food find – nairn’s gluten free biscuit breaks

 Like the 9Bars that I blogged about here, these have become a lunchtime stable and have found their way into my rucksack.

There are three varieties but the two that I favour are the oat & syrup and chocolate chip. The four biscuit pouch has 188 calories and circa 24g of carbohydrate, the slight variation is because the choc chip ones have a little more CHO. And, of course, they are gluten free. The biscuits have a great crunch and texture with the oat & syrup winning on the latter. Although I’ve not tried it yet the oat & syrup ones would make a great crumble topping on some stewed apple, with some Bird’s Instant Custard on the side - yum!

calorie and carb counting

Being a type 1 diabetic my overriding concern when out on a hike was how much carbohydrate (CHO) I’d need to keep me going, replace the glycogen in my body, and prevent hypoglycaemia (dangerously low blood sugar levels).

Over the weekend, among many of the conversations I had, one discussed weigh loss when on the trail. This got me thinking about the calorific value of the food I pack, and whether it met the demands of a day’s hiking.

The starting point was to establish my BMR (basal metabolic rate) this is an estimate of the minimum amount of calories needed to keep body functioning whilst at rest. I used the one on the myfitnesspal website here. Once I’d established that figure, I found an Activity Factor formula which is a basic multiplier of the BMR subject to the level of activity – see below.

Little/no exercise	BMR * 1.2
Light exercise	BMR * 1.375
Moderate exercise (3-5 days/wk)	BMR * 1.55
Very active (6-7 days/wk)	BMR * 1.725
Extra active (very active & physical job)	BMR * 1.9

   

A simple Excel spreadsheet did the trick. I’ve highlighted what I thought that would apply to time out hiking in the hills, and the formula determined that I would need 2,900 calories to maintain that level of activity. I then set about calculating how many calories I’d consumed listing them in the same spreadsheet. The outcome was a bit of an eye opener – I was short by circa 600 calories, that’s an approx. 20% shortfall. This probably is a factor in how I’ve managed to stay trim – which isn’t a bad thing. Whilst doing this exercise I also analysed the amount of CHO I consumed. This was also very revealing as it indicated that I need to increase the amount of CHO consumed at the end of the day, to top up the glycogen reserves, and to avoid an overnight slingshot hypo (never a good thing, and potentially life threatening).

In this instance, the shortfall was made up with a portion of chips and a few jars of cider. But going forward I’ll be re-introducing the stalwart Bird’s Instant Custard as a pudding with a cake bar or similar, not for the calories per se as I’d like to keep my figure, but for the necessary CHO loading.

lentil and cheese slices

Lunch is served

It’s often a good thing to get a fresh pair of eyes on things. The subject of food is very close to my heart and a regular topic of conversation with others who have an interest in the same subject. Inevitably I’d end up quizzing people with what they pack for lunch.

The basis of my lunch is oatcakes along with pate or squeezy cheese, not exactly exciting fare but does the job especially when bolstered with the usual suspects such as dried fruit and nuts, fresh fruit, chocolate or cereal bars. On rare occasions, I’ll bake a gluten free flat bread flavoured with cheese, garlic and rosemary.

After a couple of trips, the oatcakes and mushroom pate had lost their appeal, and I was out of gluten free bread mix for making flat bread, so one of the group volunteered to make some lentil and cheese slices ‘for a change’. My first thought was, ‘What amount of carbohydrate (CHO) are these going to have?’ because although pulses are high in CHO not all of it can be digested. Her recipe, below, cunningly includes gluten free bread crumbs to increase the amount CHO. These will keep for a couple of days so make a great option for weekend trips. They don’t have to be an exclusive lunch item – I’d happily have a slice as part of breakfast or supper!

Lentil and cheese slices

225g split red lentils, rinsed
450ml water
1 onion
25g butter
100g strong cheddar
1 tsp mixed herbs
2 slices of gluten free bread
1 free range egg
Salt/pepper

Method

Cook the lentils in the measured water until soft and all the liquid has been absorbed. Chop the onion, then melt the butter in the saucepan and fry the onion until transparent. Combine all the ingredients together and press into an oiled 23cm swissroll tin. Bake in the oven at 190c for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and cut into wedges, wrap the wedges in foil, any that aren’t going into the rucksack can be frozen. 

frio cooling wallets

Double pen wallet in use, and wide wallet dry

Now that summer has finally arrived I dug my Frio wallets out of my gear box to keep my daily use insulin pens cool. Insulin degrades at heat so it is important to keep it at a temperature where this doesn’t happen, and this is exactly what these do.

They come in a range of sizes to suit, I use the double pen wallet and the wide wallet for storage of spare cartridges. The Frio is a very effective and simple device, you simply drop the inner into water, and the gel pellets swell up retaining the liquid. In the heat the water evaporates and cools the contents using the principle of latent heat of evaporation. Simply, to turn water from liquid to vapour requires energy and that is taken from the contents of the wallet, the insulin and pen, and cools it down. Clever, simple and effective.

