Affect of change in diet on body

[saimyoji]

Besides weight loss, what other effects on the body does such an immediate, drastic change in diet have? Diarrhea, constipation, muscle fatigue, suppressed immune system, etc. are all things I would expect to see. Do any of these things ever come up with respect to diet? I've read about hikers living on Snickers and Tang. I've a hard time believing one could go for very long on such a diet.

[minnesotasmith]

Well, saimyoji, once body fat gets below a certain level, it is usual for both ovulation and menstruation to temporarily cease in sexually mature women (those between menarche and menopause). This happens all the time for world-class women marathoners, for example. So, women hikers who lose more than a certain amount of weight can expect this particular change.

[steve hiker]

Well, saimyoji, once body fat gets below a certain level, it is usual for both ovulation and menstruation to temporarily cease in sexually mature women (those between menarche and menopause).
What is menarche? Us simple hikers dont understand high floon words like you picked up from your eletist ivy leauge friends.

[saimyoji]

http://www.menarchegiftbox.com/about.htm

VOODOOBOOGALOOO, Down go the Patriots.

[minnesotasmith]

Is the beginning of having menstruation (menses) during a woman's life-cycle.

Interestingly enough, that onset has occurred earlier on average by approximately three years for American women over the past century or so. While better nutrition, medical care, etc., no doubt have played a major role, there are some indications that estrogen analogs not previously in much (or any) concentration in women's air/water/food may play a role as well. From soybeans to phtalates in plastic products, these are ubiquitous now.

[steve hiker]

Is the beginning of having menstruation (menses) during a woman's life-cycle.
You mean when a girl starts having her period. puberty? Why dont' you use good old redblooded American words instead of those liberal poodle French words.

[A-Train]

Getting back to topic:

I experienced a great deal of fatigue after my thru-hike was over most likely due to poor dieting on my thru-hike. Starting your day off with a Pop-Tart for 150 straight days just can't be good for your body (but then again neither is smoking, drinking alcohol or coffee etc.). I was back to eating normally and excercising regularly and still experienced muscle aches and mental fatigue for many months.

I can't stress how important eating well while hiking is. Yes, eating vegetables in town is good, but making the extra effort will do wonders for your energy level while hiking and afterwards. Hikers fall into the allure and magical fun of eating everything in sight because its "OK". Well yes it is from a fat burning standpoint, but certainly you're still robbing your body of the needed vitamins. A multi-vitamin is a start.

[Spirit Walker]

Diarhea and gas problems often happen after visiting town, switching from the very bland trail diet to a fat rich town diet. On my first thruhike I was sure I had giardia until I realized that I was only in pain (and it was extremely painful) the first two days out of town, then my stomach would settle down until the next time I reached town. After that I stopped eating as much garbage when I got to town and headed for healthier foods instead.

Eating no fiber on the trail and heavy fiber (fruit and salads) in town can also upset your stomach.

Some people have problems eating nuts and dried fruits which can lead to many visits to the hole in the woods.

I have known a few people who had problems with energy after they lost all the fat in their bodies. Instead of getting stronger on the trail, they just feel more and more tired. I think that is more likely to happen to older hikers though where the body starts using muscle for energy.

Most thruhikers seem to live on the extremely unbalanced trail diet quite well. I don't know how. I always took vitamins to make up for what I was not eating and had no after effects. My husband took none and despite huge weight loss (between 40 and 50 lbs on each of his three hikes) never had a problem with his trail diet.

[The Solemates]

Diarhea and gas problems often happen after visiting town, switching from the very bland trail diet to a fat rich town diet. On my first thruhike I was sure I had giardia until I realized that I was only in pain (and it was extremely painful) the first two days out of town, then my stomach would settle down until the next time I reached town. After that I stopped eating as much garbage when I got to town and headed for healthier foods instead.

Eating no fiber on the trail and heavy fiber (fruit and salads) in town can also upset your stomach.

Some people have problems eating nuts and dried fruits which can lead to many visits to the hole in the woods.

I have known a few people who had problems with energy after they lost all the fat in their bodies. Instead of getting stronger on the trail, they just feel more and more tired. I think that is more likely to happen to older hikers though where the body starts using muscle for energy.

Most thruhikers seem to live on the extremely unbalanced trail diet quite well. I don't know how. I always took vitamins to make up for what I was not eating and had no after effects. My husband took none and despite huge weight loss (between 40 and 50 lbs on each of his three hikes) never had a problem with his trail diet.

