Triad Hiking

Hiking, like other endurance pursuits, uses lots of energy and requires a thoughtful diet to keep you healthy and strong throughout a day, multi-day or overnight extended trek. Eating all those empty calories (as we call them these days) only bogs your muscles down with refuse and internal detritus. Like a gym workout or a marathon race, it’s important to think about what you eat and drink before, during and after your ramble with Mother Nature. If you want to come out on top and feeling great to boot, be sure to keep certain good-for-you caloric foods in mind.

Before we press upon you what to eat, it’s a good idea to keep the food you bring on a hike or backpack adventure to a certain standard.

All the foods you bring should pack easily: Dependable. This means that fruits with a peel, veggies that don’t bruise and packaged items that don’t go squish in your pack are all dependable foods. Moreover, the foods you bring should last: Longevity. Foods with longevity tend to require no Frigidaire and simply last a long time on their own. There are plenty of naturally preserved foodstuff on the grocery shelves these days. And, finally, the food you pack on your hike should take no time to prepare: Handy. That’s right, you don’t want to slave over the camp stove for hours after an eight hour tramp. Be sure to bring foods that are easy and thus handy to cook. If it takes more than twenty minutes, it may not be handy.

Now, like your mom used to say, it’s time to learn the nice foods to eat before, during and after your long hike.

It’s important, to be sure, to pack foods high in carbs but also high in proteins. The former helps energize you through the day while the latter helps rebuild muscle tissue and fibers during recovery. Aside from real foods that you can take along—like packaged tuna, dried beans, refried bean spread, lentils, spinach and so forth—you might want to think of mini power snacks for along the way. We’ve all heard of those Power Up Bars, gels, chewies and electrolyte drinks. Though eating these calorie dense foods while sitting on the sofa will have adverse fattening effects, they are awesome when active. These sort of snacks fit all the abovementioned categories—dependable, longevity and handy. Additionally, any other organic food bars, crushed nut bars, trail mixes or salty supplements will help you feel in tip-top shape.

These Power Up Snacks are so good for you because of their blend of nutrition. Many have so to speak magic formulas honed to make muscles work their best. They have carbs which is perfect for long activity with a strenuous side. Fat is something that can be good for you at times, but during intense activity, fat is the last thing your body chooses to burn. Most nutritional snacks, then, are low in fat.

Some snacks are both high in sodium and potassium, the latter being necessary to keeping muscles hydrated and from cramping. Sodium, on the other hand, is good if you’ve sweated a lot during the day. Salt essentially helps your body break down carbs into glucose, so, yes, they are quite important. Some of these snacks have vitamins and minerals too. Most of these are OK as long as they are not overdone. Many simple get expelled through urination when the muscles don’t need them. Watch out for snacks if you don’t want caffeine, as this can cause you to urinate more losing vital fluids too fast. Keep in mind what you put in and what comes out of your body and you’re sure to feel great and last longer when that 5000 foot peak beckons in the distance.

September 8th, 2009 | Tags: hiking food, hiking nutrition, hiking snacks | Category: gear | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL