I appreciate Laitram’s efforts to help their employees maintain good health through nutrition, nutrition education and on-site medical services, as described in the press release. Preliminary results show significant savings in health care costs and significant improvements in employee quality of life.
As a general surgeon living in New Orleans during my final year of training, I have seen firsthand the fallout from the American diet on the people of Louisiana. I have removed large boils, amputated fingers and toes, removed gall bladders, repaired tumors and removed obesity-related cancers.
This action may reduce the suffering for a short time, but the food is not affected, it is only a matter of time before another problem starts. When I operate on someone who doesn’t eat a healthy diet, it’s as if I’m removing part of the cancer, leaving behind some that may bother them in the future.
That’s why Laitram’s mission to help their employees eat well is so important. By improving our diet, we can avoid a lot of trouble – and money. The modern American diet, with added sugar and processed ingredients, is so harmful to our bodies that for every dollar we spend on food, we spend another dollar on disease prevention, according to a report by the Rockefeller Foundation.
Diseases of poor nutrition – type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and obesity – are not a reality in life. As Laitram has shown, if you can change your diet for the better, your health can change, too. Good food is good medicine.
I hope that other companies in Louisiana will see the benefits of helping their employees avoid the food poisoning that is so prevalent in our communities. Also, I hope that our medical system can help lead the way by doing more to educate people about the dangers of junk food, and help patients suffering from the consequences of junk food in the future with less medicine and less surgery.
W. PETER SAWYER
General surgery resident
New Orleans
