What not to take with you.

[Cedar1974]

I've heard that on the train every calorie counts, and so the more calories per ounce you can pack the better, but I am wondering, is there anything you would tell people to stay away from? I personally would suggest staying away from coffee since it is a diuretic and will cause you to lose water, leading to dehydration. That's just me though. But is there any other foods you would suggest staying away from?

[Tipi Walter]

I've heard that on the train every calorie counts,

Well, trains usually have pullman cars that serve meals, though they are very expensive. And you're mostly sitting on a train so calories are not that important.

There, got that out of my system.

I agree with Lawton Grinter when it comes to junk food: STAY AWAY FROM IT!! His words---

It took me the bulk of 10,000 miles of long-distance hiking to really grasp the concept that junk food and carrying less food to save overall pack weight works against you both in the short-term and the long run.

Having said that, 2 pounds of gummy bears per day will get you nowhere on the trail. Nowhere but sick. Junk food is best avoided. We all know what junk food is too. Keep it out of your backpacks as much as possible. Focus on bringing foods with ingredients you can pronounce. Less is more! A popular brand of corn chips I take routinely on the trail contains 3 ingredients: corn, corn oil and salt. I don’t need the Google Translate app to understand what those ingredients are. And they pack a whopping 160 calories/ounce. I know I promised not to talk calories or nutritional value so forgive me, but 160 calories/ounce is stellar!

His info can be found here---

http://sectionhiker.com/trail-food-t...disco-grinter/

[Bronk]

Says junk food is bad for you...says we all know what junk food is...recommends corn chips...

[July]

Besides eating as much fresh and raw as possible, along with multiple litres of spring water, I personally immensely enjoy a cup of Joe on the trail.

[Pedaling Fool]

Coffee being a diuretic is largely a myth, both in studies and in my personal experience. If I drink similar quantites of water while just sitting around, I'll need to go piss just as much if I drank coffee. However, when drinking during exercise the effect of needing to piss while drinking is greatly diminished in my experience, both with water or coffee. There's an audio link in this link >>>> http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...ion-and-memory


If one feels dehydrated after drinking coffee, it's a very good chance they are a victim of the power of suggestion.

However, coffee getting you to go to the bathroom for other reasons is NOT a myth


As far as what not to take on the trail. Anything that's listed as reduced calories or fat. Fat and calories are a good thing.

[Pedaling Fool]

Says junk food is bad for you...says we all know what junk food is...recommends corn chips...

Many say potato chips are junk food. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

They are packed with much needed carbs, any food is junk if all one does is eat and not work it off. So in many cases what makes junk food junk is relative. When I'm in a hurry in the morning I'll eat some potato chips. I don't buy pringles or anything, just get the basic ingredients of dehydrated potatoes, salt and oil.


And no, I don't have high blood pressure. Again, it's not the ingredients, it's people eating way too much.

[bigcranky]

I love coffee on the trail. I also love chocolate covered espresso beans. In moderation, of course.

Junk food isn't great, either, but nobody is suggesting we take 2 pounds of gummi bears per day. Pop Tarts for breakfast some days are fine, the occasional Snickers or bag of chips won't hurt anyone.

[colorado_rob]

... I personally would suggest staying away from coffee since it is a diuretic and will cause you to lose water, leading to dehydration. ...

Urban Legend/Wives Tale; coffee (well, caffeine) does indeed have a mild diuretic effect meaning when you drink, say, 10 ounces of it you might only get 7 net ounces vs. all 10 if it had been pure water, but in general coffee does not "dehydrate you" (nor does beer, another wives tale).

Decent coffee is one of the true pleasures on the trail for many of us.

Plenty of info out there, here's one myth-buster for coffee:

http://www.webmd.com/balance/caffein...d-facts?page=2

[Coffee]

Decent coffee is one of the true pleasures on the trail for many of us.

Essential for me obviously. The only negative thing about coffee is that being dependent on it makes it difficult to go stoveless. I don't like cold coffee and haven't tried caffeine pills.

[daddytwosticks]

Man! Coffee in the morning and corn chips throughout the day are my normal go-to's when hiking. Guess I'm doomed.

[Rocket Jones]

Corn chips are dual use too! In a pinch, they make a pretty good fire starter.

[Malto]

I've heard that on the train every calorie counts, and so the more calories per ounce you can pack the better, but I am wondering, is there anything you would tell people to stay away from? I personally would suggest staying away from coffee since it is a diuretic and will cause you to lose water, leading to dehydration. That's just me though. But is there any other foods you would suggest staying away from?

