On the trail Multivitamin?

Hey Guys...

I hit the 5 Hour energy pretty hard.. I know theres a better way,, but these are Quick and dirty and work Great for me..

I take Adderall daily for AADD,, and if I've forgotten to take it,, or whatever I take a 5 Hour.. Gives me nearly the same effect mentally ...

Good Thread..

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
The JMT is the John Muir Trail, which is basically a 220 mile stretch of the PCT (pacific crest trail) which is all way above 8,000 ft.

I'm fascinated by various internet posters who intimate that they can walk dozens of miles, while munching skimpy amounts of empty calories.

Personally, I can't make the trail miles unless my nutrition is good. My junkfood-backpacking days are all behind me. I should have also brought glucosamine& chondroitin, for that matter. By the end of the second week, I was definately hurting for lack of it.
 
soapboxpreacher said:
Just wondering if anyone takes a vitamin with them on the trail/camp out...and which one for that matter? I would thing this would be so important considering the lack of proper nutrition do to the limitation of what we can carry...supplementing in my mind is critical here.
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I take both a multi vitamin and a big vitamin C tab every day, on the trail or at home.
 
Erasmus said:
TI'm fascinated by various internet posters who intimate that they can walk dozens of miles, while munching skimpy amounts of empty calories.

Personally, I can't make the trail miles unless my nutrition is good. My junkfood-backpacking days are all behind me. I should have also brought glucosamine& chondroitin, for that matter. By the end of the second week, I was definately hurting for lack of it.
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I've hiked the AT, PCT 3 times, the JMT, and the CDT.

AT: lots of whole grains, dried fruit, etc. Went well.
PCT first time: 50/50 mix of junk food and "nutritious" food. Went well.
PCT second time: pretty much 100% junk food like ramen, Lipton dinners, box mac-n-cheese, candy bars, and 2lb value packs of cheap sandwich cookies. I had very limited resources for this hike. Went well.
JMT: First hike with Swipe (then GF). Ate really well, but this is a much shorter hike and we did fewer miles per day. Hard to tell much difference re: diet. Only hike I've ever brought way too much food. I planned to eat like a thru-hiker, but with only 2 weeks my thru-hiker metabolism didn't seem to wake up.
CDT: By this point we're married. Physically, a very hard hike compared to the others. Swipe got tired of budget/dirtbag food and we ended up switching abruptly mid-hike to a much better diet. More tasty, literally 3x more expensive to resupply. Went well before and after the switch.
PCT third time: at her insistence, we ate very little junk food. Went well.

At home, we've always eaten a rather healthy, nutritious diet of whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, and low in animal products and refined sugars. I know that these foods are "better" for you in the long run. However, on the trail, doing 20-30+ miles per day for months on end, I've never noticed any performance difference between eating junk and eating $$$/well, with or without supplements. YMMV. For example, my wife may certainly have been physiologically tired of junk food on the CDT, but I suspect that the real reason was that she was ideologically/culturally ashamed and guilty -- perhaps subconsciously -- to be eating "white trash food".

The only nutritional variable I've noticed is calories: when I have more of them, I hike strong. When I have fewer of them, I hike weak and get cold. I can't hike on skimpy amounts of any sort of calories, whether nutritious or empty.


+1 on the glucosamine/chrondriotin. I know that the credible research says that it's snake oil, but it sure seems to help.
 
Great experiential comments tradja, thats exactly the kind of informative post I love reading!
 
Whole family has been sick past few weeks. Except me.

24oz green tea daily, + 2 EmergenC, + multi, + 1000mg C extra

I am all in favor of adding tang, gatorade, emergenC to the hiking kit. Little extra sugar and vitamins never hurts.
 
Erasmus said:
The JMT is the John Muir Trail, which is basically a 220 mile stretch of the PCT (pacific crest trail) which is all way above 8,000 ft.

I'm fascinated by various internet posters who intimate that they can walk dozens of miles, while munching skimpy amounts of empty calories.

Personally, I can't make the trail miles unless my nutrition is good. My junkfood-backpacking days are all behind me. I should have also brought glucosamine& chondroitin, for that matter. By the end of the second week, I was definately hurting for lack of it.
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Thank you. I agree with you on the calorie intake. The more..... the better.:thumbup:
 
FIrst off i dehydrate all my backpacking food my self now. I would also buy dehydrated milk powder. I never cared for how many calories are in the food. Actualy i like low calorie food but i want my food to be to have color and taste. Almost every night on the trail i would make some miso soup add extra sea weed corn peas onion carrots and some shrimp. Sometimes that would be an after dinner before bed thing some other times that would be all i have for dinner. As long as you dont eat same food every day. I dont realy see a reason to need anything else. If you do go just a plain multi vitemin should be alll you need. But i did notice that i feel better and eat less after i started to make my own food for backpacking. Dont forget sea weed is one of the best things on trail. It realy does keep you going.

Sasha
 
I currently eat only whole grains, fresh vegetables, fruit, and meat.

Not much junk food or pop. I actually start to feel bad and weak if I eat junk. My hat's off to people who can make it on highly processed packaged junk. The closest I can stand to get to junk is granola bars and whole grain fig newtons.

On the JMT trip, I started with a 10 mile day, and finished up with 18 mile days on about 2,000 calories per. After a couple of weeks of running that calorie deficit, I had lost 10 lbs, and had a deep racoon type tan. It's strange to look down and see that your pants are loose.


I suppose I shouldn't have started the hike with 3/4 worn out shoes:o

I've got my eye on the Sierra High Route, for one of these summers. Should be way harder.
 
I don't have one specifically for the trail, but I take Men's Health One A Day. It works well to supplement all of the nutrition I don't/didn't get while not adhering to any kind of healthy eating habits.
 
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