[pct-l] Dehydrated Meals vs "FAT"...a Thru-Hikers best friend

[awb51]

I fully agree with you. A bottle of oil (olive, pumpkin seed or sesame seed)
is always part of my food. I add it in my cereal in the morning and beef up
my dinner. Mixed salted nuts including Macadamia and Brazil nuts I keep
nibbling all day.
Still one needs carbs to burn the fat.
I believe your loss of weight, despite 8000 kcal intake is not so much that
you did not have enough food but that your body cannot absorb it all and
half of the cal leaves you at your rear end without doing much to your
energy intake!
On all my long hikes I tend to lose at least 10 lbs. over the first few
weeks, then I start gaining it again. I don't do speed hikes but still do
good daily averages with few zero's in-between.
Happy Trail
Adrian alias Matterhorn

-----Original Message-----
I know I will come under fire for this but I am going to say it anyway.

"FAT"...is a Thru-Hikers best friend, especially if you are going to do
"Hard-Core", high miles per day hiking and burn, as you said, tons of
calories.

Fruits & Veggies are great and healthy for normal day living.
But guess what?....Thru-hiking the PCT is not normal day living.
The problem with "Fruits & Veggies", for hiking, is they are heavy and don't
deliver a lot of calories.

I know the "Vegetarians" are going to say fruits & veggies are good for you
and fat is bad for you.
But on a PCT Thru-Hike you are going to burn all that fat in your meals and
some body fat on top of it anyhow and loose weight.

Carbohydrates & Protein deliver about 110 calories per ounce vs about 255
for fat.
You don't have to be a Rocket Scientist to figure out that your food and
pack will weigh less by incorporating more "FAT" in your meals.
The more the better!!!
That is exactly why speed hikers like Scott Williamson carry some form of
oil to add to their meals...to "beef up the calories without beefing up the
pack weight.

As Marmot already pointed out, "Macadamia Nuts" are a great way to beef up
the fat and calories in your menu.
Macadamia Nuts deliver 200 calories per ounce and consist primarily of
Monounsaturated fat which is one of the least harmful fats and does not
affect your cholesterol.

On my JMT Speed Hikes I relied heavy on Macadamia Nuts to keep my pack light
and deliver 8000 calories a day but I still lost 10 lb in 5 day.

Now, if you really want to take "UL" to the extreme and go vegetarian you
might want to consider....."GRAZING".....there are lots of Meadows along the
trail.
You might, however, want to bring along a few "Macadamia Nuts" to get you
through the desert section.

JMT Reinhold
Your Macadamia Nuts loving trail companion
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