A while back, Bobbi Milsaps wrote a great blog post over at Robb Wolf’s blog for eating right while on military orders.  It’s a great starter piece, but I think there are some great tips I can add after being on active duty for the last month.  It’s tough, but there are ways to eat right and perform beyond military standards.

Ditchin’ Sugar

Monsters won't help turn you into a monster.

Quitting sugar and ditching those crazy stimulants is step #1.  Being in an engineer course, I see Soldiers go through sometimes 2 Monster energy drinks per day.  I’ve even seen a buddy down a 64 oz. can immediately after lunch because he was tired.  As I’ve previously blogged, coffee is a sparkplug to get you goin’, not the gas on which to run.  The rest of the day, drink water.  You’ve heard it throughout your training, now put it into practice. 10-12 glasses a day should keep you feeling good.

Candy is another constant in class, out in the field, and at work.  From Twix to Twinkies, “fatty cakes” are everywhere.  Time to put that crap to bed.  If you’re eating big meals of meat, fat, and veggies, you shouldn’t be dying for a fix every three hours.  If you’re in real need of a snack, nuts, hard boiled eggs, and jerky always do the trick, though I wouldn’t want to be the guy crackin’ open up some fragrant yolks in a classroom.

So, you’ve kicked sugar and Amp, Red Bull, and Monster.  Now it’s off to the DFAC (chow hall).

Surviving the DFAC

Just like in the civilian world, you’ve got choices (unless you’re on lockdown, like Basic Training).  For every military post, there should be a few places from which to choose your best of the worst chow hall.  I’ve found that the best ones have civilian employees (not your average E-4 soldier) and better selections for meat and vegetables.

For breakfast, you can pretty much cut out any expectation of vegetables, but don’t let that stand in your way of getting a decent morning meal.  Military chow halls always have bacon, sausage, and eggs.  Fill your plate up with that stuff.  This is where your sweet-talking skills come into play.  The line, “feel free to load me up with some extra bacon; I’m a growin’ boy” works really well for me.  I’ve even walked out of line with a half-a-plate of bacon and two eggs.  Finally, I always make my way to the salad bar for some fresh fruit.  Coffee?  You bet.  Hold the cream and sugar.

Lunch is a little more challenging, but hey, the military gets work done.  Load up on as much meat as they’ll allow.  Avoid the deep-fried stuff and go for the most unprocessed, ungravied, and unsauced meat as possible.  Most of the time it’s possible, but sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet.  Next, make your way to the salad bar and pile up the veggies in salad form.  Unfortunately, that’s the freshest you’re going to get.  Most of the veggies on the mainline are canned and preserved with the nastiest nonsense.  Feel free to throw some ham, eggs, and (real) bacon bits to make for a filling side-dish.  When everyone else is having (“oh, it’s just one serving) of pie or ice cream, skip it.  After a hearty meal like that, you should be feeling pretty full.

An example of a decent lunch at the chow hall.

Dinner, fortunately, is about the same as lunch, just with different food.  So, follow the rules above and you’ll be running on better-quality gas than your military peers.

The Little Luxuries

Quality meat, eggs, and lard from Greenwood Farms, LLC

For those with the luxury of a kitchenette and off-post liberties, you’ve got some room to improve your food choices than the regular troop.  First, find your nearest CSA and stock up on some grass-fed meat and quality bacon, eggs, and lard.  Days when you don’t want to hit up the DFAC, you’ll be good to go in your room.  Of course, you’ve always got the commissary, but their selection is only slightly better than the chow hall’s.

Next, since you’ve got a ready supply of “acquired” fruits, drop 50 or 60 bucks on a food dehydrator.  Green apple chips make for a great mid-morning snack and butternut squash or zucchini chips make for good “chips” accompanying salsa.

The Paleo Snack-Machine!

Since parties, birthday celebrations, and morale-boosting events always bring with it some sort of cake or soda, make a judgement call.  If you’re in it to win it, skip it.  But if you’re under some real pressure, no one’s going to fault you for falling face first into a slice of pie.

