[pct-l] Trail food

[Brick Robbins <brick@fastpack.com>]

At 03:00 PM 3/15/00 , blisterfree wrote:


>  since the FDA's standards for determining 
>nutritional content is neither thorough nor entirely honest. 

Actually the "standards" are labeling guidelines for the manufacturers to determine the content of their own food. The FDA does not determine the nutritional value, it only provides what format the label is in.

I'm not sure why blisterfree says the labels are not "entirely honest." Due to variations in source material, the labels are not always accurate for every product, but they should be pretty good over a wide sampling of products.

Not that I'm happy with government agencies, but the FDA got a tough job. Regulate supplements and the public has a fit, but let someone die of a heart attack from ephedrine (readily available along the trail in "Mormon Tea"), and the get grief for not regulating enough... 



>I'd probably just 
>try plotting a one-to-one correlation between the foods eaten and the 
>resulting energy and enthusiasm of the hiker. In such a study, all foods 
>would get their fair shake, no preconceptions and no "supporting" 
>nutritional data. 

This methodology violates the scientific concept of "double blind" testing because the subjects will know what food they are eating. "Resulting energy and enthusiasm" is such a subjective measurement that it is likely to be heavily influenced by the food beliefs of the test subject. Faith is a very powerful force, and is known as the "placebo effect" in drug research.

I suspect that Blisterfree would do best on the diet described in the Jardine books, since he has lots of faith, while I would do best on twinkies and hamburgers.

>All trail diets are definitely not equal, but then neither are the ways in 
>which hikers' bodies respond to various foods,

This is very very true, and I suspect this lies at the root of the 'corn-pasta' wars. Over time I have discovered that wheat based products, especially whole wheat, causes me gastric distress, while corn based products work just fine for me (Milk bothers me too...). My genetic background is about 1/4 native American (you can tell by my red hair<g>) and I have been told that milk and wheat intolerance is common among those native to the Americas, since neither wheat nor milk was known here before its introduction by Europeans.

I suspect that Corn works best for some folks, while Twinkies work better for others.

In summary, bring what tastes good, and eat lots of it. You'll eat much more if you actually like it. If Twinkies, or Little Debbies taste good, then by all means, PIG OUT.

-Respectfully Submitted
-Brick


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