The so-called paleo diet or caveman diet is a low carb high protein diet claimed by some to be a good way to lose weight. It has some proponents in the bicycling world too. One needs to be careful when considering extreme changes in their diet or just extremes in general. Bike touring is very demanding and your body is another piece of equipment you need to depend on. I was reading this thread on Bike Forums this morning. Try to ignore the name calling from the original poster and read the rest of the posts. Interesting stuff.
Gary Taubes is the latest proponent of a high protein low carb diet. From his blog: “My message and the message of Why We Get Fat was not that we should all be eating nothing but animal products–…… but that carbohydrate-rich foods are inherently fattening, some more so than others, and that those of us predisposed to put on fat do so because of the carbs in the diet“. (emphasis added). Mostly he is talking to obese or overweight people or people with that metabolic tendency and it might be easy to see him as a person feeding on people’s desire for a quick and easy way to lose weight.
I wonder if anyone has personal experience with a high protein low carb diet and bike touring? We’d love to hear about it!
Every person has different specific nutritional needs. Some basic ideas about fuel for muscles during and after exercise cannot be easily disregarded. There is some noise being made in the cycling world about the so called paleo diet which poo poos the need for carbohydrates in the form of grains and potatoes. This may be OK for the relatively sedentary person whose physiology makes it easy for them to put on pounds. But for the person pedaling a loaded touring bike for several hours each day complex and simple carbohydrates are essential. Carbohydrates provide the fuel your muscles will need in order to fire hour after hour. No carbohydrates, no fuel and no pedals going round. The purpose of protein is to rebuild the muscle tissue being torn down by the exercise. This happens after you stop exercising. The body human is amazingly adaptive to training, and the muscles will be rebuilt stronger than before and with a greater ability to use oxygen and thus greater endurance. I’m no expert or professional in medicine or nutrition but I suggest being careful with fads. Watch this series of videos if you are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdBDQdOKbJQ
When I’m touring I like to carry enough food to last for about 36 hours. Because you never know when you might be able to buy groceries again. And I have a fear of getting stranded in the middle of nowhere without enough fuel to get to the next store or restaurant. Even in what one might think are relatively populated areas there might not be anyplace to get decent food. If you are lucky, maybe you can survive and thrive on hot dogs and chocolate milk and cupcakes from convenience stores, and there never seems to be a shortage of those.
I will also take pasta in the form of quick cooking thin spaghetti. Throw in a few veggies when it is almost cooked and voila, pasta primavera. That works out most of the time, unless there happen to be some ghosts who don’t appreciate your presence as happened to me recently in Merryville, LA. With this result:
I also take powdered milk and muesli. Great for breakfast or emergency meals. Dried soup (I like the Nile Spice brand) can be taken out of the container and carried in zip lock bags. Light, easy to pack, carry and to cook. Lastly, at least one emergency ration of a freeze dried meal or a meal in a boil and eat package.
Basically, I try to bring food that packs the most punch for the pound and that is easy to prepare. Fresh fruits and vegetables are a bonus but they’re hard to carry, so when I find them I buy what I can eat on the spot, or if I am at the day’s stop, what I need for dinner.
Back in the day there were not a lot of choices in lightweight backpacking or bike touring stoves. The bike hermit used (and still has) a Svea brand stove. Aside from being dangerous, unreliable, inconsistent, inefficient, heavy and difficult to use, that stove is great. Nowadays there is a better selection of stoves from which to choose, with various models burning everything from white gas to isobutane/propane to denatured alcohol to sticks. The different fuel sources all have pluses and minuses and most people will have a preference for one or the other based on their own demands.
My most recent experience has been with the Primus EtaPowerTrail EF Stove
This is an isobutane/propane stove so the fuel source is a sealed canister with a screw fitting for a fuel line which connects to the burner. The fuel is pretty easy to find at most outdoor stores and even Walmart, so even though you can’t fly with it or ship it, you can get it on route.
The kit I purchased includes the burner unit with fuel line , a base, a windscreen, a 1.7 liter aluminum pot with a lid and a pot handle.
This is not the most compact stove available but it has some features I like.
Namely;
-Relatively large and very stable base.
-Windscreen
-Easy to light
-Great heat output Boils about 3 cups of water at 32 degree F. ambient temp. in about 4 minutes.
-1.7 liter pot is good for cooking pasta dishes or for making freeze dried food with water left over for coffee or cleaning.
-Separate, light, easy to use pot handle
-Piezoelectric start precludes need for matches
Pressing the piezoelectric ignition button creates a current in the wire which is suspended over the burner plate and a spark generates between the end of the wire and the plate, igniting the fuel coming through the line from the canister. If the wire gets bent and is too close to the plate, no spark will generate and the wire needs to be re-positioned away from the plate surface until the spark is visible when the ignition button is pressed.
Even though this might appear to be a complicated kit, it is well made and durable. I need to be more diligent in making sure all the connections are tight between uses. The entire kit (minus fuel canister) weighs about 27 ounces or 765 grams. Now I see on the Primus website they have a stove that is slightly lighter but much more compact, the Primus Eta Lite