Food additives are commonly used to prevent or slow spoilage during storage, preserve vitamin content, or alter food’s appearance, taste, and texture. Food coloring is a type of additive that is functionally unnecessary — its sole purpose is to make food appear more colorful. Unsurprisingly, food dye is common in mass-produced packaged foods that you might be tempted to take backpacking. Common “backpacking” foods containing food dye include packaged food containing dried fruit and vegetables, cheese mix, butter powder, and gelatin. This includes – Pasta dishes Rice dishes Soup mix […]
Health Issues
17 posts
A common question we get from backpackers is, “What backpacking meals do you have that are low in sodium?” Low sodium is a regulated term for food containing 140 mg of sodium or less per serving. Most packaged food will not meet this definition because salt functions as a natural preservative and drying agent. Fresh food and water-packed meals are your best bet for finding low sodium food. Beyond that, dried single ingredients, especially freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, are more likely to be low in sodium than dried packaged meals. A small amount of sodium is […]
Several factors can cause the hands to swell when hiking, but the most common causes are gravity and how the body distributes heat during exercise. As the core muscles heat up when hiking, the vascular system cools the body by releasing more fluid to our fingers, hands, and feet. When blood reaches the skin to dissipate the heat, fluids leak out of the vessels, causing swelling of the limbs. Medically known as exercise-induced peripheral edema, the problem is not serious and will disappear soon after you stop hiking. On a […]
No one ever wants to be sick, especially during a backpacking trip. With a myriad of viruses out there, here are a few tips for keeping your immune system going strong so you are less likely to fall ill while on the trail. Keep a Healthy DietThe overall function of the immune system is to prevent or reduce infection. Modern medicine can battle disease directly, but true health can only be attained by maintaining a healthy and properly functioning immune system. Your digestive tract is closely tied to your immune […]
After exerting all that energy to carry the weight of your food on your back, the last thing you want to do is to lose valuable calories by eating carelessly. Chewing your food thoroughly is one of the most important and overlooked things you can do to improve calorie and nutrient absorption from trail foods. How to Maximize Calorie Absorption Digestion starts in the mouth before it can happen in the stomach and intestines. Chewing your food not only breaks the food down into smaller pieces so it can be […]