Fuelling the Adventure: Staying Happy and Healthy on Overseas Challenges
The thrill of an overseas challenge is undeniable. Whether it's the towering peaks of Kilimanjaro, the scorching deserts of Jordan, or the dense, humid rainforests of Dominica, the allure of pushing your physical and mental limits in a new and exciting environment calls to many. We spend months, sometimes years, training, building endurance, and honing our skills. But amidst the excitement of gear lists and route maps, one crucial element often gets overlooked: what we eat, and how we eat it. Beyond the immediate energy gels and bars that fuel the race itself, how do you ensure you stay well-nourished, happy, and crucially, avoid any unwelcome gastrointestinal surprises when far from home?
This isn't just about avoiding "the trots" – although that's a significant concern! It's about maintaining consistent energy, supporting recovery, boosting morale, and ultimately, ensuring your body can perform day after day in demanding conditions. Different climates, cultural contexts, and the sheer logistical challenges of remote expeditions demand a nuanced approach to nutrition.
The Science of Sustenance: Adapting to Diverse Climates
Our bodies are remarkable machines, but they operate optimally under specific conditions. When you throw in extreme heat, cold, or high altitude, those nutritional demands shift dramatically.
In hot and humid environments, like the lush rainforests of Dominica, experienced during the Rat Race Dominica Toe to Tip, the primary concern is often fluid and electrolyte loss through sweat. While water is paramount, relying solely on it can lead to hyponatremia (low sodium levels), which can be dangerous. The body also burns through carbohydrates more quickly in hot conditions, as it expends energy to regulate core temperature. Therefore, readily digestible carbohydrates are key, alongside careful electrolyte replenishment. Local fruits, if safe to consume and readily available, can be a fantastic source of natural sugars and hydration.
Conversely, in cold environments, such as those encountered during the Arctic 100, the body works tirelessly to maintain its core temperature, leading to a significant increase in caloric expenditure. Fat becomes a more efficient fuel source in these conditions due to its higher energy density. Meals need to be rich in calories and fat to prevent rapid weight loss and maintain warmth. Carbohydrates are still vital for immediate energy, but a higher proportion of fat will sustain you for more extended periods. Dehydration is also a silent threat in the cold. However, you may not feel as thirsty; the dry air and increased respiration can lead to significant fluid loss. Warm drinks become a welcome source of both hydration and comfort.
At high altitudes, such as on the Action Challenge Kilimanjaro, appetite often diminishes, and the body's ability to digest food can be compromised due to reduced oxygen availability. The focus shifts to easily digestible, calorie-dense foods that won't upset the stomach. Complex carbohydrates are preferred, as they provide sustained energy and are easier to metabolise than fats at altitude. Hydration is crucial in combating the effects of thinner air and increased respiratory rate.
Hot, humid and challenging terrain can all significantly increase your calorie needs and complicate your nutrition strategy!
The Partnership for Peak Performance: TrailMed and Base Camp Foods
Recognising the intricate relationship between nutrition, environment, and performance, TrailMed, a leading provider of medical and performance support for adventure events, has recently forged a promising partnership with Base Camp Foods. This collaboration leverages TrailMed's extensive experience in expedition medical care and performance testing, combined with Base Camp Foods' specialisation in high-quality, lightweight expedition meals, to provide comprehensive nutritional support and tailored food plans. This ensures adventurers are optimally fueled and protected against common expedition ailments.
The core of this partnership is to provide comprehensive nutritional support and tailored food plans, ensuring adventurers are optimally fuelled and protected against common expedition ailments. The recent launch of the Back Up Bundle exemplifies this commitment. The Back Up Bundle is a curated selection of emergency and supplementary meals designed to cover various scenarios. It includes a curated set of four products from TrailMed and Base Camp Food designed to provide you with an emergency reserve of energy, nutrition, and hydration for any adventure, ensuring you always have a reliable source of nutrition during your expedition.
Base Camp Foods takes pride in offering a diverse range of expedition meal options. From freeze-dried to dehydrated, ready-to-eat to self-heating, adventurers can look forward to a culinary adventure as diverse as the landscapes they'll traverse. But what exactly are these options, and how do they differ from one another?
Freeze-Dried Meals: These are the most popular choice for expeditions due to their incredibly lightweight and long shelf life. The process involves freezing the cooked food and then placing it in a vacuum chamber, where the ice sublimates (turns directly into vapour). This removes up to 98-99% of the moisture, resulting in a meal that retains most of its original flavour, colour, and nutritional value. Examples from brands like Expedition Foods (a prominent brand stocked by Base Camp Foods) include options such as Chicken Tikka with Rice (often available in 800kcal or 1000kcal servings) or their popular Granola with Raspberries (also 800kcal). To prepare, you simply add hot water, and in a matter of minutes, you have a hot, often surprisingly tasty, meal. The downside is the texture, which may be slightly different from that of fresh food, and the requirement for boiling water.
