Healthy eating

Our bodies metabolize the excessive sugar in processed foods just as it processes alcohol and other toxins, causing damage to our liver and other organs.

Sugar makes us more likely to develop a variety of risk factors that lead to serious illness, while making us crave sweet even more.

In fact, sugar causes a cycle of addiction in the brain in much the same way as drugs and alcohol—and cigarettes. When it comes to addictiveness, nicotine takes the, um, cake.

Physicians at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), led by outspoken pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, MD, published a paper in February in the journal Nature showing that like alcohol and tobacco, sugar is a toxic, addictive substance. They argue that it should, therefore, be closely regulated, with taxes, laws on where and to whom it can be advertised and age-restricted sales. The researchers said that increased global consumption of sugar is primarily responsible for a whole range of chronic diseases that are reaching epidemic levels around the world.

Is sugar—so pervasive in processed foods, soda and junk food in general—the new tobacco? Let’s see.                                    

It can kill you.

If Lustig and his colleagues—and many other independent researchers—are even half right, sugar and junk food have been responsible for millions of preventable deaths. According to journalist Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation” and the children’s book “Chew on This,” poor diet and lack of exercise may soon surpass smoking as the No. 1 cause of preventable death.

People make huge amounts of money by selling it.

Remember how long the tobacco industry denied the link between tobacco, advertising, and lung cancer and heart disease? We are hearing the same protestations from the processed food industry today. Don’t buy it!

Schlosser, a keynote speaker at the 2012 Union Delegates Conference, recounts how McDonald’s was built. Founder Ray Kroc discovered that profits were higher when kids ate out with their parents. So he lured children in with lollipops. Later, he added a clown. Today, fast food chains hire child psychologists, hold focus groups for toddlers and put 5-year-olds in MRI machines to see which part of their brain is responsible for brand loyalty.

“Think about the profit margin in a soda,” Schlosser says. The raw materials are water, food coloring, sugar and a paper cup. Nutritional value: less than zero. Cost to produce: pennies. Now there’s a profit margin!

Managers newly charged with co-leading unit-based teams sometimes need to build team cohesion before diving into the nitty-gritty of setting goals and improving performance.

Brenda Johnson, optical site supervisor at the South Bay Medical Center in Southern California, has found a way to do just that—and improve her staff’s eating habits at the same time.

Inspired by a presentation at a regional leadership conference hosted by Jeffrey Weisz, MD, executive medical director of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, she launched a healthy eating club in her department. Every week, staffers chip in $12 each—and get four healthy, fresh-cooked meals in return.

At the early spring meeting, Dr. Weisz discussed Kaiser Permanente’s Healthy Workforce initiative and distributed a booklet listing the calorie count of hundreds of food items.

Making change easier

“I looked at the book, and I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness,’” said Johnson, shocked at the number of calories in some of her favorite foods.

“I looked around at my employees,” she said. “Some have health issues. Some drink sodas by the 32-ounce cup every day.” The medical center is ringed by mini-malls with fast food restaurants. “We’ve been eating the same stuff for years,” she said. “The only question was who’s going to go pick it up.”

Gil Menendez admits he was one of the 32-ounce-cup soda drinkers—a habit he gave up when he joined the club. Menendez, an optical dispenser, SEIU UHW member and  labor co-lead of the UBT, was so motivated by the changes in his lunchtime habits that he also began a strict diet and exercise routine. He’s lost 20 pounds.

New ways to work together

Johnson cautions that the healthy eating club isn’t a diet club. She picks recipes out of a pamphlet produced by the California Department of Public Health, Champions for Change, and prepares the ingredients at home. Others sometimes prepare recipes from their families and cultures. She combines ingredients in the morning, steams them in a slow cooker the staff keeps at work, and a meal is ready by lunchtime.

“I have to cook for my family anyway,” says Johnson. At home, “We’ve changed our habits because of high blood pressure. I prepare this food with love because I’m preparing it for both of my families: my family at home and my family at work.” 

About 15 to 20 people participate in the club each week, up from 10 when it first began in May 2010. In addition to its health benefits, the club has helped her department be more productive and collegial, says Johnson.

“It’s going strong,” adds Mendez. “It brings us together.”