 Double pen wallet

The wallets are made from a black breathable fabric; breathable to allow the process to work, and black optimises the process by absorbing heat. So it’s best to carry these in an outside pocket, a mesh one is obviously best, if you have them.

I’ve used these on my travels for over ten years now without a problem. The only downside I can think of is having my life sustaining drugs in an outside pocket which could make them vulnerable to breakage. However that is easily remedied by having a spare set carried by someone else, which is sensible at any time of the year – unless of course you’re going solo.

Available here http://www.friouk.com/

mrs crimble's crackers

Finding a decent bread substitute for a backpacking lunch is a pain when on a gluten free (GF) diet. Doubly so because I'm a diabetic and need carbohydrate (CHO) to count against the insulin that I inject.

So lucky for me that I was approached by a PR company, The Ideas Network, who's client is Mrs Crimble's, and they sent me three boxes of cheese crackers to try. As it happens at the beginning of this week I was completing the last leg of the South Downs Way, and whilst in the general store in Alfriston I spotted a box of these crackers, so naturally I bought a box.

The three varieties are Original Cheese, Sundried Tomato and Pesto, and Rosemary and Onion, typical Mediterranean flavours then. Nutritionally they all contain 63.8% CHO however the flavoured crackers have few more calories than the plain ones. I like cheese flavoured biscuits because they can be eaten without any spread or topping, and, if you're lucky to have some, they go really well with sliced chorizo or salami.

Each box contains 7 servings of 4 crackers, giving 11.5g CHO per serving, so to suit my need I'd be looking at having a third of a box for lunch when out on the trail.

The crackers are very crisp, and like all gluten free biscuits and crackers they need careful packing because they will break up. Unsurprisingly it's because it's the gluten in wheat and other grains that hold bread, biscuits, etc together. Another point to note is that GF products are usually made from a mix of various starches, and potato starch likes absorbing moisture given any opportunity. Storage in an air tight container is a must, especially as the crackers aren't packed in portions. That said if there were two of you then sharing a box would solve that issue.

The flavouring isn't overpowering like some others I've tried. I'm always wary when food stuff has onion flavouring as usually several hours after eating I can still taste the onion, not so in this case. And I particularly like the crunchy crispness of the crackers.

I'm glad I was offered the opportunity to try these as they will help break up the monopoly that oat cakes have had on my lunch breaks.

exped A6 document wallet

A while ago I was looking around for a replacement of my Ortleib A6 drybag/document wallet that I kept my blood monitoring machine in. The one I owned had turned that nicotine yellow colour and the Velcro strip was starting to come away. In mid Wales a month or so ago it all came apart, rendering the thing unusable. At the time I was lucky to find a shop that sold them so bought a new one.

The size of the bag is ideal for my machine and I can fit a few spares in there too. But the trouble comes when I try and fit my insulin pens in as well. Careful packing is required in order to ensure that the top rolls down and holds securely.

At the BPC AGM at the weekend I came across the Exped Vista, which reminded me of a water resistant pencil case. That got me thinking so I headed back to the tent and grabbed my kit. Back at the stall the pencil case swallowed the two pens, and the blood monitoring machine with ease. Now unlike the Orteib bag it isn't waterproof, it has one of those proofed zips instead of a roll top, but the seams are sealed. My thinking is that as this will be carried in a rucksack pocket it will be fine in most cases. It weighs the same as the Ortlieb bag too (20g), and comes with a clip on one end. This is useful, clipping the case to the keyring in the rucksack pocket means it shouldn't fall out and get lost, and I can hang it up in the tent where the stuff has no chance of getting stood, sat or knelt on. An added bonus is that the zipper pull has a glow in the dark tab.

What's more the case has enough space for spare needles, lancets, and my other daily medications which means the other case I use can be left out saving me 64g. Joy.

golite peak tweak

The Golite Peak is my bag of choice at the moment. But one of the things that’s a bit irksome is looking for stuff in the big front pocket. It requires a certain amount of rummaging, and possibly some unpacking, to find what I’m looking for.

Handily on either side of the pocket are ice axe retainers that are routed through the pocket. These make a useful points to attach a pair of mini karabiners from which keys and other stuff can be clipped onto. And hence easily located.

One of the bits of kit that I need to be able to grab without fuss is my blood monitoring machine and insulin. So I’ve made a short toggled lanyard that fits neatly through one of the holes on the Ortleib dry bag that I store the stuff in. A simple loop of dyneema could have been used but I wanted something that wasn’t permanently attached to the dry bag.

pack food weight

Generally on short trips I don’t bother with dehydrated meals for supper. I prefer to take one of those ‘instant’ pouch rice meals that can be reheated in a couple of minutes. As was the case for the aborted Buxton trip. One thing I’d never done was weigh the food. A few years ago, I loosely calculated that I carry 750g of food per day. A figure not dissimilar to the one, then quoted in imperial weight, in Derrick Booth’s The Backpackers Handbook which I was happy with.

