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In the health and wellness industry, the long-standing data on losing weight has been burn more than you take in, plain and simple.   As a result, our country’s obese population is often thought of as weak, greedy, and lacking willpower.

But recent studies have found similarities in excessive food consumption, binging, and addiction in both humans and animals. The studies show that when we eat foods high in sugar, fat, and salt, there is a release of dopamine, one of the neurotransmitters in the brain that makes us feel good. This is likely hardwired in our brains from the olden days when we were instinctually driven to stock up on high fat, densely caloric foods to provide for times when food would be scarce.

According to the Society for Neuroscience, the dopamine receptors of obese rats in these studies had become desensitized, driving them to eat more to chase the initial “pleasure-dump.”  This effect on the dopamine receptors is found in drug addiction, and explains why addicts crave increasing amounts of their drug of choice.

Scientists from the Brookhaven National Laboratory have found that obese people have a similar neurochemical deficiency to people who are addicted to cocaine, nicotine, and alcohol.

Obesity costs your company plenty.  As the rate of obesity continues to climb, the associated costs of obese employees drains your bottom line.  Below is a list of staggering stats published in the online edition of “The Week”

Extra sick days obese men take every year compared to their coworkers – 5.9

Extra sick days obese women take every year compared to their coworkers – 9.4

Annual cost to workplaces due to lost productivity for every obese male worker – $3,792

Annual cost to workplaces due to lost productivity for every obese female worker – $3,037

Extra medical expenditures every year for an obese male – $1,152

Extra medical expenditures every year for an obese female – $3,613

Your corporate wellness program may be the answer.  On-site counseling by professional wellness coordinators who are informed by the latest science, such as the studies cited above, are your best line of defense.  Decrease your losses by increasing your company’s weight loss with your corporate wellness professional heavy hitters.

A study authored by Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, Ph.D. and cited in PsychCentral.com found direct correlation between commercially baked, highly processed foods and depression. Sanchez-Villegas claims that "the more fast food you consume, the greater the risk of depression." 

The six-month research, conducted in Spain, studied nearly 9,000 participants who had never been diagnosed with depression, nor had ever taken antidepressants.  During the period of the study, close to 500 of the participants were diagnosed with depression after increasing their intake of highly processed foods. 

The study also found that individuals who ate primarily processed foods worked longer hours, were more likely to be single, and led a more sedentary lifestyle.  An interestingly positive connection also arose from the study; individuals who ate a Mediterranean style diet of fish, nuts, fruits, veggies, and olive oil rather than a processed diet had significantly lower levels of mood disorders. 

Although this study deals with a Spanish population, it is highly relevant to the United States.  The Center for Disease Control estimates that in addition to our obesity epidemic, one in 10 Americans are depressed.  What does this mean to your company?  Depression is expensive.  According to the CDC, "Depression is a mental illness that can be costly and debilitating to sufferers.  Depression can adversely affect the course and outcome of common chronic conditions, such as arthritis, asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Depression also can result in increased work absenteeism, short-term disability, and decreased productivity." 

This is where your investment in a corporate wellness program, wellness coaches, and food service vendor integration pays off. 

As Americans, we have spent quite a bit of time and money supersizing and making our food choices immediate, processed, and more likely to be found in Willy Wonka's factory than in a garden.   Inspiring your employees to make and, even more difficult, to keep lasting healthy changes in their lifestyle is a battle, but your wellness professionals are your army.  The changes could be as small as convincing an individual to cut an eight can of soda a day habit to six cans of soda and two glasses of water.  Or they can be as far reaching as interfacing your employees with your Registered Dieticians and learning how easy and delicious it is to incorporate Mediterranean-style foods into their family's diet, conceivably nipping their children's (your future employees) and family members’ risk of depression.  Integrating your food service vendors with your wellness professionals makes it possible for your employees to make healthier choices throughout their work day, not just at home.  

Although the 1960’s were a time of dramatic cultural and social change, life was comparatively simpler.  After an eight hour work day time was spent with family.  Weekends were for leisure activities, hobbies, and household chores.  People were not attached to smart phones, were not online, could not be faxed, tweeted, or pinged at a moment’s notice.  There was no anxiety associated with being “off the grid.” 

