Happy Thanksgiving! ...and a few words about Nutrition

Most of us Americans are preparing to eat way too much turkey, stuffing, and all the other fixings today, so I thought it would be appropriate to talk about nutrition. This topic doesn't seem to be discussed nearly as much as the gear we take, but it is a very important consideration. 

There is much activity in my kitchen today preparing for our feast later

, and here I am packing for a little 2 day, 2 night trip to one of our beautiful national parks tomorrow. The importance of nutrition while backpacking  increases with longer trips, but I always try to pack a well balanced diet even on short trips like this little 30 mile jaunt I'm about to go on. I learned a lot from a great series of articles at Thru-Hiker called Pack Light, Eat Right. The formula I strive for is  50% calories from carbohydrates, 35% from fat, and 15% from protein. If you were to only use the metric calories per ounce of weight, you would find that the lightest calories are from fat, but your body needs a better balance than just fat calories. Here's my menu for this weekend...

2.6	lbs	2	days in trip			11/25/2010
117.4	Cal/oz	1.3	lbs/day
Qty	Oz	Cal	Carb	Fat	Protein	Description
	42.30	4968	614	201	160	Total Per Trip
	21.15	2484	307	100	80	Total Per Day
			49%	36%	13%	% of Carbs, Fat, Protein
1.0	1.45	180	19	9	5	Bora Bora - Tiki Blueberry Flax
1.0	1.45	180	18	10	4	Bora Bora - Tropical Sesami Cranberry
2.0	4.90	480	88	10	20	Clif Bar - Chocolate Chip
2.0	4.20	560	70	28	8	Snickers bar 2.07oz
0.5	0.58	0	0	0	0	Coffee/Tea/Splenda (4 each)
2.0	0.90	80	20	0	0	G2 Thirst Quencher packs
0.4	4.55	436	91	4	8	Fresh & Easy Honey Wheat Braided Pretzels
1.0	2.75	316	0	25	22	Reggiano Parmesan cheese
1.0	3.55	490	0	46	18	Hormel pepperoni - 2 pack
1.0	3.90	400	74	10	4	GV Brown Sugar Cinnamon Toaster Pastries (2)
1.0	2.88	277.5	53	3.75	8.5	Couscous/nuts/beries mix (see recipe - serves 1)
2.0	11.00	1568	181	56	63	John's meat sauce - 1/2 cup + corn pasta -1 1/2 cups (serves 1 1/2)
1.0	0.20	0	0	0	0	Quart Freezer Bag

 More on this topic later, but I had better go help in the kitchen!