Bulk supplements and my PCT diet

Actually I was going to suggest something very much along those lines.
I only do 1 to 7 days at a time so my experience does not count, but reading accounts from throughhikers, often enough they comment on how after a while they start to hate or react to their "favourite" foods.
Franco

I got a tip from a triple-crowner about meal replacement shakes he had for breakfast every morning. I got some of my own and had one every morning for a couple months when I hiked about 900 miles of the PCT in 2004. Never got sick of them, and they worked just fine, though I did notice that I was hungry again after an hour or so (and this was with a shake that had about 800 calories). I'm thru-hiking the PCT again this summer, and I plan to use the shakes again. While I wouldn't want to replace every meal with a shake, they have worked for me for breakfast. The shakes are extremely convenient, and they serve to hydrate as well as provide carbs, fat, and protein in the morning. Obviously they won't work for everyone, but they can work for some.

Chris,

I am interested in what you put in your shake? I plan on having a protein shake in the mornings on the PCT, but I don’t know how to make one with that many calories. The protein shake I have at home consists of frozen berries, a banana, and flavoured whey protein, but even that tops off at 500 calories.

If anybody else makes protein shakes on the trail, what ingredients do you use? Just a whey formula, or do you add other ingredients to mix it up?

You definitely have to add other stuff to it. 900 calories of just whey protein is roughly 9 scoops. It'd be almost thick enough to eat with a fork. I don't know about 900 calories though. My shakes may only be around 600 calories.

is there a reason why you're not just going to eat?

pack of instant potatoes = 440 calories
spam singles = 210 calories
big texas cinnamon roll = 460

that's over a 1000 just for dinner.

2 packs ramen noodles = 760 calories
1 pack salmon = 90 calories
big texas cinnamon roll = 460 calories

over 1200 for this one

i guess i'm just confused as to why you'd opt for powder nutrition when you could be eating big texas cinnamon rolls

"Also don't worry about fiber there is no hard evidence you need it or at least a lot of it."

Ahem- excuse me? Brian, I'm the guy who gets to stare at hemorrhoids and anal fissures all day. As far as I'm concerned we should add fiber to the municipal water supplies, like fluoride. :o)

Obviously, I'm sort of joking… but I DO tuck a packet of Metamucil cookies into my dinner freezer bags, to munch on while the water boils. Trail food is often horribly short of fiber.

T. M. I. !

–B.G.–

Wow, I must have really been in a mood yesterday. I owe you an apology, too, Eugene.

“is there a reason why you're not just going to eat?”

I’m not sure if you’re responding to the OP or myself, but I only plan on having a protein shake in the morning for breakfast. I do it everyday, whether I am on the trail or not.

On the trail, find it very convenient, and I just feel a lot better during the day if I have a protein shake. However, I’m not sure I’d want to do it for every meal.

I’m not sure if it is true or not, but I have read that plenty of thru-hikers consume protein shakes for breakfast. If I’m not mistaken, I believe Scott Williamson might be one of them. If true, I don’t think it could hurt if I try it on my first long hike.

Also, I know a lot of people can survive on ramen noodles and cinnamon rolls, but I am not one of those. If most of my food is junk I start to get really bad anxiety and I also over heat very fast, for reasons unknown to me. That being said, I also don’t think I could do an entire long hike on purely nutritional supplements

I don't believe he was responding to you but rather Eugene who seems to plan on getting half of his significant calories from powders. If it works for him more power to him but I would never want to choke down 9 scoops a day!

I argee with the need for protein in the morning and suppose light easy to carry powders are better than nothing. Of course I usually like my breakfast to include pork of some sort but that's awful hard to do without significant weight penalties.

"but I DO tuck a packet of Metamucil cookies into my dinner freezer bags, to munch on while the water boils"

Hey Dean, have you ever tried Manitoba Harvest Hemp Pro Fiber? 14g fiber and 11g protein in each 4 Tbsp. Mix it in with your shake, mix it with your oatmeal, great way to add both protein and fiber with one product!

maybe i didn't read thoroughly enough on leafty's OP. i missed out on the "no cook" part. i'd still recommend the big texas cinnamon rolls though

No worries guys, it's just a misunderstanding.

