Help understanding trail nutrition

[Adan Lopez]

I am clueless about nutritional requirements of hiking, how food is metabolized and converted to energy/heat/muscle, etc. To put it plainly for us dummies, maybe you could help by responding with the following:

1.The fat/carb/protien/sugar ratio or counters that i strive for at dinner are…

2. The reason eating this way at dinner helps me is because…

3. A good recipe example which meets these requirements for me is (ingredients only, not cooking instructions)…

[John S.]

http://thru-hiker.com/articles/pack_light_eat_right.php

[Lynn Tramper]

Unfortunately there is no "right" or "wrong" way to eat on the trail. Everyone is different. Some folks like high carb, others carry more fat, a few carry almost no carbs, and protein intakes vary widely too. Length of trip is also a factor as on shorter trips you don't have to worry so much about balancing vitamins, minerals and fibre. Longer trips these factors become more important, as does variety.

A very safe combo I would recommend is something like a zone diet of 30:40:30 calories from fat:carbs:protein. This will top up your glycogen stores to see you through the night (from carbs), plus give you enough protein to rebuild any damage to muscles and organs, and a dose of fat to keep you warm through the night.

An example we sometimes eat would be pasta with rehydrated turkey spam (dried at home), plus some parmesan cheese. Amounts depend on your calorie needs, but read the packages to work out how many grams/ounces of each you need to get ~ 30:40:30

[Adan Lopez]

okay, so how does one know the carb, fat, or protein of all the food choices? do you smart people have a database somewhere? sorry if these are really dumb questions.

[Adan Lopez]

i just looked at the thru hiker site recommeded previously. wow, very informative.

i was just looking for some tips for making general improvements to my current menu. but i guess i'm gonna have to get scientific about it. this is a good challenge for me, i've been an avid outdoorsman all my life but "(220-age -RHR)0.85 + RHR = maximum target heart rate" is rocket science to me. wish me luck!

[Robert Blean]

but "(220-age -RHR)0.85 + RHR = maximum target heart rate" is rocket science to me

FWIW: although it is in common use, "220 – age" is not very good as an estimate of max heart rate. Furthermore, it was never intended to be used that way. For one thing, it tends to underestimate for young people and overestimate for older people (so there is obviously an intermediate point where it is decent). For example, in my case it estimates HRmax=154, and last week I saw 166 in the gym — pretty high, but probably not my actual maximum.

Fortunately, there are better estimating formulae out there (although none are that precise for everyone).

For example, many believe that that the Karvonen formula (205 – age/2)is decent for fit people who exercise several times per week.

Another decent one is by Runner's World: 210 – (0.5 * age) – (5% of body weight) + 4

—-

Plug any of them into the formula you gave — the formula you gave above is the heart rate reserve formula, better worded as (max heart rate – resting heart rate) * (percent you want to exercise at) + (resting heart rate). Many believe that exercising at a percentage of HRR makes more sense than exercising at a percent of HRmax. Different percentages have different training effects — look into that when planning your program.

— MV

[Sarah Welton]

okay, so how does one know the carb, fat, or protein of all the food choices? do you smart people have a database somewhere? sorry if these are really dumb questions.

Here's a Nutrition Per Ounce chart that may help. It doesn't include everything but it does have a lot of hiker-friendly foods.

[Greg Mihalik]

Here's Calorie King.

Enter brand name or item: 'Snickers' or 'chocolate'.

[Miguel Arboleda]

Here's Calorie King.

For a second there I thought someone was going to sing, "You've Got a Friend" ;-P

[Author]

Posts