Caloric Density spreadsheet.

[ScottS]

I'm in the process of building one. Getting as many calories as possible in the lightest food possible is important and I'm on a quest to find out what the best choices are.
This will be for common store-bought foods, the foods found at almost all resupplies (gas stations, grocery stores, etc.).

Only have Little Debbies done so far but will be adding others as I gather the information. I thought some other people might use the information, so I'm sharing it.
Knorr, candy bars, peanut butters, nuts, Hostess and Pop Tarts are future plans. Feel free to suggest something you'd like to see, if you're into this at all.


Best Little Debbies
Nutty Bars
Peanut Butter Crunch
Chocolate Iced Honey Buns

Link to spreadsheet

[ScottS]

And protein/energy bars.

[JAK]

The macronutrients of all foods weigh the same. Once you decide how much protien, fat, carbs, and fibre you need, it's really just a matter of finding foods with less moisture, and minimizing package weight.

Spreadsheet is a good idea, but not to minimize weight, but to balance your nutrients.
Focus on Protien, Fats, Carbs, Fibre, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, Calcium, Sodium.
If you get those right, with foods from different food groups, the rest should fall in place.

Minimize Moisture.

[ScottS]

The macronutrients of all foods weigh the same. Once you decide how much protien, fat, carbs, and fibre you need, it's really just a matter of finding foods with less moisture, and minimizing package weight.

Yes, that's the point of the spreadsheet.

[JAK]

Yes, that's the point of the spreadsheet.

So then the spreadsheet should show moisture and package weight, if that is all you are minimizing.

I think what you really need is a spreadsheet that shows protien grams, fat grams, carb grams, fibre grams, moisture grams
and perhaps also the key indicators; Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, Calcium, and Sodium, in %RDA.

That would allow you to better balance your diet for nutrition, rather than for simply minimizing water, cardboard, and plastic.

[HiKen2011]

I got a headache!

[Toli]

I got a headache!

Me too... What ever happened to just eatin' Ramen and Pop Tarts ...

[JAK]

You might also include typical cost.

[swjohnsey]

I was workin' on the same thing over here http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...hlight=calorie

[garlic08]

You cannot beat pure fat or oil for calorie density. Pure sugar is one half the calorie density of pure fat. Lean more towards fatty foods. That's why nutty bars and peanut butter and nutty granola are high on the list.

[ScottP]

I eat littlle to no junk food when I hike.

I don't get much of my calories from fat--it's mostly complex carbs. In the cold/winter I add some fat

I've done enough miles that I planned 7,000-8,000 calorie/day. So I carry 2-3 extra ounces a day to eat food that makes me feel good. big deal.

trying to hike off junk food is, for most people, an awful idea. You'll do 15-20 miles/day, feel like ****, and think that's all you can do when you can probably double that by eating right. You're asking a lot of your body on the trail; take care of it

[Bronk]

I eat littlle to no junk food when I hike.

I don't get much of my calories from fat--it's mostly complex carbs. In the cold/winter I add some fat

I've done enough miles that I planned 7,000-8,000 calorie/day. So I carry 2-3 extra ounces a day to eat food that makes me feel good. big deal.

trying to hike off junk food is, for most people, an awful idea. You'll do 15-20 miles/day, feel like ****, and think that's all you can do when you can probably double that by eating right. You're asking a lot of your body on the trail; take care of it

I'm confused...yo usay you don't eat junk food when you hike but you want to compile a list of Little Debbie snacks?

[Rocketman]

You can find useful information at several places, or at least when I looked I did. I found a file "Calories per oz 7500 plus foods.pdf" and also an excel .XLS version of it. I still have the files, but don't have the URL from which they were obtained. Actually, these files are too large to be all that useful anyway. Some others are below.

There is an excellent set of Calories per ounce information in the book "Travel Light, Eat Heavy on the Appalachian Trail" by Bill McCartny at Amazon.com. It covers all of the main ingredients used in his book for his "grocery store" resupply style of backpacking.

http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Light-A...1215273&sr=8-1


http://download.cnet.com/Nutrition-F...-10773427.html



http://fizisist.web.cern.ch/fizisist...ouncechart.doc



http://alsworldwide.org/pdfs/caloric_chart.pdf

[Rocketman]

