Nutrition 101 for first responders comes down to this: prep your meals, pack a cooler, and make protein king. On a beautiful day at Hawks Cay I sat down with my friend Mike Cunahan — you might know him on Instagram as No Donuts Here. Mike is a cop in New York who has been in situations where his level of fitness determined whether he went home that night. We talk about why cops, EMS, firefighters, and fishing guides all share the same problem: jobs built around putting other people first, and no food options once the shift starts.
Watch now: press play on the video above, or listen in the player at the top of the page.
Mike is a New York cop who built the Instagram account No Donuts Here — a play on words and a friendly jab at cops — where he shares fitness and nutrition for first responders. He has been in situations on the job where his level of fitness determined whether or not he went home that night, and that experience drives everything he teaches. You can find him as @nodonutshere on Instagram and Michael 'NoDonutsHere' Cunahan on Facebook.
Mike's rule of thumb for maintaining muscle mass: about one gram of protein per pound of body weight, or per pound of lean body mass. If you weigh 200 pounds, target roughly 200 grams of protein a day. Hitting that number — along with your water — keeps you out of the catabolic state where your body starts burning muscle for fuel. Carbs matter for energy, but protein is king.
Because the job puts you in situations where fitness decides outcomes. Cops, EMS, firefighters — all first responders face physical moments every single day, and their work trains them to put other people first, which makes neglecting themselves easy. Mike's point is that taking a piece of your day to work on yourself is not selfish; it is what makes you capable of doing the job and going home after it.
Pack a cooler — that is the foundation whether the shift happens in a patrol car or on a flats skiff. Prep the meals before the shift, lean on protein, and skip the drive-through fallback that catches guys on the midnight shift. Some companies even make hot plates that plug into a cigarette lighter on a car or boat, though Mike spent plenty of years eating cold chicken in a patrol car and did just fine.
Once the boat leaves the dock, there is nowhere to get food — same as a patrol car mid-shift. If you rely on whatever your customer brings, remember they are on vacation, packing things they never normally eat. Guides also carry the same responsibility: everyone on the boat is counting on you, and if someone goes in the water, your fitness is what makes the rescue. Prep your own cooler, every trip.
Here is the practical system Mike laid out, built for patrol cars, fire houses, and flats skiffs alike.
Mike goes deeper on macros, prep habits, and the first-responder mindset in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Because his message lands with my audience harder than almost anyone's. His level of fitness has determined whether he went home at night — that is not a slogan, that is his job. First responders are trained to put other people first, and Mike has built a following teaching them that working on yourself daily is what makes the job survivable. Hearing it from a working cop changes how it lands. He tells it himself in the episode, so press play in the player above.
More than either group would guess. I told Mike that a guide is responsible for everyone on the boat — if someone goes in, you make the rescue — and once we leave the dock there is no food anywhere, exactly like a patrol car mid-shift. Rely on what the customer packs and you are eating vacation food. The cooler, the prep, the protein: the system transfers one-for-one. We draw the full parallel in the episode — press play in the player above.
The simplicity. One gram of protein per pound. Pack the cooler. Prep before the shift, especially the midnight one. No supplements pitch, no complicated macros — just the habits that keep a working person fueled when there is no food within ten miles. It connects straight to the episode we did days earlier: failing to plan is planning to fail, and nutrition is where most plans quietly die. Press play in the player above.
Great advice for fishing guides, for first responders, for anybody who is going to leave the house and work a long shift away from a kitchen. Nutrition is key, and planning is what makes nutrition happen.
Go follow Mike — @nodonutshere on Instagram. He is a good follow, and his story of incorporating fitness into the job is worth your time.
Mike Cunahan · @NoDonutsHere · first responders · NYPD · EMS · meal prep · protein intake · one gram per pound rule · catabolic state · cooler packing · midnight shift · Hawks Cay · fishing guide fitness
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the training, nutrition, and mindset that keep fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong, healthy, and in the game for life — short, practical episodes you can put to work the same day.
