Henderson
Union EC
Fright
+ Guilt = Health + Savings
January 1996
Sue Mays scares
people. She makes them feel guilty. She says it’s for their own
good.
They end up
agreeing with her.
Sue Mays is
the energetic director of member services and marketing at
Henderson Union Electric Cooperative in Henderson in western
Kentucky. For the past few weeks, she’s been showing 33
employees of the local, consumer-owned electric utility how
to reduce their cholesterol. By teaching an Eater’s Choice®
program, she is helping the co-op reduce its health insurance
costs, making the employees feel better about themselves and
probably helping them live longer.
“It’s such a
joy to see people feel so good about what they’ve done,” says
Sue.
What they’ve
done is reduce their consumption of saturated fats, and as a result
lowered the level of cholesterol in their bodies, reducing their
risk of heart attacks and strokes.
One of the things
the people in the Eater’s Choice class do is write down everything
they eat, keeping track of the amount of saturated fat.
“When they
actually see it on paper,” says Sue, “they think, ‘What have I
been doing to myself all these years?’”
The Henderson
Union Eater’s Choice program really started in September when the
co-op sponsored a health fair. About 120 employees, their children,
directors, and retirees were screened for weight, blood pressure
and cholesterol.
The number-one
recommendation from the health fair was to reduce fat in the
diet. The co-op’s health insurer offered discounts for
programs to reduce employee health risks.
Meanwhile, Sue,
whose family has a history of high cholesterol, had gotten scared
herself after a trip to the doctor.
“I decided, ‘I
don’t want to go. I’m not ready,’ ” she says. “I thought
about my daughter and I wanted to be with her as long as
possible.”
Sue, who had
already taught classes in first aid and CPR, “read everything you
can imagine,” took the test and became certified to teach
the Eater’s Choice program, which was developed by Ron Goor,
Ph.D., M.P.H and Nancy Goor, co-authors of Eater's Choice:
A Food Lover’s Guide to Lower Cholesterol. In the five-week
class she started teaching in November, Sue told the employees how
to reduce the amount of fat they eat by reading food labels,
watching what they order in restaurants, and substituting lower fat
foods for high fat foods. She discusses simple tricks like
ordering salad dressing on the side instead of on the salad,
substituting skim milk for whole milk in recipes, and
snacking on fruit instead of candy bars. “It isn’t the
potato that hurts you,” she says, “it’s what you put on it.”
Those attending the class take turns bringing healthy and
tasty dishes from Eater’s Choice recipes to the classes.
“You really don’t
have to compromise on taste,” she says. “If people are eating
what they say they’re eating, we’re going to see a big
difference, since cholesterol can be lowered in just two or three
weeks.” Besides saving money for the co-op on employee health
insurance, she says, “What they learn to do is going to help them
feel better and live longer.”-Paul Wesslund |
