Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board What's the best bar

I want ditch the mess kit & go lite. I'm thinking jerky,nuts,skins & bars. What's the best bar? .I like Snickers.AD http://www.myspace.com/duva7000

I like cliff bars the best. One of those is like eating a whole meal. Come in a couple different flavors too. phil

Payday candy bars. Mini-Snickers. Kit-Kats.

I too enjoy Snickers, as well as Balance Gold for a typical powerbar-type snack. But for serious energy, try Pemmican bars: http://www.mealpack.com/
They're pretty dense, but I like the taste and you can't beat the efficiency... Just be sure to bring other things for variety

Cliff bars rock. It does take alot of water to wash it down and I haven't seen them being sold in bulk. I usually bring some Cliff bars and whatever other bars I find at Costco.

If you are looking for fuel efficiency, remember to try and limit the overall sugar content of the bar you choose. A lot of them have a very high sugar level, which will give you your quick fix but the energy supply will dwindle quickly. If I am out on the trail, I actually try to get something with a bit higher protein level for sustained energy.

And although they are a bit bland, Kashi makes bars that are very light weight but low sugar content.

-Laura

I vote for Big Sur bars--over 600 calories apiece, moist, and a remarkably good taste (especially, I think, the White Zest).

check out www.sunflourbaking.com I take them on every trip, love that peanutbutter cookie and
the cinnamon is good with breakfast...mark

Lately I have been trying quite a few different brands and flavors to find something suitable. In the past I have used a lot of peanut m&ms, dried pineapple, regular granola bars, etc. But I like the additional nutrition that is put in some of the bars, so I have been looking for options.

I have found that some of them taste like cardboard (at least to me). That includes the majority of flavors of Clif and Powerbar. I do like the apricot Clif bar, though. I lose my appetite at elevation, so if I don't care for it at sea level, I am not going to be able to choke it down at 14,000'.

The bars that I generally like the taste of are the Zone and Balance bars. They have more protein than some of the others, but they also have a higher ratio of simple sugars/total carbs, so it is a mixed bag. So, in addition to my peanut m&ms, dried pineapple, and regular granola bars, I will also bring apricot Clif bars and a few different Zone and Balance bars.

Sounds great guys & dolls,keep um coming.Just for the record , i can't look another cliff bar in the fase though they do keep well no matter what shape they evolve into.D

I've grown tired of many of them too. One I really like is Lara Bar. Trader Joe's has them but I'm not sure who else. Check 'em out. They are made up of mostly fruit.

Snickers for me. I've tried lots and lots of the Cliff, Balance, Luna...etc...but I've found if I don't have an appetite for them..I won't eat em'. And if I don't eat em'..I'm not getting anything out of taking them (and suffering the weight penalty). I've never found a time I didn't want to eat a Snicker bar though. Maybe not as healthy or the right sugar/protein/fiber combo..but I prefer to haul something I'll actually eat.

Kit-Kats...that's a good idea...hmmm..thanks for the suggestion..

Chris

Oh..the Fudge Graham Zone bars are pretty darn good too...

Personally, I don't worry much about this bar or that bar. While they have a better nutritional balance, they can be hard to eat. In the old days I carried many of them on hikes, only to bring them home uneaten. Why should I pay more for a fancy bar I don't really want to eat in the first place?

On a one day hike or a simple overnighter I prefer some real food. I like to bring different candy bars or granola bars.. for example Snickers Payday, other bars with nuts. I take it easy on the straight chocolate bars. M& M's with nuts are always a nice thing to have along, provided it is not hot.

Sometimes carnation breakfast drinks, mixed with dry powdered milk and water are a nice break. They come in mulitiple flavors, chocolate, vanila and strawberry.

Others I have hiked with have brought along real food like sandwiches, nuts, crackers and cheese, small applesauces or pudding containers. Hot pockets keep well for a day or two, as does fruit pies like apple pie. Raisins are nice in small packages.

To me a variey works best, making it possible to keep eating after the altitude causes my appitite to fall off.

I've had a lot of luck with Hammer Nutrition bars, and Gel packs.
Not to mention their other product lines. Geared towards bikers and ultra marathon types but, it's never failed me. Order over the phone or online. They are out of Montana and very good to deal with.
Hope this helps.
See ya at the top!

