Firefighters save lives every single day. They charge into burning buildings, help control wildfires, often without a second thought to their lives. They’re also one of the careers at highest risk for chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer.

Much of this comes from the line of work—firefighters are exposed to smoke and dangerous chemicals almost every day. Firefighters have as much as a 9% increase in risk of cancer, and also increased risk of lung problems due to the smoke.

Even if firefighters work hard to maintain their health, stay fit, and clean their equipment regularly, there’s still a risk that they could be harmed by their job.

Mediterranean Diets Could Help
A healthy diet is one important way that firefighters can help keep themselves in top shape. Eating the right foods can help reduce your risk of cancer and other chronic conditions, and help improve lifespan. With a job as important as firefighter, it makes sense that their diet should be as healthy as possible.
The problem is adherence. It’s easy to recommend a diet to a group of people, it’s quite another to get them to actually do it. Diets often fail because the person undergoing the diet quickly gives up. In medical speak, “Adherence” to the plan is the most difficult part, with a person being adherent if they follow the plan 80% of the time.

The Mediterranean diet has long been known as one of the healthiest diets out there. It could potentially help balance many of the chronic conditions that befall firefighters—if they adhere to the diet.

Study shows adherence is high for firefighters
A study focused on the Indianapolis Fire Department found that compared to a control group, firefighters who were given the Mediterranean diet were more likely to stick to the plan compared to people in the control group.

Americans can be extremely difficult to change the eating habits of, so this study is extremely welcome. The hope is that by recommending a diet that firefighters are more likely to stick to, more firefighters can be kept healthy for longer.

What this means
If you are a firefighter, or just a person looking to be your healthiest, diet can be one of the hardest things to change. The Mediterranean diet is easy to adapt to and provides a rich variety of different flavors.

Many diets fail because the diet is too restrictive. With the many options and high adaptability of the Mediterranean diet, there are so many choices you never feel restricted.

With so much freedom in a very healthy diet, and huge health benefits that could potentially save our firefighter’s lives, encouraging them to switch to the Mediterranean diet is one of the best things we can do.

If you’re one of the brave firefighters defending our front lives, or simply want to be healthier, stop on by Aladdins to give real, authentic Mediterranean food a try. It could be the first step toward a healthier and happier you.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24570328/