Josh, those rolls do sound good. I certainly wouldn't mind having that for my first day of mails after a resupply.

As for protein, some advanced bodybuilders seem to believe you should get it as often as possible, although ideally a workout is short enough that you can get away without any protein during the workout. A thru-hiker works out for 10+ hours a day, so waiting until the end of the day is hardly ideal according to this practice. Smaller shots of protein throughout the day is good. If I had to pick between a large dose of protein in the morning or evening, I'd pick evening every time.

these are my thoughts…protein for bodybuilding is quite different than the protein needed for hiking. it's not so much important as "when" you take it, just that you take it. i'm much more interested in fat and carbs hiking than protein.

I disagree. It's logical to assume that the body can only consume a certain amount of protein at a time. There's a study that show the body can only consume around 20g/hr of egg proteins. It may be different for other sources of protein, but it makes much more sense to me that protein absorption is best when spread out over a long period of time. This is very important to me since my legs and feet still haven't developed to the point I'd like, so a good protein plan is in order to help them get there as quickly as possible.

I will agree with you about fat and carbs. With all the work being done, those are very important to keep performance up throughout the day. Anyway, there's one week left, and then I can start reporting in my journal about how my body is accepting my diet and how it's adapting to the trail.

The shakes I used in 2004 were the thermoplex shakes from nutrabio. I called them up and explained that I wanted to pack as many calories as possible into the shakes, and they came up with a mixture for me. I remember them having around 800 calories a piece, but it was 6 years ago, so it’s possible I’m remembering wrong and it was more like 600 (it was certainly more than 400). I am not sure exactly what the shakes had in them, and in what proportions, because the company put it all together for me. I would use the same shakes this year except that 150 days x $4 per shake is more than I can afford right now. Instead, I’ve ordered small quantities from other manufacturers (including protein factory) and I’m going to test those out, and add and subtract ingredients until I get something I like. I may add whole fat milk powder into the mix to boost the calorie content.

heehhe yea it won't kill you and you'll have a neat field experience one way or another huh

It'll definitely be a learning experience, but it always is when closely paid attention to. I just hope that my experience will be useful to others, even if that lesson is to do nothing remotely similar to what I did. :)

I sent email to Protein Factory, questioning the number of servings per container of OatMuscle (the same point I raised earlier in this thread).

Their reply: You are correct. We are working to fix that. There are approximately 11 servings per pound with a 40 gram scoop.

For Eugene's calculation, that could (depending on how he did his calculations) affect both calories per pound, and number of pounds needed.

— MV

@Douglas-

"have you ever tried Manitoba Harvest Hemp Pro Fiber"

No. I am regularly compelled to undergo screening urinalysis by the US Army, so I try to avoid any foodstuff that includes the word "hemp" in it's title or ingredients… :o) I know that it is unlikely to make me pop positive, but it's so easy to avoid that I'd rather not take the chance.

"I am regularly compelled to undergo screening urinalysis by the US Army, so I try to avoid any foodstuff that includes the word "hemp" in it's title or ingredients… "

How about poppy seeds? I'm thinking bagels, muffins, etc.

"I know that it is unlikely to make me pop positive, but it's so easy to avoid that I'd rather not take the chance."

FWIW: It has been documented in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology, ISSN 0146-4760, Volume 32, Number 6, July/August, pp.428-432 that eating hemp food products under 10ppm THC will not cause a false positive drug test.

That being said, there certainly is no reason you must use it! I do find it wonderful stuff, though!

>that eating hemp food products under 10ppm THC will not cause a false positive drug test.

What about poppy seeds?

“What about poppy seeds?”

Snopes

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Yes, that was a little tongue-in-cheek on my part. Sorry to confuse. Actually, even when eating hemp food products you're still trusting the guy who made it. I can easily imagine some cottage food industry hippie getting a little carried away. (No offense to any cottage food hippies out there…) Probably don't have to worry about anything remotely mainstream.

And the Army is so absolutely UNREASONABLE about any positive UA that there is a palpable climate of fear about it. I'll certainly never go to a Phish concert, for instance… :o)

And you can get Metamucil crackers ANYWHERE, so why worry?