Collins Complete Hiking and Camping Manual: The essential guide to comfortable walking, cooking and sleeping. Rick Curtis
for a trip, it is important that the foods be high in calories in order to meet these requirements.
Below are the general ranges for calories required to maintain good health, and what you will typically need to carry. Keep in mind that the food weights are averages, since carrying only dehydrated foods, for example, would mean carrying less weight. Also, at higher altitudes the caloric requirements per day increase.
| Activity | Caloric Requirement/day | Food Weight/day |
| Your body’s basal metabolism | 1,500–2,000 | |
| Three-season backpacking or normal exercise output | 2,500–3,000 | 1.75–2 pounds (0.8–0.9 kilograms) |
| Cold-weather backpacking or strenuous exercise output | 3,500–4,000 | 2–2.25 pounds (0.9–1 kilograms) |
| Winter backpacking or very strenuous exercise output | 4,500–6,000 | +2.5 pounds (+1.1 kilograms) |
Carbohydrates (4 calories/gram, energy released quickly) regularly make up about 50 percent of a person’s daily caloric intake. For hiking trips you may need to increase this to 70 percent of the daily caloric intake. Starches and sugars provide both quick energy and longer-term fuel. Processing and refining can reduce the nutritional value of carbohydrates, so it is best to use whole grains, raw sugar, and other unprocessed foods in your menu. Simple carbohydrates (sugars such as trail snacks or sweets) are broken down very quickly by the body for quick energy release, and complex carbohydrates (such as pasta) release energy more slowly.
Fats (9 calories/gram, energy released slowly) are another important source of energy when hiking. It is recommended that about 25 percent of your daily intake be fats (during the winter this should increase to about 40 percent). Fats take longer to break down than carbohydrates and thus are a better source of long-term energy. For example, adding a spoonful of butter or margarine to a cup of hot chocolate will increase the caloric rating and the length of time the energy is released.
Proteins (4 calories/gram, energy released slowly) are an essential part of any diet. Proteins are the essential building blocks of all tissue. Each protein in the body is made up of twenty-two amino acids. Fourteen of these amino acids are produced in the body, and the other eight, known as the “essential amino acids,” are not. Both types are essential to a complete diet. Foods such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and milk products are called “complete proteins” since they contain all eight essential amino acids. However, there are limitations to carrying fresh meats, poultry, and eggs due to weight or spoilage. Canned or vacuum-sealed pouches of fish or precooked chicken can be carried. Soybeans and soy products are also complete proteins.
Foods such as beans, lentils, peanuts, cereals, vegetables, and fruit are incomplete proteins since each of them doesn’t contain all eight amino acids. However, by using proper combinations, an outdoors menu can be planned that allows you to get all eight amino acids daily. An easy way to remember this is using the “Nutritional N” to create food combinations. The N contains four elements: dairy, grains, legumes, and seeds. Any two adjacent food groups in the N, when combined, provide complete protein.
Dairy Cheese, milk, yogurt
Grains Breads, crackers, pasta, granola and other cereals, rice, couscous, bulgur, bran, potatoes, corn, oats
Legumes Beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, tofu
Seeds Sunflower, sesame
The phrase “Don’t Get Love Sick” (Dairy, Grains, Legumes, Seeds) may help you remember the four groups and the order in which they form the nutritional N. Just string the four elements together in alphabetical order. A combination of any two consecutive initial letters of the phrase will provide complete proteins. Dairy and Grains (D & G), for instance, will form a complete protein together, whereas dairy and legumes will not. The other two complete protein combinations are Grains and Legumes (G & L) or Legumes and Seeds (L & S).
Complete Protein Combinations
Sample Complete Protein Combinations
Dairy (or eggs) and grains Macaroni and cheese; cheese and crackers; pasta with Parmesan cheese; milk and cereal.
Grains and legumes Rice and beans; refried beans and flour tortillas; peanut butter and bread; rice or bread and tofu.
Legumes and seeds Peanuts and sunflower seeds in gorp (see page).
Water is an essential part of personal nutrition on the trail. It aids digestion, regulates body temperature, keeps cells healthy, and carries waste from the body. Dehydration leads to headaches, fatigue, and irritability. Mild dehydration is often easily relieved by drinking half a quart (1/2 liter) or more of water. Remember that these general recommendations are for backpacking in temperate forest conditions. You may need to increase your fluid intake based on your own metabolic needs, physical condition, medical condition, age, sex, or different weather conditions (such as high temperature and humidity), high altitude, or in specific ecosystems (such as desert climates).
TRICKS OF THE TRAIL
Gorp Everyone has his or her own favorite recipes for “gorp,” which stands for Good Old Raisins and Peanuts. I start with equal parts raisins and peanuts and then add a quick sugar source. You can increase the variety of the mix by adding smaller amounts of different sugar sources. When using chocolate, consider the melting factor. Also, if you use items like sunflower seeds that are smaller than most of the other things in your mix they will eventually filter down to the bottom of the bag, so be prepared on the last day to find a bag full of sunflower seeds. Here are some items to consider: dried papaya, pineapple, apples, apricots, dates, banana chips, mango, or cranberries (Craisins); coconut; almonds; cashews; brazil nuts; peanuts; chocolate, butterscotch, or carob chips; chocolate malt balls; M&M’s; chocolate-covered raisins, peanuts, or almonds; yogurt-covered raisins, peanuts, or almonds; sunflower seeds; rice crackers; dried green peas; pretzels; sesame stix. Be inventive!
Water is always being lost by the body through the “—tions”: respiration, perspiration, urination, and defecation. Strenuous activities like back-packing result in increased water loss. Dehydration is one of the most preventable hiking problems but also one of the most ignored. I’ve seen people avoid drinking for all sorts of reasons: it was too much trouble to get the water bottle out of their pack or they didn’t want to have to urinate. The bottom line is, stay hydrated. Failure to stay adequately hydrated can lead to serious and even life-threatening conditions. (See “