Fueling the Frontline: Megan Lautz on Nutrition Solutions for First Responders

Jerry Dean Lund: 0:15

Welcome to today's episode of Enduring the Badge Podcast. I'm host Jerry Dean Lund and if you haven't already done so, please take out your phone and hit that subscribe button. I don't want you to miss an upcoming episode. And hey, while your phone's out, please give us a rating and review on whichever platform you listen to this podcast on, such as iTunes, apple Podcasts and Spotify. It helps this podcast grow and the reason why, when this gets positive ratings and reviews, those platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify show this to other people that never listened to this podcast before and that allows our podcast to grow and make a more of an impact on other people's lives. So if you would do that, I would appreciate that from the bottom of my heart. My very special guest today is Megan Lautz. She is an incredible nutritionist. She runs RescueRD on Instagram and TikTok and other social media platforms, but she breaks down nutrition into just simple, easy to use tips for anyone to implement, especially if you're working these crazy busy shifts. Megan is super funny and we're going to bust them this when we talk to Megan about some different things that are going on in the first responder world. Now let's jump right into this episode. How you doing, Megan.

Megan Lautz: 1:24

I'm good. How are you? I'm excited to be here.

Jerry Dean Lund: 1:27

I'm good too and I'm excited to have you on. I've watched you over the past few years with your social media on firefighter nutrition and tips and stuff like that, and I've always gravitated to it because it's like a little refreshing take on it, right. Thank you. Yeah, it's like it's a little bit light and funny, but you got some good tools that you give out.

Megan Lautz: 1:52

Yeah, that's cool, you got to. You know how the real I'm in it's with humor and snacks. So I can't get snacks out through the internet, at least I haven't figured it out. So the next best thing.

Jerry Dean Lund: 2:02

Right, megan, just tell us a little bit about yourself and then kind of how you got into wanting to help. First responders.

Megan Lautz: 2:11

So I'm Megan Lowth. I'm a registered dietitian, I go by rescue RD on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook and I specialize in first responders so Fire and Police specifically. But I've also worked with dispatch corrections Sheriff's, you name it. Basically people who don't have a whole lot of time, money and energy when it comes to nutrition. So my goal is to take the evidence for fire and police specifically and make it actually fit the lifestyle in a way that's approachable and reasonable so that we can make that stepwise approach to better health for our first responders, because I think perfectionism is just kind of not realistic with the nature of the jobs. So I got into fire and police. I really got lucky. I happened to get a job in Montgomery County as a wellness manager at the Ock Health Clinic, had no idea what I was getting into. They just said you're going to work with public safety and I said okay, and I happened to be a dietitian and trainer. So I worked a lot with Fire specifically and realized there weren't any dietitians in the space and just kind of decided to roll with it. I specialize in corporate wellness and sports nutrition, or at least that's what my master's degree was in. So that's kind of what fire is right, like fire ground stuff, academy stuff is sports nutrition, but you know, those day to day it's kind of like corporate wellness for people who don't sleep.

Jerry Dean Lund: 3:34

Yeah.

Megan Lautz: 3:35

Right. So I've just kind of gotten lucky and really tried to understand fire and police by doing, you know, this I took the CPAT and it took me three times and almost died, but I passed it. I've done 24 hour shifts right along, as you name it, back rescue drills, anything that I can get my hands on that doesn't involve blood or guts, and just, you know, just to understand the jobs a little bit better.

Jerry Dean Lund: 3:58

Yeah, that's awesome that you went to that level of training and commitment to do that, to understand the job, to understand that maybe what are some of the reasons that firefighters and police officers are eating the way they do or training the way they train? And what better way to get your hands dirty?

Megan Lautz: 4:17

Yeah, I mean, I'm not even counting on fires. Basically what I tell them.

Jerry Dean Lund: 4:22

So I mean, so we're talking about, like you know, you know, this population doesn't have a lot of time, doesn't have a lot of money. And you talked to something about perfectionism, right, like having a nutrition, like trying to be a perfectionist at work is really, really tough. I see very, very few people that could ever really pull that off. But as police officers and firefighters in the like, on duty, when we're doing our, let's say, go into scenes, we want to be perfectionists, right, we want to be dialed in. So what happens to our diet then when we're off a call? Right, right.

Megan Lautz: 5:00

Well, and I think the people who are that like upper 5%, who are like the super shredded they eat perfect all the time, they have seven kids and like they just managed to do it all, like that's a big priority for them, they actually either enjoy it or it's just one of their priorities. And I think once you start working with people one-on-one, in the capacity that I work with, you start to realize that people that's not everybody's priority, and I heard this on a marketing podcast. You know when your identity changes, your priority changes and when you look at fire and police careers, as you promote, as you have kids, as you get married, as you get divorced, you know your identity changes at each of those moments and with that, your priority for health and fitness and nutrition can change as well. Because what worked for you as a bachelor going to the gym six days a week and doing all your meal prep is probably not going to work two kids later and you're picking up extra overtime to try and make ends meet, right. So we have to change the approach, and sometimes that actually means lowering the bar until you get a little bit more room to breathe or you have a little bit more money to what I like to call contract out your meal prep or cleaning services, which you know not everybody loves hearing that, but that's something that can be a really useful tool.

