So this is what the military eats?
http://www.hooahbar.com
Seems like it has a lot of fat in them, but I guess it’s not intended for endurance activities maybe? The claims they make are kind of funny, of course you are going to perform better if you eat something after a march, duh!
“In separate physical tests, subjects consuming the HOOAH! bar showed a 19% improvement in their ability to do pull-ups before and after a march.”
The HOOAH! bar “helps delay the onset of fatigue in DKE experiments and in pull-up tests (pre- and post-marching) in the range of 14-19%.”
They eat real food, or MRE’s if in the field
.
Uh, yeah. They also have mess halls…
The “regular” army has been a little late in recognizing some of the cross-over benefits of nutrition and hydration that can come from endurance sports. Elite forces have been using ‘camel back’ type hydration systems, power bars… for long time. I recall thinking it kind of funny in a sick sort of way listening to a Command Sergeant Major from the 101st (AASLT) refuse to allow his soldiers use of camelbacks because they were not an issue item and presented an “unmilitary” appearance–this being on a JRTC rotatoin back in mid-90s. Funny how war changes a lot of things. Now I can wear sunglasses (even Oakleys!) in uniform and am expected to wear and use my camelback. Ha!
It is 120degrees F here today in lovely Iraq where we’re operating. My Soldiers eat powerbars, powergel, and even Hooha Bars while out on extended patrols we conduct with the Iraqi Army unit we’re working with. The heat makes eating hard as you just don’t feel like it. But as we know from long course racing you gotta put fuel in the machine. Personally I like Power Bars better than Hooah bars. Both melt to point of gooyness in this heat but PBs have more/better flavors. I don’t stick the bars across the dash of my HMMWV, nor do I put the bars along the beam of my softride either. Leaves my ride all sticky. Used a bento box at Ironman FL and use my bento while patrolling along Route Tampa.