Self nutritional test

psy-ops

psy-ops

Joined
Sep 27, 1999
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This is a self made test to explore one's energy per fill up ratio. I am not a nutritionist. If there are any nutritionists please feel free to criticize/comment.

Anyway I had a thought a way to find out which foods really energize you. This self-knowledge would be helpful in an emergency. If you were in a situation and you knew how many hours you can work after eating a particular type of meal. It is like knowing how far you can drive your car on a full tank of gas. Of course we are not machines and prayer, will or whatever can overcome serious lack of fuel, though there is a limit.


The test:
Number 1, "High carb Energy" bar
Number 2, a regular "Snickers".

Number 1. On a Sunday wake up eat a "HC Energy" bar at 8:00am then chart how long you can go till that hunger feeling comes back, while doing survival activities.

Number 2. Next Sunday wakes up at 8:00am eats a "Snickers" does similar type work. Again charting time and chores.


This type of test should let you know what fuels your body best. It can be done with any food. This morning I bought some of that "Sport gel goo stuff" I didn't test that yet. I charted my foods I ate and how long till that hunger came back after working and such.

Everyone always speaks of Oatmeal as a super food but it never satisfies me for a long period. So that might not be the best food to store in my BOB. If you can find what fuels work best for you it can limit your space in BOB and make you more efficient in when the real deal happens.


edited to clean up some dumb errors I didn't bother to look for.
 
The question remains if orange blossom or sour wood (my favorite...) honey is the best...:D
 
I am interested in what natural foods to go for in a survival situation eg, berries, honey, meat .....
 
I'm certainly no nutritionist but for what it's worth, this is my take on it.

I'd pass on the manufactured/processed sugary carbs of the energy bar and the candy bar (same thing in my opinion), because the benefit of the carbs alone are short lived and the sugar just plain isn't good for you.

I'd opt for meat protein, so my body doesn't start consuming my muscle mass. Coon is the best from what I understand, as all you need to consume to meet the bodies needs is around 2#s. Now, whether thats all in one sitting or not, I don't know. I'd add honey for the carbs and other benefits and browse natures superstore where available to fill in. I'd also enjoy my parched corn flour/meal when other sources of food are unavailable.
 
one big reason for this post is to find fast nutritional energy for an emergency. You might not have time to kill and cook a raccoon, maybe not even enough time to boil water.

This is why I am looking into this sport goo stuff. Marathon runners use it, because it is quick energy to keep the body going for the longest time.

Energy to make a fire and build a shelter and possibly treat some wounds. In the shortest amount of time. There is alot to do in a rain or snow storm, flood, or whatever. Once you got those first important steps down then kill and BBQ a raccoon or what ever.

Let's say you don't have a quick nutritional supplement that burns long. One has 2 choices; 1. Go without, get weak which increases the odds for more serious error. 2. Pass on a vital task to spend time cooking.
 
My above post is not saying that honey is not a good long energy fix.
I have not tested it. I do know that royal jelly is also an excellent food source.

This whole thread is about testing one against the other under working conditions. Test honey against a power bar. It is endless.
Chose whatever best works for you.
 
I pack the "powerbar, sport nutritional suppliment" bars... 2.50 each, or box of 12 for 30-35... 220cal per bar, and they seem to be good indefinately(just had one this week with a best before date of june 03).
 
Coconut oil would be optimal for that. Not only does it supply medium chain fatty acids, which are directly burnt as fuel, like the MCT's which people are given in IV drips. It is also has a tremendous boost to the immune system being anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial. It is also the most stable fat and won't go rancid even in hot climates. It also has a high satiety response being a fat and of course has a much denser energy profile than a snickers bar containing twice as much calories in the same volume.

There are problems with using it as a primary staple though, it is low in vitamins and minerals, has no cholesterol, no essentially fatty acids (omega-6/3), and of course no protein. Thus for a better complete profile you heat it in a pan (it is solid at room temperature) with some onions (vitamins and minerals), strain out the onions and add flax meal for the omega-3's (and lignans, protein, etc.) and let it harden.

You could also just gently fry out some ground beef (add some liver and kidney and heart) with a lot of coconut oil and after it has cooked let it all congeal into a type of pemmican. The fat will keep the meat from turning as coconut oil is very stable. The fat in the beef will also round out the nutrition profile, again add some flax meal after the cooking (not before, it goes rancid quickly when heated). You can also add some what bran to the meat when cooking, it is very high in fibre and vitamins and minerals.

Modern oatmeal isn't really oatmeal it is usually highly processed and hence can be cooked in five minutes. What you want for most of these cerals are the unprocessed versions, stone ground, which you have to soak overnight to reduce the phytate levels. You then eat them with full thick cream.

Note as well that if you are used to eating at regular times you will feel hungry at those time regardless if you actually need to eat becuase your body has become used to it and will actually start the digestive process and get you a rumbling. So what you would want to do it try a few differnt meals for an extended period of time and note your activity levels and general well being.