Jerry Dean Lund: 6:18

Yeah, I mean, you're right, it's about trading time and money, right there's. It becomes this trade-off. If you want to get to the gym more and you can't keep your house clean, then right, then you have to. And if it's a priority to get to the gym, then you have to hire that service out or the bond and stuff like that, so you can make it to the gym to do that.

Megan Lautz: 6:40

Absolutely, and so also one thing I want to mention is meal prep services. They're a lot more affordable than most people think and if you, if there's a meal prep service in our area called Mighty Meals, and basically what we did was we called them and said is there a possibility you could offer a discount? To our responders and they gave them 25% off with their county email, which pulls the meals down to $9 per meal. It's literally heat and eat, made fresh that week, and $9 a meal. Like if you eat fast food all the time. You're saving money, right, and that's usually what happens when people get really busy is they end up having to eat fast food all the time? So great it actually might even out from a cost standpoint, and that's something to think about for any of my health and wellness. If you're a firefighter in charge of that area, try a quick call to an area meal prep service and see if they'll offer a discount.

Jerry Dean Lund: 7:34

Yeah, that's a really good idea because, you're right, you can't go out to eat and grab a sandwich or a burger or really anything for under like 15 bucks.

Megan Lautz: 7:44

Yeah, and by the time you get to that, you're already cranky and you're already tired. Like this is even as me as a dietitian. I was at a conference last week and I just got out late and I forgot to eat lunch because I was speaking at lunchtime and then I ended up getting five guys. So and like that's dietitian man, like imagine first responders, right, like this happens on a regular basis for you guys, because if lunch gets delayed due to calls, you just lose your mind. By the time you're like angry, right? So you know it eliminates one of those decisions, in addition to potentially saving you money if you are eating a lot of fast food.

Jerry Dean Lund: 8:19

Yeah, let's get into like kind of the cognitive. You know, when we cognitively, when we don't eat really good, what happens to us then?

Megan Lautz: 8:30

Sure. So technically, most research that I've seen have compared like the Mediterranean style diet to the standard American diet. So standard American is a lot more processed food, fast food, fried foods, red meats, sugary beverages, those kinds of things. And then the Mediterranean diet is more fish, poultry, nuts and seeds, lots of fruits and vegetables, like the stuff that when you get busy typically falls to the wayside right, because it takes a little bit, tends to take a little bit more time, and basically I think we see about a 26% increased risk for depression for those who follow more of a standard American diet style of eating and in anxiety. So you know your diet can actually impact your mental health. The challenge with thirst responders is once you already feel sad, which is probably pretty high risk because again of the regular exposure to trauma, you're not getting the sleep, you're overbooking yourself. Once you already kind of feel sad, like your food choices are grubbished right, like that's just a standard human experience. So what we kind of have to do is try and find some of those small step-wide steps forward, good Lord, to try and get you slightly better, whether that's one extra piece of fruit a day, one extra veggie, a little bit more water, a little less caffeine and adjust it based on the individual.

Jerry Dean Lund: 9:57

Yeah, and sometimes that has to be a commitment from the individual. Right Is, maybe I'm going to pack a few healthy snacks to take to work so I don't find myself in a situation where I'm running into the gas station or whatever to grab a quick bag of chips or something to give me a boost.

Megan Lautz: 10:18

Yep, exactly. And so the other thing I would like to mention here, too, is a lot of first responders will go on TikTok or Instagram and it says, hey, you should never eat anything packaged. You should always eat whole foods, which works great for my nine to fivers, right, who might actually be able to eat off of a plate for most of their meals. That doesn't happen for first responders a lot of the times. So just because something's packaged doesn't mean it's bad. We just need to look for some healthier options. So I have a grab-and-go bad guide on my website, but also several posts on my Instagram. Things like applesauce pouches, full serving of fruit, the last six months or more, super affordable, super quick. And you know that little light-headed feeling when you start to get hungry and you know you've got to get through this call, or you know you've got to get through this workout or training. It's just like that quick shot of brain energy. That's not caffeine, it's actual food. So applesauce pouches, beef jerky any type of jerky, really nuts and seeds, trail mixes, dried fruit, peanut butter and crackers or whole grain cereal, cheerios or mini-wheats those are all things that are non-perishable, and once I get people to try them, they usually are pretty happy with them on the go and they tend to have better energy levels and then better moods and better food choices when they have them on hand.

Jerry Dean Lund: 11:42

Yes, I did see your thing about the applesauce one and I do like I take that in my vehicle and stuff like that. I have that around. So just in a quick like hey, I'm going to go work out, I haven't really eaten enough, maybe I'm going to do this. So I did take your advice on that one. Thank you, I appreciate it.

