[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[at-l] "Light" food

I keep seeing posts on a number of lists about "light" food for
backpacking.  I don't really thing there is such a thing.  Let me explain.

First... I'm not a nutritionist, so I'm just sharing stuff I've picked up
over the years.

Next...

Food is made up of roughly four kinds of stuff:

Carbohydrates @ 4 calories/gram
Protein @ 4 calories/gram
Fat @ 9 calories/gram
Stuff we can't digest @ 0 calories/gram

The goal in backpacking is to get adequate vitamins, minerals, etc. and
LOTS OF CALORIES.  Most of our requirements don't change a whole lot when
backpacking, except that we burn a whole lot more energy than usual.

So, how do we get "light" food?  There are only two ways:

(1) get rid of stuff we can't digest (like water)
(2) raise the fat content

That's it.  Now, fats take a long time to digest and are not an efficient
source of quick energy, so the ultimate "light weight" food (i.e. olive
oil) isn't really practical as one's sole source of calories.  Instead,
most people end up getting rid of the water (dehydrating, freeze drying,
etc.), increasing fat intake somewhat (e.g. lots of peanut butter, nuts,
etc.), and balancing that with a hefty carbohydrate intake (rice, corn,
dried veggies, etc.).

Within that, we still need to eat a good "balanced" diet with some roughage
(zero calorie, unfortunately), to stay healthy.  On a long hike I might
take some sort of daily multi vitamin as well, but that's just personal
opinion.

Any nutritionists out there want to comment?

-- Jim

* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List | For info http://www.hack.net/lists *

==============================================================================