Calories isn't everything

Problems with overweight and obesity of Poles are besides visible in uniform services. According to the rules, it's the military, the police, the guards we have in society. And here I will usage statistic again. The Military Medical Institute in the first 4th of 2025 reported that 58%, i.e. more than half, soldiers over 50 years of age are overweight, 45% hypertension, 60% abnormal cholesterol levels.

Overweight and obesity problems are a civilizational disease, even the planet obesity pandemic is spoken of, so I am not amazed that this problem besides affects uniforms. Due to the nature of work or service, fitness tests and medical examinations in the army, this phenomenon is not as common as in the case of another professional groups.

Rather, it is simply a problem that soldiers conflict with during their ministry, not many who come to the army with overweight. The another thing is, if the condition of society gets worse, less and less people will have physical and wellness predispositions to apply to uniformed services.

That's right, that's why we can't underestimate these issues. Our reality is conducive to the improvement of this disease, due to the fact that excessive body weight results in a large simplification of 2 factors: we are eating more and little and less. This in turn leads to a chronic calorie surplus, so our body weight increases and we end up overweight or obesity. We are moving little and less, during the COVID-19 pandemic and after that we started working remotely, so we stopped going even from home to work and back, we do quite a few things online: we pay bills, order food and shop. We usage elevators, escalators, scooters, electrical bicycles, alternatively of walking we choose a car. All this makes us burn just a fewer 100 kilocalories a day. If we add the shops available around the clock, where we have high-caloric and highly processed food at our fingertips, it is easy to know that we are heading towards the catastrophe. And again, I will mention this general tendency to uniformed services. Soldiers are not free from these dangers, due to the fact that not everyone spends respective hours all day on intensive marches or field training. I am talking deliberately about certain tendencies, about what choices we make as people, due to the fact that everyone – regardless of whether he is simply a doctor, soldier, teacher or firefighter – faces the same challenges all day. I don't think I'm in favour of talking about wellness in relation to the profession. Profession does not substance erstwhile we talk about diseases, lifestyles, good habits or bad habits. Maintaining a average body weight affects our life, concentration, whether we are able to work efficiently and avoid serious diseases.

I agree, we should not generalize, but you will admit that greater social consent to overweight and obesity is towards teachers or officials than to soldiers or police officers. An obese soldier in a uniform is always emotional and makes comments.

By definition, the soldier should be fit and healthy to carry out the task he faces: in a situation of danger, defend the country. I agree, therefore, that dense overweight or obesity can reduce the combat value of our army. Therefore, while we should not justice the value of man by the prism of how much he weighs, I will agree that there are professions that require more fitness and strength. So much for theory. Life shows that a soldier, like any another man, can have problems with excess body mass, so let's not think about who's more comfortable with a belly and who's not. Being overweight is simply a informing light, obesity is simply a disease. And diseases should be treated.

For many years you have been helping Poles to lose weight. Are there uniform service representatives among your patients? What problems do they face?

Of course. Among my subjects are besides representatives of various uniformed services – both those already serving and candidates preparing for recruitment. Most frequently they study with excessive weight. frequently the aim of cooperation is besides to improve physical condition and to accomplish optimal weight before fitness tests.

Fighting unnecessary pounds is simply a tedious and hard process, as anyone who tries to lose weight for erstwhile knows. We're looking for all kinds of ways to get free of the belly, and we're reaching for all kinds of trendy diets, hoping for magic tricks and wonderful solutions. What is good and bad among many food trends? What would you draw the troops' attention to?

Let's start with the fact that all elimination diets end badly, and the only right diet is 1 that we'll be able to keep for a lifetime. The nutrition plan must be tailored to individual preferences, physical activity or budget. Unfortunately, most fashionable solutions are not a panacea for overweight or obesity problems. Dietetics, based on technological studies, indicate unhealthy practices, and among them surely juice diets, hunger diets, based on eating only carnivore or carnivore or its variety, the alleged lion diet. On the another hand, there are dietary tools that can be utilized in certain cases, and here I will mention, for example, a keto diet or a interrupted post.

I see the problem in marketing relating to these products. It is easier for people to believe that they will get a better form if they reject carbohydrates than if they consistently drink water, eat vegetables and fruit, 1 fistful of nuts a day, and avoid refined flour or saturated fatty acids. These basic rules are known to everyone, but to many they seem besides simple to act, so not many people apply them in their lives. We look for wonderful solutions, and sometimes we fall into traps: alternatively of improving our feeding system, we make it even worse and little regulation.

