Caloric Density spreadsheet.

[JAK]

Seems to me that nuts would be excellent long-distance hiker food, with their natural companions, dried fruits and veggies. Nuts carry quite a caloric wallop and have plenty of protein and complex carbs.

Agreed. Nuts are a great way to add quality fats that are more than just empty calories.
Gotta watch the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio though, but lots of other good stuff in nuts.
Only about 15-20% protien or so, but for a high fat source of protien that is very good.

[ScottP]

This might be a good option for long term hikers:
http://ucanrun2win.com/super.html

It is a form of resistant starch that helps keep your blood sugar steadier than most carbs. The company told me it has been tested to 10 ppm for gluten.

-Mrs. Oddbird

deluxe pseudoscience

[ScottP]

6000 calories is 20 cups of dry oatmeal; I'm not sure these plans are realistic in terms of volume of food.
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailypl...al-12-cup-dry/


I've read many AT memoirs saying that guys tend to look scrawny at the end, like they need more protein, but women do better because they can turn the fat into muscle.

-Mrs. Oddbird

male and female metabolisms/appetites respond very differently to stress

[JAK]

Certainly true that you can only choke down so much oatmeal, but its an excellent foundation to which you may add dried fruit, nuts and seeds, skim milk, honey, and canola oil. I can choke down 1 pound per day, but only pack 3 pounds for a 5-6 day trip, as a general rule. That is 750 calories, and is about 25% of my hiking diet while I am losing weight on the trail. If I needed more fat in my diet oats would still make up 10-15% of my hiking diet. Sticks to your ribs and all that. If its no oats, its crap. Yada yada yada.

[JAK]

0.5 pounds = 2.5-3 cups = 750 Calories per day that is. Leaves me room for lentil and veggie soup.

[JAK]

If you really want to pound bake the oats, brown them canola oil or some other fat, and less water. Be sure and drink lots of water through the day if you do this, as you will eventually need to replace the water to digest those oats. You just don't need to add all the water when you first choke them down. Other stuff can still be added, but most of the water you can add as you go.

[oddbird]

You could consider subbing ghee (clarified butter) for the canola oil. it is shelf stable, has vitamin K2, and avoids the omega 6's of the canola.

[aaronthebugbuffet]

People think too much about food.
People think about food too much.

[Connie]

working on digestion
~ScottP

I think 'working on digestion' keeps my warm.

JAK,

I like Sunbutter packets from PackIt Gourmet. I like vacuum packed alder-smoked salmon. Good? Bad?

Maybe you would approve of Purity Products Omega Berry instead?

I have some other unusual items I like for a long hike: cold weather only Gomasio (ground sesame seed and salt) and Miso soup packets, or, any long hike Low Sodium ConcenTrace Trace Mineral Drops. I may put drops of those trace minerals in the water because one atom of a trace mineral is needed for each digestive enzyme, so I figure a trace of trace minerals will keep me in a full compliment of digestive enzymes to help optimize my use of food.

In addition, I take a calcium supplement without taking a magnesium supplement: 3 to 1 or 2.5 to 1 (New Chapter Organics CalMag) and I have the same ratio of Natrol Ester-C to dry Vitamin E, if I take any supplements.

I would rather rely on real food, but it isn't easy to rely completely on real food for a long hike.

Has anyone considered extremely lightweight and quickly prepared couscous? Added at the last moment, it is ready in seconds. I know I am interested in couscous recipes.

[Connie]

The idea about the couscous recipes is that different salad dressings are calorie dense and taste good.

There are 4-ounce packets and smaller of salad dressing in the grocery store or available from PackIt Gourmet.

Say: couscous greek salad? couscous-whole garbanzo bean basis for a salad? couscous-packaged chicken entree?

[Toli]

I got a headache!

Me too... What ever happened to just eatin' Ramen and Pop Tarts ...

[ScottS]

Pecans are the new #1 at 6.78571428571428 calories/gram.
Peanuts are the only new addition to break into the top 10 of either category, showing up in the five-way tie for 6th in Protein/gram at 0.25.

I'll add instant oatmeals onto my cereal/poptart list. I forgot about them since I never feel like doing two hot meals a day.

[ScottS]

Anyways, the one thing the class did make me aware of is lack of protein of a long period of time will eventually make the body feel sick and unenergetic. They explained that most dry food meals are complex carbs with little protein. What proteins will be lighter than say Peanut Butter? or the like??

