nutrition

Hiking while fasting!

In March of 2018 I conducted a short experiment with going on a hike while fasting, the hike itself is described Here:
In this article I want to clarify what led up to the decision to hike fasted and how I prepared for the experiment.
So, if You been following my stuff for any amount of time, You already know that I’m a proponent of low carb nutrition and fuel my own activities primarily with fat. I noticed a considerable shift in my metabolism after the 30 day hike in nutritional ketosis I did in the summer of 2017, after which I no longer need a few days adaptation when choosing to up the carbs for a day or a few. My thoughts are that the prolonged activity during ketosis restored my bodies natural metabolic flexibility and increased my ability to fuel with free fatty acids directly.
I have felt inclined to try an extended fast for quite some time, just didn’t seem to get to it, and now I thought the time was right and the decision was made on pretty short notice.
Just a couple of days before the start of the hike on Friday, March 23rd 2018, I caught myself falling into a pattern of spontaneous OMAD (one meal a day). I had my usual fat coffee in the morning and just wasn’t hungry more than once a day.
Probably this can be explained by stress levels being a lot lower than back in Stockholm and the abundance of sunlight I enjoy here on the island.
Anyway, I was clearly in fat burning mode when I skipped my fat coffee on Friday morning, leaving dinner at 18:00 (6PM) Thursday as my last meal before going out into the hills 13:30 (1:30PM) Friday.
Totalling just short of 80km (50 miles) I ended the hike on Sunday 16:00 and did only take in water and pink Himalayan salt (contains lots of electrolytes besides the sodium) during this time. Admittedly I consumed a lot of water and added about 0.5 tsp salt to each 1.5l bottle.
Timing proved to be perfect and on Sunday night my body told me to end the fast, dinner at 20:00 (8PM) left me with a 74 hour fasting period, maybe it had felt good to go longer if I had not been hiking. For now and under the circumstances, this was exactly right for me.
Now, I can’t stretch enough the importance of being properly fat and keto adapted if You want to copy the experience. Though it is true that fasting is one of the fastest ways of entering nutritional ketosis, doing that while being this physically active can only be a very unpleasant experience.
So, will I do this again?
Well, on the fasting side – definitely! I felt really good the whole weekend, good energy levels most of the time and really no feelings of fatigue or even serious hunger. The plan for now is to incorporate 24-36 hours fasts on a more or less weekly basis with an extended fast every now and then when it fits into my life situation.
At some point, when life’s slow and rather stress free, I´d like to go for a longer fast, maybe 7-10 days, to really reap the health benefits. For now the natural intermittent fasting I do on an almost daily basis will suffice!
That’s all for now, thanks for checking out the post and I hope you found it valuable.
Please share if you did!
Peace // Claes

Fruits

Bring Fruit for Energy & Taste

For me there are two reasons to bring some dried fruit on a hike, energy and taste. The first is pretty obvious as sometimes we have to do some energy intense parts and need the more fast paced sugar fuel. And fruit is also a treat than can be vitally important, even if I think you agree with me that almost any food tastes great after a day of hiking, you’ll probably also agree that every now and then we need something sweet and tasty to raise our mood. It matters little if the reason is lousy weather for days and days or a particularly strenuous day on the trail, pampering the taste buds can save the day or even the relationship with our company!

I normally advise against buying dried fruit as most brands are soaked in sugar solution and often contain preservatives that are all but healthy, the all natural brands, on the other hand are mostly ridiculously pricey. If budget is no issue they are a convenient alternative, though, as most fruit takes time to dry and leaves the grid rather sticky and more difficult to clean.
Organic prunes and apricots without added sugar or sulfur are less pricey, though they add quite a bit of weight to the backpack.
As with meat and veggies, for me it’s part of the experience to dehydrate the fruit at home and as I personally don’t bring that much, the time investment is seldom an issue.

I like having a variety of different fruits both for taste and nutrition, my favourites are:

Dried_Fruits

My Favourites

  • Pineapple
  • Orange
  • Figs
  • Banana
  • Grape fruit
  • Apple
Avoid more moist varieties like melons, grapes and pears as they dry very slowly and actually risk spoiling before the process is completed.
On shorter hikes up to a week, when the extra weight doesn’t matter that much, some commercial dried dates without added sugar are an easy and tasty variety.
Good luck, have fun and love the experience!!!

Veggies

Bring Vegetables for Nutrition & Variety

Dehydrating veggies is easiest using a dehydrator, most just don’t do well with the heat in the oven. Some ovens can be set at low enough temperature while most can’t and therefore will burn the more delicate veggies. This can actually be a good thing when drying onions as they get a nice roasted taste from slightly browning in the oven, other veggies don’t, though.

I recommend to bring a variety of vegetables, partly to increase nutritional value, partly to enjoy more variation. Out door cooking doesn’t have to be dull or boring, you can eat very good and tasty meals far away from your kitchen with just some preparation!

Using a dehydrator minimizes the need for checking on the drying veggies, just load the thing, go do your stuff (or have a good nights sleep) and about 8 hours later it’s time to remove the batch, replacing it with the next.

