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  1. #1
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    Default Eating for energy

    I met a guy on my last hike that was my age (62) and we chatted for a few minutes about food. He told me it made all the difference in the world when he got the advise how to eat on the trail from a guy he had met on the trail. This guy told him to take hot dog buns, slather it with peanut butter and jelly and make a bag full at each resupply. Then he said without fail to eat one every two hours. I have to make myself eat as I do not want to stop, thus have to battle the energy issue. How do you guys handle this (maybe it is an age issue?).

  2. #2
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    Cliff bars...... they make something called a builder bar. I put them in the side pockets of my backpack belt and eat them as I go.

    White Hotdog bread cant be good for energy hahaha. Peanut butter maybe.

  3. #3
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    Peanut butter and jelly, by all means. Excellent trail food. Hot dog buns? Meh. As for energy bars, I go for Larabars these days. Relatively tasty and easy to eat, as these things go.

  4. #4

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    Of course you have to eat for energy.

    When hiking, you're burning calories. If hiking a lot, you are burning a lot of calories - you are going to need to replace the calories. Pretty simple stuff.

    What people need varies. Terrain, distance, speed, weight carried, experience, time on trail, etc... all matter and come into play.

    u.w.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by u.w. View Post
    Of course you have to eat for energy.

    When hiking, you're burning calories. If hiking a lot, you are burning a lot of calories - you are going to need to replace the calories. Pretty simple stuff.

    What people need varies. Terrain, distance, speed, weight carried, experience, time on trail, etc... all matter and come into pl

    u.w.
    Of course I know you have to eat for energy, I guess I am wondering what and how often most people eat on the trail. I did not eat every two hrs before and this guy says it made all the difference.

  6. #6
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    Honestly there are days when I eat a ton.... then there are 30 mile days where I put down 900 calories, but drink a ton of water.

  7. #7

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    I think it's the eating something every hour or two (not necessarily hot dog buns with peanut butter and jelly) that is the helpful advice the guy got about keeping your energy relatively constant. I eat various bars and nuts throughout my hiking day (and dispense with lunch altogether) every hour to hour-and-a-half and it works for me. The particular foods that might work for you depend on your tastes. Just try to get some carbs, fats and protein in your hiking day. And if lack of hunger is a problem it's easier to nibble frequently than to have to force down bigger meals. Having foods on hand that you can eat while walking makes the frequent nibbling technique easier.
    Last edited by map man; 03-31-2016 at 10:28.
    Life Member: ATC, ALDHA, Superior Hiking Trail Association

  8. #8

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    yeah, I eat like 8 times a day on trail in varying quantities.
    PB wraps are better than hot dog buns. I bring a bunch of PB and wraps... they tend to be a favorite

  9. #9
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    I've developed into a pattern: I usually stop for breaks after about two and a half hours -- which is usually about 5 miles for me where I hike. I take short "pit stops" in the morning and afternoon -- just long enough to eat some gorp or nuts or candy bar, etc. and hydrate. My mid-day break is longer, where I take the time to air out my feet, change my socks, and give my body just enough rest without stiffening up. I usually eat a little more at this break, too. I've never been a lunch eater, and I always just told myself I could always eat snacks as I go...which was fine, right up until I started using trekking poles. So I had to really learn & discipline myself into stopping for breaks and making them work for me. Making myself stop for a good long "lunch" break really has helped me feel stronger in the afternoons. I'm most often not hungry at the end of the day (or just too lazy), but the calories I get with breakfast, snack, lunch, and snack -- at regular intervals -- keeps me going pretty well.
    fortis fortuna adjuvat

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trance View Post
    White Hotdog bread cant be good ...
    My local grocery store has whole wheat hot dog buns. Also whole grain bagels and other muffins.

  11. #11

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    Good topic. One of my favorites. It can be approached from many angles.


    First, what many do in the backpacking community is concentrate on calories alone. Often the mantra will be a calorie is a calorie. That's not true though as a calorie isn't consumed as an isolated scientific measure in real life. For example, consuming a calorie within the larger more complex whole food nutritional matrix of an apple with all the other nutritional characteristics and properties of the apple(fiber, vitamins, phtyonutrients, enzymes, etc) is synergistically different than a calorie consumed in a packet of refined white sugar or even "apple juice/apple cider."


    One of the best ways to keep up consistent energy levels without riding an energy roller coaster is what Map man said which is commonly called grazing or the drip method of eating smaller amounts( a handful of trail mix for example) of nutritionally dense foods regularly. Nutritionally dense being defined as MUCH MORE than caloric content alone! Avoiding foods laden with added sugars/high in sugar, low fiber, "bad fats"(trans fats/hydrogenated anything), highly processed, engineered, low vibrational energy(YES, FOOD HAS A FREQUENCY THAT CAN BE SCIENTIFICALLY MEASURED!), or "dead" food is the goal.



