[pct-l] Food for thru hiking PCT

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Gord,

I admire the writings of Brenda Braaten, PhD, RD in reference to hiking
nutrition, http://thru-hiker.com/articles/pack_light_eat_right.phpparticularly
her section on protein.

The U.S. national over-reliance on protein gives credence to the comment
that Americans have the most expensive urine in the world, in obvious
reference to what happens to all of the surplus protein in our diets.

Protein supplement is popular – particularly among men – because muscle is
protein, and a high-protein diet is said to build muscles.  What guy
doesn’t want more muscle?  That makes a good story to promote the marketing
of protein supplements.  After all, promoting fat intake is not the
position most marketers want to take, and promoting the intake of
carbohydrate is just too common -- there’s not much special they can say
about “starch” -- but promoting protein supplement seems to make sense to
customers, and it’s a very lucrative venture for the marketer.

The main reason I don’t use protein supplements is I think eating/drinking
the stuff is monumentally boring, even when heavily laced with flavors and
sweeteners.

My preferred fuel balance for hiking is 50% carbohydrate, 35% fat, and 15%
protein.  http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=166338  Any food should
be Calorie-dense, meaning a high number of Calories per ounce of food
weight. In this respect, foods high in fat are preferred because fat has 9
Calories per gram vs. the 4 Calories per gram of carbohydrate and protein.

Enjoy your planning,

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/
 <http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/>

On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 10:23 AM, Gord Freeborn <gfreeborn at dccnet.com>wrote:

> Question - has anyone used Protein Powders as base food for thru - hiking
> PCT? I have read a fair bit of info on other sites but - the only thing I
> get out of all comments is CALORIES per ounce is the most important - some
> say the protein powders do not pack enough - a target ratio is roughly
> 140-150 calories per ounce, I am calculating based on average protein
> powder
> Nutritional Facts info - that it converts to 140 calories per 1.2 ounces???
> Any comments would be appreciated.
>
> Gord F
>
>