Dehydrated Meals: Similar to freeze-dried meals, dehydrated meals also involve removing moisture, but typically through the use of a heating element and fan. This process removes around 80-95% of the moisture. While generally less expensive than freeze-dried and still lightweight, dehydration can result in some nutrient loss and a slightly altered texture. They also tend to be somewhat heavier than their freeze-dried counterparts. Rehydration still requires hot water.
Ready-to-Eat (MRE) Meals: These meals, often familiar from military rations, come pre-cooked and sealed in a retort pouch. They require no added water and can be eaten cold, though they are much more palatable when heated. Brands like Wayfayrer offer options like All Day Breakfast or Sausage & Beans. While heavier than freeze-dried or dehydrated options, their convenience is unmatched in situations where water is scarce or time is of the essence, providing a reassuring meal option in challenging conditions. Self-Heating Meals: A fascinating innovation, these meals come with a chemical heating element that, when activated with a small amount of water, produces heat to warm the food. This offers the ultimate convenience for a hot meal without the need for a stove or fire. However, they are typically the heaviest and bulkiest of the packed meal options.
Complete Packs vs. Individual Meals: Base Camp Foods offers both individual meal pouches and complete multi-day packs. For shorter adventures or those who prefer to curate their own menu, individual meals provide flexibility. For more extended and complex expeditions, complete packs can simplify planning and ensure a balanced caloric intake throughout the duration.
A variety of options are available on the market, ranging from complete ration packs to individual meals. Experimenting and getting advice before your trip is key to ensuring that you have a nutrition plan that works for you in the right environment.
Calories: The Fuel for Forward Motion
Understanding calorie requirements is fundamental to expedition nutrition. The number of calories an individual needs varies significantly based on factors such as body weight, activity level, environmental conditions, and gender. For instance, an average person might consume 2,000-2,500 calories per day in a sedentary lifestyle. However, an ultra-endurance athlete tackling a multi-day race in a challenging environment might need upwards of 4,000-6,000 calories per day, or even more.
Consider the Arctic 100. Participants are battling extreme cold and expending immense energy pulling sledges or skiing for hours on end. Their caloric needs would be at the higher end of the spectrum, with a strong emphasis on fat and complex carbohydrates to provide sustained warmth and energy. Freeze-dried meals from Expedition Foods, offering up to 1000kcal per serving, become invaluable in such scenarios, allowing participants to pack a high-calorie punch in a lightweight format.
During Ultra X Jordan, with its scorching desert landscapes and demanding multi-stage format, maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance is critical, but so too is sustaining energy levels in the heat. While the overall caloric requirement may be slightly lower in extreme cold, the focus shifts to more easily digestible carbohydrates and careful meal timing to avoid gastrointestinal distress in the heat.
Variety: The Spice of Expedition Life (and Gut Health!)
"Variety is the spice of life" isn't just a cliché; it's a critical principle for expedition nutrition. Consuming the same few meals day in and day out can lead to "flavour fatigue," making it incredibly difficult to consume enough calories, even if the food is technically palatable. This can have a severe impact on energy levels and morale.
Beyond psychological benefits, variety also ensures a broader spectrum of micronutrients. While expedition meals are designed to be nutritionally complete, diversifying your intake from different brands and food types helps ensure you cover all your nutritional bases. For instance, Base Camp Foods offers a wide array of brands, including Firepot, Real Turmat, Summit to Eat, and LYO Expedition, each with its own unique flavour profiles and meal offerings.
The Intolerant Adventurer: Navigating Dietary Restrictions
This is where expedition nutrition becomes truly challenging. For individuals with food intolerances or allergies, the planning process becomes more complex. Cross-contamination, hidden ingredients, and limited options in remote areas become significant hurdles
For example, a participant with a severe gluten allergy cannot simply rely on generic freeze-dried meals without meticulous checking of ingredients. Many standard expedition meals contain wheat or dairy. This is where the partnership with Base Camp Foods, with their detailed product information and increasingly diverse range of dietary-specific meals (e.g., gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan options), becomes a lifeline.
Here's how individuals with intolerances or allergies can navigate this:
Pre-expedition research: Thoroughly examine ingredient lists of all potential expedition foods.
Specialised brands: Seek out brands that specifically cater to dietary restrictions. Expedition Foods, for instance, offers a range of vegetarian and vegan options, and many brands now clearly label for gluten and dairy.
Custom meal packing: In some cases, preparing and dehydrating your own custom meals might be the safest option. However, this requires a significant amount of time and effort.
Direct communication with event organisers: If participating in an organised challenge, communicate your dietary needs well in advance. While organisers like Rat Race and Action Challenge strive to accommodate, especially at pit stops with "grab n'' go" items and often some fresh local foods, they cannot guarantee complete allergen-free environments due to the nature of mass catering and diverse food sources.