Megan Lautz: 12:02

I know everybody's like why are you pushing baby food on the first responders? Well, number one, if you have a toddler, you can probably take them in terms of strength, so like you could probably steal some applesauce pouches from the toddler, right. But I've actually gotten some of my first responders off of pre-workout supplements like the caffeinated ones. Because what a lot of people don't realize or really think is that caffeine reduces fatigue, right, but it doesn't provide energy in the form of calories. So when you're doing that workout first thing in the morning, fasted, or you've had a bunch of calls delay your workout till late afternoon, your energy level, like your glycogen stores in your muscle, might actually be a little tapped right or a little low. So then the weights are going to start feeling heavier, you're going to feel like you're running through sludge, like you're just going to feel like general crap. So usually first responders are like oh, it's just because I'm tired, so let me just like kill it with caffeine and hopefully that helps. But if you're just kind of a little tired right, little groggy, not like four calls after midnight, wrecked Applesauce pouches gives you that little bit amount of carbs to kind of push through the workout without weighing your stomach down. So that is one hack. Now, of course, you run those five calls after midnight. You got to get the workout in before you go take care of the kids. That's a completely different story. I'm not gonna complain that saying that caffeine won't get you through that one, but you know the days where you you feel okay, it could really help.

Jerry Dean Lund: 13:31

Yeah, caffeine plays such a big role in the first responder world and watch a lot of your your videos talking about you know caffeine and and what maybe think as a first responder? We think, or these, these are great caffeine drinks for For our health, right, they're good for us and and then yeah. And then I like how you like you point them out. You're like maybe you know these aren't the best. We are falling into the trap ourselves as first responders, as, just like the general population of like, we're getting sucked in by thinking these are good for us and some are better for us, and then others for sure. Yeah right, right, and I talked about this ago and I teach peer support training and then people always talk to him about caffeine, about kind of About the amount you should take, you know, and then some of the different options and stuff like that, and is like an uproar of like I just like ended the whole entire world. Yeah, it's rage. Give me kind of a rundown on that, like on the caffeine thing.

Megan Lautz: 14:39

Yeah, and this is one of my favorite tangents. So if you need to like, stop the bus you know you're good your hands panic, so. So here's the thing as a first responder dietitian, if I came out and talked to you guys and said you should never have caffeine, ever, it's super bad for you, you will set me on fire and not put me in. So, because I value my life, we got, with the FDA recommendation for healthy individuals, the keyword there is healthy Meaning like if you have high blood pressure, if you have acid reflux which, like half Firefighters over the age of 25 have acid reflux You're pregnant, like we reduced that number to 200. But the FDA recommendation for general is under 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, which is roughly 30 to 40 ounces of coffee total in a day, which I don't think is unreasonable. You know, most people do like a 20 ounce or on the way to work, right, and then maybe in the afternoon like another cup or two or something like that. Right, that that's Proaches. Probably fine, they like we're not too worried about that. It's where the energy drinks and the pre-workout supplements. And now apparently they have pre-workout and dippable pouches like tobacco and like that's gonna kill probably all of our military personnel and at least half of our first responders. Like they don't need a quick hit. Like so, as everybody's looking up on their Google. Yeah, I get this. I Hate bringing it up, but I have to mention it. So, in any case, energy drinks, pre-workout supplements, are not recommended because they're they're super high doses of caffeine typically, and they're also typically mixed Types of caffeine, like some might be from Gerana, some might be from coffee bean extract and other types of caffeine, and that increases the risk for side effects. So you know, and most first responders are like side effects, that's not going to happen to me until they have heart palpitations and they can't sleep at night and they have anxiety and their acid reflux is blaring. And then they're wondering why everything sucks. And it's like because you're pounding seven energy drinks today, yeah, which is not even heard of. So but here's the thing If I come out here and say never have an energy drink again, I don't think that's realistic for first responders working 24 48 hour shifts and getting held over, I just don't think that's fair. So if you're going to do an energy drink, I've now gotten to that sad point in my career where I'm recommending monsters and red bulls. The reason I'm not recommending monsters and red bulls is because bang, celsius, heat ghost are 300 milligrams of caffeine Per can, and if I get someone to a monster or a red bull, I cut their caffeine intake in half to like 140 160. So it's again that better bad decision that we were talking about. Like, if you need something to get you on your hour drive home and then you're on daddy daycare or mommy daycare the rest of the day, you have a side job, then try to use it as needed. It's where people go wrong is they just start using it out of habit. They always have that energy there, they always have that pre-workout supplement and then you build that tolerance. And once you build that tolerance, you need one more to keep you going. And next next thing, you know you see three, four energy drinks today and the big concern with that is the sleep quality impact. Well, also the side effects. But the sleep quality is usually the thing that most people are motivated by, and when you drink caffeine Close to bedtime, you're not necessarily going to have trouble falling asleep. Your sleep cycles are impacted, so you spend less time in rapid eye movement sleep. You spend less time in deep sleep. You wake up the next day feeling like garbage. What do you reach for? More caffeine, right, so it becomes a subtle, so it becomes a self-fulfilling cycle, right? So the recommendation is to stop caffeine at least five hours prior to bedtime. Some people may need to be even earlier than that, but on average that's like 4 pm For a 9 o'clock bedtime.

