According to the US Department of Agriculture “Eating grains, especially whole grains, provides health benefits. People who eat whole grains as part of a healthy diet have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Grains provide many nutrients that are vital for the health and maintenance of our bodies”.
Things like wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley or another cereal grains are all included in the grains category. For the purposes of this article we are going to focus on one of the more beneficial grains: brown rice.
I want you to consider adding brown rice to your diet to improve…
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I’m Shaping Up; Week 12
What happened to Week 11 you may be asking? Well, more travel equals less time to write, but well needed rest from most activities.
I have also decided to stop obsessing over the scale for a few weeks. My low-end weigh-in of 208 was so welcomed, but it made the slight bounce during travel too stressful.
It’s funny that after monitoring your caloric intake and physical output, you can tell where your body falls along the numeric tell-all.
Week 12
Here’s to holding each other accountable when the couch looks inviting and the snacks endless.
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Peace Officer Memorial Day celebrated on May 15 was first designated in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed legislation which requires the America flag to be lower to half-mast on May 15. The tradition of honoring our Law Enforcement who have died in the line of duty has grown over the past 50 years.
This year, thousands of LEO’s, supporters including many of the surviving families will descend on Washington, D.C. to honor the 19,000 LEO’s who died in the line of duty and support their loved ones.
In the past 13 months, I’ve visited this sacred place which is located in Judiciary Square twice. It is an emotional visit observing the names and the remembrance gifts decorating many of the fallen officers.
I want you to consider and join me for a few moments to also remember many more LEO’s whose names are not on this blessed wall.
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National Police Week 2013 will be Sunday, May 12th through Saturday, May 18th.
It was established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962 after President Kennedy proclaimed May 15th as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15th falls, as National Police Week. It is an event that every law enforcement officer should attend at least once in their lifetime.
National Police Week is a collaborative effort of many organizations dedicated to honoring America’s law enforcement community. Principal organizers of National Police…
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Mentally Prepare Yourself Like a U.S. Navy SEAL
The United States Navy SEALs are arguably one of the most highly trained and competent military forces in the world. Do you think that as a police officer or other law enforcement professional you could learn something from how they prepare themselves for the stresses and rigors of their duties?
I had a chance to interview Commander Eric Potterat, Ph.D. of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command. Dr. Potterat is the Force Psychologist for the U.S. Navy SEALs. In our interview he describes the 7 primary techniques he uses to train the SEALs for Mental Toughness and to improve their Operational Readiness.
Dr. Potterat suggested that many of the techniques used to train the U.S. Navy SEALs have been adapted from the specialized training given to elite athletes to enhance their performance and allow them to successfully compete in the most competitive international events.
He said that he feels that law enforcement and military training can be very similar and that both can learn many things from the advanced psychological conditioning used by Olympic, and other elite, athletes.
The goals of this kind of Mental Preparedness training can be…
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I stood on the scale while exhaling as hard as I could. I was hoping to end this week around 210lbs. I had not even smelled a carb all week, and enjoyed a solid return to my eating strategy. Looking down, I cannot say I was disappointed. Just the opposite, I was shocked. I was at 208 lbs, and not seen the “single digit” side of 200 since my weight marched upwards over two years ago.
I popped into the kitchen and grabbed the dreaded BP cup, and yep, in the 130′s over mid 90′s! this is the most key indicators in my quest to regain a healthy lifestyle.
This past weekend was our annual Thibodaux Volunteer Fireman’s Fair. When I tell you the food was amazing, it was amazing. I packed my…
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Created at Automotivator.com
Perseverance is a key quality in law enforcement resilience and it is also a very helpful quality in police fitness training.
What is resilience?
Resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back from adversity, being elastic and having the capability to endure hardships.
Resilience is what we in law enforcement have to strive for in order to survive our careers with a sound mind, body and spirit. It is what we need to be able to muster to be able to function well enough to enjoy many more happy and productive years after retirement from the job.
At CopsAlive.com we promoted the concept of Tactical Resilience which is a set of comprehensive wellness systems layered over each other, and working in concert, to build a healthy and effective law enforcement people and organizations.
The concept of tactical resilience is about creating effective wellness tactics that combine to develop efficient habits, that in turn construct superior survival, and performance, systems which promote healthy, competent and professional law enforcement officers. One of those individual wellness tactics is the ability to persevere. As in the old saying: “When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going!”.
Our CopsAlive Fitness recommendation is for you to find the mental toughness needed to…
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Today CopsAlive.com is pleased to announce Police Psychologist Jack Digliani’s newly developed “Make it Safe” Police Officer Initiative. The Initiative is comprised of 12 primary components designed to reduce the secondary danger of policing.
What do we have to do to Make It Safe for police officers to trust one another enough to be able to ask for help when they need it? What do we have to do to our law enforcement culture to make seeking mental health support for stress related issues okay?
How can we truly walk our talk enough to really have each others back and really “take care of our own?”
You can start “Make It Safe” in your agency by distributing and discussing this initiative. We must all work to make it safe for officers to ask for psychological support.
What is the Make it Safe Police Officer Initiative?
The Make it Safe Initiative is a concerted effort to…
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In law enforcement fitness a mentor can be one of your most effective tools to getting in shape and staying that way.
Our CopsAlive Fitness recommendation for this week is find a mentor to help you with your fitness. As you have read in the past few weeks Scott has asked Lt. Kim Lane to help him with his nutritional planning and Rae has been receiving advice from April Lea Gellatly a professional Triathlete & Atlanta-based Fitness Professional for CNNFitNation & a USATriathlon Certified Coach.
Mentoring is a relationship between two people where the more experienced, or more knowledgeable, person guides the less experienced or knowledgeable person as part of a personal developmental process. That process whether it is formal or informal is used for the relaying of knowledge, wisdom and support.
Mentoring is becoming much more common in many areas of business, commerce and even law enforcement. In the areas of health and fitness mentoring can be very effective in keeping you on track and guiding you based upon your mentor’s experience. It gives you support and encouragement and helps you get through those tough times when you want to quit.
Obviously, the more advanced version…
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Recently, I had my biennial physical check up with my primary care physician. For me, it is like the scheduled maintenance on our vehicles. It something we should look forward to doing every year or as my HMO offers: every other year. The check-up is to ensure our bodies are running smoothly.
As I admitted in previous articles, I reached the Golden anniversary of my birth recently so my physician was very thorough with his check list of my body parts, equipment and the engine (my heart). Everything appears in order and we always have a great conversation about diets, exercise and my job performance as a law enforcement officer. I’ve been very…
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