Soda or Water in the Firehouse?

There has been a huge decrease of soda consumption around the firehouse. There isn't any good reason to substitute soda for water (read below). I personally gave up soda (including diet) six months ago and feel a ton better and have more energy. So, today I wanted to do a comparison of water to one of the more popular soft drinks....Coke. 

Sometimes I still have the urge to drink a soda, after reading this, I quickly lose that urge. Read the points made below.

WATER

1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half world population.)

2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.

3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.

4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50%less likely to develop bladder cancer. 

After reading the above and knowing how imperative it is for fire rescue athletes to be operating at peak performance I ask you:  "Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day?"

Still not convinced that water is the way to hydrate?  Take a look at how Coke (or any soda) can affect your body.

COKE
1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.

2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.

3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china. (Try that in the firehouse.)

4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.

5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.

6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for sumptuous brown gravy.

8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.
Now the question is, would YOU like a glass of water or coke?

Water it is for me....stay hydrated.

Firefighter Fitness Motivation!

Just a little reminder that fires aren't the number one killer of firefighters....heart attacks and strokes are.  Train like a life depends on it....because it does.

Enough said.

Stay safe and healthy,
A. Zamzow

Simple Rules of Healthy Eating

What do you need for survival?  I’m not talking about your phone, technology or a certain person; I mean what does your body need to survive?  If you said food you would be correct… the single most important thing you need to focus on at that point is what to eat.

Food is one of the most important things in our lives but in most cases it is low on our priority list.  We usually eat whatever is quick and easy not what is best for us.  Look at what we teach our kids in school, we give them a thorough education on topics such as Math, History, Science, Languages, etc, but never give more than a couple hours in their entire 12 years in school about the most important thing in our lives...what to eat.

If you think about it, that's absolutely crazy...  One of the single most important aspects of our lives is never really taught to our children in school.  And parents don't generally pick up the slack and teach kids nutrition because they were never taught about it either.  This is a modern day problem, the abundance of food all around us in modern day life means that we don't have to think about what's appropriate to eat.

So that brings us back to the question at hand….”What should we eat?”

Lately I have been doing a ton of research on this topic.  I’ve found that there needs to be some simple rules to follow if you want to successfully navigate the current food landscape. 

Healthy Eating Rules…Simplified

There is a ton of information on nutrition; everyone out there seems confused about what is the best "diet" to be on.  People seem to love to always jump from fad diet to fad diet such as low-fat diets, Atkins,  south beach, grapefruit diets, detox diets, vegetarian diets, and other sometimes ridiculous diets that most times are based on one person's opinion or marketing scheme (or personal agenda) rather than based on actual science.

I've found that in order to find out what’s best to eat we need to take a look at science and history.   Before the agricultural revolution came around we (as humans) only ate wild plants and animals, we were hunters and gatherers.  Now, we eat processed grains, farmed animals and plants and tons of chemicals.  The biggest change this represents is the massive inclusion of grains in our current diet (and what our animals are fed) now compared to our ancestors. 

So what exactly did our ancestors eat?  Simple:

• Wild meat, fish, and seafood  (animals that ate the right foods, unlike most of our current factory-farmed meats and farmed fish)
• fruits
• veggies
• eggs (various types)
• nuts
• tubers (potatoes, yams)
• seeds

Grains were a very small fraction of our ancestors’ diet as there was no way to process large amounts of grain back in that day into flour.  So, amounts of wild grain would have been small, like a handful or two of gathered grains added to an occasional soup or stew.  As you can see, this is vastly different from our modern human diet that includes grain at almost every meal in the form of cereals, breads, pasta, muffins, bagels, etc.

The grain itself was also different.  Our ancestors’ grain was very robust and fibrous; our grain is weaker and brittle.  Why?  Grain and wheat has been genetically modified to produce higher and faster yields.  This in turn makes it smaller than grain from the past and less nutritious. 

So with the above information in mind, try to follow these simple rules…

Healthy Eating Rule #1.  Try to minimize grains in your diet.  This includes multi-grain.  Carbohydrates don't need to be eliminated... they are not inherently "bad" in reasonable quantities.  But grains and processed sugars in particular should be minimized.  So to make things simple, you will be leaner and healthier if you get most of your carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables instead of grains and processed sugar.

The biggest problem with grains (breads, cereals, pasta, bagels, etc), aside from the abuse to your blood sugar regulation system (pancreas and insulin sensitivity), is that grains typically contain a lot of anti-nutrients which prevent your body from absorbing some minerals, as well as gluten and other substances that cause chronic gut inflammation and even possibly digestive system damage.   Research has also found that wheat provokes inflammatory response in the body which increases cholesterol, distorts insulin responses, and issues abnormal metabolic signals to the rest of the body.

