Posts Tagged ‘wellness’

New EEOC regs issued yesterday mark an important fork in the road to employee wellness. The regulations provide clarity for employers who want to impose penalties on people with chronic diseases in their wellness programs. Reactions to these rules could hardly be more diverse. You can find people who think employers should have an even bigger stick to wield in their […]

The $3.4 trillion fitness industry has prospered because it has come to represent an identity for the people who participate. In an interview with Marketplace, Bloomberg’s Jason Kelly explains: What is so interesting about it, I think, is this idea that it has moved from activity to lifestyle. Once it moves to a lifestyle, then […]

Maybe slow and steady is not the only way to win the race for better fitness. A new, carefully randomized, controlled study in PLOS One finds that that one minute of intense physical activity in a ten-minute routine can do as much to improve your fitness as 50 minutes of more moderate exercise. Researchers from McMaster […]

The continuing appeal of juice cleanse and detox products is a mystery. Amazon lists 2,785 detox and cleanse products in this vibrant weight loss category. Yet no evidence for a meaningful health benefit from colon cleanse products exists. The human colon does not need cleansing. As a matter of fact, the microbiome that lives in the colon does […]

One of the nutrition facts panels on the right is for Sensible Portions Veggie Chips with “sea salt and 30% less fat.” The other is for a small portion of McDonald’s French fries. Which do you think is for the veggie chips? If you guessed the one on top with 20% more fat, 285% more sodium, […]

While talk about health, fitness, and obesity have not done much to stem the rise in obesity rates, it seems that it has created a buoyant fashion trend: athleisure. Katie Smith at Edited sums up the situation pretty well: Consumers are prioritising health and wellbeing, with the internet aiding the knowledge share. We may not […]

Believe it or not, “diet for dollars” at work is becoming a thing that some “wellness” industry entrepreneurs are pushing hard. Employee Benefit News just published tips for starting a diet-for-dollars program from a vendor of such things. David Roddenberry, co-founder of HealthyWage and a seller of cash incentive programs for weight loss, says that “pay […]

The idea of your employer owning your health has been marching forward since the middle of the 20th century when employer-provided health insurance emerged as a response to labor unions and the fear of post-war inflation. By the mid-1960s, getting health insurance from your employer had become a standard benefit of employment that was nearly universal. […]

Has the infatuation with incentive-based employer wellness programs “inadvertently put a target on the backs of employees who are dealing with obesity?” That’s the concern expressed recently by OAC Vice President James Zervios. He’s not alone in sounding an alarm about health discrimination. A new commentary in The Hill warns that penalties in wellness programs will promote […]

First it was employers. Now universities are joining the trend. Folks who want to enforce physical activity goals are increasingly looking to Fitbit and other activity trackers to serve as electronic leashes. Oral Roberts University now requires all freshmen to wear a Fitbit to prove they are meeting the school’s requirements for 10,000 daily steps […]