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Menu Planning and Nutrition, Sources - Coggle Diagram
Menu Planning and Nutrition
Role of nutrition in adventure activities
Helps in recovery from long days
Fules you for your day of adventures
Builds and repairs mucle
Keeps mental function and clarity
Helps in preventing injury
An oppertunity to find fun creative ways to make food you like while outside of the comfort of your own home
Hygene and other Food Saftey Issues
It is a good rule of thumb to not cook where you sleep. This will help prevent unwanted critters from visiting you in the night.
Always wash your hands before cooking, yes even in the backcountry.
It is especally important to wash your hands after using the bathroom, every time!
If it is cold out, handsanitizer can be a good alternative to washing your hands with water.
Preparing meals in a fairshare can help reduce the amount of clean up that needs to happen once dinner is finished.
Try to get all of the chunky bits out from your fairshare before cleaning so as not to leave any small bits of food debri to be washed out.
Black and green tea hold anti-microbial properties, so brewing a pot of water for tea is always a great way to help clean out a fairshare.
Black tea has a strong taste to it which can potentally mask the flavors of whatever you had for your meal. At the very end, the tea bag can help to wipe up any remaining food debri that is left over.
Large, freezer grade, ziplock bags work increadibly well as pack in pack out trash bags when in larger groups or out on long expiditions. Smaller ziplock bags can be used for shorter trips or with fewer people.
Pack down trash as much as you can, and try to minimise the spreading out of small trash piles amongst the group. Keep it simple by having one or two community bags.
Clean all food particles out from cookwear, or to the best of your abilites. Bringing a small sponge that you can use throughout the trip can help with this, but sticks, leaves, sand, and pineneedles can also have simmilar cleaning effects. Be sure to throughly rinse your cookwear if using any of the natural resources listed above. A sponge can be boiled throughout the trip to keep it sanitary.
Brodcast greywater 175 ft away from any body of water.
Dont wash cookwear directly in bodies of water.
Using eco frinedly soap such as Dr. Bronners is ideal when out in the backcountry. Though the use of eco friendly soap is not fully compatable with LNT guidlines.
Can double as soap for hands, showers, and clothes.
Making it accessible and palatable
There are many differnet brands that can be used for outdoor meal sourcing. Mountain House, Expidition Foods, and Backpackers Pantry are large outdoors food brands that make prepackaged and dehydrated meals. A down side to brands such as these is their product is increadibly expensive and can hold the same amount of nutritional value as a ClifBar
You can also dehydrate your own meals at home. This can give you the ability to create great meals for half of the cost of prepackage meals. This also opens the possibility of more creative meals, or meals specificly catered to what you like or want.
Go-To's for easy outside meals that are fairly inexpensive
Canned chicken, spice packet, tortilla
Peanut butter and Nutella on a tortilla
Instant oats with honey and an apple, peanut butter goes very well with this combot too :)
Adding spices can make a world of difference and is highly underrated
Garlic and onion can change the entirety of a dish
Ramen with tofu or pam and kale
Any type of pasta, cheese, and tuna
Some of my all time favorate meals!!!
Butternutt Squash soup with shredded cheese, baguette and butter, optional addition of kale!! add pepper and salt!
Quinoa Tacos!! Quinoa, beans, corn, onion, garlic, veggies broth, sometimes salsa, cilantro, lime. You can also add kale to this as well.
Sheppards pie: Idaho instant potatoes, corn, beans, rice, peas and carrots.
Coconut curry!!! Instant rice, carrots, peppers, kale, curry mix, potatos.
Raviolli and sauce. Pretty self explanatory
It can be hard to make easy meals that taste good and are nutritious while out in the back country (bonus points if the meal is inexpensive)
What is the best way to eat in the field? What to eat when, three meals per day vs. grazing/snacking. Why GORP is not good for trail snacks/identify appropriate trail snacks
I am a big advocate for the Steve triangle: Carbs, protein, and fats. This means loading up on meats, cheeses, and candy.
The candy will give you a quick release of energy as the carbs burn right away, giving enough time for the slow fule of the fats and protein to break down and begin working.
Delicious, used this method for touring in Austria and it worked well with sustained energy throughout the day.
It is important to eat a good breakfast, that will breakdown slowly to release energy over a long period of time as apposed to instantly. Oats or hard boiled eggs are both good options.
Eating a large lunch can be a lot to putt on your body. Grazing throughout the mid-day, while doing activites can be the best way to keep youself well fed. This means eating a little every half hour or so. Remember to drink lots of water throughout the day as well.
Gorp is often a tough source of energy for your body to break down as it is primarly made from nuts which are filled with fat. The amount of fat held within gorp can be too much for your body to break down and utilize in an effecent manner.