Jerry Dean Lund: 18:35

Yeah so People are sitting here listening to this and saying well, megan, I can drink a bang and fall right to sleep and I have no problem with that.

Megan Lautz: 18:48

But then if you're having four bangs a day, you know, I'd argue you are having a problem with that. If you're telling me your energy levels suck, I'd argue you're having a problem with that. Right, because your sleep quality is probably. Most people who are drinking those drinks right before bed are not waking up and getting out of bed like refreshed and feeling amazing, ready to tackle the day. No, they're waking up miserable and want to punch someone.

Jerry Dean Lund: 19:12

Yeah, and we're kind of just Doing ourselves a disservice by taking in that much caffeine, because Right then we start we're talking about acid reflux. And then what about just the massive amount of anxiety that you feel when you drink one of those drinks? I used to drink bang, and I then I was be like, wow, this is kind of feel not so great, you know. And then I was like, but it really quite pay attention. At that time I was like, oh yeah, that's 300, 100 milligrams of caffeine. No wonder why I feel like crap. Oh yeah, and then I just had pre-workout before that, you know.

Megan Lautz: 19:50

So Right, and you know, listen, when I was in college what the the big pre-workout was the original jacked formula, like the jacked 3d, like it took out probably half of the frappe boys at my university just because they would be like one scoop's not working anymore, let's double scoop it. And then they all had everything else. Um, yeah, you know the pre-workout's, the same thing. I mean, I've seen up to like 400 or 50, 500 milligrams per scoop and most people like when they do it they're like more is better. And then they, you know again, more is better until your heart's pumping out of your chest. And the other concern is taking that on duty, like you don't know when those calls are going to drop. So if you take that pre-workout and then you got to transport granny to the hospital, you're gonna feel like tackling a gorilla. You know it's so. You know, with the pre-workout's, the energy drinks if you can keep under 200 milligrams Ideally closer to 100 milligrams Per serving or per can or per sitting the amount that you have in one sitting You're probably going to do okay, you might give you that boost, but it's probably not going to give as long as you're not If you're someone acclimated to caffeine, which I make the assumption that most of my first responders are it's probably going to be okay. But again, when you're going over the 300 to the 400, 500 we got a look at your sleep like you're gonna feel like crap all the time and what happens is when I pull someone down from 800 to a thousand milligrams of caffeine per day and I get them closer to 400, they usually messes me and say my energy levels improved, because what happens was their sleep improved. So you know it ends up improving your energy by reducing those energy drinks and you save a little bit of money because they're not cheap.

Jerry Dean Lund: 21:28

Right, it's a sufficient cycle, right, of taking them and then adding more, and then no sleep and then adding more and like it just, and you keep building and building and building. And it's so hard, I think, for people to Reduce the amount of caffeine unless balance, some of those energy drinks taste pretty good, I think.

Megan Lautz: 21:46

I mean yeah, and the other side is they advertise like they're healthy and it's like what. No health professional is going to promote this. You know, um like, like. I had one audio that was like Celsius it has a fruit on the front, so it's healthy, and it's like what? Um no, I mean yes, like. If you're trying to do um An energy drink, I would recommend like, a sugar-free one, so long as artificial sweeteners don't bother your stomach or you don't get headaches. Yeah but again, like we want to limit them, we want to limit them to as needed.

Jerry Dean Lund: 22:24

Yeah, I did something the other day as, like I didn't have a choice. Where I was at, there was one energy drink and it was like 260 or something like that. So I just walked over to the sink, poured half of it out and then just drink it half. And then people are like, what are you doing? Like well, I'm cutting down my caffeine, that's, if I leave it all in the can, I'm going to drink everything in the can, like that's just how it goes.

Megan Lautz: 22:51

Yeah, boy, math right.

Jerry Dean Lund: 22:53

Right, right. What do you think about like pre-workout stuff that doesn't have any stimulants in it? As far as like caffeine, yeah, they're usually fine.

Megan Lautz: 23:05

They might have other things in it. Like beta alanine is like something that's really popular in pre-workout supplements. It's the thing that causes the face itchies, right. So like your face feels like it's being stung by 7000 bees. You know the challenge with beta alanine. I believe you need three to six grams. Don't quote me on that, look it up, might be milligrams, I should know better. Anyway, you know it needs to be at a certain threshold for it to do the muscle buffering effect benefit that you want to get out of it. But a lot of pre-workout supplements just put it in there so that you guys think that something's happening because it causes those face itchies, right. So you know it can be worth it, but again, it has to be in certain doses. So supplements in general, like they are well, you know they are regulated by the FDA and the FTC. However, sometimes supplement companies can end up sneaking in other ingredients or like pulling things less than what they're saying. So you want a third party tested supplement, regardless of what you're doing, just to ensure there's extra quality. So basically, the supplement company sent it to a third party lab to ensure it has X, y and Z, just because it's third party tested, though, doesn't mean it's effective for what you want it to be. So just because the label says it's going to do X, y and Z doesn't guarantee that it's going to do that. So supplements is kind of a tricky thing with first responders. I think a lot of people want to just slap a bandaid on something. But the reality is, you know, you're probably going to see better benefits through diet and sleep. It's just a lot of times they don't have the time, the energy or the support through professionals like a dietitian who understands their job. So the supplement is that bandaid? Yeah, definitely a bandaid.

