In talking about how the average American eats- we found that their diets are on the high fat and lots of sugar side and that doesn’t bode well for their long range health. The military has been fighting the same problems and they’ve developed a game plan to make it easier for soldiers to trim down and fuel up.
In the Army making green choices about food equals making healthy choices. Green foods are choice, then come yellow labeled foods that need a little bit of caution and lastly there are the foods marked with red labels which means use a lot of caution if you are going to choose them.
Here is a little bit from USA Today about how health is affected by eating and how are soldiers are losing the battle before they’ve even begun basic training-
In 2010, 59% of female recruits and 47% of male recruits failed the entry-level physical fitness test. The test requires recruits to do one minute of push-ups, one minute of sit-ups and a 1-mile run. In 2000, less than 20% of the recruits failed the test.
Nearly 15% of 17- to 24-year-olds are not qualified to join the Army at all because they are too overweight.
In 2010, 62% of recruits had significant enough dental problems that they couldn’t be deployed without having substantial work done; in 2002, the number was 42%. A decline in access to dental care contributes to the problem, Hertling said, but he largely blames soda and junk food.
85% of recruits say they eat fast food regularly, and 52.7% use tobacco.
Hip injuries and fractures spiked among recruits from 40 in 2001 to 135 in 2009, then fell a bit to 87 last year and it’s not because recruits are asked to carry heavier packs, Hertling said. He cited an alarming problem with bone density, “the effects of bad nutrition.”