It would be very surprising if you could remain healthy and active eating snickers bars for example. Most commercial "snacks" even the ones for athletes are mainly just sugar, just check the list of ingredients. On an ironic note, most weight loss drinks like "Boost" are also mainly just sugar. You would in general be well advised to stay clear of that and prepare your own food. It is not like you are going to be able to make or find snickers bars in survivial situations anyway.

-Cliff
 
Speaking of honey, I recently read a mini-article in a bicycling magazine that indicated a study had shown that honey was as good or better than all the carb-replacement drinks on the market. IIRC, the goos are just concentrated carb drinks, so that runners can squirt one into the mouth at one of the watering stations along the route, and follow it up with the provided water. The job of the carb drinks/goos is to replace the body's glycogen that the body is burning, to prolong the period before the body "bonks." I would not consider a carb drink or goo to be a meal, but instead, something that can keep a body going during high exertion, when the body would probably "puke up" more solid food. I have found carb drinks useful because I tend toward hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels) but they are not meals.
 
Cliff, excellent information. Thanks for sharing it.

Rex G., I agree that honey is an excellent source for providing fuel to the ol' engine and extending stamina. It works great for me in that respect.
 
Yikes, Cliff, had those cholesterol levels checked lately?

Flax meal is great stuff--tastes great and good for you as well--two tablespoons contains 4.5 grams of fat, no saturated fat, and of course, no cholesterol. I don't know how well it would keep without refrigeration though.
--Josh
 
Flax seed contains oil in a 3:1 ratio, it is all omega-3 which is highly polyunsaturated (multiple double bonds) meaning it is *very* unstable as the double bonds break to release energy and get to a more stable state. It actually rots (when the bonds break all kinds of chemical reaction occour forming compounds that are toxic) at room temperature and yes that means it rots in your body as well that is why you need to increase vitamin E intake when you consume large amounts of poly unsaturated oil.

This is why polyunsaturates have been linked to cancer without increasing vitamin E it leads to increased free radical formation (free radicals are fragments of molecules which go around ripping electrons off of anything they can which snowballs and leads to cancer and all kinds of wonderful diseases). The oil goes rancid (rots) faster than the meal simply due to contact area, oxygen contact is greater with the oil.

This is why I would have the meal rather than the oil if it was not refrigerated, plus the meal has more benefits anyway. If I was in the tropics I would just take the seeds and mash them before eating, you can't digest the raw seeds, your body can't get past the shell, you can try chewing them up but it takes forever as they are small, plys they catch in your teeth which can be annoying. Note however that the fibre in flax meal soaks up water in a massive ratio (5:1) so don't eat it if your water supply is low.

No I have not had my cholesterol checked, I doubt I have a problem with it being too low anyway that is usually a vegan concern, plus the only real concern is oxidized cholesterol (powdered milk and heavily fried animal fats and meats in general which I don't eat), or an imbalance in HDL/LDL ratios (refined sugar and trans-fats neither of which I eat), or high Lp(a) levels (lack of vitamin c which I don't have). None of these are factors in my diet. But yes my saturated fat and cholesterol intake is quite high, usually, which is good as your body needs both of those. Cholesterol (when not oxidized) is a free radical scavenger (like vitamin E and C), and is the precurser to vital hormoes, saturated fats are stable and used to maintaining cell wall rigidity which is always good, used in all membranes like phospholipids etc. .

The propoganda against saturated fats and cholesterol is based on monetary interests and has no actual scientific basis in reality. Consumption of saturated fats has in fact steadily decreased (you can't even buy them any more, try to find lard in a supermarket and everything is low-fat), yet the rate of heart disease has steadily increased. The true fats to avoid are rancid polyunsaturates (anything liquid in a clear bottle which has been exposed to light), and trans-fats which are unnatural, synthetic fat which is foreign to the body and very destructive.

Man has always had a diet high in saturated fats, these are the fats prized by natives (the thick slab of back fat on a moose or tail of a beaver), blockages were so rare until very recently that when the first mri was developed it could not be sold because no one had that problem back then. You can't even find polyunsaturated in nature in any quantities because they rot so quickly. The only way to get any amount of them is to press large quantities of seeds and/or refine things like wheat and press out the germ. We didn't evolve to eat like that. You can get decent amount of polys from fish though, but not all cultures eat that, and the ones that do (Inuit) are no healthier than the ones that don't (Masai live on full fat milk, blood and raw meat).


-Cliff
 
If the pemmican idea turns you off, and eating congealed animal fat may not be for everyone you can make very solid (nutrition wise) crackers readily.

Mix :

1 cup of rolled oats
1 cup ground coconut
1/4 of each of wheat bran, sesaeme seeds

mix with enough liquid (I use green tea but water is fine, quality active yogurt is excellent as is kefir) to make soopy and leave out for 2-3 days to sour (add a sourdough culture if you have one). If you use active yogurt you only need 1-2 days.

then mix in

1/2 cup blended flax seeds
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast (or brewers yeast but it has a funky taste)
1/2 cup of butter (you may have to melt this if it is cold)
celtic sea salt to taste

1 tbls coco
a half a dozen eggs
+liquid to make soopy

Spoon out onto a well buttered pan (or parchment paper) thinly and bake at 200 F (if you turn it up you will cause the oils to be readily damaged) until they are crisp, takes about 2 hours depending on the pans, really nice old thick pans hold heat well, the new cheap ones can take twice as long.

