Seeking to make a dent in the intractable problem of obesity—a condition affecting roughly one-third of U.S. adults and costing companies more than $73 billion a year, according to researchers from Duke University—businesses are experimenting with new measures to encourage workers to slim down.
They are moving beyond healthy snacks in vending machines or discounted gym memberships and taking an aggressive, personalized approach to workers’ weight.
Some are offering employees wearable fitness trackers and competitions on social apps, covering weight-loss surgeries and drugs, and providing mental-health counseling designed to get at the emotions that may underlie eating issues.
I wonder if things really have gotten this bad, overall. I wouldn't be surprised: US food portions are enormous, are filled with sugars, fats, and salts... The people harmed the most by this trend also tend to be the poorest, who rely on cheaper (worse) foods, and can't afford the time or money investment on nutrition education or exercise. But that's where this article is a tad surprising: these are more-affluent corporations, with their more-affluent employees. Will this turn into a societal trend? or just be a fad?
This is, of course, also insane. As stated, a large part of this is our norms and politics: the large food portions we're used, and the corn and sugar lobbies which push inclusion of ever more corn syrup. So we waste incredible amounts of money engineering our foods to make us fat, only to spend even more money to stay healthy.