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nutrition

Our Favorite Thing: Why Do Hikers Eat So Much Peanut Butter

Last updated: April 19, 2022 by

Whenever I am on a hike, I like to carry along a meal or a snack to keep me going. I notice that my fellow hikers do the same, and most of them are making room in their backpacks for some form of peanut butter. 

While I love peanut butter as much as the next person, seeing so much of the gooey snack on the trail made me wonder why hikers eat so much peanut butter. Is peanut butter a wonder food? Read on to find out!


Table of Contents
Nutritious
Fat vs. Nutrients
Calories
Choose wisely
Pack smart
Conclusion


Nutritious

Peanut butter is rich in two very important essentials to a hiker, which are fiber and protein. Just two tablespoons, which is the recommended single serving size, provides 7.7 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber. 

Fiber and protein give your stomach something to do and make you feel full longer as well as provide energy to sustain you on a long hike. As far as nutrients go, you cannot find a better combination than that.


Fat vs. Nutrients

You may worry that peanut butter is high in fat, but it actually contains high amounts of mono and polyunsaturated fats and oils, which are good for you. The fat content in peanut butter does make it high in calories, but the good outweighs the bad here. 

In addition to our friends fiber and protein, a serving of peanut butter is crammed with vitamins like B3, B6 and E. Not only that, minerals such as potassium, selenium, zinc and magnesium are found in decent amounts in a serving of peanut butter. All of these play an important part of producing energy in the body and metabolizing fat.


Calories

Speaking of calories, when hiking you are going through your body’s store of energy pretty fast. Hikers know that a serving of peanut butter provides 190 calories and 16 grams of fat, which makes it a concentrated source of energy.

Face it; you do not want to carry a bunch of food with you or the means to make a whole meal. Peanut butter is more portable than many sources of energy, and it provides more nutritional benefits.


Choose wisely

Choosing the right peanut butter involves label reading, as you may have guessed. Many commercial peanut butters have high contents of sugar and sodium that cancel out all the health benefits. Order organic, natural or freshly ground peanut butter from your local health food store, grocery store or from Amazon, such as Classic Gluten Free Peanut Butter by Justin's | No products found.. Some brands even offer single-serve options, which are super handy for hiking trips.


Pack smart

If you cannot find single serve peanut butter, try packing it in a plastic bag and then placing it into a storage container. When hiking, snip off the corner of the bag and squeeze your serving of peanut butter into oatmeal, onto noodles or in your hot cocoa. Just squeeze and go for a nutrition packed pick-me-up.


Conclusion

Well, there you have it, the benefits of peanut butter on the trail. This convenient, portable powerhouse of nutrition can stave off hunger while replenishing vitamins and minerals hikers lose during a long trek. 

Less is More: How to Feel Full(er) While Hiking

Last updated: April 19, 2022 by

Since most of us are used to feel full on our day to day lives, we're unaware of its effect on our overall mood and physical performance. Because hiking demands more physical activity than our daily lives, it's particularly important to break this cycle and have a plan to feel full as much as possible.

Even if we're able to perform physically most demanding hiking/camping tasks, we'd better do them comfortably as most of us here hike for personal enjoyment. Feeling satiated is one of the most important factors to improve your overall mood and physical performance during hiking.

And, calorie intake is single-handedly the most important factor when it comes to feeling satiated. Unless your TDEE is very low, or you can pack unusual amounts of food, or you'll be "hiking" for 10 minutes before you camp at night and return home the next morning (which is called picnicking), feeling hungry to a degree is inevitable.

This post is devoted to minimize that hunger with smallest serving sizes.

Table of Contents
High calorie intake the previous day
Go for calorie dense foods
Implement intermittent fasting
Macronutrient choices 

High calorie intake the previous day

This tip differs from others as it isn’t implemented during hiking but before that. 

In the introduction, I said "when it comes to feeling satiated, calorie intake is the most important fact.”

A calorie is a unit of energy. Calorie intake, on the other hand, is a rate; such as "2000 kcals a day", or "500 kcals a meal" and it’s very closely related with satiety. 

Let's say Bob is going to go hiking and he calculated his TDEE to be around 2000 kcals/day, and he more or less eats that much everyday. To feel satiated, his daily average calorie intake should be around 2000 kcals everyday. Of course there are thousands of other factors which some will also be mentioned in this post, but as a rule of thumb, if he eats more he’ll feel more than full, if he eats less he’ll feel hungry and if he eats the same amount he’ll feel borderline satiated.

The important word here is average. If Bob (TDEE: 2000 kcals/day) eats around 2500 kcals the day before hiking, he basically allows himself feel satiated while eating that less (500 kcals less, which means 1500 kcals of daily calorie intake) on his hiking day and still feel satiated.

But...

You will burn additional calories during hiking (duh). Depending on pack weight, gender, distance, terrain inclination, bodyweight and many other things, a leisurely hike will burn between 300-600 kcals per hour. That's it makes eat that more the day before hiking.

This is the easiest and most effective tip to feel full especially during 1-2 nights of hiking & camping. 


Go for calorie dense foods

Calorie dense foods provide you the highest energy with the smallest serving possible. Highest energy is important because you're trying to feel full, and smallest serving size is important because you're trying to minimize the weight and volume of foods you'll be carrying.

A good example of high calorie density foods is nuts. They contain high amount of fats and hence, calories.

  • Macronutrient calories
  • Proteins: 1 gram = 4 kcals
  • Carbs: 1 gram = 4 kcals
  • Fats: 1 gram = 9 kcals

As long as they're not processed, you can go after any food you like. Here are some common choices.


Implement intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a pattern of eating usually implemented by gym enthusiasts.

Main benefits are optimized fat loss & muscle gain, increased energy levels inside the gym, better focus when fasting, simple calorie counting...

...and increased satiety feeling.

  • A little off topic here but a notable fact

For many people "optimized fat loss & muscle gain" are considered as the results of other benefits of IF. Because IF is a way of eating and not a diet. Besides meal timing, nothing else changes.

So how do you do it?

You basically eat your last meal of the day around 8-9 hours after your first meal of the day. Then you fast for 16 hours - and next day you start eating the same time you did the previous day.

Usually skipping breakfast is recommended because of its convenience for most people - and I'm one of them. Most days I eat my first meal around 11 am and last meal around 7 pm.

First few days can and will be a little painful for you since your body will take time to adapt. I recommend eating in IF pattern at least 2 weeks before hiking if you want to see its benefits on your satiety. 


Macronutrient choices 

Breakfast of most cultures in the world are centered around foods heavy in carbs. It's because they spike your energy levels fast since they're digested quickly. As a result your mood, willpower and satiety are boosted.

However, carbs boost you only for a short period of time. After an hour or two, you're going to start feeling lazy and hungry again since all the energy obtained is used very fast and your body is again left with nothing quickly after. You'll reach for another carb source and this cycle will repeat itself.

On the other hand, digestion of foods that are rich in proteins and fats take much longer. When you choose them over carbs, you're going to feel good and full around 4-5 hours. That's why centering your first meal in the day around those foods will help you feel satiated a lot.