Jerry Dean Lund: 24:47

A funny story that when you're talking about supplements and stuff like that, and there was a we'll call him a mad scientist, a firefighter, who decided to design his own supplements, probably knew a few things about a few things and decided to make some, make some and then, you know, pass it around the firehouses Let me just tell you that did not go very well. A few people, I think, ended up sinking some medical attention after taking supplements and this is why we don't take supplements.

Megan Lautz: 25:24

And you remember dare right, yeah, right.

Jerry Dean Lund: 25:28

Kind of funny story, but yeah, I mean I'm sure I'm not South Deer Oil Places.

Ad: 25:33

I mean, I'm not sure.

Jerry Dean Lund: 25:34

I mean I'm not sure. I mean I'm not sure, I'm sure. I'm not South Deer Oil Places happen, I'm sure.

Megan Lautz: 25:39

No, I had a recruit one time put a liquid IV in their monster and it exploded. So I mean, he asked me first. He was like, can I have this liquid IV with this monster? And I thought he was going to have it like separately in another pop. And that was where assuming was stupid of me and he mixed it into the monster and exploded. So it actually worked in my favor because I didn't drink monster. There you go, but I mean the supplements and the energy drinks, the pre-workouts, like that's where all of my funny stories are, because, like, first respond when you're tired, you just do stupid stuff. And I have all these stupid stories and it's amazing.

Jerry Dean Lund: 26:15

What other things do you see first responders struggling with?

Megan Lautz: 26:19

Hydration is a big one. We're coming out of that season right Like going into the fall rate. It's less of an issue for most departments, unless you're south. But one of the biggest things I see with the hydration piece. Yes, you guys show up dehydrated and we're looking at about 91 to 125 ounces of fluid per day. Technically, coffee counts, just keep in mind it's a mild diuretic. You'll lose a little bit more fluid in that first hour, but you're replacing that fluid you lost with more fluid. So the hydration over the course of the day is pretty much fine, unless you're doing death wish, jet fuel, the super packed caffeinated coffees, and then that's a different story. But we're trying to get that 91 to 125 ounces of fluid per day. My recommendation for days you have burns, trainings, drills, high intensity stuff in the heat is to use a ORS product or an oral rehydration solution. Are you familiar with these like liquid IV drip drop?

Jerry Dean Lund: 27:20

Yeah, it's really popular in estuary, apparently rated number one as that supplement taker. That supplement taker in Utah.

Megan Lautz: 27:31

Oh, that's interesting. It is not the worst one, yeah. So ORS solutions or ORS products were developed for the cholera epidemic, where they don't have access to IV therapy for the amount of people they need it for. So they needed a cheaper and more portable product that could treat mild to moderate dehydration. So one of the hacks for getting this product covered by your department because sometimes they'll say like, oh, you can't buy food with your P card or whatever Is I actually have a little paragraph you can email me for it. It basically just has my support statement and a study summary showing that it can be comparable to IV therapy and we can maybe name it as a medical. So that is a hack. But the big thing here that I need to explain to first responders is that ORS products have twice the sodium and double or half the sugar, so they're specifically formulated to speed rehydration. First responders who are trying to eat healthier often end up going into the no sugar or low sugar ORS products because they're trying to be healthier Right, but in high intensity alarms. Healthier is not what we're looking for. We're looking for something that's performance enhancing, and what's going to be performance enhancing is sugar One, because it helps replace that burned fuel, like those glycogen stores that are starting to get depleted in your muscle, in your liver, so it will help replace fuel. It'll go straight to the bloodstream. If I give you fat, fiber and protein with that, it slows digestion, doesn't get to your muscles as fast and then again you don't have that access to fuel as quickly in life or death Scenarios. That's pretty concerning to me. Sugar also helps cool sodium across the cell membrane to rehydrate cells faster, so that 12 to 15 grams of sugar in these ORS products actually will help cool sodium across that cell membrane through the sodium glucose co-transporter. And if you don't have glucose available your cells can't use that transporter to get sodium across the membrane. So when we see these sugar-free products, while they will work they will replace the sodium that you lose through sweat. They won't work as fast and I'm seeing a lot of LMNT or element or other no sugar products that first responders are picking up, thinking they're healthier. But you want to think more about your healthy decisions on your day to day, shift work, home life, scenarios where you're not you know you're not falling ass to get work done right. You're not sweating significantly. I was worried I couldn't curse.

Jerry Dean Lund: 30:19

You're good, I can't.

Megan Lautz: 30:22

So when you're like really pushing it, you know in high intensity scenarios, you need something that's going to be performance enhancing, not healthy necessarily, right? So usually when people come to me and they're like hey, like, can you give me ideas for a healthier canteen, I think it's a misnomer because we need sugar and sodium and like really the best time for you to have a rice crispy treat is going to be like between bottles and or before overhaul, right?

