Whether you are up for a single day hike or several days backpacking, there are nutrition guidelines to consider. Hiking or trekking nutrition can be very different from daily nutrition habits. Our bodies need to have the right fuel with the right ingredients at the right time. There are day hikes in which you can live with anything. You don’t necessarily care for vitamins, proteins, or carbohydrates ratio. There are other cases, also in an intense day hikes, in which nutrition can be crucial. N
Trekking nutrition starts with mapping the trip assumptions. Consider the distance you should walk in your day hike or each day during the trek. know the weather conditions, during the trek. Check whether there stop points to buy any food. Check the altitude of the journey and be aware the max ascent and descend. All these and more, are factors to guide for the items and food you should carry.
Clearly it is a lot of easier to carry only a single day supply.
If traveling in high altitude areas, hot weather conditions, high ascending, those factors are also water-demanding. Unless you are aware of certain places in which you can fill up again with water. Either buying or having water from lakes and river and purifying them. The same goes for food. Mapping the hike will help to identify how much food is required.
As part of your plan, consider the gear you have for handling the food. Whether you need to travel light in long backpacking, or you can carry heavier cookware. Traveling light, regardless the cookware is an important factor since the more you carry, the more food and drinks that you need.
This is the next step after the general mapping of your trip. Based on this and other personal variables like gender and weight, you can evaluate how much food you are going to carry. A rule of thumb for trekking nutrition that is usually in use is having around 1kg of food per day. The breakdown of the food will dictate the balance of energy in that food and other ingredients like water, protein, and fat.
Carbohydrates, fats
For longer hikes, it is recommended to have around 50% of the food as carbohydrates, 30% as fats and 20% protein. It means, in longer
An adult weights ~75 kg, needs around 450 calories per hour hiking. It can be more demanding depends on the weight you carry and how difficult the trail is. So especially when having long trails, such meal planning is really an important factor. Be aware of how much you carry and what is the distance you assume to walk each day.
For simplicity, let’s assume your body needs for a normal day 2000 calories. And having 4 hours hiking, which
You can refer to this calories calculator to know how much should you consume in rest and per activity level.
Keeping in mind the breakdown of weight per calorie:
1 kg of food, consisting of 350 grams of water, 325 grams carbohydrates, 97.5 grams of protein, and 227 grams of fat, will provide the desired 3500 calories.
Considering trekking nutrition, water plays an important part
Remember that any case, although considering traveling light, when it comes to safe hiking, you should not limit yourself to the minimum but having a bit more than that both of food and water, for your safety and as a precaution.
There’s a reason why many hikers carry with them nuts mix and dried food. You carry your fluids through direct water and not through food, like big heavy fresh apples, which are great, for day hikes. Clearly, fresh fruits can be more tasty and healthy, if you can afford to carry them. A nuts mix will contain probably the right fats, carbohydrates, and proteins that you need. nuts mix, peanuts, peanuts butter, almond butter, soy-based food, and lentils are good sources to minerals, fats, carbohydrates, and fat. Tuna in (olive) oil is also a good choice for the backpackers, although the can adds weight, and nowadays there are tuna chunks in vacuum sealed bags. Eggs are also great food if you take cooking gear and eggs container.
If taking energy bars, mix those to include those that are high in vitamins or protein, depends on the overall hiking diets.
sesame sticks are also a
Having cooking ware will help a lot to prepare a variety of foods with the right hiking essentials, from pasta or rice with black beans, oatmeal cooking, and couscous dish. Eggs can be carried in a protective container and can be great for trekking nutrition.
Breakfast, as commonly claimed, is indeed an important part of trekking nutrition meal for the day. Here you fill and fuel your body with the essentials to carry and to supply the body with for the upcoming long hike. Also, hydrate yourself with a few cups of water. Now you know that even if something will go wrong, your body has what it needs to handle the challenges.
During the hike, do short small meals. It will give you consistent energy through hiking without stopping too long and the body will remain warm. Keep in mind long thru-hiking is calorie demanding, so unlike a normal day when you try to avoid chocolate bars and such snacks, here you need the fuel, so as long as you eat a mixture of foods, you can truly enjoy your sweet (and salty) snack here up the hills or long trails. Postpone heavy lifting meals to the point of destination of each day. This will also ensure you don’t reach too late at dark to your sleeping point and you have the time to set things up for the night stay.
The numbers presented here are to give general guidelines for trekking nutrition. Of course, each should make pre-thinking regarding this topic. Knowing the habits, and self-capabilities, the trip details, the weather and so on. Make sure you are covered, like in other aspects of the adventure, so it will be enjoyable and as safe as possible.
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