So are MRE entrees going to change?

[stick4543]

Just watched a piece on Fox News. The Pentagon is changing the way soldiers eat. They want healthier soldiers for some reason. They said 9million young Americans are too fat to serve in the military so they are changign things. Vending machines will no longer sell pop, but rather juice and milk. And whole wheat replaces white bread and pasta. So is this going to impact what they eat in the field too? What you eat in garrison may not be as important as what you eat in combat.

[Treesuit]

Stick,

IMHO I doubt that. Natick Labs has done quite a bit research and testing into finding out what soldiers will eat and how to nutritionally balance every meal; especially the MRE's. Yes, it is a shocking fact that most Americans, including the entry level kids coming into the military that they are quite unfit, or fat in this case, to serve. Here in the US, the consumerism that permeates the military bases is pretty unreal. When you have Domino's Pizza, Burger King, Subway, Popeye's Fried Chicken plus soda/candy machines everywhere you get the feeling that this isn't a Army but a organized militia or gun club.

Things are totally different when I came into actve duty 21 years ago. Back then it was hard to find a good pizza place let alone a McDonald's on post.

I doubt things will change soon or radically but like I said Natick Labs will spend quite a bit of money to find out whether the troops will eat a Cinnabon morning bun or a cheese and veggie omelet for breakfast.

[HungryMan]

I believe that we are fortunate to have a forum where both the news of such a change in the works and most likely a sample of the meal itself would soon be forthcoming.

Cutting edge 'anything' is absolutely useless unless there are places like this to discuss the advantages and disadvantages; let alone assessments regarding quality (which is 'kind of important' when you're referencing food).

[stick4543]

I'd take the Cinnabon any day of the week. And I'd take a can of Coke over a tomato juice too.

[Cracker]

This is just fighting symptoms..


... soda machines and McDonalds are not the cause most of them are overweight.
It's the lack of a healthy lifestyle. Food is only a part of that, overweight is just relative. Even a bodybuilder can be to heavy for his length.

Point is; add some more physical training, serve better food.
With the Bundeswehr, the personel can eat in the mess hall for a price that sure beats McDonalds. The food isn't bad either.
And yes, mum makes better food. But if they offer a healthy alternative (and I don't mean hippy flowerpower homegrown ecological bullcrap/crops.) that is a healthier and edible option.. I'm sure you make a difference.

Forcing fast food out a base? Hell no.
A twix, snicker, beer, soda, müslibars, shelf stable hamburgers etc are a international proven addition to the military diet.

My view?

Make unhealthy food more expensive, make healthy food cheaper (investment), make the healthy food better..
But let the guys/girls decide what they eat.

And if you have a T3, T7 or T6 related function? No problem. If you have an T1 or T2 grade, and get overweight? I'd say.. it's breaking your contract. So you get back in shape, or get lost. Active personel simply has to be in shape. They don't have to be body builded athletes, but they need to be capable of reaching their objective.

About MREs:

MREs (and other western rations) are probably the most balanced convenience foods available. Fortified with vitamins and minerals, and they sure beat civil microwave crap. Ration calories don't depend on fats.. Civil stuff (usually) has their calories from fat and/or sugar. I don't think anything should be changed about MREs.

[rationtin440]

I've been looking for info on the nutrient "patch" that Natick Labs is alledgedly researching for future use but so far nothing. As for the changes to MREs, with the rumors circulating that many service members who have type 2 diabetes are being deployed if they have critical skills, I think the trend may be to find an effective alternative to high sugar, high carb items besides their obvious negative effects on weight maintenance.

[Treesuit]

Cracker,

Okay, if you say a healthy lifestyle and more nutritious food, I agree with that. Unfortunately not in a combat zone. The MRE's are well balanced not doubt about that. Also the UGR's are very good, but the contracted hot food that is served in dining facilites overseas remains a big problem. Here in the US on any major installation the cooks in the dining halls balance every meal but for overseas all meals are contracted out by other firms.

This is where most troops are having problems. And the fact that our military is getting softer with less emphasis on physical training is getting to be problematic. I see it first hand every day. The military does not do enough for kids coming in to the service to loose the weight and keep it off. Overseas at most bases the vast majority of combat troops are fit because of combat operations, but in the rear areas where you do have Burger King, TGIF, and other vendors and the rear echlon support staff these areas are prone to have troops get overweight. I saw it in OIF back in 2005. The contract food service people back then no idea how to cook certain meals. Such was the case of food being high in calories not enough vegetables, fruits and such. Not only that but to rely on the troops to be honest and do exercise in there off time: yeah right!

Nowadays, the troops coming in to the service are overweight but there is no incentive to stay slim once out of basic training. There are too many outside influences from vendors. Sure the US food service system is trying to do much better with more nutrious meals but it's hard to convince a soldier/marine/airman/ sailor to eat something they can identify like McDonald's over what is in the dining facility.

And try and make unhealthy food more expensive? Uh huh....try that in the US and see what happens. You'll get squashed and laughed at, the vendors that sell those unhealthy foods on major military bases are firmly entrenched in the soldiers lifestyle. Not to mention it's a million dollar money machine for the military. In combat zones not so much.....

[Cracker]

In some euro countries they did tests with taxing unhealthy food, or forcing the supplier to make it more expensive (for example in schools). The annual profit was still stable, but the healthy alternatives where also sold. I think that's already a win situation.

About contracters, well. As a buyer you can make certain demands. -Yes that will make it more expensive, but see it as an investment-. The system with taxing might sound a bit hard, but it really isn't that bad.

It's not that you are going to sell carrot juice with steamed soy beans, but you simply make "normal" food, but healthier.
For example, you can make a decent hamburger, with a lot less saturated fat, sugar and salt.. and still make it nice to eat.

- Use proper baking oil.
- Use leaner meat, or use a different kind (if you use pork or pork/beef mix, use beef instead).
- Use less ketchup, but instead get a good sauce that doesn't rely on sugar for it's taste.
- Use less salt or supplement it with potassiumchloride enriched salt (66% less NaCl - sodiumchloride)

It will be more expensive, but in my opinion they taste a lot better. So that's a win win situation.
It's really not that hard to make your daily meals a lot healthier with different ingredients.

I also don't see anything in forcing people to eat healthier, but I'm a great fan of giving people the alternative. If someone stays overweight (due to bad eating habbits), they should loose weight. It's that simple in my eyes. Also non military personel really underestimates food imho, but a lot of deseases are directly linked to overweight and/or unhealthy food.

If you look at europe, they serve better food then a decade ago. In the 80s the military (and the whole society) started serving cheaper food to control the costs. Now they are realising the results. Also (no offence) there are a lot more obese people in the US then in Europe. Also the fastfoods companies made record growths during the 80s, making it available to more and more people. And there's nothing wrong with fastfood, if you just don't make it your primary food source.
The same goes for military food. The healthy alternative doesn't have to be hippy stuff, but just decent, normal "like mama used to make them" style meals.