[pct-l] Food and Calories

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Jan 8, 2009, at 12:56 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> I always like to whip out this link when food and calories is  
> discussed:
> http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.php/Backpacking-and-Hiking- 
> documents/ct_calories_mpd.html
>
>
> Amusing and/or scary... :D

I suspected Snickers to be a good value calories/weight and calories/ 
dollar. I found king-sized snickers on sale at K-Mart in South Lake  
Tahoe at 10 for $10. That's $1 for 600 calories.

Unfortunately, I did not like the Snickers. They were melty and they  
did not leave me feeling strong and healthy. I did not like the way  
they tasted. I tried Nut Rageous, which I thought tasted better, but  
candy just did not provide me the right nutrition for the effort I  
was doing.

I couldn't stand ordinary energy bars anymore, either. Cheese was the  
only high-calorie food I really liked anymore. And what I wouldn't  
have done for an avocado. The Cobb salad in Sierra City had a half an  
avocado on top (plus real bacon) and was the most heavenly thing I  
ever ate.

I craved fresh fruit and veggies. They were the only thing that  
tasted good to me anymore after a while. Having a naturally low  
metabolism that I swear was slowed even further by the long hike, I  
don't think I needed the calories so much as the vitamins and "chi",  
or life energy, of real food. When I got home, fresh fruit and  
veggies were all I could eat for a month. I even gained back most of  
the weight I lost on a diet of mostly peaches, grapefruit and salad.

Still, it is interesting information to know.