Hiking Food: Energy-Boosting Tips When On The Trail

Normal meal times can be abandoned in the backcountry. You should eat when you’re hungry, which is likely to be often. Lunch may start soon after breakfast and go on until dinner. If you’re starting to feel hungry, stop and eat something.

Continuing could mean running out of energy. And if you start to feel weary, stop and eat something, even if you don’t think you’re hungry. It could be that you’re running short of fuel.

In both cases what you eat should be primarily carbohydrates rather than protein or fat. Carbohydrates are what keep you going, the food that is most quickly turned to energy.

Simple carbohydrates - candy, honey, anything sugar rich - will give a very quick burst of energy, but this will probably by an equally quick slump unless you also eat some complex carbohydrates - grains, legumes, vegetables.

If you run out of energy and feel you can’t go on but you happen to be halfway up a steep trail and you can’t make camp, then stop, rest and eat some carbohydrates. You’ll probably be astonished by how much you recover.

Energy bars, grain-based bars, oat crackers, bread and granola are good carbohydrate foods, as is trail mix rich in dried fruit and seeds.

High carbohydrate foods (such as oatmeal, muesli, granola and other cereals) are good for breakfast too, giving you a high energy start.

Fats - cheese, margarine, butter, oils, nuts - are digested more slowly than carbohydrates and take a long time to release their energy. Eaten in quantity during the day, fatty food can slow you down as it’s not easy to digest while exercising.

The best time to eat fats is in the evening, the slow energy release will help keep you warm during the night and keep you from waking up feeling hungry.

Proteins - meat, eggs, dairy products, grains, legumes - are needed to renew muscle and body tissue. Proteins are present in many foods. However protein won’t give you a sudden rush of energy, so high -protein foods are not ones to eat when you’re tired and still have miles to hike.

Of course everybody is different. If you find that hunk of cheese gets you up the trail, then eat the cheese. If a high-protein or high-fat breakfast sets you up for hours of hiking whereas a high-carbohydrate one leaves you short of energy, then eat the breakfast that works for you.

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