When they are dried out they are crisp like chips and don't rot as there is little water in them. The nutrition is also very high because of the fermenting and balance of ingrediants. If you have protein powder you can add it as well, or just add more eggs.

You can also take the dry ingrediants with you and make it up as needed, after an overnight soak you can fry them out like pancakes on the pan. You can also add a sweetner, unrefined molassas is the most robust for flavor. In general it is best to apply them after they are cooked if you can.

Get these fried up nice in the morning with some molassas and some nice thick cream or sharp cottage cheeze and you are good to go.

-Cliff
 
Cliff,

There was a thread on here a while ago praising parched corn as the ideal trail food. What is that like as far as nutrition, energy, etc...?
 
By itself it is pretty poor since its carbohydrate to protein ratio is 8:1, and the carb to fat ratio is even worse at 12:1 with no essential fatty acids. As an adult male you need 0.5 g of protein per lbs of body weight to maintain your muscle, you also need fats for various body structures and critical hormone responces, you don't actually make anything out of carbohydrates.

In the short term however you can ignore protein requirements because you won't lose a significant amount in a few days, and with rare exceptions everyone carries around enough body fat to last for more than a few days. Thus you can get away with eating just carbohydrates. I would not choose corn however because it is high in fructose, it is what most sweetners are now made of (high fructose corn syrup), and you are not designed to actually burn fructose as energy, it just get processed in the liver for triglycerides and cholesterol.

It does have its benefits though as it is very stable and contains enough of the various vitamins and minerals to keep you from the various diseases (scurvy for example). However look for example at oat bran which contains most minerals in several time greater densities, much better proportion of protein (1:3 ratio with carbs) and fats (1:9 ratio with carbs). It only lacks in vitamin C and A.

As well you need to consider that the corn we eat now is very different than what used to be eaten 100 years ago. Crop rotation and constant soil enhancement by manure and compost heaps were the norm back then. The foods grown were also left to full ripeness. Now the vegetation grown is a poor imitation at best.

All this being said, parched corn is still miles above something like a snickers bar. I would look to supplementing it with sources of protein and fat, nuts, beans and rice are all easy to pack and are lightweight and trivial to cook. For the nuts you just soak them then roast them to dry them out and pack them ready to eat. For the beans you can do the same, though most would prefer to eat them freshly cooked same with rice.

Nuts can also be ground into a paste as they are very oily and mixed with baked beans and cooked rice to form a mash which can be used to make cakes, patties and so on. If you are a vegan you can use this as a pseudo-hamburger. If you are not then you actually mix in some meat and balance out the meal.

Above all be creative, for example the last time I made bread I cooked a package of ground beef and added it directly to the bread (including the fat). I added some finely grated cheeze and when the bread was baked basically every slice was a ready made sandwitch. If you use a sourdough mixture the acidity will keep the bread fresh for up to a week without refrigeration (depending on humidity).

-Cliff
 
In my reading, in a survival situation, you want to work at about 60% of full power. This preserves water, energy and keeps you ready for the long haul.

Lot's of talk about protien here. Protein in amount above the body's actual use is hard on the kidneys (the body's protien to carb conversion produces excess nitrogen that is work for the kidneys to get rid of) and requires extra water for the conversion to a burnable carbohydrate (ever notice that protein and carbs have the same calories per gram) If water is an issue in your survival situation, high protein has its drawbacks. Additionally, protien used as protien in the body doesn't produce calories as it's not "burned".

To me, it seems a carbohydrate with a low glycemic index produces the longest lasting energy.

Phil
 
outdoor life magazine, has an article called "How to survive at 30 below"

It has alot of good tips. One point it makes is "EAT FOR ENERGY" it states that "In extreme cold, you'll need to consume about 4,500 calories daily in addition to drinking water". It also mentions cold weather rations labeled as meals, cold weather "MCW".




"Fruit 'n nut" bar Pemmican 420 calories in a 3.75oz. bar Bear Valley, available in health food stores. No sugar, it has honey.

The instant chinese cereal packets, I mentioned in a recent post 370 calories.
 
Cliff, good information. I've forwarded your posts to my lady and she's gonna see what we can do about incorporating some of what you've posted into our diets.

We've done a lot of diet improvment over the last several months and it's amazing how fit I feel. Endurance, strength and energy levels are all up and I've even managed to drop a few #s along the way. The big one was eliminating refined sugar from our diets and replacing it with small amounts of honey. Plus, unless I'm working my body hard, I keep the carbs down below 100g per day, or try to anyway. Otherwise, it goes right to my waistline. :rolleyes:
 
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