The challenge of eating well on a long hike

Catherine Turgy has already covered more than 3000 km on foot on the Pacific Crest Trail, a 4265 km trail that crosses the entire western United States, from the Mexican border to the Canadian one. She has never been in such good shape, regularly knocking down days of almost 40 km.

Mary Tison
The Press

However, she has a problem: to accomplish this feat, she must consume phenomenal amounts of rich foods and sugar. “I have a concern about the long-term effects, especially for the sugar,” she confides during a day of rest near Mount Shasta, in northern California. I really need to do a detox. »

Catherine may be right to be concerned: a study indicates that the arteries of a hiker who hiked the same trail in 2019 seriously deteriorated during the journey. “Our results suggest that a high volume of exercise does not compensate for poor diet,” write study authors Thomas Heinbockel and Daniel Craighead.

Catherine Turgy started her hike on March 21 at the Mexican border. His body quickly adapted to this continual walking. “I have become a walking machine. At first, I was doing 20 km days, I was tired, I had pain below my feet. Now, I do 39 km, I have zero pain and I could start again immediately. »

To keep up with this rhythm, you need fuel: calories. Above all, they must be compact and light, because the backpack must carry several days’ worth of food.

“We always calculate the calorie-to-weight ratio,” says the hiker. The other day a hiker actually bought a package of cookie dough. It was 2400 calories for the packet. He ate this for a day and a half. »

A “not necessarily healthy” diet

In the morning, Catherine Turgy ingests a cinnamon bun and coffee with added protein powder. Half an hour later, she swallows a protein bar and a packet of peanut butter. “Because I’m already hungry,” she explains.

During the day, she eats other protein bars, Snickers, M&Ms, and candies.

For meals, it would be too expensive to consume freeze-dried ones every evening. They’re not easy to find anyway.

When hikers go to small towns to get supplies, they first rush to the “burger shack”, “because if we went to the grocery store right away, it would cost a fortune”.

However, Catherine Turgy tries to take advantage of refueling days to eat fresh vegetables and fruit. The fact remains that, generally, “it’s quantity before quality”.

Thomas Heinbockel had the same kind of diet during his own hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, which he completed in an extremely fast 112 days. He is the subject of the study, which he published in 2021 with Daniel Craighead, assistant professor in the department of physiology at the University of Colorado.

On the trail, he consumed chocolate bars, commercial pastries, potato chips, nuts and jerky. During the pitstops, he threw himself into cheeseburgers, pizza and ice cream.

By comparing some data before and after the hike, the authors realized that while the hiker’s weight and body mass hadn’t really changed, his arteries had taken a beating, increasing his risk of a heart attack. His arterial stiffness had increased by 5% while blood flow-dependent vasodilation (a measure of the proper functioning of the endothelium, a cell layer inside vessels that plays a role in blood flow) had fallen by 25%. .

The authors acknowledged the limitations of the study, which only involved one person. However, they believe that hikers who begin such a journey should be aware of the risks posed by a large volume of exercise coupled with a poor quality diet.

Catherine Turgy plans to finish her hike around August 30, if all goes well. “It is especially the after that worries me. How am I going to wean myself? I will have no choice. I can’t keep eating like this. »