Vegan hiking?

[Overpass]

I can't imagine how anyone could get enough calories and nutrients being a vegan on the trail. Especially coming down into a trail town where everyone else is wolfing down steaks, cheeseburgers and scrambled eggs & bacon to make up for the lack of protein on the trail.

What could a vegan eat at a typical small-town greasy-spoon diner that would be a balanced meal?

[moxie]

French fries, lots of them. Order a salad. Not a balanced diet but my wife is a vegan and thats about all she can eat in a greasy-spoon. Any legume is also good if they don't cook their beans in bacon or pork. In many trail towns you will find Chinese or Thai places and have no trouble getting a balanced vegan meal at one of those. Most greasy-spoons will also offer oatmeal for breakfast. In the south just order a big bowl of grits. I am a vegitarian for most part on the trail but when I hit town I eat cheeseburgers, steak,, pizza, gravy, anything with tons of fat.

[rafe]

I'm curious about this too. I remember meeting a vegetarian couple at Imp Shelter many years ago... dining on broccoli soup. They had made it there from Katahdin but they were making pitiful mileage. I know one can live well on vegetarian foods, but broccoli soup isn't going to provide the fuel for a hard days' hiking on the AT.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Vegan isn't a diet. It is a lifestyle and philosophy going far beyond just vegetarian eating habits. Only 5% of vegetarians are Vegans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan

[emerald]

I can't imagine how anyone could get enough calories and nutrients being a vegan on the trail.

Why would calories be a problem and what nutrients in particular do you expect would be lacking?

Especially coming down into a trail town where everyone else is wolfing down steaks, cheeseburgers and scrambled eggs & bacon to make up for the lack of protein on the trail.

Who told you there is a lack of protein on the trail? I'd love to know your source for that information.

What could a vegan eat at a typical small-town greasy-spoon diner that would be a balanced meal?

You likely wouldn't find any such person there, except one who cheats. You'd find him or her picking up his or her mail drop or at the local supermarket.

[The Old Fhart]

If you are a vegan you should already have some idea of nutrition. Check some hiking cookbooks for recipes. Check out this site for ideas. Keep in mind that some plants do not have complete proteins but you can, for example, combine equal amounts of peanut butter and tahini(sesame butter) to get a complete protein that your body needs. A little research will give you lots of ideas.

Not everything you need can be found in small food stores but larger ones have a pretty good selection. You can also use mail drops for those areas where you don't think you could find what you need. On note of caution is to never try any food on the trail you haven't tested at home to make sure it doesn't have any side effects and you actually like to eat it.

[Canute]

Nutrients are never a problem, your body ramps up its absorbtion rate to whatever you may be getting less of. I've had blood tests done for cholesterol, and all my nutrients are in good shape.

I'd recommend a good multivitamin to anyone on a long hike, but good food comes first.

[derekthered]

I've been more or less a vegetarian for several years now... more or less because I typically eat fish and other seafood when presented. That being said, I have done basic some research on sources of protein pertaining to vegetarian diets. Even though vegetables do not have as much protein as animal flesh, taken in the proper proportions, vegetarians can include the necessary amount of protein in their diet. Rice, for example, contains all but one of the essential amino acids necessary in a daily diet, except for one. If even one amino acid is missing, however, all of the other amino acids are reduced in the same proportion. The missing amino acid can be made up for in a legume (i.e. peas or beans, etc.).

Still trying to work out the logistics of this for my hike in a few months...

[Lone Wolf]

Nutrients are never a problem, your body ramps up its absorbtion rate to whatever you may be getting less of. I've had blood tests done for cholesterol, and all my nutrients are in good shape.

I'd recommend a good multivitamin to anyone on a long hike, but good food comes first.

you ever burned 5000 calories a day and tried to eat veg only to make up for that?

[The Old Fhart]

Canute-"Nutrients are never a problem, your body ramps up its absorbtion rate to whatever you may be getting less of."

Pure BS. You can't get what's not there. If what you say were true, people could eat dirt and their bodies would absorb what they need from the dirt.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Little surprise that a wolf would be a proponent of being a tertiary consumer.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Pure BS. You can't get what's not there. If what you say were true, people could eat dirt and their bodies would absorb what they need from the dirt.

