Mountain Climbing

[JohnnyT]

Been climbing the NH 4000 footers. Climbed Mt. Liberty, 4459 feet. This is the first one I climbed while on Whole 30......ran out of gas. Made it to the top, but was unable to move on to Mt. Flume. Energy dropped out 3/4 way up. Had a high protein breakfast, hydration, fruit, nuts, almond butter, LaraBars, etc......

Miss my FRS chews to fuel my muscles. After the Whole 30, I'll have to go back to my old regimen if I cannot find anything comparable to fuel my body.

Anybody have any suggestions.........

I am on day 27 now.

[Aberrantatavia]

Can you give us a little bit of an idea as to what you ate before whole 30 in terms of how much change this is? And do you do other physical activities? If so how have those been?

I did Lafayette a week into my whole 30 and it was a little slow going for me, but I really didn't run out of steam. But whole 30 wasn't a drastic change for me since I was 90% paleo before that.

Without knowing the specifics, its possible that you needed more carbs if you are used to hiking and were on a carb burning system previous to this. I'm not familiar with the specific trail you used, but if it was steep with significant rock scrambles like Lafayette, it was probably several hours of a more cardio based workout.

Don't give up yet, you might just be in the early stages of your system adapting and you need to account for that:)

How is it going other than this?

[JohnnyT]

I would eat a high protein breakfast, then throughout the climbs, I would use homemade GORP, dried mango(with sugar on them, store-bought), granola, beef jerky, Balance Bars, FRS Quercetin Antioxidant chews, fruit......and lots of H2O.

[LoriLifts]

Last week I hiked to the bottom (and back up!) of the Grand Canyon.

Have you tried baby food? Whole Foods has an organic one in a squeezable package. They easily fit in a backpack and you don't have to bring utensils. I used a sweet potato/ apple combo and one made with banana and carrot. They were surprising tasty. The only downside was the ridicule I had to endure from my husband!

[JohnnyT]

Yup.....had the squeezable applesauce/banana and applesauce/cinnamon. They were really tasty, but provided nothing nutritionally/energywise.

As for the ridicule....that is funny!!!! That would make me just buy more of them..... If they had one that was pears, I would buy a case!!!

[LoriLifts]

Dang, I thought the baby food would help.

Have you tried coconut water? There's a raw one at Whole Foods, in the refrigerated section. Coconut water is full of electrolytes, in WW2 it was used as replacement in blood transfusions. This will sound nuts (it IS nuts) but after the Grand Canyon I participated in a 12 hour running event. I mostly walked and drank coconut water every couple hours. Except for the beat up feet, I felt good, energy-wise.

[Renee Lee]

I would eat a high protein breakfast, then throughout the climbs, I would use homemade GORP, dried mango(with sugar on them, store-bought), granola, beef jerky, Balance Bars, FRS Quercetin Antioxidant chews, fruit......and lots of H2O.

Johnny, the above doesn't sound like a ton of food in general to get up and down a mountain, paleo or not. If all you did was cut out the non paleo foods and add in some baby food, I'm not super surprised that you ran out of gas. I would have been ready to pass out.

At the very least, I think you need more fat. By day 27, you're almost certainly fat adapted, and none of the above has any in it. Coconut butter/oil, pemmican, nuts, something. That could be a big reason...or it could just be quantity. I always find the hiking meal times to be awkward at best, and counterproductive at the worst. Personally, I can't handle constantly having small snacks as I continue to hike. It makes me hungrier. I really need to sit down, have a full meal, and then keep going.

So try to bring a good fat source along with you, and maybe pack some more tupperware with foods that have some (limited) prep to them. (I like cold cut roll ups with guac wrapped in nori sheets)