Full transcript of the Tom Rowland Podcast, Episode 517, featuring Mike Cunahan...
Mike, known online as No Donuts Here, is a New York City police officer with a compelling fitness story. In this Physical Friday segment, Tom and Mike talk nutrition and fitness for first responders, and for anyone whose job depends on staying in shape.
Tom Rowland: What's going on, everybody? It's Physical Friday. We're right here on a beautiful day in Hawks Cay. I've got my friend Mike Cunahan. You might know him as No Donuts Here. Mike is a cop in New York, and he's got a very interesting story incorporating fitness. Today we're going to talk about, for the most part, first responders, cops, people who are in the line of duty, and how they can take control of their health, because that's your main objective.
Mike Cunahan: Yeah, it's super important. I've been in so many situations where my level of fitness has determined whether or not I go home that night. You know what I mean? So many cops on a daily basis, not even just cops, but corrections, EMS, all first responders, they're put in those situations every single day. And they don't realize the importance of fitness because our job is to put other people first. It's imperative that in your line of work you take a little piece of your time and you work on yourself every single day, or at least as much as you can. And nutrition is just as important. You've got to take the time to make the right choices, to get the right foods, and to prep your meals for the day. A lot of guys do the midnight shift, and they don't take time to prep their food. They just run to work, and they'll grab whatever's open, or they won't eat at all, which is just as bad. They'll eat McDonald's or pizza or Chinese food or something like that, and it's important to make proper nutrition choices. Your level of fitness in that line of work is king.
Tom Rowland: Not to downplay cops, first responders, and all of that, but a fishing guide is very similar in that you're placed in a situation where you're responsible for everyone on your boat. Your fitness level, in my opinion, is very important to make sure that they come home today. If someone goes out of the boat, you've got to make a rescue, or you have to do something else. It's the same kind of situation. Once we leave the dock, there's no place to get any food out there. So if you're relying on whatever your customer brings, well, they're on vacation. They're going to bring stuff they don't normally eat all the time.
Mike Cunahan: Yeah, stuff.
Tom Rowland: And that food prep has been incredibly important. When we're talking about food prep, everybody's got different nutritional goals, but what would be some tips that you'd give people for making sure they have it? I mean, if you're going to be in a patrol car all day, you need a little cooler.
Mike Cunahan: Yep.
Tom Rowland: Here we have a cooler. We can pretty much bring everything that we want. But what would you say as far as macronutrients or types of food?
Mike Cunahan: I would say protein is king as far as maintaining muscle and keeping yourself on track. Hitting that protein goal every day is essential. You want to avoid getting into that catabolic state where you start burning muscle as fuel. Hitting that protein goal and hitting your water is super important. You need carbs to keep you going a little bit for energy, but I'd say protein is king. So pack a cooler. There are a couple of companies that make a hot plate you can plug into the cigarette lighter in a car or boat, and you can heat your food. But I've spent many, many years eating cold chicken in a patrol car.
Tom Rowland: As far as protein, what's a good rule of thumb for somebody who's just trying to maintain better health?
Mike Cunahan: To maintain the muscle mass you have, you should shoot for one gram of protein per pound of body weight, or per pound of lean body mass. If you're two hundred pounds, you should be getting about two hundred grams of protein.
Tom Rowland: Right on.
Tom Rowland: If people are interested in what you do and want to learn more about you, where do they go?
Mike Cunahan: Instagram is No Donuts Here. It's kind of a play on words, a jab at cops, and hey, you've got to have some fun with it. But No Donuts Here on Instagram, and Michael No Donuts Here Cunahan on Facebook. That's about it.
Tom Rowland: Cool. Alright, that's Physical Friday for today. Great advice for fishing guides, for first responders, for anybody who's going to leave the house. And you know what, man, that nutrition is key. Planning, we just did another one the other day, failing to plan is planning to fail. That's what this is all about. Alright, good luck to you, and follow Mike on Instagram. He's a good follow.
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