Having diabetes and coeliac I err on the side of caution when it comes to packing food, the extra weight of which I never begrudgingly carried. It was something of a surprise that when I put the food bag on the scales two days supply shipped in at 866g per day, a little over 100g more that my estimated weight. Taking into account that one of the suppers comprised a rice pouch with a single serve tuna pouch, in the original packaging. And that I also had a tube of mushroom pate in the bag which will last about four days, the figure that I calculated was not far off if I used home dried meals.

I’d like to reduce the weight but am resigned that I need the extra provisions as picking food up along a trail that I can use is a bonus and not something that I can rely on.

accu-chek avia nano

More shiny new kit, this time a blood glucose monitoring machine, bought to replace the Acc-chek Active meter that I’ve had for about eight years that now seems to be nearing the end of it’s days. Unfortunately they have discontinued this model which is a shame as it was the only device that if the reader failed then you had the fall back of still being able to do a visual reading.

The Avia Nano has a number improvements over the Active, for one it has a backlit LED display. I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve struggled with head torch and meter trying to get a reading in a dark tent. In cold weather squeezing enough blood out of a finger is always a problem; not enough and the monitor wouldn’t work or gave a false reading. The Nano only requires a tiny amount of blood to do the test – a miniscule 0.6µl, a fraction of what I’d need for the old machine. And you can add more blood within five seconds if necessary. The meter comes with a lancing device that holds a barrel of six lancets so no need to be fumbling with individual ones and the subsequent disposal of a sharp. There’s an adapter supplied that allows you to take blood samples from other areas of your hand if required. This is new to me and I’ll have to wait until the colder months to see whether the heel of my hand would give out blood more readily than chilly fingers. However given the size of the droplet of blood required using a different area of my hand might not be necessary.

As the Nano is smaller the overall weight of the components is 30g less than the Accu-chek Active. Apart it’s lack of ability to do a visual check this monitor has a number of gains over my old system, let’s hope that I don’t drop it down a mountain or dunk it in the sea.*

* Having put one in the Bay of Biscay once before I now keep all the bits and pieces in an Ortleib A6 document wallet, along with a silica gel sachet. I’ll grumble about having to carry extras ‘just in case’ but it’s wise to keep some of the test strips from the old machine in the wallet too.

it's a numbers game - again

I sifted through the documents that I downloaded from various web sites that I mentioned in an earlier blog, and have adopted an approach to manage my diabetes at work, rest and play.

I carried out a week's worth of blood tests comprising of six tests a day; fasting, before meals and two hours after. As result I've increased the Lantus dosage to 38 units to give me a fasting blood sugar (BS) level between 5 & 7mmol, on a normal days activity. The pre/post meal BS levels indicated that I need 2 units of soluble insulin per 15g of carbohydrate (CHO). So all well and good thus far but what happens when I go backpacking?

The only way to find out is get out and test, which I was lucky enough to do at the weekend.

First I cut the Lantus by one third down to 25 units. And the bolus dosage by 50%, on the basis that whilst active I'd only need 1 unit of insulin per every 15g of CHO. And this seemed to work as the BS reading stayed in range and I had fewer hypo's (hypoglycaemic attacks). Having fewer crashes meant that I didn't require the extra CHO that I usually carry to stave them off. The hypo's would have been better managed if I'd eaten small amounts of CHO on a regular basis between meals. The trip being a spontaneous one meant I didn't pack a trail mix that I would usually carry.

Encouraging results initially and I'll continue to test this approach on future trips.

it's a numbers game

I've been wading through a number of documents downloaded from several web sites that specialise in diabetes management for active people. Runsweet.com a UK based site has some information but nothing specific to backpacking. I joined a yahoo group that I found via the MAD web site and am waiting to see what comes back from the postings I've made. The focus of this site is predominantly alpine or high altitude climbing, so I'm not expecting much.

The information I have gathered has made me focus on the daily control of my diabetes which is useful in it own right for a number of obvious reasons. And should be the starting point of how I manage the condition out on the hills.

marching on your stomach

Various work commitments this week meant that I've spent most days travelling on trains so what better use of time than to read a book. I plucked Derrick Booth's The Backpackers Handbook off the shelf for a delve through. The chapter that caught my eye was one about food and nutrition.

Looking at the sample menu I was shocked by how little food there seemed to be... Or should I be more shocked by how much I pack? This has started me thinking about optimising the food stuff I carry perhaps shedding some grams in the process. His focus was based on the delivery of a required number of calories with a classic ratio of carbohydrates (CHO), fat and protein to do so. My primary focus is on CHO and it's delivery balanced against the insulin dosages I take.

My current diet was put together out of experience and limited testing. In ideal conditions blood tests are easy to do; in the cold or wet they are easy to forego. When the weather has been particularly bad I've plodded on, skipped lunch and the midday injection and kept myself going on trail mix. The long acting insulin I take keeps the blood sugar on a even keel so the little and often approach does seem work in these circumstances. However I'm inclined to think that the good Doctor Anderson (my consultant) would say don't make a habit of it!

Looking at this I realise that it would make a juicy dissertation for someone looking to do a masters in sports nutrition, so perhaps I should head off to UCL with a sandwich board offering up my lunchbox to medical science.