A guide to Food for Paddlers
Pamlico 140 | April 6, 2008Confused about what foods to take with you on your next outing?? Dont know the difference between a Carb and a calorie?? This guide will tell you the basics and let you know what to look for at the market. |
Nutrition is vital to the sport of paddling. Without food, we wouldnt be able to paddle. Say your sitting in your kayak in lake Tahoe. You start getting low on energy. All of a sudden, without much warning, you feel Shaky, Faint, Dizzy, your stomach is growling. Your in need of food. Not like when you crave a juicy burger, like when you dont care what goes in, as long as it makes that horrible feeing go away. Hunger can even be dangerous to a paddler. A hungry kayak can get faint and capsize, and will not have the energy to roll back up or re-enter. Now your seriously SOLed.
Dont worry, with basic understanding of nutrition, a paddler can be prepared for a sudden hunger. Calories are defined as the measure of energy in food. But this does not mean that high-calorie foods will fill you up. You want high-density, high-calorie food for paddling. The average 180 pound man burns 2500 cals a day, doing normal activities. But spending a day paddling your craft hard is not considered a normal day. This means paddling burns more calories than an average day of working at the office and driving to the market. You need foods that have alot of different nutrients and will leave you with that satisfied full feeling you get after a meal. There are many food options that dont need to be refregerated.
If you eat all carbs, you will get filled up, but only shortly after this fill, your blood sugar plummets and it results in that shaky and weak feeling. However, you still need carbs, but they should be eaten with a protein and fat rich food. The carbs fill you up quick, but the protein digests slowly to keep the blood-sugar from dropping and keeps you full longer. Here is a list of Good Foods for kayak trips-
Peanut Butter w/ bread: Peanut Butter is loaded with Protein and Unsaturated Fat (the good fat) It is a high calorie food, and will keep you going for hours. The bread supplies the carbs. It might seem like light food, but youll be surprised at how much this stuff will fill you up.
Cambells Chunky (With at least 250 cals per can): I might seem like a Rep for cambells trying to promote the brand name but there is a reason I chose cambells Chunky. Soups like progresso are very low cal and thats bad. It doesnt fill you up worth a damn, and its very watery. Cambells makes chunky soups like Split-pea and ham, Gumbo, Cheddar and Bacon, that are high in nutrients, high in cals, and fills you up. Studies show that foods cooked with water will fill you up much more than the same amount of food without the water. This effect does NOT work with eating food and drinking water. This is what will make a real meal for over nighters.
Nuts/Peanuts/Beans-Nuts and Beans are very high in protein and have some unsaturated fat and has the same effect as peanut butter. I strongly recomend you put nuts on your list.
Jerky: I personally cant stand the horrid taste, but its one of the only meat products portable enough for kayaking and it doesnt need to be kept refrigerated. Meat is a vital food source and You will find alittle in Cambells soups as listed above.
Cookies: This is not something you eat as a primary meal. This is good for when you capsized and your cold, or waiting for your dinner to warm up. It has alot of carbs and sugar and and will offer imediate fuel.
Keep in mind this is not suggested as an everyday diet. This is Only for when you burn abnormally high calories such as kayaking and in your daily life you should have more variety because of the option of refigerated food.
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