I completely disagree with the bolded statement above. The key is to take the highest calorie food that you will ACTUALLY EAT. I went through the maximize the calories per ounce phase and it was a disaster. I had a very hard time eating items such as nuts after a long mile day. I have honed in on a strategy of maximizing my food edibility. This has resulted in an average of about 125 calories/ounce. On a short duration hikes I can actually carry less ounces of food because I go heavy on carbs and use body fat for fat. That will not work for most on a long distance trail but it does for a week or two.

Take a look at hiker boxes. You can see my theory in action.

[OCDave]

... I personally would suggest staying away from coffee ????

What kind of monster are yoy? Are you insane?

[Cedar1974]

What kind of monster are yoy? Are you insane?

I'm the kind of monster that isn't a major fan of instant coffee? If I'm taking coffee I'm taking percolator to make it right.

[quasarr]

LOL this thread reminds me of the infamous Goldfish Challenge. The challenge was to hike 100 miles while eating nothing but Goldfish crackers! I don't know of any madmen who actually attempted it though.

Another legendary challenge was to fill an entire bear canister with gummy bears, and have that be your only food for the section. ha ha ha ha!!!

[RED-DOG]

Stay away from Cigarettes and alcohol.
I love junk food on the trail especially Gummy ears, any body want to join me in a cup of coffee my treat.

[The Solemates]

i drink coffee daily....probably too much of it. but i never take it on the trail, even for multi-day or week long hikes. see i can quit any time i want

[Hot Flash]

I personally would suggest staying away from coffee since it is a diuretic and will cause you to lose water, leading to dehydration.

No, it's not.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/201...ion-and-memory

[rocketsocks]

Stay away from Cigarettes and alcohol.
I love junk food on the trail especially Gummy ears, any body want to join me in a cup of coffee my treat.

I don't eat gummy ears anymore after reading this review...talk about diuretic.


