Fueling your hike - What to eat while hiking

Jennie and Craig discuss what they eat on hikes (spoiler alert - they eat different things!) and what to think about when deciding what food and how much to bring with you on your hike.

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Transcript

 Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, 

and I'm your co-host Craig Romano.

Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners, and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun, and inclusive.

 

 Hey Craig, how's it going? Hey, 

good, Jenny, how you doing? 

Today we're talking about food for hikes, which we like to think about that as fueling because you know, food is something that is personal.

It's cultural, it's very triggering for some people. But you know, when you are hiking, your body is working hard, even if you're not doing. Uh, I mean, obviously if you're doing a steep climb for lots of miles, your body's working harder, but even if you're doing a flat five mile walk or three mile walk, your body is burning fuel to do that.

And so you need to make sure that you have fuel for it, and that's how I would encourage you to think about what you're eating on a hike. What, what do you think about that in general, Craig? Yeah, 

absolutely. I mean, food is fuel and. You know, we know in this country, we've got a serious problem with

processed foods and, and just empty calories. And, and I, I see this sometimes, uh, you know, people are bonking even though they brought stuff, because if you're just on this high sugar, taking it, so, I mean, again, think about it. Would you, you got, you have a nice car, you take care of it, would you put crappy gasoline in it?

You know, you Yeah. And you gotta look at your body the same way, where people get into a lot of trouble. not eating properly, not eating enough, and then, hydrating, which is also really important. And I think 

that kind of goes along with absolutely with food, you know, while we're talking about that.

And, and you know, 

oh, I was gonna say, when I was younger, you know, I used to get away with a lot more and ate a lot more junk. Uh, but as I've gotten older and gotten more into high performance, you know, uh, running and backpack, uh, I've definitely, um, taken a very, very different approach, uh, to food. And the other thing too, which is really important, if you're just going out for a short day hike.

Then it doesn't matter as much, but if you're going out for a multi day backpack or a long trail run. The weight of your food and, and how it takes and how it stays in your pack, uh, is just as important as what you're consuming. 

Yeah. And you know, that's something in our episode with, um, with Glen Van Pesky about, uh, you know, traveling Light, which was back in January.

We did touch on food in that episode as well. 'cause he said that was a place that. People often brought more weight than they needed to, which I have to say I know that's true. That made me like panic inside a little because so often people don't bring enough food and I feel like that's actually a bigger problem.

Or they'll think, well, I won't need to eat in the next two hours. But it's like, but you might, if you're. If you're, if you're sitting at your desk working versus if you're doing a steep hike, like two hours is a completely different thing. And that wasn't the point that he was making.

I agree with his point, but I, I also was like, I would not want people to take away from that. Necessarily that they should bring less food, 

right? If anything though, they should definitely. Again, what packs a punch. And so if you're packing, you know, especially with weight, this is an interesting thing with food.

The weight, you're trying to go lightweight, but you can have lightweight items that are calorie dense. Yeah. And I know as a trail runner, that's exactly, you should see, so basically in trail running, when I'm doing something intense and, and you know, I may go out for a 30 to 50 mile run, right. Looking at 200 calories an hour.

I'm gonna be taking it because you are burning. Yeah. Yeah. Now think about that. Do you know what 10,000 calories looks like? Uh, yeah. It's a lot. A lot of weight. 

Yeah. Uh, 

so you're gonna be looking at certain ways where you can really pack it in. Uh, where I have these energy bars, these. Wonderful food sources that are packing 200 plus calories in one bar.

Yeah. And that's gonna get me through. So this is really important. There's so much on and we can suggest, uh, you know, places. And again, like you said, everything's gonna work differently for people, your allergies and how your body metabolizes things and everything. Right. Uh, and I've experimented, you know, uh.

Throughout the years and you find products that work for you. And the other thing too, which is really great, when I, you know, originally started backpacking and trail running, a lot of the stuff, the Cliff bars, it's funny, so don't get me wrong, cliff, because I love your products now, but in the beginning it was like eating hay, you know, it's like, yeah, it was horse food.

It was not, not really, I don't like 

bars, 

so 

I gotta say, well, I'm gonna, 

I'm gonna change your mind on one of my absolute favorites that, that I use, and even my wife's the same way. She's not crazy about bars, but Stingray, you know, stinger bars. Okay. Sting, which came up with a, I have not tried those. The honey, they have the most incredible protein bars.

Okay. 

All, I mean, it's solid real food. Matter of fact, I always joke about my son, it looks like I'm eating an animal turd. It's just full of nuts and seeds and it's dark and it's like something you'd pick up off a trail. But it is, it packs so much. It is gotten me through so many long distance runs and everything.

Pick me up. You don't crash on it. Great stuff. So Stinger, I love your products. They're always in my pack. 

Stinger call Craig. 

Please do. I'll glad, glad we take your call. 