It’s important to note that potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other tubers have fewer problems in terms of digestive system inflammation than grains do. Tubers were a more common part of the ancient human diet as a source of carbohydrates than grains ever were.  Potatoes and sweet potatoes can be much better tolerated by very active people that have no problem burning off the extra carbohydrates.

Healthy Eating Rule #2.  Minimize high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners in your diet.  Most people don't realize just how many calories and metabolism damaging high fructose corn syrup they are ingesting.  High fructose corn syrup is in almost everything;  ketchup, salad dressings, cocktail sauce, marinades, etc.  Be a label reader and avoid HFCS!  And despite deceptive advertisements out there from the corn refining industry that claim HFCS is no worse than sugar and is natural; this is far from the truth. 

Also, try to avoid artificial sweeteners!   Just because they don't contain calories doesn't mean they don't harm your body.  In fact, many studies link artificial sweetener use to weight gain.  New research is also showing that artificial sweeteners can "trick" your body into releasing insulin due to cells in your mouth and stomach that sense the sweetness and are expecting sugar--high insulin levels can cause body fat deposition. Also, triggering insulin in this way can cause more cravings for carbohydrates and sugar in the hours after eating or drinking the artificially sweetened product.

Healthy Eating (or Drinking) Rule #3.  Stay Hydrated: Drink Lots of Water. 

Whether your body is turning food into fuel or working away at your fat reserves, it needs water to efficiently burn calories. If you are not fully hydrated, your metabolism will slow down and you won’t be burning calories as efficiently as you can. 

Need some proof? University of Utah researchers found that adults who drink 8 or more glasses of water each day burned significantly more calories than those who drank 4 or less.

How much water should you drink? The study considered a glass of water to be 8 ounces — that’ only two thirds the size of a can of soda. So drink up and give your metabolism a little boost. 

Healthy Eating Rule #4.  Eat what our ancestors ate.  Try to stick with simple, one ingredient foods that are bodies are used to digesting.  These foods are:

• Wild meat, fish, and seafood  (animals that ate the right foods, unlike most of our current factory-farmed meats and farmed fish)
• fruits
• veggies
• eggs (various types)
• nuts
• tubers (potatoes, yams)
• seeds

I hope that these “Healthy Eating Rules” help to clarify and give you some nutritional direction. There are some other “rules” that could be included but for the most part if you follow the above rules a majority of the time you will see some positive changes in your body composition and health.   

What do I personally do?  Well, I avoid grains as much as possible, except on 1 cheat day per week.   I eat whole fruits (never juice) and veggies daily, and might have an occasional potato or sweet potato once or twice a week.  I try to keep it simple.

Do these rules work?  Heck yeah!  Don’t take my word for it try them yourself.

Need more nutrition advice or guidelines?  Join the Fire Rescue Fitness Nation and receive a FREE copy of the Standard Operating Procedures to Eating Lean in the Firehouse and the FRF 28-day Quickstart Workout Program.  

Get them FREE by clicking HERE.

Want to read more?  Check out these great nutritional resources.

http://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffairs/news/archive/2003/news_74.html 

http://www.losethewheatlosetheweight.com

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/12/03/sucralose-dangers.aspx

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/food-facts.html

http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/5-health-benefits-paleo-diet

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/11/paleo-goes-mainstream-cbs-news-reports.aspx

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/todays-wheat-making-you-gain-weight

The Firehouse 300 Rep Challenge

300 Rep Challenge for the Firehouse

This is a great 300 challenge workout that you can do in the firehouse with minimal weight.  The goal of the workout is to finish in the shortest amount of time possible, not by rushing your reps but by not resting….

All you need for this challenge workout is a stability ball and a weight.  The object of the workout is to complete 50 reps of each exercise (300 total) as quickly as possible.  There is a catch of course, each rep has to be performed in a controlled manner and bad reps don’t count.   Safety first, form is your biggest focus.

You can do the reps in any order and even mix and match if needed as long as you do 50 of each.  Personally I like to choose two exercises and alternate between them until the reps are completed.  As a guideline choose a weight that is around 25% your body weight.  For example if you weigh around 180 pounds use a 45 pound weight.   Don’t forget to record your total workout time.  Enjoy!

Perform this warm-up before timing the workout.  Perform 10 reps of each warm-up for 2 circuits.

