Foods for long distance walk page

[berkoe1]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post and I am almost done reading through the PB. As part of my job during the summer months in the UK I lead a local long distance walk - its tough and is 28 miles. It normally takes with a group 13 hours.

In the past I have fuelled this walk on wholegrain bread with a variety of fillings, flapjacks, energy bars, isotonic sports drinks.

At this point I am not going to be going fully 'primal' I am using the 6 Pillars of Nutrition as my guide (which shares many similarities to primal eating apart from starch containing foods can be consumed in the morning to replenish glycogen from sleeping and after exercise).

I am intrested to know what foods people would suggest whilst on the walk to keep energy levels going apart from lots of grains?

Many thanks
Wayne

[Khainag]

I went on a week long backpacking trip this past summer and used alot of nut/dried fruit mix and dried meat... also had some packaged soups, Snickers, oatmeal and dried milk stuff (was in Mongolia, got this from some people who gave it too us along the way). To make this more "primal" I'd try to increase dried meat and maybe have some homemade soup mix type stuff to replace the oatmeal and snickers... also maybe some dried cheese but if in Mongolia i'd do the dried curds again too.

Looking forward to others' thoughts!

[sbhikes]

It's just a day hike? You can bring any food you want on a day hike and you can even fast the entire day if you want. No need for special food.

If it's an overnight, I bring along dehydrated vegetables and meat (such as dehydrated canned chicken--I have a home dehydrator). I can either soak this in water in a plastic peanut butter jar for a few hours and eat it cold, perhaps add some olive oil, salt and pepper, or else I will heat it up on my backpacking stove and melt in some beef tallow or pemmican.

Vegetables I've dehydrated include cooked, mashed sweet potatoes and celery root, cooked beets, raw beet greens, raw carrot slices, raw corn kernels, raw diced zucchini.

[primalrob]

+1 for trying it fasted, if you're fat adapted.

otherwise, nuts, jerky and fruit are great for day hikes. not only do you want primal foods, but you want something easy to carry that is calorie dense.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

I used a larabar during my half marathons this summer. Was fine until I got home and had a more square meal, and then we would go out to a nice dinner later.

[halfbunny]

I understand you are a guide for a long walking tour, so i presume you are walking 28 miles several days a week during your summer job?

In that case.. I totally understand you don't want to do that fasted everytime!!
My personal choice would be: nuts & fruit; a thermos with soup; bite of beef jerky. Maybe it is more comfortable to do your walk fasted until lunch time then take a good filling primal snack like the suggestions given by shbikes and others? (like pemmican)

[halfbunny]

Leading a long distance walk as part of your job actually sounds very nice! Are you in tourism or nature preservation?

[RandyStimpson]

+1 for trying it fasted, if you're fat adapted.

Or you could try it almost fasted. I regularly walk 6 miles (two times around Green Lake in Seattle). That hardly compares to 28 miles but I accidently learned a trick you may want to try. Sometimes I get hungry on my second lap and feel like I can't keep going. Because of that I used to carry a snack just in case I got too hungry. One day though I hit the wall without a snack. I did have a piece of hard candy in my pocket though. After about a minute of sucking I was no longer hungry even though I had only ingested about 1 of the 10 calories in that piece of candy. So far that trick has worked for me every time.

I don't know why it works. Others might have insight.

[Ana Tane]

Berkoe1

I dont do walks that far anymore and not with the weight i used to carry in my pack. Advice i received when i was young from my Dad was to carry a few small onions, carrots and potatoes in the pack to cook up at the end of a day. This idea was for long walks over a few days to weeks.
I also used to carry a salami stick and cut a small piece off at the end of the day and chew it for as long as i could.
A trail mix, nuts and dried fruit are great and even better if you throw a few chocolate buttons in as well.
I would go the jerky option for sure as i think not only can you eat as you go but you can also add to a decent cook up, or boil in water with the above for a big filling soup.

The hardest thing is to carry what is in your current eating plan. Non perishable vegies for a soup at the end of the day would win for me.

[Ana Tane]

Berkoe1

I dont do walks that far anymore and not with the weight i used to carry in my pack. Advice i received when i was young from my Dad was to carry a few small onions, carrots and potatoes in the pack to cook up at the end of a day. This idea was for long walks over a few days to weeks.
I also used to carry a salami stick and cut a small piece off at the end of the day and chew it for as long as i could.
A trail mix, nuts and dried fruit are great and even better if you throw a few chocolate buttons in as well.
I would go the jerky option for sure as i think not only can you eat as you go but you can also add to a decent cook up, or boil in water with the above for a big filling soup.

The hardest thing is to carry what is in your current eating plan. Non perishable vegies for a soup at the end of the day would win for me.