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Careers / Joining Process / Food Drink and Lifestyle

Food labels

Checking the label on the back of pre-packed food will help you manage your diet, stay healthy and get the nutrients you need.

Most pre-packed foods have a nutrition label on the packaging, so that you know what you’re putting in your body, and to help you get a balanced diet. These labels provide nutritional information per 100g and per portion, for energy (kilocalories), carbohydrate, protein and fat. Things to look out for, include:

  • Reference Intakes (RI) – These are the guidelines for the recommended maximum daily intake of kilocalories, saturates, sugars, salt and fat. Food labels show these in a traffic light system, colour coding each nutrient and showing how much your food contributes to your recommended daily intake. For healthier choices, avoid red lights and pick options with more greens.
  • Portion size – When you’re using food labels to inform your diet, it will only work if you pay attention to the portion sizes that are stated on the label. If you have double the portion, remember to double the amount of fat etc.
  • Focus on the nutrients that can effect your health – Try counting your daily intake of salt and saturated fat, as you may be eating more than you think.
  • The three Cs – Get into a routine where you CHECK what your food contains, COMPARE it with similar products, and CHOOSE the healthiest option.

It’s easy to overlook the ingredients of pre-packed foods, but staying on top of everything that goes into your body will help you get into peak condition and avoid illness. The more precise you can be, the better.

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Food, drink & lifestyle

Alcohol

The recommended weekly limit is 14 units.Try to have two alcohol free days a week. Regularly exceeding this can seriously damage your health. It will also increase your body weight, with a single pint containing 233 calories.

Hydration

Keeping hydrated can help maintain physical and mental performance. Make sure you drink enough fluid to replace your daily losses. Be aware that if you are exercising hard then you may lose more water from sweating. Choose low sugar fluids such as water and milk.

Dietary supplements

If you have well balanced diet that provides the energy you need to train, you shouldn’t need any supplements.

Dieting myths

You might need to reduce your calorie intake to control your weight. If you do, make sure you avoid the most common dieting mistakes. These include; fasting, skipping meals and using slimming pills.

Eating a balanced diet

Good nutrition is important during exercise training to provide your body with adequate energy to support physical changes and to optimise recovery.

Eating out

You can still eat out and enjoy the odd takeaway, but it’s important to choose healthy options that don’t contain lots of salt and saturated fats.

Energy density

Energy density is the amount of calories per gram of food. Choosing foods with a lower energy density means you can eat more, without gaining weight.

Energy requirements

The amount of energy you need depends on your age, size and gender, and the amount of exercise you do. You can vary your calorie intake to fuel your body when required.

Food labels

Checking the label on the back of pre-packed food will help you manage your diet, stay healthy and get the nutrients you need.

Snacking

You can still snack, but it’s important to know what you can eat without undoing all your hard work.

Stronger bones

Daily physical activity helps you stay healthy, control your weight, and get fit to join the Royal Navy.

Manage your weight

In the military, overweight personnel have an increased risk of injury and being medically downgraded as unfit for duty.

Smoking

Stopping smoking has huge benefits to your health and fitness, and it’s never too late to stop.

Vaccinations

Receiving vaccinations can slow down the joining process.

Vegetarian

There are lots of options available to you if you want to eat food that will fuel your training.