FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. — Fried food is out.
Sugary food, including sodas and many cereal products, will no longer be served.
White bread is toast; it’s being replaced by whole-grain edibles.
The fast-food concept at Army-operated dining facilities catering to those in military intelligence courses at this southern Arizona post is facing a Feb. 1 “drop-dead date” for more nutritious food, said fort food program manager Kendall Brown.
The Army, which began a more stringent healthy diet for soldiers in basic training, has ordered all advance training installations to initiate a new concept, the Soldier Fueling Initiative.
The object is to “try and get the right foods, the right nutritional foods” into soldiers, especially the generation of those who were brought up on fast food, Brown said.
Many soldiers coming into the Army “are not fit,” he said, leading to the decision to change their eating habits by cutting out “fatty and sugary foods,” he said.
Some items will completely disappear, such as hot dogs, Brown said.
Others will be replaced by more healthful substitutes like burgers, bacon and sausage made from turkey, he said.
When beef hamburgers are served, “which will be once a week,” the patties will be 90 percent lean meat.
To ensure there will be no fried foods, the three dining facilities which serve the soldiers in training “will have the deep-fat fryers removed,” Brown said, adding that the 11th Signal Brigade’s Thunderbird Dining Facility will not be affected at this time because it serves active-duty soldiers.
However, even though there is no date to stop serving the current food items in the Thunderbird, he believes it will eventually happen.
Large portions led to fat soldiers
While it may appear to be a Draconian measure to some, the post’s registered dietitian, Sonia Blodgett, said nearly 50 percent of her patients are soldiers who need to lose weight.
And most of them are in their 20s, she added.
Some enlist in the Army with bad eating habits; some “don’t know how to read food labels,” Blodgett said.
In today’s society, fast-food consumption is the norm, while in the past it was more like a special treat, she said.
In addition, “portions have increased,” creating additional weight problems.
One soldier who knows the downside of fast food is Pvt. Collin Cook.
Recently at the Virginia Hall Dining Facility, the 18- year-old from Georgia was eating a cheeseburger and fries.
Before he came into the Army, he weighed 250 pounds.
“I worked at a fast-food place for two years, and the free meals kind of got to me,” the soldier said.
Now he weighs 195 pounds, which is good for his 6-foot-4 frame.
A friend who is almost a foot shorter, Pvt. Johnathan Delfosse, had a different problem. When he went to basic, he weighed only 110 pounds. Now he’s up to 135 pounds on his 5-foot-6 body.
He, too, was consuming a cheeseburger and fries.
When “I was a kid,” the 18- year-old from Wisconsin said, “I used to eat a lot of steak.”
Cook’s Italian grandmother helped create his love of certain foods.
“I usually eat a lot of pasta,” he said.
Both soldiers, who are members of Charlie Company, 305th Military Intelligence Battalion, where they are going through the intelligence analyst course, said that when they were in basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., the new food program was already in use.
And neither was much concerned that it will begin at on Fort Huachuca in about two months.
While Cook likes pasta dishes, he will find that the new menu at the fort will include whole-grain pasta only.
For 309th Military Intelligence Battalion commander Lt. Col. Robert Schulte, ensuring that soldiers have healthier choices will help their overall ability when they are being called upon to deploy many times.
According to The Associated Press, Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, the deputy commander for Initial Military Training at the Training and Doctrine Command, is behind the idea of making soldiers more physically capable.
His vision includes improving physical readiness, incorporating trainers through a test program in the Army’s medical community that will bring together physical therapists, athletic trainers and strength coaches for a more comprehensive program and the Soldier Fueling Initiative.
Schulte said that during a deployment he made to Iraq, many military members ate fast food and because of that, coupled with the dining facilities in the country, weight gain was a problem.
Brown said while the tastes of the soldiers will change, those working in the dining facilities also will see changes because they have to rework menus and develop new recipes.
It will also necessitate some expenditures to purchase ovens to replace deep- fat fryers, Brown said.
Sodas will no longer be available, although power drinks will. When it comes to the juice machines, they will have to be recalibrated to reduce the amount of syrup, eliminating as much sugar as possible, he said.
Bye-bye ice cream, hello frozen yogurt
“Pastries will go away,” and desserts will be fruit, with a larger variety for soldiers to select from, Brown said.
Ice cream will be replaced by frozen yogurt, and there will be more “leafy vegetables for salads with low-cal dressings,” Brown said.
Scrambled and hard-boiled eggs will be available every day, but omelets and eggs to order will be cooked on Sundays and holidays only, he said.
What he envisions as his challenge — and that of the dining facilities managers and staff — is “to present appealing and nutritious meals.”
Brown said exceptions will be made for holidays or when ethnic food will be served, but the menus have to be submitted to Army headquarters for approval, he said.
Ever the realist, Brown said he’s aware that many young soldiers will continue to go to the Army and Air Force Exchange Services outlets to obtain fried chicken, pizza or other fast food, and that students’ eating habits will likely revert when they are not in training during the weekends.
And Cook admitted that last weekend, he ate a number of buffalo wings.
But Brown said that what is being done will help soldiers “change their eating habits by creating a healthier lifestyle.”
