness among its employees and making the workplace more amicable to individual efforts. These include things like providing a fitness center at work (and the time to use it!), walking trails around the company and healthful choices in the cafeteria menu.

All in all I think this effort is a step in the right direction although the success of any such program relies on the motivation of both individuals and employers to make a positive change in their lives. With problems like obesity and diabetes becoming increasingly prevalent around the world, we can use all the help we can get to help combat them.

Get Start!ed today.

[tags]health, fitness, nutrition, american heart association, start! walking program[/tags]

You have seen it all. The revolutionary Got Milk ad campaign. The silly white moustache on more celebrities than you could shake your tail feathers at. And now the new 2424milk campaign: “Drink Milk, Lose Weight”. So what’s the truth about this white liquid? Is it really a miracle food?

Believe you me: It is; but don’t get me wrong: If you really drink milk all day (especially the “whole” kind), you will not only not lose weight but add some artery-clogging saturated fat in the process. Here’s the skinny:

Milk is one of the best natural sources of a powerful combination of proteins and vitamins that you can lay your hands on. More and more studies show that this potent combination (and especially the calcium) help the body in burning fat and reduce the tendency to store fat.

In one recent study, researchers compared the effects of three different calorie-restricted diets on weight loss in overweight/obese adults. The participants who consumed at least 3 servings of milk or milk products a day (total calcium intake of 1,200-1,300 mg) lost significantly more weight and fat than those who took calcium supplements or consumed a low calcium diet (one or fewer glasses of milk). In fact, the people who consumed the equivalent of 24 ounces of milk each day, lost an average of 24 pounds in 24 weeks.

-Via Prairie Farms

But this is just a recently discovered “fringe benefit” of the calcium in milk. The major benefits of milk have not – and wont – change in a long time. Consider that milk contains:

1. a great amount of calcium. Infact it is one of the primary sources of calcium for a majority of adults. The building block for bone and teeth development, calcium is vital to prevent problems like osteoporosis in later years. A single cup of milk provides you with almost 25-30% of your required calcium.
2. Vitamin D and K – essential for bone health and calcium absorption.
3. B-vitamins such as B-12, niacin and riboflavin, (great for cardiocvascular health and essential for energy production from food) and thiamine (useful in cognitive functions, especially memory).
4. complete proteins: coming from an animal source, Milk contains all the essential amino acids for increasing lean body mass and building muscle. With one cup of skim milk having 9g of protein it’s no wonder serious athletes drink some serious milk!
5. Potassium to maintain blood pressure and regulate fluid balance in the body.

The key factor in milk consumption, however, is that whole milk has a sizable amount of saturated fat (a single cup has 8g of fat with 5g of it saturated). While this is OK for toddlers who are not breastfeeding, adults who get their fat from other sources should almost always be drinking 2% or if possible fat-free (skim) milk. The best part? All the great benefits of calcium, vitamins and protein are intact even in skim milk. Infact, given the removal of fat, skim milk has an extra gram of protein per cup.

If taste is an issue, consider mixing skim milk with your 2% milk and gradually increasing the percentage of skim milk until you get used to it. Try to drink atleast 3 cups (yes it’s a 2424 thing: 24 ounces in 24 hours).
Further reading:

• Milk’s Nine Essential Nutrients and 24 Ways To Get 24 Oz
• Nutrition facts from WhyMilk.
• Got Milk celebrities!

[tags]health, fitness, nutrition, milk, got milk[/tags]

Wendy’s the third largest fast food chain in the U.S. after Mc Donalds and Burger King, has announced that effective August, it will use a non-hydrogenated blend of corn and soy oil that will cut trans fat in its products by as much as 95%.

A large order of french fries will now have 0.5g trans fat (mainly caused by refrying) compared to the 7g (yikes!) it had earlier.

“We’ve been diligently working to reduce the trans fat levels in our food without jeopardizing the great taste our customers expect,” said Kerrii Anderson, Wendy’s interim chief executive officer. “Getting to this point has involved hard work by our suppliers along with rigorous consumer and operations testing.