For instance, at the Rat Race Dominica Toe to Tip, while biscuits were served in individual bags to reduce contamination, a complete guarantee of no cross-contamination wasn't possible.Medical advice: Consulting with a nutritionist or medical professional, like those at TrailMed, who specialise in expedition nutrition for individuals with dietary restrictions, is highly recommended. TrailMed's "Expedition Nutrition" service includes consultations, sweat testing, and fuelling analysis, all of which can be tailored to individual dietary needs and sensitivities. They can help with "gut training" strategies to minimise gastrointestinal issues, which can be exacerbated by novel foods or increased stress.
Local Flavours: A Taste of the Adventure
While packed expedition meals form the backbone of nutrition for many challenges, incorporating local foods can be an excellent way to experience the culture and add much-needed fresh ingredients to your diet. The Rat Race Dominica Toe to Tip, for example, would offer opportunities to sample the vibrant Creole cuisine of the "Nature Isle."
Dominican cuisine is a rich blend of African, French, and indigenous influences. Examples of local foods that adventurers might encounter (and potentially safely incorporate) include:
Callaloo Soup: A hearty and nutritious soup made from the leafy green callaloo plant, often with coconut milk and sometimes crab or salted meat.
Bouyon: A traditional one-pot stew with various meats, beans, dumplings, and ground provisions like dasheen (taro), breadfruit, and plantains.
Stewed Codfish (Saltfish): Slow-cooked with onions, tomatoes, and local spices, typically served with boiled provisions.
Johnny Cakes: Slightly sweet, fried bread rounds that are crispy on the outside and fluffy inside.
Fresh Fruits: Mangoes, bananas, passionfruit, and other tropical fruits can provide a natural source of sugars, vitamins, and hydration.
However, a word of caution is essential when consuming local foods in remote areas:
Source safety: Only consume food from reputable sources or those provided by the event organisers.
Hygiene: Pay close attention to food preparation hygiene. The adage "boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it" is a good rule of thumb.
Novelty effect: Even if safely prepared, new foods can sometimes cause digestive upset simply due to their unfamiliarity with your gut microbiome. Introduce new foods gradually and in small quantities.
Beyond the Plate: Hydration and Gut Health
While the food itself is critical, proper hydration and maintaining gut health are equally, if not more, important for overall well-being on an expedition.
Hydration: As highlighted by our article above, hydration is not just about drinking water; it's about replacing electrolytes lost through sweat. This is especially crucial in hot climates (Ultra X Jordan) and at altitude (Kilimanjaro), but is often overlooked in cold environments (Arctic 100). TrailMed's "Expedition Nutrition" service includes sweat testing to determine individual electrolyte loss rates, allowing for precise hydration strategies.
Gut Training: This often-underestimated aspect of expedition preparation involves gradually introducing the types and quantities of food and fluids you plan to consume during the event, during your training runs. This "trains" your gut to tolerate the increased intake and unusual combinations, significantly reducing the likelihood of gastrointestinal issues on race day. TrailMed highly advocates for this, advising athletes to practice their fuelling strategy across various intensities and conditions.
The Role of Calories and Energy Density
When packing for an expedition, every gram counts. This makes energy density a crucial consideration. Calories per gram is a key metric. Fats, at approximately 9 calories per gram, are the most energy-dense macronutrient, followed by carbohydrates, which have roughly four calories per gram, and proteins, which have approximately four calories per gram.
For multi-day self-supported events or those with strict weight limits, choosing meals with a high calorie-to-weight ratio is paramount. This is where freeze-dried meals truly shine. A 1000kcal Expedition Foods meal might weigh only 200-250g, offering a significant energy boost without adding excessive bulk to your pack. This contrasts sharply with a ready-to-eat meal of similar caloric value, which could weigh 400-500g or more due to its water content.
Waterproof and robust, the TrailMed x Base Camp Food Back Up Bundle is designed to stay in your bag until you need it. Despite the abuse to the packaging, the contents are still dry and offer well-needed fuel and nutrition against the jungle heat.
Conclusion: A Well-Fuelled Adventure is a Happy Adventure
The thrill of an overseas challenge is a powerful motivator, but true success and enjoyment hinge on being adequately fuelled and free from preventable gastrointestinal distress. The journey to the finish line isn't just about physical endurance; it's a testament to meticulous planning, adaptability, and a deep understanding of your body's nutritional needs.
The partnership between TrailMed and Base Camp Foods represents a significant step forward in providing comprehensive support for adventurers. By offering specialist nutritional guidance, tailored food plans, and a wide array of high-quality expedition meals, they empower individuals to tackle the world's most demanding environments with confidence.
Whether you're battling the humidity of Dominica, the biting cold of the Arctic, the thin air of Kilimanjaro, or the arid heat of Jordan, remember that your plate is as important as your pack.
Embrace variety, pay attention to hydration, train your gut, and don't hesitate to seek expert advice, especially when dietary restrictions are a factor. Ultimately, a well-fueled adventurer is a happy adventurer, ready to embrace every challenge and savour every unforgettable moment.
If you need help deciding what to eat and when, please get in touch with us today. We can help you taste, test, and plan your overseas nutrition, allowing you to focus on what matters most: completing your challenge.