The trick is to cut everything into thin slices to shorten the time of the process, most vegetables can be processed raw while crusiforous varieties like broccoli, cauliflower and brusselsprouts need just a few minutes boiling.

WHAT I USUALLY DO

Veggies

I usually do:
  • Onions, red and yellow
  • Spring onions
  • Leek
  • Bell peppers
  • Zucchini
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
Next to try are:
  • Brusselsprouts
  • Spinach
  • Kale
Good luck, have fun and love the experience!!!

Beef Jerky

Hey, what could possibly be more genuine provision on a hike than this classic? Dried meat has been used for thousands of years to provide sustenance to our hunter-gatherer ancestors and, together with dried fruit, berries and nuts actually prevented utter starvation during the lean months of winter when game was rare and hunting made difficult by the season.

The ability to preserve food through the process of dehydration made it possible for early humans to inhabit regions with harsher climate and has played a crucial role in humans conquering virtually every corner of the earth.
While we will address the dehydration and preparation of a wide variety of food on these pages, for me this is the natural place to start and I personally use jerky as a staple of my diet when on a hike that’s longer than just a few days. Going on a two or three day hike you could chose almost any food as neither the weight nor the risk of it getting spoiled (just avoid the most delicate food items that spoil extremely fast) needs to be considered for such a short hike.
2016-05-24 15.39.16
So, keeping first things first, most important is to chose was kind of meat to use and, as the nutritional value of the foods we eat is what fuels our hike, it’s a no-brainer to chose the high quality stuff. Now, this has less to do with the cut and everything with the animal. Frankly you can use almost any cut, as long as it’s reasonably lean. Fat doesn’t get dehydrated and so choosing fattier cuts increases the weight and shortens the life span of the jerky, fat gets rancid which renders it inedible while lean cuts of meat gives you a jerky you can still use after a year or more of storage.
Still, of course, it’s recommended to use freshly made beef jerky and left overs  a hike is a delicious and nutrient rich snack!
The fact that almost any lean cut can be used is a huge advantage when it comes to buying organic grass fed beef or game meat as the finer parts can be ridiculously pricy. Go for the parts around the thighs of the animal that we usually would cook roasts from and trim away any excess fat (if You want to go really hardcore here just melt that fat down and make tallow, You can even ask the butcher for more fat. That´s usually very inexpensive).
2016-05-24 15.35.24Then cut the meat in thin slices (3-5mm or 1/10-1/5 inch) and flavor them to Your preference. You can use virtually any kind of marinade or rub You normally use for barbecue, just make sure that You´re on top of the ingredients. There are more fun situations in the wild than getting a stomach upset from too much chili powder ?
Now, if You use a marinade the meat needs some extra time absorbing the fluid and also longer to dehydrate. Using a rub lets us get on with the process immediately and also saves time drying.
Usually we have two methods to chose from to dry our meat:
1) using a dehydrator – here, as always, it pays long term to go for quality. There are numerous different devices on the market and they differ between countries so you have to do your own homework here. Begin by determining the right size for your needs and do your due diligence. Once you purchased one, follow the instructions that come with it.
A word of caution here – many dehydrators are designed merely for mushrooms, veggies and some fruits and run on too low a temperature for drying meat. If in doubt always check again with the manufacturer before closing the deal.
2) using the oven – use a grate that fits the with of the oven and hang your slices of meat over the bars, rub the bars with some olive or coconut oil to prevent the meat from sticking and make cleaning the grate easier. Turn on the oven at low temperature, we want around 50 Celsius (120 Farenheit) to get the meat dehydrated and not cooked. Finally leave the oven door ajar about 10cm (4 inches) for the air to circulate and let the moisture out.
Despite some rumors that you can’t make jerky in a gas oven I’ve been doing that for years and it works just as well. I use the minimum heat and that level at about the right temperature.
The time needed for the process to complete itself depends on the amount of meat, the thickness of the slices and if you marinated or rubbed the meat. Ventilation and temperature also play in and I can only give you a very estimated time frame. In my experience it should be thoroughly dehydrated in 7-12 hours and usually it works fine to just leave it over night.
That leaves us with another two methods that require some special equipment or circumstances:
1) Drying the meat along the stovepipe or at the opening for the camp fire smoke (actually this is more a combination of smoking and drying that´s can be seductively tasty) of a cabin, tent, Native American tipi, Mongolian jurta or Sami kåta. Of course providing You having access to one of the above.
If not I highly recommend that You try the finished product if and when You get the opportunity. Smoked and/or dried reindeer meat is a delicacy in northern Sweden and I´m sure it´s equally good anywhere else You can get it!
2) Making the jerky utilizing the sun and wind might be the most ancient and traditional way of preserving meat. Naturally this only works in certain climates and I just started a promising looking experiment here on Cyprus. More about this in a later post though I can only encourage You to give it a go if You live where it might be possible. I just love the feeling of using original methods!
Good luck, have fun and love the experience!!!