Okay. So I think, yeah, the main thing is listeners, our goal with this episode is to help give you some ideas for. Things to bring with you, tell you a little bit about what we do.

But you know, Craig and I are not nutritionists, we are not physicians. We're not dieticians, right? We're just telling you what we've learned through trial and error works for us, and every body is a little bit different. There are some basics like everybody is going to need. Macronutrients like protein and carbohydrates and fat, electrolyte.

That's gonna be true for everyone no matter what, right? But some people might need more or less, some of those for different activities. . And, you know, everyone is a little bit different, so we'll talk about us and what works for us. But hopefully it inspires you to figure out what works for you. And just know if you're like me and you're like, I don't like bars, well then don't eat bars.

Eat something else. So I'll talk about what I eat instead of bars here in a few minutes. But, also, it's gonna depend on how long and how difficult your hike is. Of course. What you, so it's not like I bring the same thing every single time. There are a few things I bring every time. But it's not, you know, it varies.

And the other thing I would say, I'm curious what you think about this, Craig. I feel like it's really important to have. More food. Not a ton more, but some more food than you think you're gonna need, especially in winter. And especially like the longer it is, the more important it is. So I've definitely done hikes where I ate, you know, like a long all day hike and I ate everything that I brought and then I make a note to myself.

You shoulda have had one more. One more sandwich or one more candy bar, or one more something because, you know, if you get injured, that I, I'll give you just one quick example of that. This didn't happen in Washington, but my husband Jay, tore his ACL skiing in Alaska, uh, uh, Nordic skiing. It was just like a freak.

It wasn't, it wasn't a particularly difficult, it was just like. A bad fall at the wrong angle. Like it, it could have happened to anybody. You know, it wasn't a particularly, nobody was thinking, oh, we need to be really careful here, whatever. So it was late in the day. It was about 20 degrees, which is quite warm there.

And we were only, we were less than two miles away from our vehicle and he. So we had decided, 'cause we were going a very short distance to just bring one pack between the two of us. And it was a pretty small backpack. And I remember us saying, when we got out of the truck, he said. We should probably bring food.

And I said, yes, we should. Right. And it's winter in Alaska. So you, you and we were in a remote area, so even though we weren't that far from the car, we had food, you know, in the vehicle. And we're like, we should, yeah. But like other people weren't bringing food, right? Like it was, it was a like, oh yeah, we probably don't really need this, but we should.

And after Jay fell and was sitting in the snow. For 45 minutes, which was short. It, he, we got very lucky in that there was a, state park ranger with a snowmobile close by, so we were not waiting very long. He. Ate the peanut butter and Nutella sandwich that we had, and it made a huge difference in him being able to stay warm.

And he, and he's, you know, he's been on the podcast, we talked about search and rescue. This was a situation where as soon as we were stopped, he was like, I need to eat that sandwich. And I was like. Yes. Right. And he wasn't feeling hungry. He wasn't even feeling cold, but he was like, yeah, I need to keep those calories up to, to stay warm.

And so, you know, that situation turned out fine, but I think that's just a good example of where we almost didn't. You know, it was silly to bring food on that very short trip, but it wasn't 

things some sideways, well, it funny you mentioned that , it, it is a rare, probably, I don't know if it's ever happened where I've, where I've hiked out without food.

Yeah. And even what you're saying too, there's so many times even on these short little John, I do, I just throw in, I always throw in some bars and stuff like Yeah. You just never know. Even when I'm doing urban hikes, which is funny. Yeah. Because I'm, I'll end up stopping in a, you know, a cafe or something.

But again, one of the most important things. I have found for me, and this is true for a lot of people, um, I graze when I'm working out. Yeah. It's not this, you fast for hours, then you have a big meal. There's so many reasons why that's not good. You graze and you keep that you, you keep your blood sugar constant to keep going, to keep fueling, to keep humming along.

So if I'm grazing, yeah. I wanna have those little snacks in there at all times. Uh, and again, getting back to the trail running when I'm going out for an all day run. And, and I'm loading up the food and I'm always looking at the beginning like, oh my God, this is so much food. Yeah. And it's so funny, you know, after 30 miles and being out there, you know, 13 hours, 40, whatever, I'll come back and I'll be surprised sometimes of how few bars I have left.

I mean, I, I'm going through that stuff. 

Yeah. But 

what's so important, and even if you calculate, all right, I only need this, you don't wanna calculate. Just the exact amount because all it takes is for me to twist my ankle right. On that run. And I'm out there for hours. Yeah. And yeah, exactly. You want, you're gonna need to stay warm.

That food. So I all, I almost always pack like if there's an emergency, and again, I'm not taking tons of stuff. Yeah. But even having 500 extra calories, a thousand extra calories. Yep. That's gonna get you through. A day, you know, a night if you're stuck on the trail. Yeah.

And I always bring my go-to for that is a Milky Way bar.