I'm pretty sure Andrea (I'll call her) agreed to have dinner at my apartment only because I always spoke to her using nothing but my two-years-of-high-school German. Her English was perfect. Probably better than mine. But the fact that I could only ask her directions to the Autobahn or inquire about the health of her non-existent Tante Amelia, seemed to make me appealing to her in a sweet and non-threatening way.
My intentions, however, were considerably less child-like. Which is why the shopping that night was done at one of those upscale groceries with an international flair. Moules Marinieres is as much of a panty-peeler as anything I can cook, and isn't that hard to pull off. But still, I was busy tracking the recipe in my head when I found myself in the sweets aisle. And that, to my great chagrin, is why I didn't immediately notice the difference between Haribo Normal Gummi Bears (which are designed for human enjoyment) and Haribo Sugarless Gummi Bears (which are designed for use in maximum security prisons as a way to punish uncooperative inmates).
I shan't make that mistake again. (notice you can't spell SHAN'T without SHAT.)
Prior to Andrea's arrival, I sat in my living room, creating a playlist of make-out music and nervously binging on the Gummi Bears I had placed in a decorative bowl because I am fancy.
The doorbell rang, and within minutes we were standing in the kitchen, drinking beers and both of us probably worrying that we were about to exhaust my ability to communicate in her native tongue. But soon that would be the least of my worries. In the middle of trying to ask Andrea if she likes to dance to young people's music, I felt a flutter in my midsection, accompanied by a guttural pronouncement so loud it threatened to drown out my own voice.
Maybe it was because I was mentally refreshing my language lessons, but it suddenly struck me how much pre-diarrheal grumblings sound like German words.
"ENTSCHULDIGUNG!" was the next thing uttered by my rapidly clenching stomach. Appropriately, Andrea looked up in response.
"Sind Sie Kaffee machen?" she asked.
Am I making coffee?
I thought I must have mistranslated her at first, then finally I realized that yes, the loud, ominous gurgling coming from my gut could easily be mistaken for the percolating of some bachelor's crappy coffeemaker.
It's remarkable how quickly one knows that one is about to have a traumatic pottymaking experience. Maybe that's the body's way of buying you the precious seconds you need. I was already calculating the number of steps to the bathroom, speculating on whether I would have time to lift the lid to the toilet, when my own voice cried out loudly in my head.
She's going to hear EVERYTHING!
Thanks to an acoustical idiosyncrasy in my building, the hallway outside the bathroom works as an amplifier pointed straight at my living room-slash-kitchen. So that somehow even the gentlest tinkle sounds like I'm pouring lemonade out of a bucket.
With only half an idea of what I was doing, I grabbed Andrea's hand and pulled her roughly down onto my sofa. I must have looked like a madman as I booted up my iTunes playlist, plugged in the gigantic new headphones I had just bought to keep me looking young and hip, and clamped them down over her ears. (the sweat forming on my brow and upper lip couldn't have helped.) In response to her nervous expression, I kept shouting "You'll love this! You'll love this!"
I spun her around so that she was looking out the window. My "plan" was that she'd be so distracted by the modest 4th floor view, that it would allow me to pull my pants off while I sprinted down the hall, silently singing the praises of the noise-reducing quality of my new headphones. (this story will be reprinted in its entirety as a 5 star review on the Sony Beats Audio Amazon page.)
As I slammed the bathroom door shut, already half naked, it occurred to me that I had not been shouting "You'll love this!" at Andrea. I don't even know how to say that in German. In my desperation I had been saying "Ich Leibe Dich!" Repeatedly professing my love for her in a shaky and frantic voice. But maybe that was a good thing, because as I threw myself at the toilet, I figured the best I could hope for is that she would be so creeped-out that she would sneak out of the apartment, blissfully unaware of the carnage taking place in the next room.
What can I say about the ensuing white-knuckle bowel movement that hasn't been expressed in other reviews on this page? I'm pretty sure I haven't seen the adjective "Kafkaesque" used anywhere else.
By the end of Act One of this private little torture-porn movie, I was confessing to every unsolved crime in history. Praying I would stumble upon the one that would satisfy my invisible captors.
Quickly I realized that I had more than Andrea's sense of sound to worry about. Were she to get even the faintest whiff of the weapons-grade sluice that my anus was angrily shouting into the porcelain, I would have to change my name and move to another city.
And so I flushed. And flushed. And flushed and flushed.
And then I flushed and nothing happened.
I have never looked down into a broken toilet with more horror in my entire life. And I once stopped up George Clooney's crapper! (a true story for another time.)
I reached for the plunger, but my hand froze and my heart seized when I saw it on the floor, broken in two and covered in what looked like teeth marks. Apparently I had used the wooden handle to keep from biting my tongue off and had chewed clean through it. When did that happen? It seems my mind had already started the process of repressing this entire event.
Amid the feverish, fruitless dance I did across my tiny bathroom floor, it dawned on me that it had been more than a minute since my last soul-wrenching anal tantrum. Dear Lord, is it over? I asked, quite possibly aloud.
I may have been light-headed and delusional, but I began to imagine a non-ignominious resolution to this ordeal. I just needed to get her the hell out of here. If Andrea hadn't fled the building, vomiting in terror, then I supposed I could pull up my trousers and make a cavalier exit. As long as I could get her off premises and as far away from this post-apocalyptic commode as humanly possible. Assuming that the Diarrhistas had retreated to the hills temporarily, maybe I could even whisk Andrea away to a candlelight dinner at Bernardo's. How impulsive!
My first few steps back toward the living room were tentative. And not just because my sphincter felt raw and tattered. It was a slow approach to the Moment of Truth, especially when I saw her figure still planted on my sofa. I knew any look on Andrea's face other than her mouth agape would constitute a miraculous victory. And when she smiled at me, the wash of relief that engulfed me was more glorious than any throes of ecstasy I might have wished for at the beginning of the night.
And then I saw it.
The decorative bowl sitting in her lap. Down to just the last few sugarless Gummi bears.
"Du hast Haribo!" she said to me. Accompanied by a satisfied smile. A big, beaming Hansel and Gretel smile, that slightly turned down in one corner at the sound we both suddenly heard. A low rumble from deep within her GI tract that sounded like Gefahrrrrr.
The German word for Danger.
Her eyes shot past mine and refocused on the bathroom door just down the hall behind me.

[gsingjane]

In terms of what not to bring for food (BTW I'm surprised nobody mentioned Starbucks VIA yet, that's the answer to coffee so far as I'm concerned)... anything overly crushable, and that includes things like crispy crackers, tomatoes and bananas, of course. I know folks do harder type produce such as onions, potatoes and apples but anything soft, sheesh. I guess I'd try and stay away from anything I thought might spoil quickly.

More generally, I find that when it's hot and humid, my stomach is definitely more "tetchy" in terms of spicy things. I seem to like blander things in hot weather, whereas I can eat pretty much anything once it's 60 degrees or lower. But, I know some people are just the opposite!

Other than that, I suppose some foods to avoid would be ones that are tough on your particular digestion. Although, many also like foods that provide some roughage... I definitely would avoid a diet of primarily "binding" type foods (e.g. mashed potatoes, cheese).

HTH,

Jane