[at-l] Re: first questions/vegetarian trail diets

[nealb@midlandstech.com (William Neal)]

I lost 20 lbs in the first week or two & I am not a vegetarian.  The only
"harm" it did me worked out to my good.  I went to a doctor farther up the
trail and he decided I was overdoing my meds and made me cut back on my med
and go up on my calories.

Almost anyone can hike long distances if they maintain a good nutritional
balance with the appropriate amount of calories -- which can come from
veggies, meat, or both.

I skimmed a book before my hike in 92 that was by a veggie bodybuilder.  And
if you can bodybuild on a veggie diet, you can hike on a veggie diet.  Also,
I remember seeing (but will not swear to it) a backpacking book for
vegetarians.

William, The Turtle

-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt Bodling [mailto:KAB@concordia-ny.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 3:52 PM
To: at-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: [at-l] Re: first questions/vegetarian trail diets


Pat,

Does a month or so on the Long Trail qualify as "big chunks"?
Either way, I'm a vegetarian and maintained the diet on the trail this
summer.  Most of my food was prepared at home and sent to my
two mail drops.  Suppers were either things I dehydrated and
mixed in Zip-loc bags according to the directions in the "Lip
Smackin' Back Packin' " cookbook, or commercially dried soups
that I amended with instant rice, or cous cous, and some TVP.

Almost from the get go I was thinking about how I missed fresh
fruit, partly because I eat a good amount of it here in my other life.

And I did lose something like 15-20 unnecessary pounds.  Okay,
that would have been a problem if I had been thru-hiking the AT and
the weight loss had continued.  But, on the other hand, if I'd been
thru-hiking the AT instead of the LT, I'd have made more town stops
and eaten more ice-cream and possibly done some other food
things differently.

Short story: no change in my veggie diet while I was hiking, didn't
feel the need.

concordia, LT '02

>
> Time for a new thread:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Orange Bug [mailto:orangebug74@yahoo.com]
> Most hiker meals are vegetarian with copious amounts of noodles, pasta,
> rice and such. Fats are well supplemented with vegetable oils, butter,
> cheese, nuts and such. Dried salmon may be a reasonable idea, if that is
> part of your version of veggan.
>
>
> Let's hear from vegetarians who did big chunks of the trail. How/did your
> diets change? Guess we also need to know your definition of vegetarian. I
> ask because I know vegetarians who modified or dropped their diets on the
> trail to deal with their extreme hunger.
>
> Eats like one, but is not one-
> Chocolate
>
> -- __--__--