Or a Snickers bar. They like nis, always snicker. Snickers are even 

better because the food, yeah. I often eat 

them on my hikes as part of my plan of what I'm going to eat, but I always have an extra one. Um, yeah. Well chop and I, most of the 95% of the time I bring it home and put it back in the freezer. 

Um, but Right.

As long as you have stuff that's not gonna go bad. Exactly. Just throw it in the pack. Um, yep. But, uh, yeah, again, you don't wanna short yourself there because again, I always say it's better to pack it and not need it than to not have it and need it. Uh, yep. And, and, and that, and the same thing if you're hiking with other people.

I, I've been in the situation where I become the savior again, because I usually have extra food. And one of my, yep. You know, my, my co hiker co runner ran out and he's bonking now. He didn't bring enough. It's like, here you go, here's an extra bar. So, um, it's, it's just good to have that. I've 

given, I've given candy.

To a stranger on the trail before. That's, 

that sounds like a podcast. 

It does. Well, it also sounds like a like Halloween horror story from the eighties. Would I 

take candy from you if I met you on the trail? Yeah, probably from me. You would? Yeah. I've taken candy from, from hikers along the way. All good stuff out there.

Yeah. Okay. Before we dive into kind of what we bring, Craig, can you talk, you've mentioned boning a couple times and I think that's an important concept to talk about, but can you share what that is for people who might not know? 

And here's the most important thing, and I've learned this the hard way too, and, and likewise, um, uh, for drinking.

You do not want to take something you don't want to eat. Why? When, when you get hungry, you wanna take that before you don't wanna be hungry. Same thing. You wanna keep taking water. Not when you get thirsty, you wanna prevent that from happening. You wanna keep your body humming along, at the same level.

So the, so the thing is bonking is all of a sudden you realize, you crash, you, your blood sugar goes down, you don't have anything left in the tank. And that's tough and it's gonna take you harder to, to come back on that too. So it's much easier to just, you know, constantly just keeping, keeping everything minimal, you know, just.

Having a few nuts and berries here along the way. Big bars, just keeping yourself going. So, so you do not have those hunger pegs and, and likewise for drinking. Um. Just keeping a nice even, and that's important again, and you have to look at other factors too. You know, the, the more elevation gain you're gonna be burning more calories, the hotter it is out there, you're gonna be sweating out more.

All these things you need to be looking into, and maintaining, uh, an even keel your body. And this is gonna make a, a huge difference, from, from a very, having an enjoyable hike. As opposed to just miserable. And, and, and I've hiked and run in all kinds of extreme conditions. Uh, and, and the key again is just planning for it, you know?

Yeah. Eating properly, hydrating, wearing, and, and, and knowing that, so again, it goes to, to the planning. You can't just go haphazardly. They go, I'm gonna, and same thing if you're, you're not prepared and you're out on the trail and all of a sudden you feel like you wanna keep going, but you realize I don't have enough water or food in my pack.

Probably not. Prudent to keep going. 

Yeah. I totally agree with that, Craig. Okay. So how do you think about the food that you are going to bring for a hike or a trail run? And let's not worry about backpacking so much because that's more like meal planning and camping, and that's kind of a different topic, which maybe we should cover sometime is good camp meals.

But let's just focus on day hikes for, for now, so, or trail runs, right? So how do you. Figure out what you need to bring and then what types of things are your go-tos for hiking and running and, 

and again, it all goes to the calorie calculation. I kind of figure out how many miles am I'm gonna do, how long I'm gonna be out there.

Yeah. That's gonna give me an idea of basically how many calories. And again, you have to, you have to really be careful checking this out because. You can sit there and grab a whole bag of smart corn, which is absolutely delicious. Doesn't have a lot of calories, it's not carry it through. So, you know, and it's gonna take up a lot of room.

You know, it's funny, I used to eat rice, rice cakes a lot, you know, which, which I love . they are puffy. They take up huge amounts of room. Yeah. And there's no calories in them. Yeah. You know, you, you gotta put peanut butter or almond butter on 'em or something like that. So, so again, I'm looking for that community.

So what, what will I take instead of rice cake? Um, I'll take flatbread. Uh, it's great. It fits. And, and, and, and this is for backpacking or running. So now I've got a solid. Solid bread and then I can spread peanut butter or almond butter on it for that protein. Yep. So when I was younger, I was more heavy, heavy carb.

But now I'm heavy protein. So, so a lot, a lot of my, a lot of my meals are definitely protein based. But carbs are, are definitely important too. But again, you don't want simple carbs and that, again, that's your sugars. You, you, you wanna say? Pretty much the only, the only thing that, that I, I violate the rules in that is I love chocolate.

And chocolate of course, has. Lots of good things in it too, besides, but I'm staying away from all that sugary crap that's just gonna, it's gonna crash you and, and not, not give you good, good calories. Um. The other thing you have to take into consideration too. Um, things that are gonna stay in your pack.