YMMV, but I've known a few athletes who consumed relatively little protein and did just fine. Experimenting with yourself is easy to do before leaving.

The reason I'm sharing this list is so people will have a reference for your question "What proteins will be lighter than say Peanut Butter? or the like??"
Go to the link in the OP, click on the "all" tab and sort the protein/gram column from z-a. This will list the items I've recorded that have the highest amount of protein for the weight. Currently, the top are:

Powerbar Protein Plus Chocolate Brownie
Powerbar Protein Plus Dulce de Leche
Powerbar Protein Plus Vanilla Yogurt
Clif Builder Chocolate Mint
Clif Builder Chocolate Peanut Butter
Snickers Marathon Protein Chocolate Nut
Snickers Marathon Energy Chewy Peanut Butter
Peter Pan Peanut Butter
Peanuts
Snickers Marathon Protein Caramel Nut
Snickers Marathon Energy Crunchy Dark Chocolate
Creations: Lemon Pepper

[rastayogi]

A really smart idea is to look at what endurance athletes eat. The human body runs best off carbohydrates. You may have to carry more weight in food, but you should want your calorie intake to break down near 70% of calories from carbs. Protein is essential for muscle recovery at night. This doesn't mean jerky, look into spirulina, hemp seeds, quinoa. When you pollute your body with a high fat diet it greatly slows recovery and that is essential on long distance trips. Fat give 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories per gram with protein and carbohydrates, but what it gives in calories, it takes away from blood flow to the muscle tissue and cells. There are a lot of powders that are light, but high in vitamins, minerals and calories. Dates are amazing and have 70 calories per date. They are semi expensive, but so is mountain house. You can get dehydrated potatoes, natural local raw honey is high in calories and great for getting use to the pollens in the area. Sometimes you can't let the grams get in the way of common sense

[ScottS]

Pretty sure 70% carbs isn't necessary (although pretty likely while hiking, just based on circumstances) and that fats aren't "pollutants."
This thread ended up getting some really wacky posts in it, which wasn't my intention at all. I hope at least someone got some use out of the information and wasn't dissuaded by all the "I heard..." posts.

[Tenderheart]

Three ounces of pure carbs will net you about 340 calories, 8,000 calories of pure carbs will weigh in at about 4.4 lbs while 8,000 calories of pure fat will weigh about 2 lbs. Your body needs fat.

And your cardiologist needs you to eat plenty of fat.

[rastayogi]

Nutrition is a subject on which there is a huge variation of idea's and theories. I lean towards the 80/10/10 style of eating. Which happens to work great for endurance athletes, but doesn't load so well when back packing.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?se...ach&id=8639734 hmmm

[WingedMonkey]

Dates are amazing and have 70 calories per date.

Dates are a part of my bike or hike snack foods, however they are no where near 70 calories per date, unless you buy some giant fruit I've never seen.
The bag in front of me says "serving size 6-7 dates, calories 120. My math is 20 calories or less per date.

[LDog]

And your cardiologist needs you to eat plenty of fat.

This comment apparently lumps all sources of fat under one hat, ignores that many fats are heart healthy, ignores the necessity of fat for proper nutrition, and the benefits it provides long-distance hikers. I carry a bottle of olive oil, and douse most everything I eat liberally with it.

Nuts are high in fat and are important sources of protein. The tree nuts are also loaded with all kinds of goodness and makes every list of "superfoods." I carry my own mix of pecans, almonds, peanuts and cashews, as well as a jar of peanut butter.

Carbs are important. But I feel cheap carbs that are high on the glycemic index aren't worth consuming. I carry whole grain versions of couscous, bulgar wheat, oatmeal, quinoa, and brown instant rice.

There's growing evidence that the low-fat, high carb diet foisted upon us in the 80s is the single largest contributor to the obesity epidemic.

[rastayogi]

Dates are a part of my bike or hike snack foods, however they are no where near 70 calories per date, unless you buy some giant fruit I've never seen.
The bag in front of me says "serving size 6-7 dates, calories 120. My math is 20 calories or less per date.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...-juices/7348/2 23 grams is 66 calories for medjool.
Nobody is getting fat eating couscous, bulgar wheat, oatmeal, quinoa, and brown instant rice.
What you add or eat with that might make you fat. I think when people say carbs make you fat, they mean to say drinking soda and consuming other poor carbohydrate sources. The battle of dietary fat is doing to be raging for years to come that is for sure. I recommend a few books The China Study and Prevent and reverse heart disease by doctor

Caldwell B. Esselstyn.