What to eat while hiking

[tig]

I'm a newbie who hasn't posted before. I have gotten so much helpful info from all of you.I have been low-carbing for a year. This is the first time that I have had a problem with it.
My family and I hike in the Wht Mountains, NH evey year. These hikes are tough. This year we did a 9.6 mile hike with 4500 feet of elevation gain.
I felt dizzy,weak and irritable the entire time. I drank between 32 and 64 oz of water. I ate 2 lc pria bars and trail mix(made of almonds, pecans, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. What could I have done differently? Should I have eaten more carbs that day or what? I have been racking my brain trying to figure this out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[loCarbJ]

Tig,

You may find that without the "Carbs Crutch", you might need to improve you physical fitness level. You may want to bring more LC Bars or more trail mix. I do 100K Century Rides, which are done on a bicycle and can take up to 5 hours, with elevation gains like you mentioned above. I normally carry 5 LC Bars and refill my 24oz water bottle every 60-90 minutes.

Your fitness level will have to be higher without the carbohydrate boost. On particularly tough hikes, you could carry a granola or 'Cliff' Bar. I have done this when others are riding with me. Cliff Bars have something like 45-50 grams of carbohydrates in a really small, little bar. Okay to use for emergency.

The most important rule in fitness is that you should feel good! If you don't feel good, you need to stop and rest, and take it more easy. You could also be suffering from too-low blood-pressure. I don't know what your stat's are, but I will take a look at your profile.

J.

[good2beme]

Hi Tig,

This is interesting to me, because my husband and I have started going hiking after work once a week. We've been doing 5-6 miles roundtrip, elevation gain around 1500 - 2k. The first couple of hikes, I also got the shakes, but the last few I haven't, so I guess it's because I've gotten in better shape!

One thing we have been bringing for a snack, is the little Pepperoni Sticks. My theory is, keep the body fueled with fat/protien before you get shaky and maybe it helps avoid it.

Another piece of advice I heard once was, don't worry about the calories on a hike, because there is no way you can gain weight while hiking. Now, we low carbers don't count calories, but I try to make sure I get plenty to eat the day of a hike.

[Meg_S]

I find coconut oil - I'll either drink it in a hot drink or eat it somehow with my foods.. mix it with peanut butter ... get it in somehow... to be GREAT for hiking, in addition to other food. I also eat the cured sausages, and peanut butter. A lot of people find that carbs help, but they tend to leave me lifeless. L-carnitine supps are nice too.

[tig]

Thanks everyone for all the info. It seems that I probably had more than one thing going on. Not enough calories and/or fat, not enough water, and going faster than my fitness levels allowed. Thanks again for your advice and if there's anything else that comes to mind I would love to hear!