It's things that aren't gonna get mucky and damn I love fruit, you know, things like that. But, um, I'll take an apple. An apple usually hold, but boy, a pear will get all smashed up. Yeah. Um, you know, apples and 

oranges are pretty good too. Yeah. Everything else just gets totally smashed. It totally, 

totally match.

Here's the, the trick around that. You can, you can de dehydrate it. The fruits are wonderful. Um, so you can definitely use those. And, and the same thing, you know, if I'm just going for an easy hike in the wintertime and I, I wanna treat myself. Yeah, I may, I may pack a sandwich in there. It sounds good as it, but I, I, a lot of people again, aren't thinking about this stuff.

Again, packing a sandwich in the summertime, first of all, uh, the, the, uh, the idea of, um. It's gonna get smashed up, but food poisoning you want to think about? Yeah. So if you're out there all day in the sun, you don't want anything that's gonna spoil, that's gonna, no mayo. I had food poisoning. No mayo, no meats, no Turkey.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean this stuff, cheese is generally safe. Um. But not cream cheese, peanut 

peanut butter and honey, or peanut butter and peanut Nutella butter. Peanut butter and jelly is a great, that's safe. A great option for sandwiches. And when they're smashed, they're fine. 

They're fine. But, but you, you wanna say another trick I've learned?

I do it more in backpacking, but it certainly works for de hiking too. Dehydrated hummus. You have the powder, you add water to it. Now you've got this beautiful hummus spread. And again, you put that on your on, on your flatbread. Great protein, great energy, doesn't spoil wonderful stuff. Yeah, of course. We talk about cheeses are good too, and if you're gonna go, you know, if you want a processed type of meat or something's gonna stay jerky and, and, and there's, there's lots of good choices of jerky too.

Yeah. It's b jerky and elk jerky, um, you know, all this stuff. So, you know, that's gonna give you a little bit of that, that, of that extra protein, uh, uh, too. But generally, a lot of my. My food are in the form. I use those, those, uh, honey Stinger bars I was telling you about, their protein bars. They're just all nuts and berries and pe I mean, just solid stuff.

And, and I, and I'll tell you, I'll keep you regular on the trail too. That's another story. Yeah, 

yeah. Sell through another another. 

But, um, but also just for, uh, you know, um, lots of nuts, cashews, uh, I love pistachios. They have, you know, those are a little slower if you're, if you're shelling 'em on the way.

And again, I should mention though, all of our listeners know these are not. Meant to be thrown on the trail. Bio degra. Nobody wants to see pistachio shells and, or you should be packing this stuff out. Yeah. Okay. It's just an eyesore. Uh, same with your apple core. Apple core shouldn't be taking apple peel and your orange 

peel.

Oh, especially orange peels. It takes forever for, and your banana peel. Banana peel, especially your 

banana peel, 

especially your banana peel. Uh, and even, you know, when you drop. Cheez-Its and things like that on a trail. Try to make an effort to pick it up if you're not gonna eat it, because wildlife is going to eat that stuff.

Yeah. And 

it's not good for 'em. So, so try to be, uh, on that. But as far as, um, I love, uh, CL Bar products have gotten gotten really good. Uh, flavor Pro bars are amazing. Uh, I got introduced to those a while. They have, uh, some of just these solid things that must weigh like a half a pound. They'll keep you going for a while.

Uh, like banana nut and different fruits and vegetables. Uh, low in, in, in, in, uh, ingredients. I mean, pretty natural. Uh, Lara bars too. They're, they're, they're really basic, so you're not getting all the additives and all the garbage. So if you're concerned about your health in that, in that case, far better than superbrand, uh, granolas and stuff that're just full of sugar and processed junk.

Um. So those are a lot, those are always in my, in my packs. Um, and then it has some pick me ups too, um, you know, when I'm traveling. So I have some shot, uh, some, um, some gels which are, can be, you know, ingested really quick. Uh, and then my 11th essential is. Chocolate covered espresso beans because there's, oh man, there's two, two of the food groups in there.

Cho chocolate and caffeine. Yeah. Yeah. So, 

right. Um, 

so those are wonderful. Anybody hikes with me knows I always have chocolate covered espresso beans on board and we break those out around that two o'clock lull. So, yeah. It's a good 

call. 

So yeah, those are, uh, I love figs too. Fig bars. Mm-hmm. Um, fig bars are great.

Uh, there's different, you know, your basic fig, then there's fruit, fig bars, those I usually have. Uh, a one, uh, a wonderful, and again, peanut butter, peanut butter's great. You put it on anything. Almond butter's great. Um, the, the protein and stuff that stays power foods. Absolute power foods. Yeah. 

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, those are all great. And you know, one of the reasons I knew this would be a great episode is that I do things pretty differently 

than you. Yeah, oh yeah, exactly, exactly. Um, 

like many things, which is why it's so fun working with you. 'cause we have such different like experiences and like things that we're good at and things that we've done.