“This is the right thing to do. We’re proud of our legacy of innovation in the restaurant industry, and these latest steps that enhance the nutritional profile of our food. We’re the first national hamburger chain cooking with non-hydrogenated oil in the U.S.”

… … …

In a move completed earlier this year, all salad dressings offered in Wendy’s Garden Sensations® salad line now have zero grams of trans fat per serving. In 2005, Wendy’s restaurants began offering margarine with zero grams of trans fat per serving with its baked potatoes.*

-Via Yahoo News

Good to hear that atleast one of the big three is making an effort toward a healthier America! Hope the folks at Mc Donalds and Burger King are paying attention.
[tags]health, fitness, wendy’s, hydrogenated oil[/tags]

Almonds are so good for you, they are my first entry in the Fitness Mantra Hall of Fame and I also declare them to be a Fitness Mantra (or FitMan, for short) Food. On this site I plan to discuss the healthy and unhealthy aspects of various types of foods and those that should have pride of place in you kitchen will be called FitMan Foods. You can be assured that only the most healthful of foods will qualify for this position (I am sorry Krispy Kreme, please step to the back of the line!)

Almonds are one of the best foods you can consume on a daily basis and have many healthful benefits which I’ll describe in this post.

Nutrition:

First consider the nutrition data of an ounce of almonds (from Fitness Mantra’s favorite site, NutritionData):

An ounce of almonds (about 20-25 almonds, depending on the size of the nut) makes for a wonderful snack and packs in 6g of protein and 3.3g of fiber. While nuts, in general, have a high fat content, the fat in almonds is of the monounsaturated variety (I will soon be writing in detail about fats, but for now, just remember that saturated(think: butter)=bad and monounsaturated(think: olive-oil)=good)

Benefits of eating almonds:

It is a nutritionally dense food (packs in more nutrients when compared by weight) with the following wonderful benefits:

1. 7.3 mg of Vitamin E per ounce: A great source of anti-oxidants (almost a third of your daily need in just this one serving!), almonds help neutralise free radicals (which are bad for the cells in your body).
2. 9.1 g of monounsaturated fats: These are heart-healthy fats that tend to lower your total and LDL(bad) cholesterol while increasing your HDL(good) cholesterol. In a clinical trial published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation, men and women who ate one daily ounce of almonds for a month lowered their LDL cholesterol by 4.4 percent. Those who ate two daily ounces of almonds lowered their LDL cholesterol even more – by 9.4 percent – and maintained their weight. (via Almonds Are In).
3. Reduces risk of heart disease: A Harvard Nurses’ Health Study shows that women who consumed more than five ounces of nuts a week lowered their risk of heart disease by 35%.
4. Helps you lose weight: Eating almonds as part of a right-calorie diet (I hate using the term low-calorie diet, because you need the right number of calories for your body type and requirement), can significantly help you lose weight (as reported by International Journal of Obesity).
5. 6g of protein: Proteins are the buiding blocks of muscle, which in turn give your body a defined shape and also increase your metabolism so you burn calories even when you are not active. In addition, plant based sources of protein, come with an added side benefit that you cannot get from animal sources, and that is …
6. … Fiber (3.3 g of it): As I wrote in Quick Tip #2, a diet rich in fiber, helps in digesting your food and increasing regularity while at the same time controlling cholesterol.

I usually sprinkle almonds on my oatmeal, yogurt or cottage cheese and also use them as salad toppings. You can dry roast them to make them more crunchy but avoid the salted variety as they have a high sodium content.

More resources:

1. Almonds Are In is a great online resource that describes all the healthful benefits of almonds.
2. Men’s Health has a head to head comparison of nuts (no prizes for guessing the winner!) and also suggests easy ways to add more almonds to your diet.
3. GetYourE describes the basics of Vitamin E, of which almonds are a great source.
4. And finally, a link to NutritionData’s factsheet for almonds (change the serving size to 1 ounce).

Almonds are easily available, easily portable and easily one of the best foods for your body – a proud Hall-of-Famer. Make it part of your diet today!

[tags]health, fitness, almond, protein, fiber, vitamin e[/tags]