THRU-HIKING AND ULTRARUNNING HAVE COMPLETELY ALTERED MY RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD. For most of my life food was a source of enjoyment and entertainment and was available in abundance. This led to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle that lacked both Life and Style and which in the long run, as it were, would have killed me. It wasn't until I began living in such a way as to rack up big calorie deficits that I learned to see food as FUEL ⛽. Now whenever I eat I look at the number of calories in terms of how far it will propel me. As I was enjoying some regionally available boutique chips and salsa at the Pine Trailhead I was puzzling over the disparity between my needs and my desires calorically. On the trail we've been eating mostly dehydrated food and nut butters and such; calorie dense foods that still failed to keep up with our caloric demands. In town, I wanted fresh things, like salsa, bell peppers, cabbage ... foods with that live, fresh taste. But a 16oz container of salsa only has enough calories to power me for two miles. A bell pepper will only fuel me for a single mile. An entire tub of hummus only contains 800 calories, enough to cover 8 miles. This puts me in the unusual position, for a citizen of a modern first world nation, of struggling to take in enough food to fuel my energy expenditures. But it's a conundrum I'll gladly face over my old pattern of eating myself to death! What a Blessing to be a Modern Hominid with an almost infinite number of fueling options! Give Thanks for Life! #AZTyoyo #BeTrailReady #ZeroLimits #HShive #Team7hills