Now, pre-dawn corporate meetings are scheduled to accommodate communication with our European counterparts.  Business emails come from co-workers at all hours.  We don’t stop; we have lost the grace of “just being,” and we are paying dearly for it with our health and happiness.   The Harvard Health Publications blog published a stat stating that the increase in antidepressant use in this country has increased by almost 400% between 1988–1994 and 2005–2008. 

Along with our schedules and our technology, our bodies are different than our parents and grandparents.  The average human in the 1960’s weighed about 24 pounds less than we do today, according to an article on Web MD that cites data from the National Health Examination and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted between 1960 and 2002.  This is not because we are taller, which we are…by about one inch.  One inch of human does not weigh 24 pounds.

In the “olden days” families planted vegetable gardens.  Meat and eggs were minimally processed and produced at local farms.  There were no computers to sit in front of for hours.  Television had a limited number of channels and did not broadcast 24/7.  There were no video games, playstations, or Wii’s.  People moved in the real world.  Kids played, wrestled, raced, swam in our ponds, lakes, and streams.  They scouted the forests from sunup to sundown.  Today, one in three of those children will develop type 2 diabetes due to lack of activity and poor nutrition.

According to the CDC; "An increase in type 2 diabetes in young people means that we are going to have more people – children and adults – with diabetes and they will have it for a longer time, which increases the rate of severe complications like blindness, renal failure, and amputations," said Dr. Frank Vinicor, director of CDC’s diabetes program. 

We have forgotten what our parents and grandparents knew and how they lived. Our corporate Wellness programs are absolutely necessary to re-teach much of the commonsense that dictated our choices in exercise, fitness, rest, and well-being.  Our employees need to remember how to unplug so they can be their best.  They need to remember to eat locally, organically, and with the seasons to help their communities, the environment, and to lower their risk of catastrophic diseases.  They need to remember that their bodies must stay moving. Our grandmothers knew what they were talking about all those years ago.  Today our Wellness Teams are here to remind us of their wisdom. Now sit up straight and pay attention!

The business of weight loss may not just depend on calories in and out any longer.  Scientists have discovered a group of frustrating endocrine disruptors, both chemical and natural, that alter our human regulatory systems, increase fat cells, and decrease the calories we burn.  They’ve labeled these products “Obesogens,” and the EPA has spent $20 million on researching these chemically amped weight loss spoilers. 

According to the web magazine Molecular Biology, obesity is the result of a positive energy balance, i.e. too many calories in and too few calories burned. It explains how fat cannot be accumulated without a higher caloric intake than expenditure. “Recent research in a number of laboratories suggests the existence of chemicals that alter regulation of energy balance to favor weight gain and obesity. These obesogens derail the homeostatic mechanisms important for weight control, such that exposed individuals are predisposed to weight gain, despite normal diet and exercise.” 

Obesogens seem to be caused by common pesticides that have leached from the soil into our tap water.  March is National Nutrition Month, and awareness of the correlation between pesticides and their effects on our regulatory systems would seem to suggest that it’s more important than ever to buy and eat organic.  

The Wellness Professionals and Registered Dietitians at your corporate wellness program can help your employees understand how to minimize their exposure to these common pesticides, maximize their health, and make the best return on their health and fitness efforts such as:

• Buy tuna in pouches rather than cans.  Or better yet buy fresh, ocean caught fish. 
• When it’s necessary to purchase fruits and veggies considered to be the “Dirty Dozen” (such as non-organic peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots, and pears) buy organic, and rinse or wash them thoroughly.  Fruits and veggies that are peeled or served without their skins are less laden with pesticides.
• When packing lunches or leftovers, use glass containers rather than plastic.  Use plastic only for foods that do not need to be reheated.  Glass is preferable and glass travel containers are now more readily available. 
• Buy baby bottles and reusable water bottles that are stainless steel or BPA free.
• Buy organic, hormone-free dairy, and hormone-free meats.  Buy grass fed as opposed to corn or soy fed beef.
• Kick the “can” habit.  BPA’s abound in the plastic linings of canned foods.  Homemade vegetable soups are easy.  Make large batches of soups and chili, then freeze in glass serving size portions.  Soaking organic beans takes a little more time than buying canned, but is tasty and easy. 