Right on SpiritWalker....Lady Solemate developed a severe case of acid reflux disease while on the trail due to our terrible diet. We would eat any junk we could find on the trail, go to town and gorge ourselves with high fat foods. In CT, she began to feel bad from the constant damage to her body. By VT, she was throwing up everything she ate. Eventually, she was hospitalized in Rutland, VT for a day. They put her on a liquid diet for a day and then for the next 2 weeks she ate a bland diet of breads, crackers, oatmeal and the like. She was hiking only a day later. I dont know how she did it...shes a real trooper.

[Puck]

long hikes with weight day after day will induce production of the stress hormones cortisol and testosterone. Both are made in the adrenals. (cortex or medula I can't remember) (Of course testosterone in men is normally made in the testicles.) These stress hormones will effect fat distribution, appetite, and menses causing women to have amenorrhea as mentioned above. Also your body will metabolize your muscle for energy which could happen even before you have burned through your fat supplies. People having this stress response are prone to cravings of fat and carbs.



The first response on the trail is to burn through your glycogen stores in your liver and skeletal muscles. Glycogen gets cleaved to form glucose and water. One can drop ten pounds over a few days and gain it all back with a good carb feasting binge. I myself get tired of all of the rich sugary carbs although I crave them, the taste gets old. The lichens start to look like pizza .

[Spirit Walker]

On the CDT we were force feeding, trying to keep Jim from completely wasting away. It got to the point where we dreaded going to town - "oh no, more ice cream." It was funny, being able to eat anything you want, after a while, you really don't want the junk any more. Salad tastes a lot better than french fries. We would go to the store and immediately down a quart of OJ and milk. It tasted much better than the ice cream that followed.

[rocket04]

Funny, I had no problems related to my snickers and burger diet. The worse I felt was just from the binges in town and the half-gallon challenge. I was under the impression that short of feeling a lack of energy if your intake it really insufficient, the good thing about the hike is that you burn a lot and eat relatively little compare to what you might eat in normal life (we have a tendency to overeat). So even though you're not eating the best stuff, your body has less of a hard time digesting it because you're not nearly as full. Plus most people probably drink a lot more water than normal.

So in short, I felt great throughout my hike no matter what crap I ate provided I wasn't eating massive amounts of food at 2 AYCEs in one day.

[wacocelt]

Hey folks, let's not forget that a poor diet on the trail affects the mind as well as the body. Depression and mental fatigue can be just as much a symptom of a bad diet as they are from lonliness and physical fatigue.

[Brushy Sage]

Hey folks, let's not forget that a poor diet on the trail affects the mind as well as the body. Depression and mental fatigue can be just as much a symptom of a bad diet as they are from lonliness and physical fatigue.


The saying at the bottom of your posts -- "I am a spirit......" Is that original with you? If not, do you know the source. It is so good!

[Percival]

Hey folks, let's not forget that a poor diet on the trail affects the mind as well as the body. Depression and mental fatigue can be just as much a symptom of a bad diet as they are from lonliness and physical fatigue.
Which affects the dropout rate. I'm sure that many of these hikers, after they leave the trail and start eating better, bounce back mentally and wonder why the hell they dropped out.

[wacocelt]

Brushy, those four little sentences are my daily mantras, kind of my personal religion, The 4 Commandments of Christopher if you will, and yes they're mine. Thanks for enjoying it, feel free to use and add to them as you like! Be well.

Christopher

[Dharma]

I only had reactions to southern town food (really fat-rich). From reading the trail registers right out of town, it wasn't just me.

I had no problem with my high fat, high carb trail food diet. I saw everything I ate as fuel and not as junk food. (maybe that helps out mentally; plus I liked the food I was eating) I took a multivitamin everyday and rarely had any discontent in my digestive track.

The only food switch I did was eliminate chicken and tuna, and replace it with beef or beef jerkey. Beef kept my weight on and made me feel better, while chix and tuna did not. (now that I've been home for 3 months, my appetite has switched back)

[Footslogger]

Sudden and radical changes in diet can have pretty serious effects on the body, especially if a person has underlying medical conditions. One example is rapid weight loss. Gall stone disease can be brought on when a person looses a large amount of weight in a short period of time. Another potential problem (personal experience here) is kidney stones. Certain types of kidney stones are linked to high amounts of "oxolate" in the blood stream. Chocolates and nuts are high in oxolate and as we all know are consumed in large quantities by hikers. Added to that is the tendency to be deydrated. When you combine high concentrations of oxolate and you underhydrate your body the likelihood of stone formation exists.

I'm sure there are different and even more serious problems associated with sudden dietary changes like those encountered during a thru-hike but those are the two that come to mind first.

'Slogger
AT 2003