Random thoughts on backpacking while Keto

 Okay, that title sounds like keto is some kind of condition. I mean, I suppose it is actually. Well, not a medical condition. Or sort of a... wait. Um. What was I saying?

Anyway, KETO! And BACKPACKING!

Pictured: Adventure Well Meals, and me, and Sugar Creek

Obviously given the title of this blog, the ketogenic diet is one of my focuses. Thing is, I'm just this chick who started eating this way about, gosh what, three or four years ago now? and it changed my life. And now I'm trying to learn how to backpack. But I'm not a dietician (thank god, f*ck them generally [but not you specifically if you are one, hi! thanks for stopping by!]). I'm not a doctor, a life coach, a trainer, a chef (okay for awhile I was, but that was in a different life), or anyone else you should listen to. So why would I blog about this?

Mostly because I wanna. Today is my birthday, and it turns out that you hit an age where "I wanna" is a perfectly sufficient reason to do just about anything.

The ketosphere, as we affectionately refer to it, is actually pretty full when it comes to backpacking info. It's out there. The problem is, it's scattered, piecemeal, and rarely comes up cleanly on a google search. So at least one thing I'll try to do is pull together some ideas and resources for following a ketogenic lifestyle while backpacking, as I find them. I also just wanna post my thoughts, good and bad, about the whole thing. I want to discuss my confusions, my concerns, my frustrations, my successes, my failures. And I like sharing. I'm a sharer. 

This post is just some initial thoughts on the subject. 

Is backpacking on a keto diet safe?

I mean, yeah? As far as I can tell? I don't know why it wouldn't be. I have seen so many backpackers who freak the f*ck out at the idea of not having carbs. It's actually really funny to watch. There is no space in their worldview for energy sources other than carbs. And that's great for them, if their bodies can run well on carbs. Mine doesn't, and probably never did. I haven't known a day of being at a healthy weight in my entire life since I was maybe 3 years old. Don't come at me with "just eat in moderation." Moderation doesn't work when your entire system is over-insulined and geared to store every microgram of carbs it possibly can as fat, and then post guards at the doors. If you've never had trouble maintaining a healthy weight, take a moment to consider that, perhaps, it's not because you do everything right and should be considered a paragon of dietary virtue. Maybe, just maybe, it's because your system isn't hormonally out of balance and you don't literally have your metabolism working against you. If it's working for you, that is completely awesome. I'm glad you can eat pasta and donuts. I'm not bitter at all. Nope.

But why do this? Why not just eat carbs when backpacking?

If you've had it with fighting the popular beliefs in backpacking about how carbs are a complete necessity and just want to chill with a bag of rehydrated chicken alfredo pasta and a goo packet of condensed carbs after 20 miles, I can't blame you. It is really so much easier if you just don't fight it. 

How can 6 billion Chinese people be wrong Michael?

So why bother? Truth is, for me at least, I don't like being a slave to carbs. I don't like it when I get hangry. Did you know you don't have to get hangry? Hungry, sure. Your stomach is empty, you would like to eat. But you don't have to get dizzy, irrational, snappish, and generally be a rotten person until you manage to grab a snickers bar. When I'm slaved to carbs, I stop being a functioning human when my system runs out of glucose, and it absolutely screams until it gets more. When I'm fat-adapted, my body just grabs energy from my fat stores and keeps going, while politely reminding me occasionally that, hey, your stomach is empty, but no worries, get to it when you can. Being hangry while out on trail seems like it would be a nightmare. 

But you need calories! Calories! OMG you need calories!

Have you noticed how every third thing you find about backpacking is about calories and food and non-stop eating and constant hunger and how you cannot possibly take in enough calories to counter how much you work off on trail and you must eat constantly? Imma do a quick calculation, brb...

*mathing things*

Okay, according to the Navy Calculator, I am carrying about 58lbs of fat on my body right now. Every pound of fat is 3500 calories stored. That means I have approximately *checks figures* 203,000 calories of energy stored in my body right now. I am not sure there's enough Appalachian Trail out there to use up all of those calories. I mean, maybe, if I literally didn't eat on trail ever. But that's not really the goal. I'm betting nearly everyone has enough calories stored on them that they shouldn't need to constantly refeed. I mean, unless someone is close to needing hospitalization for low body weight, most randos should probably be able to hack a few weeks/months out on trail without needing food to be their all-consuming focus. I have better things to focus on while on trail, like that snake over there.

