Army revamps approach to health, fitness and diet at basic training
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comAtten-hut! Drop that burger and give me 20
Seeded on Wed Dec 1, 2010 4:47 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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Why offer the fatty, sugary stuff at all? Who's in charge here? Healthier variations of these familiar comfort foods can be served.
And drinking juice with meals isn't necessarily healthy since it contains so much fructose sugar. Sugarfree fruit-flavored or tea beverages with Splenda, for example, provide tasty hydration.
These young adults need to learn how modifications in their diet can provide them with healthy energy both during and after their military service.
And yes, I did serve my country for many years alongside both fit and fatties.
This story does not mean much. Sure, you can dictate would new recruits eat but once they get into actually serving they will just go back to old habits. Are we blind? Have you ever been to a U.S. military base recently? All it has are pizza joints, Mc donalds, Taco Bell, KFC and Burger King, the list goes on and on. Wake up and get rid of fast food on military bases.
Yup, lets take away their personal choices... and their personal responsibility!
I like the content, but the Headline is NOT Army approved. Ask any Drill Sergeant and they will inform you that "there are NO huts in the Army!"
What a great idea, and I agree most recruits probably do not eat the correct foods at home before joining the service. This is something the soldier can bring home to civilian life after the Army. Who knows maybe the nation will begin to change our eating habits. GOOD JOB ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE, MARINES
It is a great idea! And they should have more education on base on things like alcohol abuse, home-violence and child-nuturing, yes...even for the guys. All of that creates a more cohesive sense of community and purpose. For anyone that hasn't been associated with the military, you might think that comes with the territory, but it does not necessarily.
Families are brought into these bases far away from home an d there are often few areas of structure and support---I mean for the entire family----not the soldier him or herself. I know all of this stuff first hand because that's how I grew up (on military bases) and for a couple of years in the early 2000's, at the onset of the wars, I worked closely with families of soldiers being deployed. At the time, it was crazy because people had not been deplyed in such a fashion since the early 70's.
anyway....good job on the food. By the way, despite the myths about the food, it's never been bad at all; it's been quite good, actually.
The Army has to do whatever it takes to make the troops better killers.
It's not just about making more efficient weapons. Healthier soldiers are happier soldiers and happier soldiers are better soldiers, both on and off the battlefield.
About time! The food offerings from the 90's were nutritionally bankrupt. Glad that the Army has opened its eyes to the real world.
I have to laugh at this... So much for personal choice and personal responsibility! How many calories does the "average" recruit in boot camp expend during the day? Having gone through the experience, I can pretty much assure you that it far more than you are getting in a "sugary fruit drink". Additionally, has anyone ever looked at the calorie count in a combat ration (MRE)? some are as high as 3000 PER MEAL! We have much larger fish to fry than worrying about the sugar content of an Army recruit's diet.
Yes, soldiers and other military recruits need plenty of calories to do their exercises. But they are also entering the system out of shape. They need to get nutrients and energy, but also lose a few pounds and build endurance. I've never been through the army recruitment program but I'm pretty sure personal choice is not one of their priorities.
Entering the system out of shape is a personal choice. This is a volunteer military... it's not like they don't know they are going to boot camp! As I said, we have larger fish to fry than how much sugar a recruit eats. With a colapsed economy, loosing weight won't be a problem.... starvation will.
What does a colapsed economy have to do with bootcamp? Wouldn't you want the people fighting for you to be in shape? And just so you know an MRE has so many calories for two reasons. One it takes a lot of energy just to digest one. And two sometimes all you get is one a day. I hope this doesn't seem like a personal attack I just didn't understand what you were saying. Probably because its 4 A.M.
It was a historical reference to The Great Depression when there was starvation in this country when the economy collapsed.
As far as MREs go, I understand exactly why they are the way they are, and it goes along with this thread. Boot Camp takes energy, LOTS of energy. So does war-fighting. That's why I don't think that ther should be much concern for the food that recruits eat. They will probably burn it off any way.
again what does that have to do with nutrition in bootcamp. If you read the article it is also geared to the fact that better nutrition equals better performance. This is a fact. You eat junk you don't perform as well
Sorry, but most folks in boot camp aren't Lance Armstrong, therefore don't need "nutritional coaches" There are folks in the military that would qualify for that, however, they will have had MUCH more specialized training than what is given in boot camp. As I said before, and I will say as many times as is needed to make the point, nutrition in boot camp is not as important as this article implies!!
I see what your saying, and agree with it for the most part. I just don't think they should even have an option of juck food in a chow hall. As far as nutritional coaches your one hundred percent right. We shouldn't dump a whole bunch of money into something when some of the people are going to go to McDonnalds after the get out of training anyway
How about incorporating this into school lunches? Kids will perform better without all that junk and sugar too! Provide healthy lunches, if they want to eat junk they can bring their own.
cg68doc - You just don't get it. It's not about caloric intake, it's about consuming the correct foods and drinks necessary to allow our bodies and minds to perform optimally. Even if our activity burns the calories consumed from junk food, it was still just empty calories with no health benefits whatsoever. Junk food may fill us up or even provide a quick burst of energy, but proper nutrition gives us a longer life, lasting strength, endurance, and mental clarity. Apparently your mental clarity has been clouded by poor nutrition if you can't understand why improving nutrtition would be beneficial to a soldier's performance.
hmmmm, your tolerance is showing! I do get it. I retired from the military. All of my sons have been or are in the military. I go get it. We are not talking about feeding highly traing troops here. This is BASIC training. It teaches the fundamentals. Having a cup of bug juice (thats what we called those sweet sugary drinks.. others may call it Kool-Aid) isn't going to dull their mental faculties. I'm not suggesting we feed them a diet of Twinkies and Kit-Kat bars. I am saying that this argument is a minor consideration when compared to the other REAL problems we have in this country.
This isn't really about impared mental capacity due to poor nutrition. It's all about control. Taking away ones personal choices and the personal responsibility for those choices...
Hmm, teaching people to eat properly sounds pretty basic and fundamental to me.
Meanwhile, how does teaching an individual about proper nutrition and providing healthy choices take away their personal choices and responsibilities? Both healthy and unhealthy options are provided and available for the soldiers to personally choose from. It's still their choice on what to eat.
And I agree with you that we have many REAL problems that need to be attended to. However that shouldn't mean that we should ignore everything else.
"How's it going Eisenhower. I hope this is the mess hall, I'm famished."
Dewey Oxburger
Missouri's Fort Leonard Wood... My son did his basic training there. I bet he is glad he did it before the dietary changes. Lol.
I'll bet the candy bar industry is upset that the Army is spilling the beans that a candy bar isn't nutritionally sound food.
Hint: Rather than tell kids that candy is no good for them, tell them it's uglifying food. When they're told that it's going to make them ugly their eyes get big and it usually results in causing them to lower their consumption.
Ooooh, I like this approach! Do ya think it will work on middle-schoolers? I will be borrowing your line about "uglifying foods"! lol
I think this is a great idea in a nation of morbidly obese teens and young adults! As a former judo coach I have been amazed at the number of children who can not do 50 sit ups or 10 push ups. Lets watch our children's diet, exercise and restrict their use of the TV and video games However, as a fat nation lets look at the parents - dad's who are "bubbas" and mothers who are "two ton tessie's"! The message must be clear!