Firefighter Nutrition—Incorporating Ancestral Health Techniques

Being a first responder is a stressful and demanding job. I get it. I’m not here to change tradition or turn your department into kale chip-munching Millennials. My aim is to educate you and empower you to make healthier lifestyle choices each day. For us firefighters, damage control is the name of the game.

The Standard American Diet and conventional medicine have resulted in half of all adults in the United States having one or more chronic health conditions and one in four adults having two or more chronic health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s time to get to the root of our problems by going back to our roots.

I’m sure many of you have heard of paleo, primal and hunter-gatherer lifestyles. These ancestral health models are based on up-to-date scientific findings and are grounded in evolutionary science. It’s what works. Our genes expect healthy foods, frequent movement, brief and intense strength and sprint efforts, adequate sun exposure, and plenty of sleep and leisure time. By incorporating these lifestyle habits, you can master your metabolism, improve blood markers for chronic health conditions, and improve your quality of life in as little as 21 days. 

The basics come down to EMS, which covers eating, moving and several important S’s. 

E—Eat plants and animals

It’s pretty simple: We should eat meat, fish, fowl, eggs, vegetables, in-season berries, nuts and seeds, and high-quality fats. Eighty percent of your body composition success depends on your diet. Some additional tips:

·      Eliminate Standard American Diet foods. Avoid sugary foods and beverages, refined grains (wheat, corn, rice, pasta, cooking grains, and breakfast cereals) and industrial/chemically altered vegetable/seed oils.

·       No more vegetable/seed oils in the firehouse. Cook with grass-fed butter (Kerrygold, Organic Valley, Vital Farms), ghee, recycled bacon grease, coconut oil, olive oil and avocado oil.

·       Fat is your friend. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and trans fats are bad. Saturated, monounsaturated, omega-3s are good. Saturated fat has been the preferred fuel source for humans throughout evolution.

·       Avoid snacks in the EMS rooms at the hospital. Instead, bring healthy snacks to work. Some of my favorites are hard-boiled eggs with hot sauce, grass fed beef jerky, carrots dipped in healthy mayonnaise, and macadamia nuts. For a healthy alternative to soda, stock your vending machines with sparkling water or naturally sweetened drinks, like La Croix and Zevia. I also recommend bringing nutrient-dense food with you from home if your crew refuses to cook healthy food. You’re ultimately responsible for your own health.

M—Move frequently

Find ways to move more in daily life and on duty. Conduct regular aerobic workouts at comfortable heart rates. Dr. Phil Maffetone’s Maximum Aerobic Function training strategy suggests keeping your heart rate below 180 minus your age to stay in the fat-burning zone. And include flexibility/mobility sessions—yoga, Kelly Starrett’s MobilityWOD, and properly conducted stretching exercises—into your daily movement practices. Some additional tips:

·       Align your workouts with your energy levels, and avoid chronic cardio, chronic strength training sessions, and regimented schedules. Use your intuition along with heart rate variability (HRV) to help guide you in making healthy training and lifestyle decisions. I use the Polar H10 chest strap and SweetBeat HRV app. In short, HRV measures your stress levels and readiness to train.

·       Lift heavy things: Brief, intense exercise sessions involving functional, full-body movements (essential movements consist of push-ups, pull-ups, squats and planks) support muscle development and delay aging. You can get fit doing only two 10- to 30-minute strength training sessions per week in conjunction with frequent movement and occasional all-out sprints.

·       Sprint. Perform dynamic warm-ups, followed by six all-out sprints lasting around 8–10 seconds, fully recovering between each sprint every 7–10 days.

·       Return reps: Whenever you return to the station from a run, training or wherever, do max reps of one of the aforementioned essential movements. They add up quickly and help with stress and mood.

·       Avoid sitting for prolonged periods: Take walks around the firehouse or on the treadmill. Just keep it moving! 

S—Sleep

In 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified shift work with circadian disruption (chronodisruption) as a probable human carcinogen. The body repairs itself during sleep and clears out garbage in the brain. Adequate sleep is essential for health. Some tips:

·       Get 8 hours of sleep on your off days if possible to help combat the negative effects of poor sleep on duty. Research shows that 3 grams of glycine and 5 grams of creatine help combat the negative effects of sleep deprivation. Remember, the name of the game is damage control.

·       Take a daily nap. Naps can, in fact, make up for some of the sleep deprivation that comes with the job. I use Binaural Beats theta-wave tracks to help me doze off for 30 minutes in the afternoon.

·       Reduce artificial light after sundown to align your circadian rhythm. Blue light from electronics suppresses melatonin and causes the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Download justgetflux.com on computers and mobile data computers (MDCs) to reduce blue light.

·       Eat broccoli sprouts. Amyloid-beta in the brain after a lack of sleep has been linked with Alzheimer’s disease. Broccoli sprouts have been shown to help clear these amyloid beta plaques, reduce cancer risk, and even kill cancer cells. I add them to my green shakes.

·       The number of runs you take after midnight is out of your control. Although you cannot control or prevent interrupted sleep, you can control your actions and your attitude.

S—Stress management

“If you really knew what was happening to your body when you’re stressed, you would freak out.” — Mark Hyman, MD, New York Times bestselling author and director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine

·       Chronic stress is a killer, affecting our sleep, brain function, body fat and risk of dying. Again, remember, it’s all about damage control.

·       Manage stress by embracing acute stress. By incorporating acute stressors—brief and intense workouts, brief cold exposure, and intermittent fasts—your body will be better equipped to deal with chronic stress.

·       Introduce a meditation app like Calm or Buddifhy into your daily routine and try to breathe intentionally. A recent Japanese study showed that six deep breaths was enough to lower one’s blood pressure and reduce the sympathetic nervous system response.

S—Sun exposure

Vitamin D is crucial for bone and heart health, immune function, hormonal function and cancer protection. Vitamin D deficiency dramatically increases cancer risk and cardiovascular illness.

·       Get 15 minutes of midday sun without sunblock and avoid burning.

·       Avoid sunscreen with harmful chemicals. I typically use a “non-nano particle” zinc oxide sunblock on my face, hands and neck.

·       Supplementing with 4,000 IU per day of Vitamin D3 is enough to bring the majority of adults up to adequate levels of at least 30ng/ml without toxicity, according to Dr. Rhonda Patrick of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN. 

Make informed choices

By incorporating the lifestyle habits of our ancestors into our modern lives, we can live long and prosper with robust health and fitness, free of chronic disease. Rejoice, you now have the power to make informed choices and reclaim your health!