Click the Video below for an overview of the workout

Warm-up Exercises (perform 2 circuits)

Chops (10 reps)

Prisoner Squat (10 reps)

Step forward toe touch (5 reps each)

Spidermans (5 reps each)

Step back reach and twist (5 reps each)

Exercises

Squat to press (50 reps)

One arm rows (25 reps each, 50 total)

Sumo Bicep Curls (50 reps)

Tricep Skulls (50 reps)

V-ups (50 reps)

Hands on Ball Push-ups (50 reps)

To add to the challenge:  Run 1 mile or bike 3 as fast as possible.

Don’t forget to record your total workout time (try to improve on this time each workout).

Need a new workout Program?

Check out the 3 new workout programs available from Fire Rescue Fitness.  There is a program for every level of fitness, guaranteed to take you to the next level. 

 Check them out HERE!

Nutritional Myths at the Firehouse (or any house)

Today I wanted to post about nutrition, more importantly on some of the biggest nutritional myths floating around firehouses (and other houses).  Eat this, don't eat that...there is so much misinformation on nutrition that it can get to be overwhelming and frustrating.  Take a look at 4 of the biggest nutritional myths, hopefully they can clarify some things for you.

Myth #1

“Eat fewer calories and you will lose weight.”

The Truth:
Low calorie diets completely damage your metabolism and never result in long term weight or fat loss.. As a trainer I routinely heard clients say “But I barely eat all day and I still can’t lose weight!”.  Starving yourself results in a loss of muscle mass, which results in a slower metabolism, which results in weight and fat gain.

The truth is that it’s more important where your calories come from. Just simply reducing your calories may result in no weight loss and leave you tired and hungry all day.  I recommend logging your food every once in a while to make sure you are eating the right amounts of the right foods.

Myth #2

“Eat Low-Fat to Lose Fat”

The Truth:
Low Fat foods have made Americans even more overweight and unhealthy than they were before the low fat craze. The truth is the only way to lose fat is by eating fat. Yes, you heard me right. If you are not eating the right kind of fat, your fat loss is literally impossible. The right fat intake will turn your body into a fat-burning furnace (and that is not an exaggeration).  

Low fat foods also have a ton of chemicals and sweeteners that are not only toxic but cause you to crave more food.

Myth #3

“Low Carb diets are the fastest way to lose weight”

The Truth:
Low Carb diets never work long term and they make you feel miserable in the process. Most people on low carb diets suffer from headaches, muscle aches and a lack of energy.  Carbohydrates bind with water in your body, when you cut them out of your diet, your body flushes the water out of your system.  This results in a rapid weight loss but not one that is sustainable.  Worst of all, as soon as you put anything that even resembles a carb back into your body, you blow up like a balloon.

Myth #4

“Supplements are the only way to lose weight”

The Truth:
You don’t need anything but the right foods and the right plan to achieve your perfect weight. This is the biggest money making scam in the world today: companies selling you worthless supplements with false promises. The truth is, without the right nutrition principles and without the right foods, no supplement will have any positive effect on your body.  If you don't have a solid nutritional foundation supplements will be a complete waste of money!
In order to finally lose weight and completely change the course of your health, you must forget all of the worthless information that is in the media today. If any of these above statements were true, our country (and our industry, click here for obesity statistics in firefighters)  be so overweight and unhealthy?

So, should you eat?  I think the best thing to do is follow this one simple rule when it comes to nutrition:

"Only Eat whole foods with ONE ingredient."

That's it.  The reason why one ingredient whole foods are the best for you is that they contain zero processing and zero artificial ingredients that have been linked to increasing inflammation and body fat accumulation.  

Get the Standard Operating Procedures to Eating Healthy for FREE, (Click HERE!)

Eating healthy in the firehouse isn't the easiest thing to do.  It takes discipline and an avoidance of the kitchen (or whatever place in the firehouse where all the goodies are).  Obviously, it is impossible to avoid the kitchen entirely but it is possible to lean out the firehouse.   Cooking for a group of hungry firefighters is not easy-- if you don’t cook something tasty you will hear about it from your crew...for a long time.  The goal of this e-book is to provide some guidelines (and some recipes) on how to cook and eat healthy in the firehouse (and at your own house) to keep you lean and “fit for duty.” 

--Six easy to follow guidelines

--Fire house shopping list

--Example meal plans

--Healthy snack ideas that are easy and quick to prepare

--Healthy Recipes

Get the Standard Operating Procedures to Eating Healthy for FREE, (Click HERE!)