The original nutritional data for the 7500 Plus foods is at

http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=18879

SR22 - Download Files

All files are compressed using PKZip, right click here to download pkzip Documentation for the database is available either in the main SR22 directory as a PDF file or in the download files listed here. The documentation is given as a PDF file. PDF files can be read using the Acrobat reader which is available free. To install a PDF viewer in your web browser read, "Steps to Downloading the Free Acrobat Reader" Full version ASCII (6.5Mb) - This file contains the SR22 data in ASCII, delimited files. These tables are organized in a relational format, and are best used with a relational database management system (RDBMS), which will allow you to form your own queries of the database and generate custom reports. ACCESS (17.2Mb) - This file contains the SR22 data imported into a Microsoft Access database. It includes relationships between files and a few sample queries and reports. You need Microsoft Access 2003 or later to use this file. Abbreviated - This file contains data for all food items, but not all nutrient values--starch, fluoride, betaine, vitamin D2 and D3, added vitamin E, added vitamin B12, alcohol, caffeine, theobromine, phytosterols, individual amino acids, individual fatty acids, or individual sugars are not included. ASCII (0.7Mb) - delimited file suitable for importing into many programs. Excel (3.16Mb) - for use with Microsoft Excel, but can also be used by many other spreadsheet programs. Update Files - Contains updates for those users who have loaded Release 22 into their own computers and wish to do their own updates. ASCII (0.9Mb) - delimited file suitable for import into many programs

[ScottP]

I'm confused...yo usay you don't eat junk food when you hike but you want to compile a list of Little Debbie snacks?

ScottP and ScottS. Different people

And yes, I carry lots of weight in food when I do big miles. I'm not saying that I eat a no-fat diet, but in hot weather it's low-fat compared to other hikers, and extremely low in simple-carb foods (except for dried fruits, which don't really count as simple carbs for slightly complicated reasons). And it makes a huge difference in the way I feel.

Your body would much rather run off carbs than fat if given the chance. Not that you don't need fat--you do. But you don't need the bulk of your calories from it (except in winter maybe, but that's a different story--the colder the weather the more fat I add in)

[garlic08]

...yes, I carry lots of weight in food when I do big miles. I'm not saying that I eat a no-fat diet, but in hot weather it's low-fat compared to other hikers, and extremely low in simple-carb foods (except for dried fruits, which don't really count as simple carbs for slightly complicated reasons). And it makes a huge difference in the way I feel.

Your body would much rather run off carbs than fat if given the chance. Not that you don't need fat--you do. But you don't need the bulk of your calories from it (except in winter maybe, but that's a different story--the colder the weather the more fat I add in)

This makes sense based on some experiences I've had, eating too much fat midday on summer hikes. I feel lethargic afterwards. But it was so hard to resist that Cabot cheese in Vermont and NH.

[swjohnsey]

Three ounces of pure carbs will net you about 340 calories, 8,000 calories of pure carbs will weigh in at about 4.4 lbs while 8,000 calories of pure fat will weigh about 2 lbs. Your body needs fat.

[Tenderheart]

Three ounces of pure carbs will net you about 340 calories, 8,000 calories of pure carbs will weigh in at about 4.4 lbs while 8,000 calories of pure fat will weigh about 2 lbs. Your body needs fat.

And your cardiologist needs you to eat plenty of fat.

[LDog]

And your cardiologist needs you to eat plenty of fat.

This comment apparently lumps all sources of fat under one hat, ignores that many fats are heart healthy, ignores the necessity of fat for proper nutrition, and the benefits it provides long-distance hikers. I carry a bottle of olive oil, and douse most everything I eat liberally with it.

Nuts are high in fat and are important sources of protein. The tree nuts are also loaded with all kinds of goodness and makes every list of "superfoods." I carry my own mix of pecans, almonds, peanuts and cashews, as well as a jar of peanut butter.

Carbs are important. But I feel cheap carbs that are high on the glycemic index aren't worth consuming. I carry whole grain versions of couscous, bulgar wheat, oatmeal, quinoa, and brown instant rice.

There's growing evidence that the low-fat, high carb diet foisted upon us in the 80s is the single largest contributor to the obesity epidemic.

[JAK]

Estimating your food requirements...

1. Total Calories = weight in pounds x ( miles per day + 10 )

2. Macronutrients:
Protien = Total Calories x 10% /4 = Protien Grams
Carbs = Total Calories x 30% /4 = Carbs Grams
Fats = Total Calories x 60% /9 = Fats Grams

3. Reduce Fats by up to 50g for every 10 pounds of excess body fat (>15%).

Example, 200 pounds (35 pounds overweight), hiking 15 miles per day.
1. 200 x (15+10) = 5000 Calories
2.
Protien = 5000 x 10% /4 = 125g
Carbs = 5000 x 30% /4 = 375g
Fats = 5000 x 60%/9 = 333g -175g = 158g
Total = 658g = 1.45 pounds + 10% allowance for moisture and fibre = 1.6 pounds.