The perception used to be that vegetarianism was reserved for a select group of people; those with the will power and devotion to maintain such a strict diet.  But today, the benefits of a vegetarian diet are much more recognized by mainstream America.  What keeps many away is the worry that giving up meat entirely is simply impossible.  But recently a new kind of vegetarian has arrived; the Flexitarian.

Being a Flexitarian means adopting a primarily plant based diet and eating less meat. 

Scientific evidence shows that vegetarians live 3.6 years longer and average a 15% lower weight than non-vegetarians. In The Flexitarian Diet, author Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD states that the average person could shed up to 30 pounds by sticking to the Flexitarian diet for 6-12 months.

"Vegetarianism is one of the healthiest and smartest ways to eat," Blatner says, "and it is perfectly acceptable to pepper in meat and still be able to gain all the health benefits."

The Flexitarian diet can inspire an employee looking to lose weight slowly and improve their health.  Recipes are approachable and non-intimidating and include easy tips such as cutting the meat in half in your burrito with beans, or cutting the meat in your spaghetti sauce in half and replacing it with white beans.

Not only does embracing this type of diet provide hope that we can decrease the number of our morbidly obese employees and their families, it’s good for the environment as well as our shopping bill.  Meats tend to be the highest priced items in the grocery store, and consuming less animal products reduce greenhouse gases. Not to mention, there have been several recent studies that suggest meat consumption increases the risks of certain types of cancers.

The registered dietitians and wellness professionals in your corporate wellness programs are already encouraging this type of diet, where animal protein is a small portion of the meal and the rest of the plate is filled with seasonable vegetables and whole grains such as quinoa, barley, and lentils.  

According to Serena Snyder, Registered Lead Dietitian with Plus One Health Management; “Flexitarian meals shift our focus  to a plant-based diet and help us to achieve the goal of eating five or more fruit and vegetable servings per day.”

Why not give it a try when planning your next meals?

According to a 2011 survey by Deloitte, when employees “frequently participate in company-sponsored volunteer programs, they are more likely to feel a strong connection and sense of belonging at work.” The study goes on to make a strong connection between job and career satisfaction.  It logically follows that companies that support their employees’ drive to volunteer have much higher rates of retention. 

The Gallup Company is a research-based performance firm that focuses on studying employee engagement, customer engagement, and wellbeing.  Based on studies that expanded across 50 years and over 150 countries, the scientists created five categories that best apply to a “life well-lived.”  One of these five categories is Community Wellbeing; the sense of engagement you have with the area in which you live. Your corporate wellness program is a perfect way to support and drive employees’ involvement in their community.   Athletic events, such as corporate cycling or 10K races, can provide funding for catastrophic health issues such as diabetes, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis, while bringing together your employees as a team.  Direct lines can be drawn between your company and ecological issues in the community, helping to encourage a healthy respect for the outdoors through Adopt-a-Highway programs or local park cleanup initiatives. Local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups can provide produce for your company food service vendors, thereby supporting local farmers while benefitting the health of your employees.  Your wellness program can even help your company become “green”, which provides a mutually beneficial situation between the community and your employees. 

Your wellness program should strive to support the entire employee and their efforts to enrich their lives through giving their time.  That in turn will help ensure that your employee spends a good long time with you.

There's been a lot of attention paid recently to the recent New York Times article "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body," by William Broad.  The article is derived from Broad's soon to be released book, Science of Yoga. 

Yoga has become tremendously popular in the western world, and its many benefits are backed by numerous articles from the medical and scientific community.  Yoga is requested and included in virtually every corporate wellness menu, along with Pilates, and the mainstays of muscle classes such as cycling, dance, and cardio kickboxing.  The article spread across the electronic ether like wildfire as many wellness and fitness professionals raised eyebrows and questions about whether we were putting our clients – your employees – in danger of injury, or worse yet, as the article implied, stroke, irreparable nerve damage, and even death.