Keto bonus round: if you're really concerned about calories, I have good news for you! Keto foods are super calorie dense! Keep reading, I'll talk about this more below.

Then why is everyone always so hungry on trail?

Man I don't know, but I'm sure not. I was actually looking forward to being ravenous and eating with reckless abandon and no guilt for once in my life, and I was sorely disappointed (I am probably gonna post about this separately).

My guess--an informed guess, but still a lay-person's guess--is that most people on trail are not fat adapted, and so their bodies aren't geared to burn all of the calories already stored for them. Instead of switching gears, which is a whole process for the body, it just starts yelling at you to give it sugar. Sugar is easy, it processes fast, and gives you bursts of energy. Our bodies like it when things are easy. That doesn't mean it's a good thing, just that it's an easy thing. 

Alright fine, what is this "fat adapted" thing you keep saying?

Fat adaptation is the result of a ketogenic diet. When you start following a keto eating plan, your body yells--loudly, for quite a while (sometimes 3 days, sometimes 3 weeks)--about wanting carbs. But eventually it accepts that you aren't going to give in and says "fine, I'll switch from unleaded to diesel then" and starts burning fat instead of glucose. 

It's obviously a lot more complicated than this, and has a lot to do with hormone levels (specifically insulin) and your body's own adaptability and whatnot, but that's the explain-like-I'm-five version as I understand it.

Getting your body to switch to burning fat and using ketones for energy (that's the energy source from fat) is a process. Burning fat is an energy intensive process--it's less efficient than burning glucose. And our bodies want to save fat stores for emergencies. But of course, we no longer live in a world of emergencies. We don't go days or weeks without having good food sources. The emergencies never come. We can always give our body carbs if we want, so why would your body do the work of switching over? That means that, out on trail, your body assumes it's just gonna keep getting its carb fixes as usual. But you're burning through calories like you have a flame-thrower so you quickly get hungry and hangry and your world turns into eating constantly.

If fat-adaptation is so great, then why is all backpacking food full of carbs?

Why is anything the way it is in our world? Because money. Carbs are cheap AF. There's a huge supply of cheaper than dirt (literally) carbs that you can use to fill out any meal. Pair that with the majority of people who believe that carbs are the only kind of fuel you can use, and well, you get what we have now. This is my understanding anyway. 

On trail you'll burn all of the energy you consume regardless of if it comes from fat or glucose, so why not just eat the carbs?

Two reasons for me. 

One: I don't wanna carry all of that food if I dont have to. One of the very nice things about the keto diet for backpacking is that the foods (primarily fats and proteins) are very calorie dense, so in a calories-per-ounce analysis--that is, the only analysis of food backpackers care about--they're super efficient. And since my experience at least is that I'm not very hungry on trail anyway, I don't feel compelled to pack ridiculous amounts of food, thereby cutting my pack weight.

Two: I don't want my body to slide back into its old ways of needing a constant stream of glucose to function. I think that would simply annoy me on trail. I want to be focused on the sights, the sounds, the snakes in the path. I don't want to be focused constantly on when will I eat next? I don't want to juggle trekking poles with power bars. I don't want to stop all the time to dig out snacks or choke on chips when I step sideways on a rock while my mouth is full. And frankly, there's something just bizarre to me about going out to do something so wonderful and healthy with a pack full of M&Ms and Oreos.

So did I convince you to try the keto diet on trail? 

I hope not, cause that wasn't my goal at all. I really just want to think through some of what I hear about keto and trail life out loud and show solidarity for others fellow keto backpackers. I suppose I also wanted to put out some reasons for some folks to get TF off our backs if they don't follow keto. We are doing just fine. We are not gonna die. We are not being stupid. We don't care (generally) what you eat, what you think of what we eat, or if you think we're doing it wrong. 

However, if your curiosity has been piqued, please do not try eating a keto diet while out on trail without becoming fat adapted first. There really is an adjustment period, and it really can be quite unpleasant for some (keto flu is a thing). Learn more about the diet, try it out in your regular life, see how it goes, and then give it a shot on trail. I'll pull together a post with some good keto resource to get people started at some point. Diet Doctor and Dr. Jason Fung are great starting points, try those. Good luck.

Thanks for reading. =)

Peace.