As a dietitian, I’m an expert on what to eat. So you’d think that I’d fuel my hikes with just the right food. Well, I’m embarrassed to say that typically we set off on a long hike and by time we have lunch at the top, it is typically 2:00 and I long ago ‘hit the wall.’
I tried something different yesterday. Here in Sonoma County (northern California), it is full-on spring. We had a lot of rain this year and the wildflowers are stunning. We took a hike out of Calistoga, up to some very interesting rock formations. It is a substantial hike – 9 miles round trip and you essentially climb up the mountain and then back down it. Not a good starting place for beginners, but if you enjoy hiking and are fit, it is one of the prettiest in the area.
Experts in sports nutrition recommend consuming 100 – 300 calories every hour during exercise. I tried it and it really helped. I made some trail mix with nuts and dried fruit, and also had apple and crackers. I found the biggest energy boost with the crackers – a seeded white flour cracker.
A good way to think about fueling activity is to match how quickly a food is digested with your needs. Sugars and refined carbohydrates are quickly digested. These are the foods that have a ‘high glycemic index’, meaning that they raise your blood sugar quickly. In the middle of a workout, this is exactly what you want! This is quick energy.
The crackers I ate were made with white flour – so they digested quickly and gave me energy. The apple and dried fruit were also good – fruit is a natural form of sugar. The nuts in my trail mix are a combination of protein and fat, and are digested/metabolized much more slowly. Even though trail mix is a popular hiking food – it is not really a good of source of quick energy. Even with chocolate added, the fat slows digestion.
In general, it is a good idea to have water and a light snack before intense exercise. The snack before exercise should be a complex carbohydrate – you want it to release later when you need it! I have a small bowl of whole grain cereal, soy milk and plain yogurt before my spinning class. (Spinning class means riding a stationary bike as a group, where the trainer/instructor changes the speed and intensity frequently.)
During exercise (that lasts longer than an hour), it is good to have simple carbohydrates. This was a perfect time to have those seeded white crackers that I love but rarely eat because they are not whole grain. Pretzels would also be good. I just drank water, but if you are sweating a lot it may be a good idea to have a sports drink. I often dilute fruit juice, which gives me sugar in an easy-to-digest form, also potassium. Commercial sports drinks also have sodium and calcium added to help replace electrolytes lost through sweat.
After intense exercise it is good to have both carbohydrate and protein. There is a short window of time after exercise when you have extra enzymes to replace glycogen stores ( the storage form of carbohydrate.) And of course, drink water throughout.
So, back to my walk yesterday. I ate a small amount about every 30 minutes. The carbohydrates (crackers and fruit) were the best energy boosters. We had the usual late lunch up at the top – but because I’d snacked I wasn’t so over-hungry and wiped out by then. It took us two hours to walk back down the hill, and since I’d just had lunch and it was all downhill, I didn’t snack going down and that seemed fine too.
Bottom line, experiment to see what works for you and choose fuels that will be available when you need them. By the way – the wildflowers were freshly out and their colors were especially intense. I’d never seen Indian Paintbrush such a vivid orange-red. Wow!