The goal of successful corporate fitness offerings, including yoga, is to be informed by science and current industry standards.  Classes should be beneficial, safe, and approachable for all of your employees; equally and easily appreciated by the sedentary executive assistant, the corporate athlete who needs to better her running time and endurance, and all employees in between.

Liza Forster, regional group fitness director for Plus One, is also a yoga instructor with over 600 hours of training and has offered over 1,000 hours of instruction.  She has taught yoga to corporate clients of all levels for nine years, and is also responsible for hiring and evaluating yoga instructors for many of Plus One's corporate facilities across southern California and Seattle. 

Forster says, "At Plus One we have a careful screening process for yoga instructors.  Just as your employees may look to physical therapists and massage therapists to "fix them," yoga can be trouble when it's taught by the uneducated.  Highly dangerous is the instructor who approaches a client, or worse yet, a room full of clients and is unconcerned with form, the limitations, and the student's level of practice.  I've fired instructors on the spot who I've seen physically manhandle and manipulate clients beyond their ability.  As in any type of movement, that's when people get hurt.  Those instructors don't work for our company."

Forster goes on to say, "People look to experts to fix their cars, perform their surgeries, and teach them to ski, but when someone calls themselves a yoga instructor, the buyer must beware the tendency to blindly trust that that person knows what they are doing.  Even if the teacher is a master, if they're pushing something that doesn't feel right, or appears dangerous, you have to back off.  That's true in so many aspects in life, not just yoga.  You don't completely hand over the driver’s wheel of your body to anyone at anytime, nor should anyone ever ask you to.  That's common sense."

Ganga White, yoga legend and founder of White Lotus Yoga,  (who also happens to be one of Forster's teachers) had his own opinion about Broad's New York Times article. Says White, "A couple months ago I had the good fortune of getting an advance copy of Science of Yoga from William Broad. The publication date is in February and the book is much more balanced than his NYT article. I think it’s a great book with valuable insights and contributions. It is not anti-yoga. Broad is and has been a practicing yogi for years. The book points out what he sees, and what he thinks science has shown, are dangers to be avoided. This doesn’t mean everything the book asserts is true but it initiates a much needed inquiry and debate. Broad’s book also validates many of yoga’s benefits."

Instructors at your corporate wellness facility should be carefully screened and auditioned, by people like Forster who are educated in all modes of movement and fitness.  Ideally your instructors are evaluated regularly, and continue to actively seek further education to stay up to date with current science, contraindications, and recommendations.

So don't panic.  When in doubt, rely on trained experts and professionals.  The final word however, needs to come from the deep part of you that houses your common sense and intuition. In other words, trust yourself.

Thomson Reuters and NPR recently conducted a poll that asked a group of Americans about their New Year’s resolutions.  Not surprisingly, many of the responses  were focused on losing weight and quitting smoking.  And there’s never been a better time for us to tackle these issues. 

Raymond Fabius, M.D., and chief medical officer at Thomson Reuters feels that if we can keep these resolutions or goals, then we’re taking meaningful steps in solving America’s healthcare crisis.

In the February 2012 Yoga Journal, Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon Athletica, suggests the following tips for reaching your goals:

1. Imagine yourself ten years from now. What do you look like?  How do you feel? Work backwards from that picture to determine the steps you need to take to turn your vision into reality.
2. Set a “by when” date.  If your goal is to lose ten pounds, pick a date by which you plan to accomplish that goal.
3. Read your goals out loud to create excitement! If you’re excited you are more likely to accomplish your resolution successfully.
4. Have a support system.  Share your goals with your friends so they can support you.
5. Write your goals down and keep them where you can see them often. 

Your corporate wellness professionals are equipped to help your employees realize their resolutions and work toward attaining them. Through comprehensive wellness programs, registered dieticians, and recreation planning, these goals are within reach.  With a proper wellness program, not only will you be contributing to lowering our healthcare crisis, you will be lowering your bottom line by supporting your employees’ healthy goals. How’s that for a resolution worth keeping?