Jerry Dean Lund: 30:49

So I think that brings up a really good point because, right, you're, and I didn't honestly understand the whole sugar thing. Right, I'd try to stay away from that in the day to day stuff, but that's a really good point. I think that people will probably pick up on it, really like and, since we're kind of on the sugar, maybe healthier and reduced fat and all this you know labeling on packages thinking that we're getting these really good products for ourselves, are we?

Megan Lautz: 31:23

Yeah, I mean. So I think it depends. I think every food technically fits right. So I, when people come and work with me and they go through the session and I'm like, yes, it's okay to have some beer on the weekends or yes, you can have pizza with your shift on Pizza Friday, they're like what? I can have barbecue sauce on my chicken, like what is happening Because we have room in our diets for what's called discretionary calories, or what I like to call BF calories, where it doesn't necessarily provide nutrients but it makes your life more durable. So that means you stick to the diet longer. That's the thing that first responders forget is that if you can't stick to a diet or eating pattern, it's not going to work right. It only works 60% of the time. You know so if you follow it 60% of the time. So I have to include consistency. So things that are like reduced sugar, reduced fat, can allow people who are in a calorie deficit because they're trying to lose body fat, to have more volume, and sometimes it's worth it. Sometimes those products don't suck and they actually taste okay, but you know when you're bulking or you have room for the extra calories because you work out all the time. You're at a super busy station, so you're ambiently busier. You might not need those types of products. Is that making sense?

Jerry Dean Lund: 32:43

Yeah, what are some of the other pitfalls that we haven't gone over that you see first responders dealing with on a day to day basis?

Megan Lautz: 32:52

Sure, I mean, I think the tendency to fall into fad diets is a big thing. You know we had when I first started keto was the thing right. And how many keto guys do you see now or who were consistent on it for many years since keto started? I mean, we've probably seen, I've seen people all the time who are like on and off and on and off keto and they keep coming to me and they're on, and then they come on to me and they're off and it's like, they're like, but it works for me, does it? Does it work for you? It works for you for about 20 minutes and then you can't have a cupcake at your kid's birthday party, you can't have a beer at your captain's retirement and you, you know, you're miserable. I don't think it's necessarily working for you the way you think it's working for you. So the challenge is is that the approach? For my standpoint, it's going to be slower, but slower may mean that it's going to be more consistent and you keep the weight off or you stay where you want to be and then also understand how to scale on vacations, understand how to scale around the holidays and those kinds of things. So so, yeah, I think the fad diets is an area where people fall into. But you don't have to change your diet night and day in order to see changes and health benefits Also energy levels. So a lot of people will try to skip meals or do intermittent fasting, which, if you love intermittent fasting, fine, perfectly fine. Where I have a problem is health professionals who do not understand the job. Try to force intermittent fasting on a first responder and tell them it's their only way to get healthy and it's their only way to manage their blood sugar. It's the only way that they're going to lose body fat. What happens if a box drops at 11? Are you going to perform as optimally as you would have if you had a breakfast, especially for the first responders who are getting up at 4am to get into work?

Jerry Dean Lund: 34:42

Yeah, I'm starving is what I'm thinking about.

Megan Lautz: 34:46

Yeah, like I'm going to possibly murder something, like I'm slightly homicidal, by 9am. You know so, and this is coming from doctors who, like, meander into an office at 9am. So it's just you have to think about it through the context of the job. And some you can be more flexible, like some people might fast, kind of do intermittent fasting on their days off because they're just naturally less hungry, they have to sleep a little bit more or whatever. But the other thing that I see with intermittent fasting is when someone's done it for a while and they come to me and they're like my energy levels are horrible and their sleep is OK, like it's not the worst I've seen right there. Sleep is 78 hours for the most part, maybe some days where it's not, and then I add in breakfast a little bit earlier, like maybe pull their fasting window back to 10am or we add a couple more snacks and meals throughout the day and their energy levels improve. So again, a diet is probably not working for you if your mood sucks, you're cranky, you're snappy, you're hangry on the people you're around the most. If you're, you have no energy if you're not seeing progress either in the gym or in your weight loss goals. So you know, if those things aren't happening, then that diet might not be working for you. And again, it helps to work with a professional.

Jerry Dean Lund: 36:06

Yeah, I think you're right. It helps to work with a professional right To kind of put up those guardrails, maybe that are a little bit wider than you know what you're maybe reading or studying. That doesn't really fit for the type of job that you do. So I, like you know you take the practical approach for the first responder role. Then put that into context, like in what you're trying to achieve.