As you most likely know, alcohol fits nicely into a Paleo lifestyle as an occasional treat.  But with peers always downing MGD 64’s (because of the low calories, of course), it’s hard to be that guy who is always sober.  So be smart about drinking. Keep the boozin’ to about once a week or two, reaching for the tequila, vodka, or red wine instead of grain beer.  This will also keep you out of trouble with those pesky MPs.

Fish Oil, Vitamin D3, & Sleep

You can pretty much guarantee the meat at the DFAC is the lowest quality available due to the government shopping for the lowest price to feed the greatest quantity of troops.  That means it’s going to be high in Omega-6 fatty acid.  To make things even more unhealthy, soybean and corn oil are the staples of cooking oil there.  Either way, a high dose of EPA/DHA fish oil daily will keep that N-3:N-6 ratio closer to caveman levels.  *WARNING: If you’re deployed and have a job which requires you to be shot at or blown up on a daily or weekly basis, stay clear of the fish oil.  You may need that blood to clot one day.

Rich catchin' some free rays on a day off.

Unless you’re in a staff position, you’re probably out in the field only occasionally getting some sun.  Unfortunately, you’re covered from head to toe in a few pounds of gear.  On days off, try and get yourself some sun and throughout the rest of the week, throw 2-4,000 IU of Vitamin D3 down the hatch.

Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, and Sailors have busy lives.  Early PT, long duty days, extra responsibilities, etc.  We’ve got to perform to our best on the little bit of rest issued to us by Uncle Sam.  Get as much sleep as you can.  Quit playin’ Spades ’til midnight and turn off the Wii.  Aim for 8+ hours, but it’s understandable if you’re only getting 5-6 in a high-tempo cycle.  Remember, getting sleep is just as important as good nutrition.

As a member of the best fighting force in the world, you’ve got to fuel yourself with the right gas to run like a champ in defense of the nation.  It is easy to shrug off eating right because you’re busy or still looking studly at PT, but you are a fish swimming against the current without proper nutrition.  You wouldn’t toss unneeded extra weight into your ruck before a march, right?  Dial in the right fuel and you’ll have a much easier time surviving the demands of military life.

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Ever heard of Latkes?  Neither had I, but apparently they’re originally made with potatoes and onions to make a hash-brown like breakfast pancake.  These are super tasty and fairly easy to make.  (If I can make’em without screwin’ it up, anybody can.)  Here’s the step-by-step.

1.  Peel and shred your butternut squash into a bowl.  Half of a squash makes 3 big pancakes.

2. Add in two eggs

3.  Mix it together with your hands.

4. Throw a handmade ball into a medium-high pan with extra virgin olive oil (lots of oil!)

5. When it’s crispy brown on the bottom, flip ‘em over and cook until the opposite side is golden brown.

6. Serve with meat and eggs for a terrific breakfast!  Enjoy!

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At my last nutrition seminar at CrossFit On The River, I was asked if agave nectar “is Paleo”.  This always comes up as an acceptable substitute for maple syrup, corn syrup, or cane sugar.

Most of the time, it’s people trying to cheat the system.  They think that if it doesn’t have added ingredients and it’s “not technically sugar,” it can’t be that bad.  Unfortunately, your body is smarter than your brain.  Try as you might, and rename it what you like, a sugar is a sugar is a sugar.

Be it the aforementioned sugars or agave nectar, your body still registers those toxins as sugars.  It all turns to crap inside the body, making you fat and possibly killing you. You can’t trick the engine into accepting dirt as gasoline.  Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way.

Simple solution: Stay away from the stuff.  However, the occasional (once every 2 weeks or so) Mac Attack isn’t going to drive the final nail in the coffin if you’re squared away on the rest of Paleo eating.

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When you don’t have time to read up on the latest nutrition info, throw on a podcast.  Here are two I suggest you start listening to regularly.

The Paleolithic Solution

Let’s face it.  Robb’s the man.  Robb Wolf and Andy Dees get super-technical on the why-side of Paleo eating.  With no gimmicks or background music, the pair go over in (very) great detail how the food we throw in our bodies effects performance and weight loss and weight gain.  He also answers questions from his blog over at robbwolf.com.