And I think it's great. Well, having the same values, which is also really good. Um, so for me, um, like I agree with all of those principles, right? Like making sure that you have those macronutrients, making sure that you, when you look at the food you're putting in your pack and you're like, there's no way I can eat that.

Keep in mind that number one, some of it's an emergency stash, you're not planning on eating it, and number two, you are gonna be needing more fuel than you think. Like this is not the place for like. A big calorie deficit weight loss plan on a tough hike that is not, don't do that to yourself. You know, hiking is really, it's not, it's not 

safe too.

That's reason. And any kind 

of exercise is really good, or exercise is good for your body. Being outside is good for your body. So lean into that and, and try not to obsess. If you're the kind of person who gets really concerned about. Things like dieting. Really, it's really important not to do that while you're hiking.

Um, that's the thing. It's just people. As a woman, I'll just extra say that. Oh, 

you're absolutely right. And you do get, you know, people obsessed about calories and all that. Um, the thing is, I. Definitely look at the calories that are gonna help you. You, you want to make sure you're getting good calories, you know?

Yeah, I agree with that. So stay away for the most part. Yeah. From the simple calories that Yeah. That are not gonna help you. Uh, yeah. So you want stuff that, that's gonna' gonna benefit you. Yeah. So that's my thing, my take on that thing. I will say, 

and this is one way where. We are different, and I disagree with part of what you said, not really, but a little bit is around the simple sugar.

I think having some simple sugar is really important because if your blood sugar does get low, um, that way you can bring it up fast and Yeah, I can, 

a candy, I could, they can suck on or something like that. Yeah. Um, I 

also have a family member who is a type one diabetic, and so I am, I am not diabetic, but I am like.

Extra mindful, and, and I have, I have given my simple sugar to a diabetic person on a trail twice actually. 'Cause I agree with you, it, of course, in general, your body is gonna do better when it's getting a mixture of like complex carbohydrates and protein and fat. I do like to eat a straight sugar if I'm doing a tough climb.

Um, I have found, I know It's okay. You, I'm just telling you it works for me. Craig's making a face, it just crashes me. That tells you, he's freaking out. My, you know what? My body can't even 

take it. It just, I'll feel my, my rate go up and then crash. Yeah. But 

this is a good example of how bodies are different.

I have to have that to do a tough climb, otherwise I can't do it. My, I bon right. You were talking about bonking. Now other ways to avoid bonking are to have like good nutrition going into it, but I. I'm a plus size person, and when my body is going uphill for an extended time, a tough uphill, my muscles will run out of sugar and I just have to stop.

But I have, but I even have it metered out. So it's like if I'm listening to music, another thing I know you can't stand I will have like two jelly beans every song. And that's about the right way. But again, I'm talking about, I do that on tough climbs. I don't do that on every hike. And the other thing that's nice about those simple sugars is that they don't like, unlike chocolate, they don't melt.

You know, like if it's like gummy bears or something. I don't even really like gummy bears that much, but it's like. I think of that as an emergency ration. Okay. It's that, it's funny you mentioned that place that we really differ as far as philosophy. And again, that's for various reasons and that's fine.

Um, but it's funny you mention 

gummy bears because when I do ultra runs it, it is almost at every aid station. So there are obviously, there are a lot of ultra runners out there that gummy bears. Are part of their diet. So, yeah. And again, you have to right everything, you, you have to experiment yourself.

Yep. Um, and see, and, and again, things are gonna change too. Um, you know, as you go along, as your body changes, you're going to, your, your, your, your needs and for nutrition are gonna change. But definitely be attuned in in it and don't 

Yeah. 

Um, don't take chances. That's important in the black country's. The, yeah.

Yeah. 

And another important thing for me, for my body personally. Is that I tend to not feel hungry when I am hiking until it's way too late going back to the boning thing. So I, for me, it's 

heat. It's heat. I, I, I have a hard time eating when, when it's, when it's hot. So 

for me, I what I, every hour I stop and have some sort of snack.

It might be super minor, it might be like. You know, a string cheese or it might be a, um, it might be a kind bar, which is the only bars that I like. Um, but those are good. Yeah, it'll be some, it's not necessarily like a meal or even sometimes it is, but not always. Right. But I kind of need that little thing to make sure I don't really go into the hole.

Um, now again, if this is a walk around GreenLake or Seward Park. Not so important, right? But if it's a hike and I'm going uphill and I'm like thinking about, you know, doing this and whatever, I tend to be like, uh, I don't wanna stop, I want, and then I'm like, Nope, you need, you need a snack. Right? Um, so that's one thing I think philosophically that's just kind of important for me is to know, to sort of monitor by time.

When I'm eating, not necessarily how I feel. Now not everyone needs to do that, right? Some people are better at picking up those cues sooner, but that's something that works for me. And going back to the like jelly bean or licorice or whatever thing like that it is that I'm using at that time. I switch it up throughout the year, um, on sort of what I would consider a moderate day hike.

