Poor Diet of Typical Thru-Hikers Seem to Offset Hiking Health Benefits

The article has been making the rounds and indeed many modern long distance hikers, who skew young, resupply with a lot of “junk” food found in gas stations, cheap/readily available in small grocers, etc…

One big problem is the study has a sample size of … 1 (one, uno, einer, etc..).  Also another study on the CT showed those hikers had better blood readings after their hike ..

https://www.outsideonline.com/2125031/what-happens-your-body-thru-hike

Could be less gas station resupplies along the CT and more hippy health food choices?  A more reasonable (albeit very preliminary) conclusion using both is that resupplying with good food may be more important than most assume … in the absence of even more robust studies.  

Think the only true answer would be a well-funded (voluntary) study of thru hikers on various trails with a food log, random blood tests in addition to a beginning/final blood test, … also random trash pick up to assure the food logs are accurate.

Actual Study: https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/X4IRPMN95GCNWQG5YUGC?target=10.14814/phy2.14767

Things that stood out to me:

1. the hiker didn’t lose weight over the course of the hike; only 0.8kg.

2. Resting heart rate increased from 60bpm prehike to 68bpm post hike.

3. The loss of bone density in the pelvis during load bearing excersize.

Maybe the participant was tired or stressed during the follow up tests?

The fact that they didn’t lose weight I think makes it hard to compare their results to most other hikers.

The loss of bone density seems the easiest to attribute to diet. Weight training is how you improve bone density, the hiker’s diet must have been so high in PRAL to weaken the bones they were actively using…

Excellent points Jacob. Of course, it goes without saying that single subject research has limits. However, if highly sugared, low fiber, high fat and sodium are not recommended under non-physical stress conditions, how much more so when under high physical stress conditions.

It’s not really a study, but it’s always an interesting topic. I’ve been pretty grossed out by seeing what people eat on their YT backpacking videos. Many seem to eat the same thing throughout a hike, not much variety. And not a lot of fiber, fruit and veg, loads of processed sugar. I’m not a health nut by any means, but if I ate what those guys eat, I think I’d feel awful.

I guess you can get away with more when you’re young?

Personally, the more I learn about the importance of diet, the more I’m prepared to carry a little extra weight to ensure I’m getting reasonably balanced and healthy nutrition on the trail. With a little planning and imagination, there’s just no need to rely on junk, especially if you don’t obsess about every gram in your pack.

I also make a point of pigging out on fresh fruit and veggies during resupply and the first day back on the trail. I even carry a tiny little chopping board so I can prep fresh food more easily.

The longer the trail, the more important this surely becomes. Beating up your body for months on end without giving it the nutrition it needs to repair itself can’t be smart. I wonder how much poor diet contributes to thru-hiker burn-out and injury?

I look forward to my small bag of Cheetos on the trail, and they don’t even compress well.

But I draw the line on the freezer bags of pulverized Fritos some of my younger cohorts enjoy.

I’m rarely out for more than 4 days at a time so I guess carrying good food is less of a burden, but I eat like a champ on the trail. My diet is not too much different than day to day. Granola, nuts, a Rx Bar, PB&J, coffee, oatmeal… about the only major difference is a lack of yogurt, fresh fruit and veggies and the addition of a freeze dried dinner, but I read the ingredients of those and only get decent or better ones.

Im also grossed out thinking of eating ramen and snickers for a month. And like dennis and karen say, if you ate junk at home you feel crummy. Now add 4000+ calories a day of exertion. It can only be worse I would think…

Science, even if the conclusions are obvious is always good, but I think the byline to this study is “man eats junk food for a month and is subsequently found to be less healthy” (duh).

The large jump in the study guy’s resting heart rate is odd and even unsettling. If anything it should have fallen. The higher rate suggests he’s having a harder time getting oxygen to his body, or something. it suggests that his heart is less efficient now than at the start of the hike.

More likely it suggests the recording is a one off and subsequent measures would show a different number. And if that'[s true, then it’s another reason why this “study” is really jsut an anecdote.

That said: in the U.S. we tend to always think that ‘more is better’ (pickle and mustard and mayo and onions and bacon on that triple cheeseburger); so, if hiking for a week is healthy, hiking a thousand miles must be REALLY healthy.

But long distance hiking is stressful on the body. Doubtless there’s a tipping point for your body where the long term stress of a long hike turns negative, health wise.

Interesting. I ate some junk food on the CT but also lots of nuts and some dried fruit.  I lost a good bit of weight which might or might not have been a good thing ( I wasn’t overweight prior). But it definitely was not a pace I would have been able to keep up forever. A 3 week trip is a bit different than a summer long hike.

This is an interesting story, and that is all. It should only inform us insomuch as to say that maybe we should try to eat good food if at all possible. How is that news?

Higher pulse rate, lower bone density, and no weight loss?!?

Makes me wonder if he even hiked the trail.  Cheryl “Strayed” Nyland made a bunch of money off claiming she’d hiked the PCT, but couldn’t even get her dates and times right and no one remembers her hiking it that year (“Young solo blonde woman not noticed by largely male hikers” said no headline ever).

Occam’s Razor.  Sometimes it’s the simpliest answer.

“The pair theorize that Heinbockel’s typical thru-hiker diet was at least partially at fault.”

Theorize = assume

And we all know what happens when we assume much based on anecdotal junk.

David – I haven’t heard the theory that Nyland faked her hike.

A quick google didn’t throw up any sign of this controversy.

What’s the basis of your concerns?

Makes me wonder if he even hiked the trail

That would explain why they weren’t able to publish a dietary record; while most self-reported diet studies are obviously full of inaccuracies, I would think the logistics of packing and buying all the food for a thru hike would make it a lot easier to put together a good diet record…

Figure 1 on page 3 of the study shows the reported daily miles and elevation change

Well, at least one person seems to remember Cheryl Strayed Nyland on the PCT.

Thanks, William, for the link concerning Strayed.  I hope this puts the controversy to rest.

My opinion:  it’s possible some of the book’s claims are incorrect, but the article should put the shoe on the other foot.  I.e. since a witness to her hike confirms everything she wrote about their mutual interaction, it’s up to naysayers to provide evidence of falsehood, and not up to her to provide more proof.

I imagine if I wrote a book about my life as it happened 20 years ago, I’d probably have to embellish a bit. Memoir is more art than science. Exactly what happened on Cheryl Strayed’s trek, who knows! She probably didn’t imagine putting down her experience on paper would lead to a bestseller and a movie.

Before retiring I was a bookseller. I got an advance reading copy of Strayed’s book. I liked it pretty well but it wasn’t what I was expecting or wanted going in. In any case, I remember saying to people, it’s pretty good but it will never sell. Too personal!

And before y’all jump on me, this happens all the time. UC press projected selling 5,000 copies of the first volume of Mark Twain’s autobiography. It sold out immediately and the Christmas season had come and gone before they were able to get more printed and out to stores. I think the Emperor of Maladies was another ‘miss’–the rule is, people don’t want to read about cancer. Oops!

(“Young solo blonde woman not noticed by largely male hikers” said no headline ever).

@ David. have you read the book?  I read it years ago but if I recall correctly there were one or two accounts she related of her getting unwanted attention from large males.

Also, one one level the book was not really about the PCT but about processing and grieving over the death of a parent.