Livin’ La Vida Low Carb

A guy who’s shed some serious weight cutting down on carbohydrates, Jimmy Moore’s got a great podcast.  Twice a week, he has on a new guest from the low-carb community.  From Dr. Bernstein to Dr. Harris of PaNu Blog.  It’s always interesting and filled with good low-carb info.  Heads up:  I’ll be on there in a few weeks talkin’ shop!

Enjoy!

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Coach Charles Poliquin has 10 great tips for cutting the sugar out of your diet.  The headline at the top claims the tips are for women, but they apply just as much for men.  So eat up, but cut out the sugar!

1.  Don’t add it to foods. This is the easiest and most basic way to immediately reduce the amount of sugar you’re eating. Biggest targets: cereal, coffee and tea.

2.  Don’t be fooled by “healthy sugar” disguises. Brown sugar, turbinado sugar, raw sugar, agave nectar … it’s all pretty much the same thing as far as your body is concerned.

3.  Make a real effort to reduce or eliminate processed carbohydrates. Most processed carbs — breads, bagels, most pastas and snacks — are loaded with flour and other ingredients that convert to sugar in the body almost as fast as pure glucose. That sugar gets stored as triglycerides, which is a fancy way of saying fat.

4.  Watch out for “fat-free” snacks. One of the biggest myths is that if a food is fat-free it doesn’t make you fat. Fat-free doesn’t mean calorie-free, and most fat-free snacks are loaded with sugar.

5.   Shop for color. The more your grocery basket looks like a cornucopia of color, the better. It usually means you’re getting more fresh vegetables and low-glycemic fruits such as berries and cherries.?

6.  Become a food detective. This tip is from author and nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, who adds, “To reduce sugar, you have to know where it is first.” Start reading labels.

7.  Beware of artificial sweeteners. Unfortunately, they can increase cravings for sugar and carbohydrates. They can also deplete the body’s stores of chromium, a nutrient crucial for blood-sugar metabolism.

8.  Do the math. Look at the label where it says “total sugars” and divide the number of grams by four. That’s the number of teaspoons of sugar you are ingesting. This exercise alone should scare the pants off you.

9.  Limit fruit. (Notice I didn’t say “eliminate.”) Fruit has sugar, but it also has fiber and good nutrients. Just don’t overdo it. For weight-loss purposes, keep it to two servings a day and try to make most of them low-glycemic (grapefruit, apples, berries)

10.  Eliminate fruit juice. It’s a pure sugar hit with none of the fiber and less of the nutrients that are found in the fruit itself. Possible exceptions: “Pure” pomegranate juice or any of the other “Just Juices”- but only if you’re not “sugar sensitive”

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For those of you who are big squash nuts like me, you’ve probably realized that cooking your butternut or acorn squash in the oven takes FOREVER. I’ve figured out a great way to cook your squash in under 15 minutes, saving both your time and sanity!

Cut your squash in half and gut the seeds and membrane.

Fill a bowl with an inch of water, placing the squash in face down.

Cook in the microwave for 10 minutes.  (It’ll boil, but don’t worry.)

Take the dish out of the microwave, flip the squash over and take a fork to it, digging into it, allowing the heat to seep deep down in there.

Cook for another 2 minutes, remove and enjoy!

Just that easy.  And now you have a tasty meal that can be cooked at work!

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Book: “Recipes for IBS”

Author: Ashley Koff, R.D.

192 Pages

Finally, a dietician who knows how to ward off IBS!  Last week, the wife picked up a great recipe book for people with irritable bowl syndrome (IBS).  Though it benefits IBS sufferers, it contains excellent meals for people looking to stay trim without sacrificing taste and time.  The author advises those with symptoms to stay away from grains and use dairy very rarely while focusing on good sources of fats and fiber.