I probably won't eat it. It's, it's really something for me for tough climbs, um, and emergencies and strangers going into diabetic shock. Just not great. Okay. Um, so in general, I try to bring a variety of stuff. I, I don't like bars, like I said. 

Um, you've gotta try one of these Stinger. Okay. 

I stinger bars. I will try one of yours.

As long as they don't have coconut oil in them, which they probably didn't. 

I got a, I'll check that out. I'm not sure. Okay, 

so that's the other thing I was gonna mention is that I am, I don't think I've mentioned this on the podcast before, but I'm allergic to coconut. Um, and coconut oil and coconut milk and many, many, many, many processed foods, including most bars, most granola bars, protein bars have coconut oil in them.

So I can't eat those anyway. Um, but kind bars, um, are not. Don't have coconut oil unless they're the coconut. Kind bars that have actual coconut in them. Um, but then they're, the other ones are fine. So I, I'm pretty good with kind bars. Um, 

no coconut oil on this, on the honey sleeve. Ooh, 

okay. I'm ready to try it.

Craig. I'm ready to be converted. And so you're gonna be my wife. My wife is the same 

way. She hate hates bars. She's hooked on these. No. 

Okay. The other thing, just real talk is like, some of these bars are really expensive, right? And so. Just know that you don't have to eat bars to be a hiker. You can, but you don't have to.

So what do I do? I usually bring a bigger food item, like maybe a lunch, although I don't necessarily eat it at lunchtime. And, um, that in the winter what I, this is just real talk, what I do, so. Not even the winter in the fall, winter and spring. So every time, except for when it's really hot in like July and August and maybe June, I usually make for dinner earlier in the week, either a soup or something that's baked pasta, and then I have a thermos that I bring it in.

And I really love that. I really love to eat real food. It weighs more because as a trail 

runner, I can't imagine bringing a thermos. I know you 

can't, but I'm not a trail runner, so I bring a thermos and put soup or, um, the key to putting something in a thermos is it really has to have enough liquid that it doesn't have air pockets in it, otherwise it doesn't stay hot.

Right? So if it's like a baked pasta. You just have to make sure it's wet enough that it is more like almost a soup when it's in there, rather than like a casserole that has like a lot of air pockets. So that's, so I usually have that and then the part of the year where it's too hot for that. Um, then I usually have a peanut butter and Nutella, um, sandwich on oat nut bread.

And, you know, Nutella was, um, invented by the Italians. I had to just throw that. I 

didn't know that.

Oh gosh. Um, and the reason, I mean, I like Nutella fine, but honestly, the reason I use Nutella is it's less messy than honey or jam. That's the actual reason. Um, the other thing about that is that I usually cut it in half and eat it in two. Eat half of it at one point and the other half later because kind of what Craig was saying, like you're fueling to go sometimes eating a lot.

For me, eating a lot in one sitting doesn't work as well as having like. Like more frequently having less food. But again, that's different from not everybody is like that. That's what works well for me. What you were saying, 

you were saying too about the, the larger meals, I mean, I always talk about the grazing 'cause you're, you're keeping things consistent, the butcher, but also if you eat.

A larger meal, it's gonna make, it's gonna, it's gonna tire you because your body has to break that down. Yes. So that's one of the reasons why you feel tired after a large meal. So again, if you're trying to do a performance day where you're hiking, that's gonna stop that too. But just by, by grazing instead of by, by, by feasting, you know?

Yep, 

yep. And also, I 

should mention in the wintertime, you'll notice this too. Uh, after you eat a large amount of food, you get cold. Because again, your body is breaking down those, those calories just took in and now you're shivering. So you'll always notice that. Yeah. It's just kind of a 

balance. Yeah.

You're gonna 

get cold, uh, after that. Yeah. Yeah. 

And then, but then ironically, you need more calories in the winter because your body, I. Is keeping warm, warm and exercising warm, right? Oh gosh. It's just so much. Okay. Anyway, so I usually bring that and then if it's, if I'm doing like a really hard hike, which I would define that as something with.

4,000 feet of elevation gain or more like I have to train for that, or let's say 3,500. I can't just go out and do that. I have to work up to it. Um, so usually in the summer I can do that just fine. But if it's like mailbox peak or camp mirror at, at in Mount Rainier National Park or climbing Mount St.

Helens, um, those last two are amazing hikes. Mailbox is not, but whatever. We'll talk about that later. Um, if it's tough like that, I'll usually bring two of those sandwiches and have each of them cut in half so I can like have four shots at that. And I'm super tired of eating it by the time I'm done. But it works pretty, it's like the right amount of nutrition and things for me.

Um. So that's kind of the main thing. And then other than that, I mentioned I always bring a Milky Way bar or a Snickers bar. Um, if it's a tough hike, I'll plan on eating that as my first hike in the summer before it melts. I keep them in the freezer so that they don't melt immediately. Um. But I don't always do that.