They shove worse things than dirt down my throat - at work, at home, at...

[sourwood]

I am not a vegan, but do eat a vegetarian diet. I hiked over 1000 miles of the trail last year eating a vegetarian diet. I have biked across the country east to west and north to south eating a vegetarian diet. It is not that big of a deal. Spiders and ticks. Now that's another thing entirely!

Julie

[RAT]

I have converted a few vegetarians and a couple Vegans at Brown Gap a mere three weeks into the hike. It's just too hard to replace that 5000+ calorie burn day after day with the crapp they carry. And I have seen their food bags, they have to carry alot more than the meateaters. To each their own tho. It can be done, this has been proven.


RAT

[khaynie]

I can't imagine how anyone could get enough calories and nutrients being a vegan on the trail. Especially coming down into a trail town where everyone else is wolfing down steaks, cheeseburgers and scrambled eggs & bacon to make up for the lack of protein on the trail.

What could a vegan eat at a typical small-town greasy-spoon diner that would be a balanced meal?

The last time I checked, I was at the top of the food chain. I usually eat lettuce to help me digest a good piece of red meat.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not busting on Vegans; to each their own. Like they say, HYOU, well EWYW2 (eat what you want 2). However, it would appear to me that finding something vegan worthy in a trail town to satisfy a body that's burning 5k+ calories a day, would be as challenging as a thru-hike. I would think Vegans would rely mostly on maildrops.

I gotta run, going to go turn my deer steaks. Ummumm...dinner is almost ready.

[rafe]

you ever burned 5000 calories a day and tried to eat veg only to make up for that?

I don't think it's that difficult, Wolf. But not leafy greens!! You'll be eating rice and beans. Lots of carbs in rice, lots of protein in beans.

[map man]

I'm a vegan. I haven't done an AT thru-hike so I can't claim to know from experience how it's done. My longest hike so far lasted 15 days (hiking between 10 and 15 miles a day on the Superior Hiking Trail). I ate between 4000 and 4500 calories a day and came off the trail feeling great and weighing the same as when I started.

If I ever do an AT thru-hike I will do it with mail drops. I know what trail foods and supplements I like and are nutritionally sound for me (so I'm getting enough protein, iron, the B-complex vitamins, calcium, potassium, magnesium, etc.). I WOULDN'T rely on gorging on restaurant food during town stops like so many thru-hikers do, because like people have pointed out, a vegan can't eat very well over the long haul at most eateries in small trail towns.

I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for twenty years, and a vegan for the last five, and I'm healthier than most of the people I know who are my age. Over those twenty-five years I've had some physically demanding jobs and have led a pretty active life, and I haven't keeled over yet . So, yes, I believe being a vegan will not hamper me from doing an AT thru-hike some day.

[MarcnNJ]

you ever burned 5000 calories a day and tried to eat veg only to make up for that?

Yep, and I did it. And the girl I hiked with last year was vegan and made it also. Although I did convince her to have a piece of salmon in Boiling Springs, PA.

[Overpass]

I'm a vegan. ... longest hike so far lasted 15 days (hiking between 10 and 15 miles a day on the Superior Hiking Trail). I ate between 4000 and 4500 calories a day and came off the trail feeling great and weighing the same as when I started.

Cool. Could you share some info on what you were eating? What was a typical day's food? Reason I ask is, tho I'm not vegan/vegetarian, I'm not pleased with the idea of continuing to eat all the junk/processed food (pop tarts, liptons, candy, balance bars, etc) I've eated in the past on long hikes. Would like to learn to eat more healthily on the trail without losing any significant weight.

[generoll]

I'm not sure why being a vegan should be that big a deal. You can get all the carbs and protein you need without going the greasy spoon route. Few americans, on or off the trail have a diet deficient in fat. As was already mentioned, beans and rice to name a simple combination provide complete proteins and as many carbs as you care to take. Few countries have (or had anyway) a diet as high in meat or meat products as the U.S.. Few countries have as many morbidly obese people as the U.S.. I'm pretty sure there's a link there somewhere.