The Fitness Guru

Whole Foods has created a new incentive program for their employees: get yourself healthy and you can receive a bigger discount on Whole Food purchases. The benchmarks for “healthy employees” include Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol level and not smoking.

At face value, it seems like a great idea: inspire the work force to live a little healthier by motivating with discounts. But dig a little deeper and the issue becomes problematic.

My number one issue is BMI. BMI is an individuals height relative to their weight. The concept is that fatter people will have higher BMIs than thinner people. The problem is that BMI doesn’t take into account whether the weight is fat or muscle. So yours truly, who stands at 6′2″ and weighs 195 lb is termed “overweight” according to the BMI, even though much of my 195 lb is muscle and I am in pretty good shape.

BMI is an issue across the board in situations like this. I have had problems with insurance companies not wanting to insure me because my number was too high. And Wii Fit deems it appropriate to make my Mii avatar wander through exercises sporting a bit of a spare tire around the mid-section. Consequently, Whole Food workers who are getting it together and getting fit may not be able to receive the discount simply because, in losing fat weight, they have built up more muscle.

My second issue is that, though Whole Foods is rewarding healthier lifestyles, there doesn’t seem to be a plan in place to help the less fit members of their community into that lifestyle. The incentive program, though generous, might not be impetus enough to inspire those less fit to get their acts together. The frustration of trying to conquer Mount Health is simply greater than the financial prize at the end of the rainbow. (Note: please don’t hit me with the comments that “being healthy should be reward enough.” We’re talking about the incentive program.)

So final score? Whole Foods gets points for trying to do something, anything, to make its workforce healthier. But this is simply Healthy Workers 1.0 and now follow up steps should be taken to assist all the workers to a healthier way of life.

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”- Eleanor Roosevelt

I attended a wake a couple of weeks ago for my friend Christine’s dad, Frank. Frank was a great man (and a fun golf buddy) and there was tremendous love in the room. I spoke for a while with Christine’s husband, Stuart. He is a giant bear of a man, 6′8″ and 300 pounds. He makes me feel small– no easy feat. Stu and I don’t see eye to eye politically all that often, but what I love about Stu is that, even when he disagrees with you, it is clear he disagrees with your opinion but still has great respect for you.

We got involved in a conversation about the Great Health Care Debate. Now, many people have many different views on how health care should be tackled in this country, but Stu boiled it down to this: “The big problem with this country,” he said, “is that there is no sense of personal responsibility.” That thought stuck with me for days, and not just because Stu and I were agreeing.

I’ve written about Stu and Christine before. A couple of years ago, they lost a combined 120 pounds, not by fasting or protein shakes or gimmicks, but by cutting out all the extra processed foods in their home. They realized that, in the long run, the processed foods and the extra weight that they were carrying were going to make them sick. They took action, took a giant garbage bag to their pantry and lost the weight. They took responsibility.

This week I have been faced with numerous situations of individuals not taking responsiblity. The specifics are unimportant. The common denominator is that people feel that work should be done for them. Want to lose weight? The trainer will do that. Want to feel better? The doctor will do that. Work sucks? Boss’s fault. Co-worker’s fault. Client’s fault. Anybody’s fault but mine.

Then a friend posted this video. Again, regardless of your political stance on the topic, the speech is about personal responsibility and serving the greater good.

This is a tough time for everyone. It’s easy to pass the buck. It is easy to let anger and blaim fester. But when you sense that anger and that blaim, take a step back. Take responsibility for your small piece of the pie. Decide how you can make the situation better. We all benefit.

With a crazy drop in temperature and a sudden shift in the wind, school started last week for the city children. The end of summer ushers in home work and soccer practice. And for many, the first sore throat of the season. It’s a rough, irritating sore throat that, when left unchecked, starts to feel like your glands are swelling to twelve times their natural size. This happened to me about 15 years ago and a friend recommended that I visit an herbalist in the East Village. She immediately diagnosed what is known in Chinese medicine as “The Change of Seasons” and recommended an herbal remedy called Yin Chiao. The remedy worked remarkably well. So much so that I still use it to this day when I feel that ache in my throat at the change of the seasons.

The herbalist is no longer in the East Village. I don’t know where she is now. She was run out of business by bizarre constraints put on her by government forces. In her opinion, the Feds just didn’t want to see unregulated medicines in the market place. However, the formula that she gave me is available in the general market now. It’s called Airborne. Check the ingredients: Airborne has all the same herbal ingredients as well as some vitamins and minerals to appeal to a more Western shopper.

There have been lawsuits against Airborne claiming no credible evidence proves that taking the product will shorten or prevent a cold. On August 14, 2008, a press release from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stated that Airborne Health, Inc. has agreed to pay up to $30 million to settle FTC charges. According to the FTC’s complaint:

“there is no competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims made by the defendants that Airborne tablets can prevent or reduce the risk of colds, sickness, or infection; protect against or help fight germs; reduce the severity or duration of a cold; and protect against colds, sickness, or infection in crowded places such as airplanes, offices, or schools.”

No evidence…..except for the 5000 years of Chinese medicinal use.

The worst that can be said is that it is a generic formula, perhaps not potent enough to cause the effects that are desired. When my friend whipped up a batch for me, I am pretty sure that the herbs were fresh and potent and the dosage was formulated with someone my size in mind.

The whole thing makes me sick. With all this debate about health care and the socialization of the industry, there is no talk about government working to prevent the major medical concerns. $700 billion dollars are spent to prop up the sick and faltering banking industry. How about a couple of million to try and impress healthy lifestyles to a nation that, in a matter of a few years, will be 85% over weight or obese? How about a couple million to subsidize salads in a Happy Meal? A couple hundred thousand and I’ll drive from neighborhood to neighborhood delivering apples ever day. An apple a day……

I am all for the overhaul of the insurance industry: I think it is criminal that people in this country can’t get the health care that they need and, even if they can, the care can bankrupt them.

But where is the logic in spending so much fixing problems that doesn’t have to exist in the first place? If I left my throat unchecked, I would be on antibiotics within a week. I would be out of work, effecting my productivity. The only folks who seem to succeed in this scenario are the pharmaceutical companies. Not that I am a conspiracy theorist.

But if the government is actually trying to work to better the quality of life for the nation’s people, education and prevention would not be a bad place to start.