It's typically on like a harder hike. But I also, I mentioned the kind bars. I, um, often I'll bring an apple or an orange. Um, those, uh, Bel Vita, like, they're like crackers. They. They have 'em at Costco. They're like, and you can see 'em in stores as well. I get them at Costco. If you put peanut butter on those, they have re a really good, like, that really ups their protein level and they have like for a processed food, like pretty good macronutrients.

And I get the squeeze bottles of peanut butter, so it doesn't make an enormous mess. I, I'm not really great with sticky. I'm messy, so sometimes I'll bring that and you can put squeeze peanut butter on like all kinds of things. Um, what else? Dried fruit is a big one for me.

Um, the yogis that are like the dried strawberry with. Yogurt on them. 

Yeah. I forgot to mention, I, I, I, that's a good frequently snack. Yogurt covered raisins. Um, yep, yep. Also that I like. Yeah. Really good. Yep, yep, yep. 

I sometimes hardboiled eggs that can be a pretty good snack. I mean, again, you can't wait until 4:00 PM on a hot day to eat those. But in winter, or for like a morning snack that has a really good amount of protein, I often bring something to put on it, like avocado or mustard or something like that. Now avocados 

is a, is a great, uh, good fat for you.

Wonderful fat, yes. And you mentioned eggs too. I obviously not on the trail, but eggs when I'm doing ultra runs and everything, almost always I have a scramble before my race. Yeah. Eggs, potatoes, you know, for my, uh, um, uh, for my carbs. But, uh, eggs are wonderful. Great story. And I. I don't care how much the eggs cost.

Uh, a dozen, I'm gonna eat 'em because it is my power foods. Yeah. I eat 'em almost every day. Yeah, 

yeah. Yeah. I think also, um, baby carrots, that's another thing that you can have with either hummus or peanut butter. The house 

wonderful with hummus. Yep. 

Yep. Um, and you can get, you can put hummus in like a container that's.

Got a tight lid, you know, and that really helps look into 

my dehydrated ones that I use where you just add water. So right on the trail. Yeah. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. You, you just stir it right up right there and it's one so you don't have to weight going in and you don't have to worry about it being messy.

Yeah, I like that. Also, let's see. I tend to bring chocolate in the winter, but not the summer except for the, the Milky Way or Snickers bar. Um, the like chocolate melts in the summer, milky season, I tend to like not have chocolate. Um, I think I already mentioned dried fruit. Oh, crackers can be another good thing.

Like the baby carrots. It's kind of crunchy. You know, cheese usually holds up fairly well, so crackers and cheese can be a good snack. Mm-hmm. Especially if you have it like with the baby carrots and the, or I'll have like crackers and cheese at one break and then the next one I'll have like carrots and hummus or something like that.

Um, yeah, so I think that's the majority of my go-tos every once in all. I bring something weird 'cause I feel like it, but I think those are kind of my go-tos, so. Well 

cold, cold pizza's. Okay. Uh, as long it's not summertime, so. 

Okay. I have not brought cold pizza, but that will get yet You've never brought cold pizza on a hike.

I've brought 

cold pizza on a hike before. 

I know. Wow. Okay. Yeah, that's a good one. I think, you know, make sure you bring stuff you like that's really important. Well, yeah, like if you're, if you're like, if you don't like bars. And you're like, I need to eat every hour while I'm on this tough hike. It's not gonna help to have a bar that you hate as your only option.

Like, don't do that to yourself. 

So, so the other thing I, I didn't mention on this and probably to, so, and this is really, really important, especially in hot Days, but all and again as a trail runner and it's another way of getting calories. And I know a lot of my fellow hikers and runners adding something to your water of sport and Oh 

yeah.

And one of my to go, and again, I've experimented with a lot, a lot of 'em. I don't like the sugar, the one I'm absolutely sold on. Again, if you're listening, tailwind, tailwind products and, and, and I've used them in my hardest, longest runs. The thing I like about Tailwind, uh, there's two things. One, it tastes good.

A lot of the stuff, I don't like the flavors. You know, I, I, I have the powder. I add it to my water bottles when I'm going along. Here's the thing. You're getting all your, your electrolytes, which you absolutely need when you're hot, you don't wanna cramp up. You know, electrolytes is so important, so you wanna get that.

But tailwind, when I'm doing a long run, uh, I can't eat after a while. If I'm doing a 50 mile run, I can't eat towards the end yet. I need calories. 200, there's 200 calories in, in, in a package of tailwind in your water. So now I can drink my calories. Yeah. Uh, and still get the end. That is so, and it has saved me.

So again, looking at things like that, there's ways you can drink your calories. Um, so look at a lot of those products. There's a lot of great stuff out there. Yeah. Um, on, on the market and new stuff coming all the time. And again, you have to experiment yourself. What, what's gonna work for you. 