Like chili?  Try Ashley’s Buffalo Chil on page 74.  It’s got a hearty dose of meat and substitutes rooted vegetables for the usual beans.  It’ll yield about 12 servings which ends up as awesome leftovers that can be heated up in the microwave throughout the week.

Page 90 has a great recipe for hors d’oeuvres: Devilish Eggs that use salsa as the filler!

She’s even included some pretty Paleo desserts for special occasions.  Check out page 155 which has a tasty recipe for Mango Carmelitas and apparently make for a nice addition to a jerk turkey burger.

Ashley’s put together a terrific book of recipes with about 3/4 of them accompanied by beautiful pictures of the final products.  You should definitely check it out or pick it up from your nearest library.  Enjoy!

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My day doesn’t get started until both meat and coffee are consumed.  While not completely Paleo (more neolithic than paleolithic), there are still some great health benefits to your morning beanwater as well as being super-tasty and an awesome eye-opener!

Nature’s Sparkplug

Coffee contains a great antioxidants and have been shown through studies to reduce the risk of problems such as heart disease, headache relief, and dementia.  However, downing a whole pot may have a negative effect, increasing cortisol secretion.  So how much is too much?  It’s individual, but a good gauge is when you’re awake, you’re done (about 2 cups for me).  I view coffee as nature’s sparkplug.  It’s not there to help your engine purr all day, but you can be sure it’ll kickstart things into motion!  (Hint: it also goes well some sugar-free sausage and eggs.)

Coffee Brings PR’s (Personal Records)

If you’re an athlete, coffee can play a major role in your training or competition.  Depending on the event or task, grabbing a cup a half-hour prior to a short (5 minute or less) workout will increase speed, strength, and mood.  Going for a new 1 rep max deadlift?  Sipping on some Joe while warming up to your favorite music will surely add a few pounds to the lift!

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Last night, I surprised the wife with a very tasty dinner: Bacon-wrapped (wild caught) scallops and butternut squash soup.

Scallops

Rinse off scallops.

Cut bacon slices in half and wrap around the scallops, holding the meat on with a toothpick.

Bake on 425 for 20-30 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes until bacon looks done.

Butternut Squash Soup

*Hat tip to this chick!

Ingredients:

• 6 cups (about 2 large squash) seeded 2-inch wide chunks butternut squash
• olive oil for brushing
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• 3 cups organic vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 4 ounces coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Brush the flesh of the squash with a little olive oil and season with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper. On a sheet pan lay the squash flesh side up. Roast for about an hour or until the flesh is nice and soft.

Scoop the flesh from the skin into a pot and add the stock, honey, and ginger. Bring to a simmer and puree using a stick blender or potato masher. Stir in the coconut milk and return to a low simmer. Season with salt, pepper, and freshly ground nutmeg.

Verdict

Super tasty meal!  Don’t overcook the scallops and you should be fine.  We enjoyed this with a few glasses of red wine and a bowl of fruit for dessert.  Enjoy!

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After a full body massage today, I was in no mood to spend time in front of a stove.  So, I swung by my Paleo restaurant of choice, Chipotle.

Now, Chipotle probably isn’t 100% Paleo, but when you’re out and about and yearnin’ for something tasty and healthy, Chipotle beats the socks off of Taco Bell, McDonalds, or Great Steak & Fry.  Here’s the rundown on lunch:

Get the burrito bowl but hold the rice and beans.  Instead, try to get away with as piling as many green peppers and onions in there as you can.  When the server stops, tell them to keep on going until they give you a weird look.  Next, load on some meat.  (I like the pork, but any of the animal options will do.)  Ask for extra meat.  They’ll warn you that it’ll cost extra, but it’s worth it for the protein and tasty, tasty MEAT!  When the Chipotle employee is done with the meat, ask for tomatoes and a few dollops of guacamole.  The green stuff is full of good fat.  To quench your thirst, grab some tap water with a few lemon wedges.

That there should make for a delicious and filling lunch when out and about.  I wouldn’t make it a staple in your diet, but it’s good to have as a backup on busy shopping (or massage) days.  And for under 10 bucks, you can’t beat it!

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