    A very important factor in eating for optimal energy is having a healthy digestive system that can optimally assimilate all the great nutritional dense food one is consuming. Unfortunately, with Western typical U.S. diets most Americans have impaired assimilation and digestion.



    Contrary, to some thoughts I've found it best to avoid drinking coffee on trail as the cons outweigh the pros as far as nutrition and energy level.

  12. #12
    279.6 Miler (Tanyard Gap) CamelMan's Avatar
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    If it's more than 10 miles, I'll eat about a 50/50 mix of unsalted pretzels and raisins or other dried fruit. Otherwise, I prefer not to spare my own fat by eating. Usually, I can tell I need to eat because I get hungry. (Not trying to be funny--if the hunger can cut through the reduced appetite that comes with exercise, then I seriously consider eating.) Hiking is not such high intensity exercise that I can't just listen to hunger like all species evolved to do.
    Last edited by CamelMan; 03-31-2016 at 11:37.

  13. #13

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    For most of us eating for energy on trail isn't going to be accomplished by eating alone. Sufficiently drinking enough clean water plays a significant factor in properly assimilating the nutrients in the food consumed. Drinking CLEAN WATER has a myriad of benefits including contributing to a feeling of being satiated.


    Another topic associated with eating for energy, as applied to the context of trail life, is maximizing trail output for energy expended(food consumed).

  14. #14
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    I do ten miles every day just to stay ready for the trail each spring. I have two poptarts in the am eat a cliff bar about 3 miles in and another one at about 7 miles on the trail I have a knors side dish for supper and a snickers at nightfall before bed. Protein is lacking in my diet but I burn a lot of fat in the first few weeks and then I change up the diet to add cheeses and nuts to the mix with meats and fish in trail towns. It may not be right but it works for me.

  15. #15
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    for me it's pb&j on flour tortillas. I do that at lunch. Trail mix and jerkey for AM and PM snacks.

  16. #16
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    You should really attempt to stay as close to a balanced nutrition profile as possible, but greatly increase your fats. No matter what you do, if you're hiking long distance your going to go deficient in something, so take a multivitamin. When I came back my RBC count and iron was all out of whack, as is supposedly common in endurance activity. I also lost too much weight and am not interested in doing that again. Fitter and faster doesn't necessarily mean healthier.

    My advice for long distance trips: get a routine blood workup. Get a vitamin levels workup. See a nutritionist and inform them of what you're attempting to do. Repeat steps 1 & 2 when you get back. Maybe not a huge deal for section hikes but the AT can really push you and everyone's body is different.

  17. #17

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    I eat when I'm hungry, I drink when I'm dry
    If the moonshine don't kill me I'll live till I die

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by joec View Post
    I met a guy on my last hike that was my age (62) and we chatted for a few minutes about food. He told me it made all the difference in the world when he got the advise how to eat on the trail from a guy he had met on the trail. This guy told him to take hot dog buns, slather it with peanut butter and jelly and make a bag full at each resupply. Then he said without fail to eat one every two hours. I have to make myself eat as I do not want to stop, thus have to battle the energy issue. How do you guys handle this (maybe it is an age issue?).
    By substituting Walnuts, or Almonds ( or Almond Butter ) for Peanuts, one can get a bigger dose of Protein along with Carbs and Fats.

    Protein Whey Powder is also a lightweight, easy method to help balance out your protein intake ( 1 scoop with the oatmeal in the morning ).

    Cliff Bars are good for carb intake. These are more balanced http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Protein/b...n=Pure+Protein

    Thumbs up on visiting a nutritionist.

  19. #19
    Registered User Christoph's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by joec View Post
    ...I have to make myself eat as I do not want to stop, thus have to battle the energy issue...
    This is precisely the reason I dropped so many pounds (46 of them in 43 days!) and one of the main reasons I had to throw in the towel for my thru attempt last year. Make yourself do it and hopefully it'll become routine along the way. On my 2nd attempt (hopefully next year) again I'll have to fight this problem as well, but I'll surely remember how depressed I was when I made the decision to give in and go home.
    - Trail name: Thumper

  20. #20

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    I always try to get some sort of nutrition with my calories. White bread is pretty much like eating glue. At least have some kind of whole grain bread with useful fiber and a few vitamins.

    I recently found Barney & Co. Almond Butter/Palm Fruit Oil. Blended, so no annoying stirring. No salt or sugar added. 10 oz. plastic jar, that's about the perfect size to carry.

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