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. Well, cool. Anything else you wanna say about hiking, fueling for hiking, Craig, before we go? Well, we 

can talk about what we eat after the hike and now we're talking, you know, a cheeseburger and a beer and things like that. So I don't want people out there to think that I'm like this totally health nut.

You know, I, I, I do like to, you are a little to eat, uh, just, you know, just a little on the trail, but, you know, um. I, I still, I, I break the rules occasionally. 

One, one thing I would say, uh, Rega again, we're not nutritionists, we're not dieticians, we're not, uh, doctors. We are, we are experienced hikers. Right.

Keeping that in mind, but one thing and still 

learning too. That's the thing. Yeah. And, 

and I always find stuff that I'm like, or I'll get an idea for, um, someone else. Like, Ooh, another thing that I learned from a friend in Alaska is those dried. They're like dried sweet. It's like dried anamae kind of, but it's in a, there's, you can get a big bag of it or you can get small like individual servings and they're like dried flavored.

Beans, basically. But they're really good and they have a lot of protein in them and they're plant-based and 

shelf shelf 

staple's. 

Funny. That's funny you mention that. Again, don't be afraid to experiment too. Yeah. And when I was, I, I was in, uh, South Korea, um, a couple years ago and hiking, of course, octopus in squid.

Jerky Delicious. And the protein that is not 

for me, but I'm sure other people 

you can get that in Linwood, in Shoreline and everything, so, absolutely. Yeah. And it's not gonna go bad. So again, there's, there's lots of good stuff. Yep. Rice balls. I've taken those on the trail, um, when I was in Argentina, empanadas that don't last on the trail.

All kinds of good stuff. Uh, yeah. There's no reason why we can't do that here, you know? See, yeah. See what works. Um, again, and looking 

around at what other, when you see other people on the trail and they're eating, look at what they're eating exactly. And be like, oh, what a great idea. 

And, and, and Jenny as you said too, right?

Food, I mean, I eat for performance, but I also, I'm Italian. I love to eat, you know, I love, I love food, you know, it's good. Yeah. You know, and I wanna enjoy food. 

Yeah. 

Um, so you, you definitely want, you know. Getting that happy mix. I, I know lots of hardcore Jenny, I'm not hardcore compared to lots of my friends who just, I I see what that like, it's just like intravenous, you know?

I don't know what they're taking. It doesn't, they're not enjoying your Yeah. Like a perfectly yeah. A perfectly 

designed, customized cocktail for your body, for your sport. 

But good for 

them. 

That's just not gonna do it for me. But, but the other thing I should mention too, there's entire books written on this subject on nutrition.

Yes, there are. And, and performance and everything. Definitely look into some of this stuff, um, for sure. And again, again, things even 30 years ago when I was, I. You know, I, I've been marathon running since my twenties. My diet is radically different now. Mm, mm-hmm. In my sixties as I was in my twenties for the performance I'm doing.

Yeah. We, things constantly are changing and Yep. And, and, and, and, and different methods. So, um, I. We don't, there's so much we don't know, on this and, and it is a science and there's a lot of great resources out there. So definitely look into it. Um, yeah, 

there's one thing that I do know is that I want to mention before we go, that is really important for after.

A hike, which is to get, um, to get a good amount of protein. After that, it really helps your body recover. And that could be plant-based protein. I mean, it can be getting a burger, but it could also be, you know, something like edamame or hummus or eggs that has a lot of protein.

Um, that is something that can help your body recover from that exertion as well. Yeah.

Recovery is really, really important. Absolutely. Yeah. Especially if you're depleted. If, if you went into a deficit, uh, on your hike or run, you, you wanna get those calories into you very quickly. So lots of times again, and, and that's a good point you mentioned. When I'm doing a long, uh, a long run, I will have in my car ready for me, um, usually a Gatorade again for electrolytes.

I'll tell you the other thing that I swear by chocolate milk and I'm not gonna take it on the trail. Oh yeah. But I have a cold chocolate milk and cooler waiting for me. Finish. Finish. That's a good idea when I finish. Yeah. So these are, these are, are, are great, you know, bagel, you know, uh, things like, you know, bagel and bagels are great on the trail too.

Um, they're gonna last, but, so recovery is, is super important. Um, yeah. Uh, and, and, and, and, and, and it makes, you wanna tend to it right away and drink a lot. I, I always joke about my liquid recovery diet after a run starts with a Gatorade, then a chocolate milk. Then a coffee, so I get home and a beer when I get home.

So it's four. That's my liquid. Calor. Yeah, my liquid. I love it. Recovery.



 📍 Well thanks Craig. 

Thanks, Jenny. 

 If you are enjoying the Washington State Hiking Podcast, Craig and I would love to have you leave us a rating and a review that helps other people find us. And if you wanna support us financially, you can leave us a tip through the show notes. No account, no commitment, nothing like that. Thank you so much for listening and see you next week.