Corporate Health Revolution: Fortune 250 Company Transforms 240 Lives with Plant-Based Diet
The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee
Physicians Committee
4.9 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 14 October 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A Fortune 250 company in Des Moines, Iowa transformed employee health through a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle.
Discover how Gretchen Barris teamed up with PCRM and Dr. Jim Loomis to launch a 16-week wellness program at Principal Financial that helped 240 participants dramatically lower cholesterol, reverse prediabetes, lose weight, and boost energy — all for just $108 per person.
Chuck Carroll sits down with Jean McGinnis and participants like Malcolm & Suzanne Showalter who conquered migraines, reversed heart disease risk, and experienced newfound vitality. Learn how this evidence-based approach from the Barnard Medical Center and PCRM is revolutionizing corporate wellness — even in the heart of the Midwest!
What You'll Learn in This Episode
- How a Fortune 250 company implemented a plant-based program on a small budget
- The average 23% LDL reduction and 18% A1C improvement among participants
- Why employees reported better sleep, focus, and mental health
- The difference between “health care” and “sick care,” explained by Dr. Loomis
- How to bring programs like this to your own workplace
🔗 Make an appointment with Dr. Loomis at the Barnard Medical Center: https://www.pcrm.org/barnard-medical-center
🎤 Exam Room taping at GreenFare in Herndon, VA on Oct. 21: https://bit.ly/ERLiveOct21
If you feel like you’ve raised your health IQ, please leave a 5-star rating and nice review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on the exam room. |
| 0:04.0 | Every pre-diabetic in the program reverse transulences. |
| 0:08.0 | Holy smooth. |
| 0:09.0 | That's right. Yeah, we had some incredible results. |
| 0:11.0 | From a cholesterol perspective, the average LDL drop was 28 points. |
| 0:15.0 | Nice. |
| 0:16.0 | The highest 65. |
| 0:17.0 | All diabetics improved, as Dr. Luma said, the average A1C drop was 18% and the highest was 45%. |
| 0:25.6 | And by the way, that will get you approved for a medication by the FDA. |
| 0:29.6 | And then some, right, right. |
| 0:31.6 | The average weight loss was 13.7 pounds and the high was 55. |
| 0:35.6 | And when a company experiences that across the participants, it's a game |
| 0:40.5 | changer. Welcome to the exam room podcast, brought to you by the Physicians Committee. Hi, I'm Chuck |
| 0:48.5 | Carroll, raising health IQs coast to coast and around the world. Hi to the exam room. He's listening |
| 0:54.0 | in Rochester, New York, Boise, Idaho, and Lisbon, Portugal. |
| 0:59.1 | Wherever you are, we appreciate you helping to make the world a healthier place. |
| 1:03.6 | This is episode 81 of Season 8, number 680 overall. |
| 1:09.0 | And today we will be coming to you from the International Conference on Nutrition |
| 1:12.8 | in Medicine in Washington, D.C., where success stories, honestly, were everywhere. But this one today |
| 1:20.2 | may be the most inspiring of all. Imagine a Fortune 250 company in the middle of Iowa, a state known for its pork and corn, |
| 1:30.8 | launching a whole food plant-based wellness program for its employees, |
| 1:36.0 | and then completely and totally transforming their health in just 16 weeks. |
... |
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