Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board What's for lunch?

I'm going up next Sunday and wonder what people take to eat at the top. What about for breakfest in the parking lot at 3AM? I'll be using Gu Gel along the way.

I suggest that you take a variety of foods that you like, sweet, salty, savory, etc. Altitude can sometimes affect your system and certain foods may just be totally unappealing even if you ordinarily like them. Gels or gu's are certainly the easiest to "down" but you might also want something that sticks a bit more.

Breakfast can be very personal - protein certainly goes further and can be warming. Peanut butter and jelly is an easy breakfast (and lunch), even prepared the night before. Instant oatmeal if you want to boil water. I also like instant soups in the morning.

While hiking up from Trail Camp (I camped overnight) I was able to deal with Powerbars - no texture more like taffy and Erg or other electrolyte drink. Once I was at the top, I had no trouble with any foods.

But I recall climbing Mt Dana (13,000) a year before and gagging even while trying to drink plain water - I guess it was a lot of exertion.

Have a great trip.

Dave, I like your Gu Gel idea.

Altho food is a highly individual choice, and altitude changes that significantly, it is glucose your body needs. We all have plenty of stored fat, unless you are in the Himalayas a month.

From a simple physiological standpoint, brain burns glucose, muscles burn fat. You need a little consumed glucose to go with that big fat fuel source. As for GU Gel, well I just used nothing but sugar (Twizzlers and Starburst jelly beans) on a recent 29 mile day hike Tuoloumne to Mammoth.
Go Carbs. Harvey

An overniter, you'll be back befor you know it. lots of water ,lot's of electrolites,several different typs of power bars because your eating habits do change upthere. what you like down here you might not like at altitude.Be prepared, start drinking 4 to 6 quarts of water a day a few days befor the trip. On the hike from Portal to trail camp drink the same amount but with elerctrolites, like wise to summit and coming back. be safe & have fun. Dan

actually, muscles predominately burn sugar too rather than fat. Fat is just used to store extra energy - it is the highest density way to store energy. It is then converted back to carbohydrate when the body needs more fuel. However the conversion rate is slower than your body needs when climbing to get by on fat alone. I also find that fat is hard to digest for some people at high altitude. So I'd recommend a mix of foods with emphasis on carbs.

Like most topics, there are many parameters to the experiment that alter the results and nterpretation.

Agreed: Yes, it takes more energy to digest fats at higher altitudes, but I think that pertains to the Greater Ranges type altitude. Yes, muscles do derive energy from both fat stores and glucose stores, depending on situation. Yes, burning of fats requires breakdown into carbohydrate metabolism, so in a sense " burning of fat" is a euphemism. But in the final analysis, muscles are the body parts that burn fat. So much for "burning fat while you sleep." Too bad.

Here is one study of possible interest, for example:

"Trained individuals oxidize more fat and less carbohydrate than untrained subjects when performing submaximal work of the same absolute intensity. This increased capacity to utilize energy from fat conserves crucial muscle and liver glycogen stores and can contribute to increased endurance."

See: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6571234&dopt=Abstract">Role of fat metabolism in exercise.</a>
Clin Sports Med. 1984 Jul;3(3):605-21

Hope this is helpful, assuming anyone wants to delve into deep detail. Just don't load up with cheesy grits and ham for breakfast,then barf it up at 12,000 feet. Harvey

h lankford-

by your standard, the brain, liver kidney, etc., etc. all burn fat as well, since the fat is converted to carbs and those carbs are the fuel for all tissue. If fat was a great way to power muscles, you would see athletes eating high fat foods during intense exercise. However, you don't. You see them eating high carb foods, drinking sports drinks that contain carbs (not fats), etc. Fats are the body's way of storing excess energy in the most efficient way (fat doesn't need water for storage, while carbs do and water is heavy). However, fat metabolism is too slow to help you enough during intense exercise like climbing.

Do atheletes burn fat during intense exercise - of course they do. Because they are running a caloric deficit and the body has only a limited amount of extra sugar stored, so it next turns to fat (and even muscle in extreme cases).

all the organs and muscles mentioned burn both carbs and fats, but in varying amounts .... importantly ... depending on whether the person or athelete is fasting, half hour exercising, all day exercising, or month-long extreme exercise. Some of our discussion is over whether what is being burned is the source of the fuel(in short or long term storage) versus the converted substance that is finally " burned".You need some glucose to convert and burn that stored fat (and protein).

All I am saying, simply put and to answer the average readers' inquiry about what to eat other than personal preference, is that we all have many, many thousands of stored calories as fat, and these are "burnable" in fact mostly by muscles, and all one needs is a little glucose (GaveG's GU GEl, or my Twizzlers) to help it.

"fat burns in the flames of carbohydrates" is a simple version of the detailed physiogy.