Megan Lautz: 36:27

Yeah, exactly, and the TikTok, the Instagrams, you know social media, even like general health providers, and sometimes you knock health providers. They just sometimes they don't understand the job, they haven't had the time to or they haven't taken the time to understand the job and like there are things that are first responders need adjustments for that the nine to five doesn't. Or, you know, when you go back to light duty or you become a chief and you're kind of more in that nine to five, you have to shift back. So things like midnight snacks first responders might need to eat after midnight. You know, and it's not going to be the end of the world if you do, it's just trying to have healthier options available, understanding that you might actually need to eat more on shift days. So when someone asked me for calories and macros and they feel like that's the right fit for their goals, then a lot of times I'll give them two to five hundred extra calories on a shift day and then we scale it back on off shift days because they're moving more, there's trainings, there's calls, there's workouts and then we scale it back a little bit on the day off because they're not doing as much. The other thing that first responders need to think about is their sleep quality and their sleep amount of sleep, because even one night of bad sleep leads to 24% increase in hunger, and food choices shift to sugar and sodium. So when I have someone who tells me they have uncontrolled sugar cravings, we got to look at their sleep first. So there's a lot of hacks that like. Once a dietitian or trainer or strength coach starts working with first responders repeatedly, there are adjustments that we have to make so that the nutrition piece actually fits the lifestyle, instead of just being like oh, like you don't eat my plate, like you know, why don't you have half your plate as veggies? Well, chef, didn't cook it. What am I supposed to do?

Jerry Dean Lund: 38:20

Yeah, I think first responders really good at trying to find the hacks, you know like watching the different hacks and the fads and all these things. But I think that your unique approach is just like but is that going to work in your job field? Like in your career field? Is that going to work for you Otherwise? I think you're just putting you through kind of a torturous time and then everybody around you in a torturous time because of the way you're acting and feeling.

Megan Lautz: 38:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I used to do bodybuilding. I don't look like it anymore. And I remember one time my husband ate a quarter cup of beans I was saving for dinner and I almost murdered him. And then he proposed to me like a week later, which was an interesting choice. But you know, when you're angry you just like blackout man, you know. So it's one thing to try these diets, like I don't tell people. If you come to me and you're like I want to try intermittent fasting, I'm like no, that's a horrible idea. I say, hey, here's the things I need you to consider. But I'm happy to try, like let's start with a 12 and 12 or a 10 and 14 instead of just jumping into the 16, 8 from 12 pm to 8. Wait, yeah, 12 pm to 8 pm, where you have that eating window. So we adjust that. But the big challenge is most of my first responders don't have that kind of support system Like you kind of need to work with a dietitian or coach or someone who's going to understand that you need a certain level of flexibility. The good news is there are dietitians who can work with first responders through health insurance, so you can cut the cost. I'm trying to figure out how to do that myself, but I am a very impatient person for someone who works with first responders. So you know, if you can, you know either get a coach for free, you might be able to have some of that support. The challenge is you're not always guaranteed someone who gets your job.

Jerry Dean Lund: 40:16

Right, right, and that's the big deal. Right About making all these things work and they all go together right Nutrition, sleep, the caffeine, the workouts, all of the stuff that needs to be thought about pretty methodically To be successful for, maybe, the body type you're trying to get or whatever fitness goal you have, and be a good first responder oh wait, and also be a good boyfriend, husband, dad, whatever brother. You know those things too. All that stuff has to be taken into consideration when you're doing these things.

Megan Lautz: 40:53

Yeah, absolutely. And the other side too is like when you like, when I have people come to me and they want to change the diet, if they're not working out, then I've we've got to pull that up as well, you know, but try and make it fit the lifestyle, because usually what I see is activity tends to taper off about like 15 years into the career. And that's where the career is like. It's like that point where it just starts to really be heavy on people, like some people actually might their testosterone might actually tank and they might be there before it, you know, the sleep deprivation is wearing on them. The kids are in that sports season where you're just driving seven of them off, 10 different sports, and you have no life, you know. Everything just kind of hits at that 15 year mark and they might now be a chief or they might now be a captain or lieutenant and you're not actually physically moving as much in those positions because you're chasing people for target solutions and that actually doesn't, that actually doesn't involve physical activity, that that chasing right. So you're going to have to then, once you get to that point in your career, make a different adjustment where you might have to eat a little bit less. You might need to look for a lower calorie, more higher volume foods, and you might have to think walking counts. Now, of course, if you're still in the field, you need a much higher level of fitness and we need to pull you up to higher levels, of course, but sometimes that's where we have to start when people are in a crisis.

Jerry Dean Lund: 42:20

Yeah, I think far too often we think we can do all these things on our own and and few people can write. Maybe the 5% can do that, but a lot of people just need that little bit of extra coaching and knowledge and perspective to get you that results. So it's something once again do you may have to make some trade offs to pay for, to get the results you want in pretty much in anything in life. You're, there is a trade off right, some sort of trade off financial time, you know, whatever it is, there's always a trade off to get to where you want to be.

