I recently attended various personal preparedness training classes. These classes were taught by the Shipley Associates and the Phoenix Group and included personal protection training, emergency preparedness discussions, hand gun training, etc. Basically, I was able to try a little bit of everything to decide what full classes I might want to attend. The trainers were all specialists in their various fields and some of the trainers were former and current CIA and NSA operatives. I found their instruction to be extremely interesting.

As part of the training one of the instructors brought his emergency vest to show us what we should have available at all times. The instructor mentioned how he keeps this vest available in his home in the event that a situation arises where he or his family must evacuate their home immediately. It is also a vest that could be taken or used for most all first aid needs. I could imagine that the “situation” being referred to by the trainer could be anything from a hurricane or flood to riots or a car accident. If I could have nicknamed the vest, I would have called it the CIA super vest because it was created based upon all of the instructor’s training in the CIA. As the instructor pulled apart the CIA vest to show us the contents within I learned several points. One of the points was pertaining to the type of emergency food one should eat and have on hand during a disaster.

I guess that it is pretty obvious that in an emergency, what one eats is important.  From years of hunting deer, elk, pheasant, mountain lion, duck, geese, etc.,  I created a certain menu for what I eat while “out in the fields and mountains” and it mostly consisted of protein. I always keep nuts and jerky with me in my back pack while I hunt. It seems like the “mountain man” thing to do. What can be manlier than snacking on beef jerky? Well, as it turns out, the best thing one can be eating is carbs. Protein requires more energy and time for the body to break down, which is great for diets and losing weight but not good when one needs a shot of energy. This is the clear explanation as to why before participating in marathons or triathlons, athletes will eat a lot of pasta and “carbo-load”.

The great take away from this is that we all must be aware of what an emergency will be truly like and prepare accordingly. Instead of planning a steak dinner, you might want to think about a pasta bar. In thinking through this, many food storage companies will offer foods that are rich in carbohydrates and have fewer proteins.  Make sure that you have an appropriate, healthy balance of nutritional foods for your long term food storage, especially foods that are rich in carbs so that you can make it through the worst of times.