[pct-l] resupply question

[blisterfree at isp01.net (Brett)]

Find a small town near you - the kind without a genuine
"super" market, whether franchise or no - and peruse the
shelves of whatever food outlets you find as if you were
already on the trail, hoping to stock up for the next 100
mile stretch.

To make this simulation more realistic, don't eat anything
for 12 hours before visiting said store. And exercise
vigorously just before hopping in the car to go there. Once
you arrive and have located the grocery store, park one mile
away, grab a loaded backpack, and walk back to the store.

Arriving tired and famished, see what foods jump out at
you -- if any. They may not be the most nutritious or
desirable items, but they're what's available that you'd be
willing to eat in order to fill the void, satisfy the
palate, and restore lost energy. These are the most
important considerations on a long distance hike; good
nutrition is also important, but secondary. During the hike
you'll stand a good chance of upping your nutritional
reserves with restaurant meals and in the grocery's produce
area, when available. Binge on healthy stuff whenever you're
able. The rest of the time, just focus on eating. Focus on
calories. In short, let your taste buds be the guide in
determining whether to resupply by mail or by store.

That said, it isn't what convenience type foods lack, it's
what they have added, that makes them less desirable, IMO.
Nutritionally bereft foods won't harm the body just because
of their emptiness, but their coarse, overprocessed,
engineered-for-shelf-life qualities may. Hydrogenated oils
(trans-fatty acids), for one, which are ubiquitous in snack
foods outside of the "organic aisle," have been shown to
possibly promote free radical damage to cells -- not good
for the thru-hiker who is already producing an overabundance
of free radicals via prolonged physical stress. FD&C
artificial coloring is another problem area, since the dyes
may be highly reactive in the body.

But most people could care less what happens on the inside,
so long as all seems okay on the outside, for now. And a
thru-hike is probably not a good time to cultivate a
tendency toward fussy eating, as already mentioned. So my
rule of thumb in determining whether to send a maildrop or
shop at the grocery? If the grocery is described as "okay
for long-term resupply" and the cost of shipping would
approach or exceed the cost of food itself, then grocery
wins every time. Otherwise, it's mostly about the taste
buds.

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