Speaking strictly of bars, if that is going to be your main sustenance, you might want to have a variety, including bars with a variety of percentages of carbs, protein, and fats. Remember that eating a bar while exercising such as hiking is not going to be able to supply your working muscles with much energy; you are generally either breaking down energy, or making it, or as an example the muscle is either breaking down glycogen (the stored form of carbs) or synthesizing it; it really can't do both. Therefore, your best bet, if not a liquid meal, is to eat a bar fairly high in carbs and moderate to low in protein, and low in fat, while hiking. This will help maintain your blood glucose levels. The carbs can be a mixture of simple and complex carbs. The simple carbs will get into your system quicker and may actually be an advantage on strenuous hikes done at altitude and in cold weather, as they are most likely to be utilized easier. Now if you are talking about using bars as your breakfast and dinner, you want something with more protein as well as essential fats. Be aware that protein requires more water to metabolize, one reason high protein bars can actually dehydrate you quicker than high carb bars. You WILL need protein in the meal bars, especially on longer trips, unless you are looking to lose muscle mass during your trip, as well as compromising your other systems. Protein also requires more work to break down, and as this leads to the production of heat, it's a great way to stay warmer during the night time as it is slowly broken down if eaten at night time; some people, however, may have probs with sleeping with a lot of protein in their systems. The type of protein in the bars can also make a difference in their utilization.

As for trail mix, I hate to break it to you, but eating it during hiking is not going to do much for your energy due to the high fat content and the difficulty in digesting and absorption, particularly at altitude, unless you are in near-starvation mode. Great for the hunger pangs, though. Fruit is the same way; the fructose in fruit has to be converted to glucose in order to be utilized as energy; not going to happen too well while you are exercising. Certain types of high-glycemic fruit, or juices, such as grape juice, with a higher sugar content, would be better in this case. Dried fruit tends to have a higher sugar content, I believe. If you are a Diabetic or suffer from hyper or hypoglycemia, it's a whole different story!

Expro, Re: "Fruit is the same way; the fructose in fruit has to be converted to glucose in order to be utilized as energy; not going to happen too well while you are exercising."

This bashes a long held belief of mine! I thought that fructose is good because the energy you get from it is spread out more in time. Whereas the energy you get from sucrose comes suddenly and goes away quickly. A roller coaster of blood sugar. Is this wrong? Thanks.

Oh, that kind of bar. That reminds me that when I jokingly asked my younger, but not in very good shape, brother if he wanted to join me for my Sept. '06 dayhike to the Whitney summit, he replied, "How many bars do they have on the way up there?"

Expro, I would disagree with some of your discriptions of metabolism:
"Fruit is the same way; the fructose in fruit has to be converted to glucose in order to be utilized as energy; not going to happen too well while you are exercising. Certain types of high-glycemic fruit, or juices, such as grape juice, with a higher sugar content, would be better in this case. Dried fruit tends to have a higher sugar content, I believe. If you are a Diabetic or suffer from hyper or hypoglycemia, it's a whole different story! "

The primary sugar in fruit, fructose (corn syrup is a commonly marketed form), is a simple isomer of glucose, and is converted very quickly to glucose, and I don't think exercise would have much inpact on that. Glucose, the primary energy currency of out bodies, is absorbed and used almost instantaneously...it is absorbed through the mucous membrane of the mouth. Fructose needs to be absorbed, transported to the liver, and converted. This happens VERY fast, because no chemical bonds need to be broken. Sucrose, common table sugar, is a molecule composed of a glucose molecule bonded to a fructose molecule. These bond are MUCH harder to break than the isomeric conversion of fructose. Fruits in the form of juice or dried, does not really change in the sugar composition.....primarily fructose....unless sugar is added in the processing.
By the way, the commercial version of glucose is honey. In my practice, I've seen many diabetics who wanted to be healthier, and switched from white sugar to honey.....what a disaster for controlling their diabetes....the instantaneous spike in their blood sugar was very hard to manage. However, if one wanted to get a blood sugar burst, honey is the simple way to do it, NOW.

Hey..very interesting stuff ExPro and Ken..thanks for the explanation of that process...!

Chris

Again, let me state that I am not talking about liquid forms or gel forms of carbohydrates here.
It is true that fructose is shunted into the liver and there is converted into glucose and shunted out into the blood stream. Remember, however, that what happens at rest and what happens during exercise are two different things. "Liver glucose output is reduced by carbohydrate ingestion (Bosch, dt. al. 1994 McConell, et. al. 1994)due to direct effects of glucose on the liver and also due to a blunting of the exercise-induced increases in plasma adrenaline and glucagon (McConell, et. al. 1994)." Also "There appear to be few, if any, differences between glucose, sucrose, and maltodextrins in their effects on metabolism and performance when ingested during exercise (Hawley, et al, 1992, Wagenmakers, et al, 1993, and others). In contrast, fructose is not as readily oxidized as other carbohydrate sources (Massicote, et. al, 1989) due to it's slower rate of absorption, which may cause gastrointestinal distress and impaired performance (Murray, et. al, 1989)."

Ken, I've had to deal with the same misinformation about honey with some of my Type 2 clients! Big time blood sugar spike.

Partial Chemical comp. of honey: Fructose, 38%, Glucose, 31%.