Locavore became a word in the Oxford American Dictionary in 2007 and is defined as a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food.

In an age of increased use of pesticides and other food contaminants, people are buying locally in order to make healthier choices, to support local farmers, and to help the environment.  There are several ways to buy locally, whether by a local farmer’s market, a community supported agriculture subscription (a weekly local delivery of produce), or participation in a co-op. 

Many corporate facilities now offer gardens that are maintained by employees. The food they grow is then harvested and included in their company cafeterias.  School gardens are another great way to promote eating locally as well as teaching kids at a young age that the taste and quality of home-grown local produce far beats the 1,500 mile trek their cross country produce makes, eliminating the gas guzzling of buying out of your region.   

"Local food is often safer, too," says the Center for a New American Dream (CNAD). "Even when it's not organic, small farms tend to be less aggressive than large factory farms about dousing their wares with chemicals."

The mantle of Locavore does not just apply to fruits and veggies.  Meats and poultry from local farmers tend to taste better, are fresher, and small farms tend to use fewer hormones and other additives than big meat packers do.  They also tend to grow more variety than the big farms, which creates and protects biodiversity.

According to a San Francisco-based group of Locavores intent on supporting people’s wish to better their lives and their families’ lives, the following are helpful suggestions:

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic. This is one of the most readily available alternatives in the market and making this choice protects the environment and your body from harsh chemicals and hormones.

If not ORGANIC, then Family farm. When faced with Kraft or Cabot cheeses, Cabot, a dairy co-op in Vermont, is the better choice. Supporting family farms helps to keep food processing decisions out of the hands of corporate conglomeration.

If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business. Basics like coffee and bread make buying local difficult. Try a local coffee shop or bakery to keep your food dollar close to home.

If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Terroir, which means 'taste of the Earth'. Purchase foods famous for the region they are grown in and support the agriculture that produces your favorite non-local foods such as Brie cheese from Brie, France or parmesan cheese from Parma, Italy.

For those tech-savvy locavores, www.getlocavore.comeven has an app for smart phones available on itunes where consumers can input their zipcode and see where and what they can buy locally.

Try it today!

According to a recent story in USA Today, an Ohio third grader who weighed 200 pounds was taken from his parents’ home and put into foster care because his mother "was not doing enough about his weight."

An Obesity Doctor from Boston's Children's hospital said removing a child from the home is not a matter of finger pointing and blame, but rather a way to get the overweight child the help that their parents can't provide. According to the article, there are discussions afoot as to whether parents of extremely obese children should lose custody of the children. According to the article, the medical community appears to be agreeing that yes, the government should get involved in cases of extreme overweight for the child's sake.

This brings up an interesting dilemma in a time in American history when not all children are expected to outlive their parents due to obesity and the resulting possibilities of type-2 diabetes, liver, and breathing issues that could kill them before they reach the age of 30.

Whether or not you agree that the government should intervene and remove children from their parents, the issue shines a bright light on the fact that corporate wellness programs must be a family affair. Employees need to take the tools and knowledge that they learn in the workplace and bring them home to their families and children.

Crystal Witte is a registered dietician who works with kids and parents to teach healthy food preparation and balanced nutrition. She urges parents to get the kids involved in food prep at home so they develop a first-hand understanding of food and nutrition. She encourages parents to let the children make their own lunches, and then provide feedback as to what the lunches are missing or have in excess. Witte also offers information on the dangers of nitrates, processed foods, trans fat, and sodas. She painted a clear picture by holding a bag full of 17 teaspoons next to a Pepsi, driving home the point graphically, a great way to reach the kids.

This grassroots, in-the-trenches approach is what's needed in our wellness programs, right now. The staggering statistics of the prevalence of obesity in America and in our children add up to eventual death sentences and catastrophic health issues for both your current employees and your future ones. Are your employees not only learning about proper nutrition, but taking their findings home? Let’s work together to teach our kids the lessons we’re learning now, before it’s too late for them. Start healthy habits early!