All this is very interesting, but, frankly, individual feeding plans end with the crossing of the camp gate. Collective food in the army is governed by another laws. Soldiers who service for 3 months at the border leave for abroad exercises and training, eat what the army will give them. There are respective possibilities: a military cafeteria, catering or a dry food ration. According to accepted standards, a soldier eats about 3,500 kcal during the day.

A lot! I wonder how this value was calculated. It must be remembered that energy request is affected by aspects specified as age, growth, weight, level of activity. Another caloric request will be a man measuring 170 cm and weighing 65 kg, and another 1 with 190 cm and 110 kg. The difference between them can be almost twice as big. Anyway, I'm convinced that the calorific value of 3,500 kcal per day is just besides high.

You know, it's not a Michelin star restaurant or a five-star hotel. A soldier is to train in a field with a gun, act as if he were fighting. He must have strength. He needs calories.

But calories aren't everything. Meals should not only be caloric, but besides rich in nutrients and vitamins. Are they?

And that's where we're actually going. A lot depends on people who plan and prepare food. In any places in Poland, soldiers are given truly decent meals, but there are any where simple carbohydrates inactive reign, there are besides fewer vegetables and fruits, and the soldier starts the day with sausage with white buns.

The soldiers' diet should include full grain cereal products which, due to fibre and mineral values, are always a good choice. The sausage for breakfast is surely not a recipe for a good day. We are talking about processed red meat, which, we already know, increases the hazard of cancer. That doesn't mean we shouldn't eat sausage at all. The point is that red processed meat should not be a permanent part of the meals. The cheaper and much better choice will be beans. This is simply a low-budget solution and surely much healthier. If there are no vegetables in the soldiers' diet, I would urge turning to legumes.

However, I would like to stress that even if this collective food in the army sometimes fails, the effects, whether it is in the substance of training or feeding, are affected by not what we do all erstwhile in a while, only how we do things all day. So if individual eats differently for a week or two, even worse than in the next six months, the planet will not truly collapse.

Not only what we eat, but how we live is important. Whether we smoke cigarettes or consume alcohol, how much we sleep, or sports. If nutrition is impaired for any reason, it is all the more crucial to avoid drugs, take care of sleep quality and physical fitness, and effort to balance any shortcomings. It's not just advice for soldiers, it's advice for everyone. An approach to a healthy lifestyle requires a broad perspective.

Speaking of advice... Through social media, you educate Poles about healthy nutrition. He tells us what to buy and what to avoid, even erstwhile buying in popular food discount stores or in a gas station. Soldiers are besides the recipients of these counsels. So I'm asking for any military guidance.

To those who want to spice up their polygon diet, I urge preparing their own breakfasts, for example, from dry products that do not spoil. These may be oatmeal, peanut butter, dried dates, seeds, or nuts. If we can't do it for any reason, let's look at valuables stores. There are many cooks in the markets that have an imperfect but good adequate composition. I am thinking, for example, of prepared oatmeals with nuts and fruits – preferably without added sugar – to pour boiling water, ready-made vegetable salads with added protein source, e.g. chicken, tuna, salmon, eggs, beans, cheese, as well as products based on legumes specified as hummus, or ready-made lunch boxes with grits, vegetables and protein sources mentioned by me.

And erstwhile we take a break at a gas station, the worst choice is to buy an energy drink and a hot dog. Why? The drink contains 12 teaspoons of sugar, and apart from the white bread of refined flour and sauce, we besides choose processed red meat. Buy a full grain bread sandwich instead, or at least a white grain sandwich with vegetables and a origin of egg proteins, smoked salmon or grilled chicken. And don't pour mayonnaise on it.

Forgive me, but it's nothing revealing.

Like I said, specified solutions seem besides simple and apparent to be effective. And that's not true. It is worth educating people whether they usage collective food or prepare their own food. The problem is what we choose on the alleged autopilot, due to the fact that people who conflict with overweight or obesity usually simply make bad choices. So it is crucial to make people naturally scope for what is healthy: for unprocessed food. And yes, the planet from 1 kebab or hot dog will not collapse, but it is crucial to reverse the proportions and dietary tendencies. And that these are evil, even the data that were quoted at the beginning of our conversation.

Michał Wrzosek is simply a doctor of nutrition, entrepreneur and influencer. He does clinical and sports nutrition. Over 73,000 people have already passed under his wings.