[at-l] Food & eating - on and off the trail

[Phil.Heffington@oc.edu (Phil Heffington)]

I may be the worst person possible to give advice about trail food.  I seem=
 to carry too much food weight every trip I make.  I do not, however, carry=
 much food which does not have calories to match the weight.  Sprouts, for =
example, may be tasty, but they have practically no caloric value.  At my w=
eight, with my loaded pack, I would need to eat about 6,000 calories per da=
y, be it fat, or carbs, or sugar, or whatever, to maintain my weight while =
hiking.  Thus, I usually eat everything I can carry, find, buy or Yogi, and=
 still lose about a pound a day on the trail for the first three weeks.  I =
dehydrate my own jerky for the trail and also enjoy dehydrated Cinnamon Imp=
erial apple slices.  I don't use mail drops for re-supply very often, so I =
tend to eat up the apples the first few days, and ration out the beef jerky=
 to last several weeks.  Lipton meals, candy, cheese, margarine, etc., bols=
ters the calories on the trail, as well as fresh fruits, etc.

You can find my recipes for the jerky and the Cinnamon Imperial apples at: =
 http://www.oc.edu/staff/phil.heffington/recipes.htm

The real need I have is to keep the weight off when I get home.  I still ne=
ed to lose about 10 more pounds, after shedding about 20 on this year's hik=
e.  Eating well at home while trying to cut back on calories is a drastic c=
hange from trail life.  I'm doing a little better at it this year.  I'd be =
interested in knowing how the rest of you have managed your hunger, weight,=
 energy, etc., after returning from your hike.