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Workplace Wellness Lab delivers leading insights, ideas and information on wellness, health management, and healthy living.

Our goal is simple: Workplace Wellness Lab provides regular and better information as an important path to create healthy individual outcomes, while helping change health care in America.

By connecting the audiences that matter – consultants, corporate executives, policymakers, thought leaders, journalists, customers, and more – we establish a positive, substantive, and influential voice within the wellness industry that makes the case that:

- Left unchecked, current trends in health spend and outcomes are unsustainable.
- Given that half the healthcare dollars in this country are incurred by employers, well-executed preventive care health management programs in the worksite are clearly enduring and valuable, helping drive improved workplace environments and individual outcomes.
- Industry coherence around private sector innovation to drive effective health management programs is economically vital, given what’s possible in a spend category that is arguably one of the greatest challenges in America today.

Workplace Wellness Lab comes at this challenge principally from the employer point of view: What are the credible and demonstrated best practices in preventive care to structure programs that have an enduring impact? How can the impact be made explicit, as something that is both the right thing to do and a proactive business initiative that lowers the cost of care, as experienced by both employers and employees?

And Workplace Wellness Lab goes beyond the workplace. It’s a robust platform filled with ideas and insights from those that influence how employers think about this opportunity: research organizations, non-profits, think tanks and more.

From an editorial point of view, great ideas can come from anywhere. With that philosophy in mind, we will combine our own original content with other content across the web. We organize the content, with a view to making it as simple and useful as possible.

All content will be sourced. If we found it somewhere, we’ll tell you where we got — and how to get to that site yourself.

We also welcome your comments — criticisms, ideas, and, yes, we take compliments, too! Have a thought of what you’d like to see — or see something you think others should know — drop us a line.

Thanks for visiting – and please come back again!

Transparency is extremely important to us, so we are letting you know that we may receive a commission on some of links you click on from this page. See our disclaimer.

We report frequently on the role a well-run workplace wellness program can play in helping employees stay healthy through weight management.

Indeed, our recent podcast with with Dr. Brian Wansink provided incredibly useful insights around the ways that simple workplace design changes can make significant changes for employees. Wansink is the John Dyson Professor of Marketing in the Department of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. He is also Director of the iconic Cornell University Food and Brand Lab.

Another step many people take to watch their weight is to read food labels. But do most people know how to read the labels correctly?

Eat Right, a site run by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, offers a helpful post: “The Basics of the Nutrition Facts Label.” Among their tips:

Start with the Serving Size

“Look here for both the serving size (the amount people typically eat at one time) and the number of servings in the package.”
“Compare your portion size (the amount you actually eat) to the serving size listed on the panel. If the serving size is one cup and you eat two cups, you are getting twice the calories, fat and other nutrients listed on the label.”

Check Out the Total Calories

“Find out how many calories are in a single serving. It's smart to cut back on calories if you are watching your weight.”

Let the Percent Daily Values Be Your Guide

“Use percent Daily Values (DV) to help evaluate how a particular food fits into your daily meal plan.”

“Daily Values are average levels of nutrients for a person eating 2,000 calories a day. A food item with a 5 percent DV of fat provides 5 percent of the total fat that a person consuming 2,000 calories a day should eat.”
“Percent DV are for the entire day, not just one meal or snack.”
“You may need more or less than 2,000 calories per day. For some nutrients you may need more or less than 100 percent DV.”

The High and Low of Daily Values

“Low is 5 percent or less. Aim low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium.”
“High is 20 percent or more. Aim high in vitamins, minerals and fiber.”

Limit Saturated Fat, Added Sugars and Sodium

“Eating less saturated fat, added sugars and sodium may help reduce your risk for chronic disease.”

“Saturated fat and trans fat are linked to an increased risk of heart disease.”
“Eating too much added sugar makes it difficult to meet nutrient needs within your calorie requirement.”
“High levels of sodium can add up to high blood pressure.”
“Remember to aim for low percentage DV of these nutrients.”

Get Enough Vitamins, Minerals and Fiber

“Eat more fiber, potassium, vitamin D, calcium and iron to maintain good health and help reduce your risk of certain health problems such as osteoporosis and anemia.”
“Choose more fruits and vegetables to get more of these nutrients.”
“Remember to aim high for percentage DV of these nutrients.”

Additional Nutrients

“You know about calories, but it is important to also know the additional nutrients on the Nutrition Facts Label.”

Protein
“A percentage Daily Value for protein is not required on the label. Eat moderate portions of lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese, plus beans and peas, peanut butter, seeds and soy products.”
Carbohydrates
“There are three types of carbohydrates: sugars, starches and fiber. Eat whole-grain breads, cereals, rice and pasta plus fruits and vegetables.”
Sugars
“Simple carbohydrates, or sugars, occur naturally in foods such as fruit juice (fructose) and milk (lactose) or come from refined sources such as table sugar (sucrose) or corn syrup. Added sugars will be included on the Nutrition Facts Label in 2018. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming no more than 10 percent of daily calories from added sugars.”

Check the Ingredient List

“Foods with more than one ingredient must have an ingredient list on the label. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. Those in the largest amounts are listed first. This information is particularly helpful to individuals with food sensitivities, those who wish to avoid pork or shellfish, limit added sugars or people who prefer vegetarian eating.”