Navigating the junk food maze

November 24, 2009 04:41 AM •

Let’s face it, cops live on fast food. It’s one of the many reasons our health often deteriorates the longer we stay on the job.

The obvious solution is to bring your own healthy food to work, but if you’re like most of us, that’s not always an option.

Instead, buy a copy of David Zinczenko’s book “Eat This, Not That” and put it in your patrol bag, briefcase, or desk drawer. Zinczenko and his staff at Men’s Health magazine have put together a series of small, fun-to-read books (lots of pictures!) detailing the good and bad food choices at most fast food places, chain restaurants, and even at your mom’s holiday dinner table. Trust me, some of those “healthy” choices you thought you were making will turn out to be surprisingly bad for you, and more than a few of those items you’ve been avoiding at the drive-thru window will turn out to be reasonable choices that will contribute to the healthy lifestyle that is essential to your survival on the street.

Fitness & Health Patrol Issues

Betsy Brantner Smith

My column is undergoing a bit of an identity crisis. I’ve been writing for the Street Survival “Newsline” and the P1 Newsletter for several years. As a Street Survival seminar instructor, I write about officer safety and survival, but I’m also a supervisor, a mom, a trainer, a cop’s wife, and dare I say, a woman, so I’ve got a lot to say about any number of topics (what woman doesn’t?!), and I’ve always received great feedback from our readers. So when Police One approached me and asked me to author a monthly column dealing with women’s issues, I enthusiastically agreed. “What a great opportunity” I naively thought “to bring issues to light that both women and men in law enforcement could all relate to, perhaps discuss at roll call, and ultimately learn something from each other.” Yeah, just call me Sergeant Pollyanna…I forgot that by calling it a “women’s” column, not only will most of our male readers skip over it, but so will at least half our female readers. What?! Why in the world wouldn’t women read a “women’s” column?! Because, there are a lot of female crimefighters out there like me who have spent a lot of years just trying to blend in, to be “one of the guys” if you will…to be perceived as and conduct ourselves as “warriors,” not “victims.” We don’t want special treatment; we just want to be cops.