Megan Lautz: 42:59

Sure, yeah, I mean absolutely. And it's kind of like for me, like I have to hire a contractor to do stuff for my home, right? Because like you can look behind me if you're watching the video like I put some you know whole wrap on my closet doors and it's barely hanging on by a thread and I should have had a contractor do it but I DIYed it because I can't. And what happens when you DIY sometimes, whether it's on home stuff or in your health you're going to it's going to be a more uncomfortable process. It might not have the longevity that it needs, and the thing that happens when people work with a health professional who understands their job is I can reduce a lot of anxieties that you have and dispel a lot of myths and actually make you feel better the fact that you didn't lose a pound that week. Because that's what, where people fall off, is if they're not seeing five pounds of weight loss a week. They think they suck and it's like no, we're looking at 0.5 to one pound per week for weight loss. That's two to four pounds in a month. That what neutral system is advertising, right? So you know it's going to be slower and when you have someone working with you and say, hey, it's okay, like, look, you didn't lose any weight this week, but we saw a shift in your body composition. Your body fat went down, your muscle went up. You leave that session instead of feeling defeated, you feel like you actually did something good, right? So?

Jerry Dean Lund: 44:19

yeah, yeah, are you like? Yeah, you implemented these habits and you did these of these things like it's not all bad Right, Because that's where our minds tend to leave and want to go right to just the bad. Yeah, not perfect, negative, and then we're not going to stick it out.

Megan Lautz: 44:39

Right, exactly so, and that's the biggest thing when it comes to weight loss. The other side too is if you're a busy medic at the busiest station in your county and you're running back to back calls, you adjunct at the academy, you've got kids, like, if you have all these things going on, you've got to lower your expectations for what you're going to be capable of doing in that period of your life, right, and so like I had one really busy medic who we tried to get her to work out a week it wasn't a whole lot Like. She did a lot of like Costco meal prep, right, like the frozen and coleslaw pizza or other things like that and she came to me after three months and she only lost only in quotations, lost 1% body fat. She was upset about that. But when we looked at some of the other numbers, that was five pounds of fat on two workouts a week and meal prep from Costco in a very busy schedule. Five pounds of fat over three months when you've made very minor changes in your lifestyle, I think is huge. So we kind of have to lower the bar a little bit when your lifestyle is on fire. When your kids are two, you know one in two and they do not cooperate at all. Like we just have to make some smaller adjustments and the progress is going to be a lot slower than what it was when you were 22. And you know, make different types of changes.

Jerry Dean Lund: 45:58

Yeah, and to back to that point, to that person you know that you're talking about, I bet their labs probably also improved. You know just their general overall health probably improved. And when your health is better, probably you're like your tolerance for running the kids around and doing all these things You're the life on fire a little bit better.

Megan Lautz: 46:20

Yeah, oh yeah, and the energy levels improved. So, like, sometimes that's the thing that people like the most working with me, is not the weight, like they didn't lose weight that week, but their energy levels were significantly different. And sometimes that's because we either moderated their caffeine, we worked on their sleep or we added carbs to each meal. So a lot of my low carbers like that's the knee jerk reaction for a lot of like middle aged first responders because they've just been on that low carb train for their entire career. They've been doing low carb for so long that their energy levels have just completely tanked and we add some carbs like a fist size of carbs each of their meals Boom, their energy levels improved significantly. We spread, we add a snap. Another big thing that I see for people on like duty or in desk work positions as first responders is they eat lunch at noon or what you know, and then they get home and they have to run the kids to practice and dinner's not till seven, eight o'clock and they're wondering why, like they eat everything in sight when you get home. We haven't had anything to eat for seven hours. So what we add is called a car snack and the car snack is. I usually recommend like a white cheddar popcorn, because it's like a chip and it like takes the edge off. You know it has a little fiber of popcorn, technically a whole grain. So smart food, skinny pop popcorn, maybe fruit or cheese stick or jerky, some kind of snack that they'll be interested in. And while it sounds counterintuitive to add calories, you end up eating less than you have your wits about you. I just did this with somebody at Fairfax and we added the car snack and he was like I'm able to get home and actually be like, oh, I can cook a healthy meal for my family, compared to before where it was like screw it, kids, we're getting pizza, screw kids, we're doing cereal. You know, it gives you that little boost of energy on that ride home.

Jerry Dean Lund: 48:15

Yeah, these are all great points that you've brought up today. I love them all because I think you've put them into the practical world of the first responder world, like you know, the first responder world, which thank you for for taking the time to do that, because it does make a huge difference, megan. Where can people follow you and continue to learn? You know these tips and tricks and hacks right, because we're all about the hacks.

Megan Lautz: 48:44

It's all about the hacks, right. That's how we get the first responders. Yeah, so again, I'm at rescuerd on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. I'm also on LinkedIn and I post six times a week on first responder nutrition, specifically firefighters, because I just feel like police and fire have different languages and it's just easier for me to zone in. Yeah, the other thing is my website has a couple free resources, including a free recipe book designed for station dinners five to six dollars ahead for shifts of six, 10 and 14, half a pound of protein per person, scaled to have leftovers for your middle day. And then also there's some hydration posters that work really well for academies. Anything that Fairfax makes lets me make, because I work there full time, and then they let me put it up on my website for free. And then there's a few other paid resources at rescuerdcom.

Jerry Dean Lund: 49:35

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being on today and thank you for the great advice and wisdom.

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