Now, I am finished this and my chocolate brownies. Have a nice Labor Day, and happy hiking. Harvey

Sometimes ,at altitude,those gue gels make me sicker then i already am & it's all i can do just to gag one down, but that's just me. i bring all kinds of power do-hicky's, it seems to help with my ability to eat anything when i'm sidk. i have lived in the serria's (el dorado co. ) almost half of my 43 years & i get sick every time i get above 13,000 feet but it has never stoped me or runined my trip's, just got to be creative. just don't go down to 7-11 & load up on twizzlers.

I pack what's easy now. First time I tried Whitney in 2002, I made a turkey-and-cheese on a bagel sandwich. Since then, I've taken peanut butter and honey sandwiches on bagels. Anything can get pretty smashed up in my daypack so pb&h still looks appealing. I also have a powdered gatorade mix with lunch just before the switchbacks. An old film canister is about the right amount for a 16 ounce bottle of water.
Basically, nothing tastes too great up at altitude. This year I had half a Snickers with almond bar at the summit, and the rest of it back at Trail Crest. I also bring peanut m&m's and other mixed nuts in a ziplock that's in my pocket, so I have a few of them during the entire day.

I would not take Powerbars. It was so cool at the Summit the bars were rock hard and I could not take a bite.

I plan to bring some Powerbars for sure and also some of that glucose gel stuff. These reports of it being difficult to eat are kind of unsettling...I hope I don't have big problems with that as I know I'll need to replenish my energy after a hike like that.

jeffh has got the right idea

Although I don't like them, the simple solution (that cyclist use all the time) is to put the Powerbar in a pocket (cyclist put them under shorts near the thigh muscle) where it'll absorb some heat. It'll be a soft as a baby's behind.

it's good to have things with you that you actually like to eat. it helps if they are easy to digest.

there's some peformance/recovery nutrition info at http://www.powereating.com/tom/030102.html

I've heard variations on this theme, but basically, GO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW. Don't try any new combinations/foods/recovery drinks the day of the hike. Just as you would for a race, if you try something new, you're bound to run into trouble. Unless you're going for some land-speed record, and you've been training specifically for that, you can go into trillions of details on diet, timing, and hydration, all of which are essentially overkill for the average hiker/packer.

As a competitive endurance athlete (outrigger canoeing at the moment!), I had a novice woman paddler ask me what I used during our 20-30 mile races for refueling. For me, it's as simple as Gatorade and fruit. My body just works really well with the simple sugars. Maybe throw in a Gu as needed. But I try to apply the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Silly!) at all times.

There is a great book by Lance Armstrong's trainer, Chris Carmichael, that's titled "Eat Right to Train Right". It breaks everything down really well, and even has plans for various types of athletes (the larger male-triathlete vs. a petite female cyclist). The only category he doesn't seem to cover is the larger female athlete (which is me of course!)!

Good luck!!
-Laura

PS: I took Trader Joes' Multi-grain pretzel nuggets, Soytzels (soy pretzels), dried peaches, and dried mango!

Along with the bottle of champagne, it was a great brunch on the summit!!

Dave G,

The GU GELS tend to make me gag on the trail for some reason, so I stopped using em.Id give em a try before you go up to see if your body welcomes the GU.

For Breakfast I would keep it simple.An orange and a bagel with cream cheese or PBJ works.Or some powdered milk with cereal is nice too.Once on the trail I snack on life savors;chocolate; fruit wraps and water.For lunch I like salami with mustard and cheese on bread of choice ,(preslice it all ahead of time) and an orange or apple.Wash it all down with water and my body is happy.

Ive also scheduled my lunches on summit days to take place before I reach the summit.It gives my body a chance to digest and I can spend more time taking in the view on top.Hope these tips can help.

Everyone is different. Personally I find that I am too nauseas to eat at the top, but I can 5-6 GU Gels' during the course of my walk with no problems. I find that GU with water is all I really need for a full day of hiking.

The one treat I do enjoy is something salty on my way down. This year I ate a bag of potato chips and a bag of Dorito's while walking down the switchbacks. I can still remember the elegant taste of the Dorito's as I walked down the hill! The 2 bags only cost me about 2 1/2 ounces, and the salt was great.

In year's past I have hauled all kinds of food up - only to bring most of it back in my pack. I still carry some emergency food, but my expereince is I am just not hungry or able to eat it.

Hiker Neil

For breakfast, I keep things simple. I usually have oatmeal and dried fruit. My favorite choices for oatmeal are Nature's Path Multigrain Raisin or Bear Naked Triple Berry. For dried fruit, I use Trader Joe's. As for lunch, I usually take with me 1 package of Kavli Thin Crispbread. I keep it in the box so it doesn't get smashed. I also bring a zip lock bag with 3-4 tablespoons of Casbah brand Hummus and a plastic spoon. I then put a little bit of water into the bag and mix the hummus. Then I spread it on the crackers. I also eat dried fruit and fruit leather which I also get from Trader Joe's. I may also bring a little bit of Trader Joe's trail mix (fruit and nuts only) and a few tubes of Walnut Acres Organic Fruit Squeezies. I find this to be pretty much sufficient. In addition to my regular water, I keep a water bottle filled with Gu2O or Gookinaid Hydralyte.