Hi, new guy here. I've been doing the low carb thing off and on for many years now. Never ceases to amaze me how fast my blood preasure drops as well as the pounds. I'm committed to the life style for over all health as much as the typical weight loss benifits. My question is this. I'm an avid hiker and outdoorsman. All the products suchas trail mix and energy bars are typically high in refined sugar. I assume during a hard hike that I would burn off the excess carbs in these products but I'm convinced that the sugar is a really bad thing to ingest regardless of activity level. What would you folks recommend as a good food to take along that isn't packed with sugar and would still replenish ones energy. I keep hearing that the body can only burn carbs or fats for energy and fat burning is inefficient. What's the best comprimise? Thanks in advance for some replies.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about specific foods to eat. Eat normally.

For the sake of simplicity and convenience, I take dried meats and nuts with me to eat if I get hungary. I do eat small amounts of berries, so I'll eat these as well if the situation permits.

Cutting your food consumption back to far is the biggest problem with not having enough energy.

I heard a story of a guy who hiked the Appalachian trail on a diet of mostly butter. I think butter formed a major part of the diet for some Antarctic explorers too.

My wife has told me a little bit about "The Paleo Diet For Athletes," and it sounds like they don't limit carbs per se, they just make sure all the carbs come from fruits and root vegetables, not from grains.

What about almonds and natural dried cranberries?

I also read a story a guy wrote about hiking in the Sierra Nevadas using only some pemmican, fresh pine nuts and raisins. The pine nuts are pretty fatty with some carbs, the pemmican helps with the fat and protein, and the raisins give a bit of a carb boost. He took like five pounds of food and it lasted him quite a while because it's quite dense and high in calories.

I'd love to make my own pemmican because the commercial stuff is so expensive, but I suspect it would be even more expensive making it at home when you also consider my time.

BTW, dried, natural (i.e. unsweetened) cranberries are extremely tart. Every dried cranberry you see in the stores is sweetened in some way. Dried blueberries would work better than raisins if they weren't so rediculously expensive.

I'd say nuts, pemmican (fat and protein), and some dried berry or dried fruit without added sugar.

This is a huge problem for me as a runner. All the goos, gels, shot blocks ARE easy on the stomach and give you energy, but they are LOADED with sugar!

I think my gym sells individual packets of peanut butter, so I am going to try that. If I have a 10 miler or more to run, I need more carbs, so I eat a whole grain deli flat (100 calories, 14 carbs) with peanut butter or cheese. You could maybe bring something like that on a hike? I also like to carb it up with fruits. They are easy on the stomach during a run. I turn to fuit and cheese when the weather gets hot. HTH, it isn't easy. Id love to hear more about sports LOW CARB, healthy supplements!

bumping for more suggestions/input...

I just ran 10K today. I decided to continue induction for two more weeks because I had cheated twice in my prior two week span. Anywho so I ran today and BOY do I wish I carb loaded yesterday. I also did not do any training though I had been working out (pumping weight regularly). Still made 80 minutes time but man I felt like I was gonna pass out around the 7K mark. I wonder how people who train for marathons can survive on a really low carb diet. I get the energy is increased because after I rested for 15 mins, my energy came back pretty fast but it is brutal running with just veggies as ur carb source. sigh

First of all congrats on your 10k!! That's awesome!! That is my next goal. I feel your frustration on what to do about a good carb source for running longer distances/times... I've done two 5k's in last couple months and now want to do a 10K and then a 1/2 marathon (eventually) and I know that I would need more energy then I what I get from veggies and fruit to maintain my energy for those kind of distances esp because I'm a SLOW runner..BUT yet I want to keep loosing weight and don't seem to loose if I raise my carbs much above induction levels..sigh...I guess it might just be a choice between increasing carbs a little and maintaining weight so I can train and run the races OR induction level carbs and loosing weight and just being ok with 5k's for now...decisions, decisons..

Congrats again on your race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember hearing the ingredients of the trail mix used by the American Indians (probably in the Scouts). It was something like nuts, berries, dried meat, and fat. They called it "pemmican" This is very high fat/protien, and low carb-- it looks like the perfect type of food for camping.
http://www.natureskills.com/wild-foods/recipe-pemmican/

(Notice the warning against "ketones" at the bottom. )

Here is another recipie: http://www.grandpappy.info/rpemmica.htm

While mountain biking, I carry uncooked plain instant oatmeal in a little ziploc. It's light and cheap. I wash it down with shake made of unflavored whey protein.
Don't mean to threadjack - since I posted something similar yesterday - but don't you guys have problems with foods like dried fruit causing cravings?

Once I start eating any kind of fruit, I want to eat more and more. For whatever reason, the instant oatmeal, or even just plain sugar, does not affect my appetite in same way.

I think it is up to personal tastes. Many people are carb-addicted, and will snap if around sweet stuff. Some of us are more pasta/potato/beer type carb lovers. I'd call that more "savory" carb addicted. If you give me a plate of home fries, or potato chips, I will definitely want more. I had a great salad (20 carbs) with walnuts and cranberries the other day. It was sweet, but it did not make me crave more sweet stuff. I can eat "just one" piece of candy, but many people cannot.

Check out Mark Sisson on endurance sports and low carb. He was a nationally ranked triathlete and multiple times on the cover of Runner's World. google Mark Sisson endurance athletes

Primal Compromises for Athletes

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=412522

Thank You! I wonder if we can lose weight while may eating carbs ONLY on days we intend to run a really great distance. Apparently this should be 3 times a week. So I wonder if we can have a high carb snack prior to that. I will try that for my next race coming up mid june and see what happens. Thank u again and good luck with ur training!

will def check him out! thanks