Calories per Ounce

[swjohnsey]

Calories are calories. Fat has the most bang per ounce.

[rocketsocks]

Hey, I love bagels. But did ya ever try making a burrito with one...tortillas for me!

[MuddyWaters]

Calories are calories..

Not exactly. Refined carbs are bad for you. Heat processes trans fats are bad for you. This is why we have epidemic diabetes in the US. 25 years of flawed dietary guidelines spewed at Americans from an FDA backed by agribusiness, without ANY science to back it up. None, Nada, zip.

The FDA is quietly changing their tune in the face of mounting evidence, while of course admitting no wrong.

What was foisted on Americans resulting in massive heart disease and diabetes was nothing less than criminal.

Yeah, I eat the crap too on the trail, not much choice. But I try to eat better off trail.

[Odd Man Out]

Not exactly. Refined carbs are bad for you. Heat processes trans fats are bad for you. This is why we have epidemic diabetes in the US. 25 years of flawed dietary guidelines spewed at Americans from an FDA backed by agribusiness, without ANY science to back it up. None, Nada, zip.

The FDA is quietly changing their tune in the face of mounting evidence, while of course admitting no wrong.

What was foisted on Americans resulting in massive heart disease and diabetes was nothing less than criminal.

Yeah, I eat the crap too on the trail, not much choice. But I try to eat better off trail.

In general, I agree with this. Cholesterol, fat, and salt are probably not the dietary evils they have been made out to be. I hate it when I see egg-white omelets as a healthy option in a restaurant (why omit all the healthy and tasty stuff in egg yokes???). And trans fats certainly serve no purpose (BTW, they come from hydrogenation, not heat treatment).

But I would make one minor change. I would say that TOO MANY refined carbs are bad for you. I'm guessing that is what you meant, but so often I see people latch on to dietary advice and take things to extremes, to the point that they feel they have to eat only this and/or none of that. I talk to lots of people who seem to be afraid of their food, and I think that is sad. I sometimes wonder how many people's health is compromised by the stress of worrying about their diet.

[Dogwood]

Thanks for sharing that Connie. That was a well done vid by CleverHiker hitting the main pts.

I think it silly to focus on a tortilla/bagel debate though. That certainly wasn't CleverHiker's focus. Maybe, it would better to consider his main pts?

[colorado_rob]

Not exactly. Refined carbs are bad for you.

Well, kinda-sorta, but not really, and unfortunately the general populace has no clue as to why either way, and because they don't understand this they either are ridiculously and unnecessarily anal about NOT eating refined sugars/carbs, or they say pooh-pooh and ignore the actual good nutrition advice out there.

Basically, the human body need 41 and exactly 41 substances/nutrients to live, and if he/she lack some minimum amount of these, he/she will eventually have some health issues. These 41 are basically 13 vitamins, 16 minerals, nine amino acids, two fatty acids and water.

To get these 41 nutrients, we have to eat a variety of foods which means simply calories, but the trouble with refined sugars, for example, is that these sugars include basically one of the 41 nutrients and basically zip in the other 40. So if you eat a lot of refined sugars, you consume a lot of calories and your body grabs whatever carb energy it needs at the time and stores the rest as body fat.

In essence, given whatever activity level we live our lives in, we all have a "calorie quota" (the amount we burn), and if we exceed this, we will gain weight. If we eat a lot of sugars, we're getting too many calories without enough of the other nutrients, so we have to eat more other nutrient-dense foods still (again, we have to have certain amounts of all 41) and we gain weight.

So, there is really nothing wrong with refined sugars per-se, except we use up our daily "calorie quotas" on a food that has very little of the 41 nutrients; too many calories for not enough of our required nutrients.

Non-refined carbs have a much higher density of the 41 nutrients, hence why they are considered "better for you". So sorry, in one aspect, "carbs are not carbs"; whole-grain carbs do in fact generally have a higher density of a bunch of the 41 nutrients.

Thankfully, as hikers, we are burning copious amounts of calories all day and can basically pig out on heavily refined carbs... candy, soft bagels, whatever!

[Connie]

"Feast and famine" however, do not sustain a thru-hiker.

I only made a remark, I like tortillas, and why.

It is also true small amounts of some food dishes are more satisfying. I think food satisfaction is essential to a good hike. I know I feel strong, when the food I selected and I put together is satisfying.

I think we all know some packaged hiker food is satisfying, and, some packaged hiker food feels like "empty calories". I am saying, packaged hiker Turkey Tetrazzini (spelling?) leaves me feeling like I just had "empty calories". Some food selections just do not do anything for me. I attribute that to constitutional differences, as in, my constitution is robust, I can digest anything, or, I have a weak constitution, I need special food to keep me going. Well, I have a strong constitution, nevertheless, some food choices make me feel strong and other food choices do nothing for me.

I was trying to add, that concept.

I like that video. He does get the main points.

[takethisbread]

I love bagels, cinnamon raisin to be exact . Just as they are out of the pack. Thru hiker "animal" the dude with the bucket, that guy was pretty expert with calories per ounce and per dollar

[MuddyWaters]

Minimum for post

[rafe]

Bagels vs. tortillas? Hmm, interesting. Somehow, on the trail, I get by with neither. At home it's another story. Tortillas and lox? Somehow that ain't right.