What is the function of and proper balance between carbohydrates, protein, and fat
Carbohydrates are the bodys main source of fuel.
Eating carbs with every meal is easy and a good source of instant fuel for you body. It is especially helpful as fuel for the mid day.
Eating snacks and lunches that are carb heavy is key. Lunches should have a component of protein and fat as well, but on the lighter side in comparison.
Fat is a slower burning energy source. Your body will opt to burn carbohydrates before turning to fat.
Having a breakfast with fats helps to create a slow bruning fuel source for the day, supplimented along the way by the carbs you eat as snacks and lunch. Dinners with fat help to provide fuel for your body to burn and keep you warm at night.
Eating snacks or lunch durning the day that is heavy in fats can be difficult for your body to break down and use effeciently.
The body has to break down fat into fatty acids before it can be used as an energy source.
Protein helps to build and repair muscle and tissue. Aditionally it plays a role in the creation of hormones
Proteins break down slower and are great for breakfasts and dinners. It is especially important to have proteins at dinner to help your body in repairing any wear and tear you put on it during the day.
Hard boiled eggs are packed with protein, and can be great for easy breakfasts as well as snacks throughout the day.
What is the relationship between nutrition and hydration
All meals should be consumed with water, especially dense meals - ie. clifbars which are increadibly dense need to be comsumed with water
Your body relys on water to effecently break down and absorb calories, drinking water with meals helps your body to effecently break down and utilise all the food you have consumed.
Drinking two leters per day is a standard. When exserting ones self, you need to consume more than two leters.
Drink water in small amounts and frequently! Small sips throughout the day!!!
Some foods and drinks dehydrate you more than others.
The caffeine in coffee is a diuretic, meaning it causes you to urinate more frequently, which can lead to dehydration without propperly rehydrating.
Clifbar Shot Bloks, Hammer Nutrition Hammer Gel, and GU Energy Gel contain large amounts of caffeine, again acting as a diuretic. Drinking water with these is a must!
How much do we need, what can we get away with
On average, you need anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day not taking in to concideration any activites.
When exserting one's self, you will need more - 4,000 to 6,000 as a starting range
Expiditions to Antartica have reported back that participents burn up to 10,000 calories per day!!!
Skimping on nutrition is never ideal but it is important to recognise the level of exsertion you will be facing. If you are on a three day trip, a small chalorie deficet will be far less impactful than that of a month long expidition.
If you are willing, certain foods are packed with large amounts of calories, protein, etc. If you can stomach it (though it wont be the most interesting meal plan), packing the same meal for breakfast that is light weight but filled with all the nutriants you need can be a good option and potentally create ease.
A good source and break down of how many calories and what types: Uphill Athlete does a good job, the book explaining in depth.
House, Steve. “Expedition Nutrition Tips.” Uphill Athlete, 20 Aug. 2022,
https://uphillathlete.com/nutrition/expedition-nutrition-tips/
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Another good example is stats from a PDF produced by NASA:Have Food Will Travel - NASA.
https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/172352main_Have_Food_Will_Travel.pdf
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How do we maintain a "healthy” diet in the field? Vitamins, minerals etc. Healthy diet vs immediate cal need/practicality
Ramen Bomb's can be an easy way to get calories down but is not the most nutritious.
Eating Clifbar's throughout the day is a good source of calories but should be followed up with a heartly meal at the end of the day.
Trying to create a "diverse pantry" in the field is important to help maintain a "healthy" diet while on expidition.
Idaho potatos and stuffing helps to fulfill calorie requirements, but adding ishbits can help to fill out the nutritious value of the meal.
Brands such as AG1 or Ultima Replenisher produce supplements that can be added to water. This can be a helpful way to get in vitamins, electrolytes, and minerals you might not get from your meals.
Sources
https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/172352main_Have_Food_Will_Travel.pdf
https://uphillathlete.com/nutrition/expedition-nutrition-tips/
“Hammer Gel® Sampler Kit.” Hammer Nutrition,
https://hammernutrition.com/products/hammer-gel-sampler-kit?variant=43240197128427
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“The Future of Your Multivitamin Is Here.” Athletic Greens,
https://athleticgreens.com/campaign/multivitamin/en?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfYevYKO3bu9rN6BPvFOTqTsMlqA-mxVyFrj7iThPbTn8L-2Yz8g5W0aAtzzEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds#offers
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“Electrolyte Powder and Hydration Packets.” Ultima Replenisher,
https://www.ultimareplenisher.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19743036956&utm_content=649497894655&utm_term=electrolyte+powder&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfaI60ultiC24vGgyQ42TlV44JTnlldkxomDruASRxt3meU2_yuYkcwaAu-mEALw_wcB
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