Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines are to gain the benefit of new diet advice – but it won’t be with the aim of shedding pounds, it’s about providing energy.

New entry trainees will all receive nutritional advice as senior officers and food experts make sure the ratings and Royals of the future eat a balanced diet which gives them the strength to get through training.

And the advice given goes against the central tenet of the fashionable Atkins Diet by advocating a high intake of carbohydrates.

Nutritionist Dr Anna Casey, from defence research group QinetiQ, who helped devise the guidelines for recruits, says the military has very different food needs from most civilians.

“Something like the Atkins diet may be very popular in the civilian world, but it’s totally unsuited to the military,” said Dr Casey.

“Our aim is to improve performance in training – to reduce attrition through injury and illness. The idea is that they take what they learn in training with them through their careers.

“From our studies, recruits do not get enough energy from their food at present – there are too many fats, crisps, burgers, chips. These are okay – but in moderation.”

Much of the advice is similar to that given by the Government to the rest of society, such as don’t drink too much alcohol, and keep a close watch on the intake of both salt and sugar.

But recruits need 3,600 calories each day, compared with the average civilian requirement of 2,000-2,500 calories – and 60 per cent of food should be carbohydrates as a result.

The advice is already being heeded by the trainee chefs passing through HMS Raleigh.

“We are watching what we eat more – and we also learning that presentation is important,” said CH Matt Downing.

“If you put the vegetables and carbohydrates out first and the meat later, then people will go for more veg and carbs. It’s simple things like that that make a difference.”

CH Adam Butterworth added: “You have to provide something which people are going to enjoy, but you have to provide a physically balanced diet.

“If you’re going to be active, you’re going to need a lot of carbohydrates.”

Besides a booklet aimed at recruits, a more comprehensive pamphlet has been produced for commanding officers so that they can make sure their men and women are eating the right things.

“We teach people to march, to shoot, to fight, but until now we have not taught them about diet and nutrition,” said Brig Jeff Little, head of Defence Catering.

“Diet is an obsession in Civvy Street. This is one of our first steps to improving nutrition in the forces.”

Among the general advice to recruits is:

Eat the following sparingly: chips, cakes, crisps, burgers, sweets, pies and pasties

Eat the following in moderation: red and white meat, fish, eggs, nuts

Eat the following regularly: cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, potatoes, fruit and vegetables

Drink eight to ten glasses of water daily

Such dietary considerations were put to practical use in training for the Remembrance ceremonies in London earlier this month.

Long hours of square-bashing and ceremonial practice at Whale Island went smoothly thanks to the judicious use of bananas.

The athlete’s fuel of choice was taken on board by Navy training staff to ensure that everything went according to plan at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in London, and at the Lord Mayor’s Show and the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.

The precision drill and marching by the Navy contingent of around 100 was nurtured over a three-week period at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth, and represented a major commitment by a group of volunteers and ‘pressed’ sailors and officers from across the Naval Service, including the RFA and Naval nurses.

The three weeks were tough – though it was freely acknowledged by all that the hardships of these sailors was nothing compared to those who fought and died for their country.

“ We have got 90 sailors, plus six senior rates and three officers,” said CPO ‘Blood’ Read, the Chief of the Parade.

“They are from many ships and submarines and air stations – it’s a real cross-section of the Navy.”

Around a fifth were volunteers, the rest were put forward – but to most it is a new experience, and not always a pleasant one at that.

“Some of these people have not done this kind of basic drill for ten or fifteen years,” said CPO Read.

“They start three weeks before Remembrance Day, and we start right from basics – basic foot drill then on to rifle drill.”

The first week concentrated on the Cenotaph, then the group was split into two for tailored training depending on their other duty.

One set marched around the island six abreast, the other practiced marching down stairs in step – a necessity at the Albert Hall.

Instructors admitted it was a bit like Groundhog Day; work started at 8am with dress inspections, sick parade and singing – the sailors sang Oh God Our Help in Ages Past and the National Anthem, and recited the Lord’s Prayer, having learned them all by heart.

The daily routine then went on to drill – and at around this point the banana came into its own.

WO Bob Bainbridge, Ceremonial Training Officer, was not convinced that the tradition of previous years – the distribution of chocolate bars – had helped with a tricky part of the day’s activities, the stand-still.

Standing still may not sound too taxing, but to anyone who knows how windswept and cold Whale Island – or even Whitehall – can get, it is a feat of mind over matter.

“They have to stand still for two hours on the day, so we have to train them for it,” said CPO Read.

“On Day One they stand for about 30 minutes, and by the third week they are up to the full two hours.

“They have to stand perfectly still, with occasional attentions for the arrival of the Queen, the Two Minutes Silence and National Anthem.

“And they are holding a 9lb weapon in their arm at the same time.

“And remember that the week before these people came here they were doing things like fixing engines in a ship, and they will be fixing engines again the week after – they are not hardened ceremonial personnel like the Army has.”

WO Bainbridge said: “I always review how we train our people and how we can do it better.

“I felt we had improved our instructional techniques as far as we could, but there were other directions we could go.”

Reasoning that if bananas helped sports stars endure a gruelling session, it should work for sailors – and it appears to have paid off.

“We have not seen the level of fainting and collapsing and black-outs that we have in the past,” added WO Bainbridge.

He believes the combination of a hearty breakfast, and a healthy banana – local importer Fyffes were happy to oblige with boxes of the fruit – shortly before the stand-still, may have done the trick.

The new QinetiQ nutritional guide for Commanding Officers recommends bananas as a boost taken 30 minutes before exercise.

The Whale Island ceremonial party was in good hands, with a wealth of experience in the instructing staff.

WO Bainbridge has been doing the job for 15 years, in between sea time, while CPO Read and Chief Instructor CPO Si Cox – both veterans of the Bournemouth Sea Cadets – combine steely authority and an edge of humour to keep morale high.

But CPO Read said it was important to keep things in perspective.

“What they are doing there for two hours some bloke gave his life for,” he said. “So to stand there for two hours doesn’t really hurt that much.”

Pictures by LA(PHOT) Nicola Harper