Tag: nutrition

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Day 16/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

21:40 Camp 1km northeast Teusajaure cabin
I woke before 6AM and packed my stuff, thankfully the forecast had been wrong and there was no rain during the night. For the first time this tour I was able to get everything, included tent and abside, to fit inside the backpack. Great sign that I’ve eaten away some weight and volume!
After taking care of my boots and some other equipment I went over to the main building where they serve breakfast between 7 and 9. Staying there for the entire time and eating small portions continuously, I managed to get approximately 1200-1500 kcal in, mostly from fat – cheese, butter, eggs, meat, seeds and nuts – and probably a little too much protein. Yet very limited carbs and apparently the insulin spike never got high enough to impact keton production as my Ketonix readings were still showing nutritional ketosis hours after the meal.
The boat taking me over to the other side of the lake left at 10:40, leaving me more than enough time to gather my stuff and say ‘bye’ to people I talked to. Many showed interest in the project and are curious about ketosis, which is very encouraging for the health development in the future. I actually thought that most people hiking would be more stuck in the old carb paradigm and this is a good point to be wrong!
Bus ride took a while and I was arriving Vakkotavare just before 13:00 – as it was raining at the time I went into the cabin for a cup of tea and spent a couple of hours chatting with the hosts and their family and a couple I met last year when they were hosts in Vistas cabin.
Besides having a great social time I also got a video for the ‘Cabin host series’ on offthegridhiker.com!
Leaving the cabin at ten to 3 in
 the afternoon I was still energized from the breakfast and felt no need for any additional intake
of food. I hiked the 15km in 3 hours and 15 min, arriving at the lake more than an hour before the motor boat ride I aimed for.

Thankfully I found two rowing boats on my side of the lake, which meant I could just take one and get over. So I rowed the 1km over the lake and knocked at the cabin hosts door looking for video nr 2 this day.

Not only did I get my interview but stayed for two hours total, taking part in the preparation for smoking trouts and even got treated to one he’d smoked some days earlier. It was delicious!
I totally would have stayed there and camped, the place is just beautiful, yet having spent the night before in Saltoluokta’s birch forest I longed to get up above the tree line again for some wind and a view.
Just half an hour of additional hiking brought me just that and after finishing my dinner and get ready for bed, I’ll spend the night here in this wonderful spot.
Observation: when undressing I noticed that my left calf was weirdly swollen from just below the knee down to where the top of the boot shaft ends. No pain involved at all, just this swelling of the subcutaneous tissue… Gotta keep an eye on this.

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Peace // Claes

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Day 15/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

08:00 Camp at Liehtjitjavrre

What a beautiful morning! I’m sitting in my tent with the abside open on the leeward side, facing the sun. The rather chilly wind from behind drives away most mosquitoes except for the very bravest, and the sun gives a nice warmth to the morning hours!
As much as I spent time out here, it never stops to amaze me how swiftly and completely the weather can change within a day or even hours.
It really felt nice to have the sunlight hit the tent this morning and not raindrops – even if I nowadays, thankfully, accept and adapt to whatever weather without huge emotional engagement, I frankly admit the I haven’t preferences!
Anyway, Ketonix readings are still higher than before, actually a lot higher, and I feel amazing. I experiences as slight GI discomfort yesterday afternoon, probably due to the rapid increase in coconut oil, and that resolved quickly.
So I just continue going at this with an increased amount of nutritional fat and enjoy the experience!
Plan for today is to go all the way to Saltoluokta as the weather could hardly be better and I’ll get an early start.
I like to call this part of the trip:
‘A five day hike, to be planned for six days’
Meaning that one should do it in five, yet have one day in reserve. Now it looks as that reserve is not necessary and this gives me an extra day for all the other stuff I want to do when back a little farther up north again!
22:30 Camp at Staloluokta
So, day 15 is in the books and I reached the halfway mark of this years hike. Backpack is still feeling so much better than just a few days ago and moving through the mountains has become more or less effortless compared to the first 10 days or so. What a difference a few kg can make!

Carl, Fredrik and I started today’s tour together at 10:30 and began following the trail northwardtowards Suorva. About level with the reindeer keeper cabin I spotted a potentially easier line and went scouting, finding a long stretch of boulders and rocks taking us all the way to dry ground free from bushes. Up until that point we had some struggles with scrubs, bushes and wetland. Good reminder to not blindly follow a trail at any cost!
After about 2.5h they wanted to stop for lunch and I did indulge in another cup of coffee with PF. 45 min later we’re moving on for another half hour before splitting up, they going north to the western end of Bietsavvre to camp and take a boat across the lake in the morning. I heading east up the valley to hike the distance of the lake and continue to Saltoluokta.

I have to admit that the first hour or so was a struggle… Lots of vegetation, wetlands and pools of standing water to be avoided and really no straight line to follow despite my efforts of aiming at the high point. In these situations it always feels like the forward progress is frustratingly slow and it becomes a mental game besides the physical struggle with the uneven ground and getting hooked up in the vegetation all the time.
Getting through and up onto higher grounds and the soft grass of that elevation was a relief and my steps became instantly lighter!
The rest of the hike to the eastern end of Bietsavvre was pure joy, mixing grassland with rocks and some occasional bushes that I’ve got increasingly better at avoiding!
Descending in the shadow of Rasek I found a very well defined trail which I could follow all the way to the beach at Bietsavvre’s eastern shore.
Crossing the mouth of Avtsusjjåhkå, emptying into the lake, has been made easy by a small boat running on a rope across the river.
Unfortunately the cafe in the Sami village was closed and so I continued almost immediately along the trail down to Saltoluokta. The six km trail was super easy to follow and after a slight uphill slope merely downhill, after just under an hour I reached the fjällstation and checked in for a camp site. Sara at the reception was kind enough to help with recharging my Ketonix battery and the power bank over night, turns out she’s been following LCHF earlier and got of it during guide training.
She told me she was eager to start the fat fueled lifestyle again, though, and never felt better than when she ate this way. In general people are almost surprisingly curious and positively interested when they hear about this project and it’s fun to help out with some tips, tricks and information.
Now, I hiked around 25km total, of which all but the last six were off trails, and so far only had three coffee with fat (one with coconut oil and two with PF) for energy, so dinner came high on my list of priorities after check in. I just grabbed a camp site, raised my tent and then headed for the kitchen.
Here I just want to point out that at no time during the day I felt anything but energized and sufficiently sustained, or I would have stopped and had something to eat. Even being used to the ketogenic lifestyle I’m still amazed by the amount of physical and mental work that can be completed without refueling.
While waiting for my dinner to cool down to eating temperature I emptied my pack and brought next weeks food up to the top when repacking. Realizing the real amount of provisions I already used was reassuring and totally explained the new and lighter feeling of my backpack!
The only real miscalculation is with the beef jerky, I used less than half of what I’d planned to have. Thankfully it’s not a lot of extra weight to carry!
After dinner I managed a quick sauna before it closed for the night and finished of with shower and a shave.
Good feeling to be thoroughly clean again!
As it’s now well passed 22:00 and people are sleeping in their tents, today’s closing video just has to wait until tomorrow morning.
Followed by my first planned over eating breakfast for this tour!

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Peace // Claes

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Day 10/30 of the 2017 Keto Hiker experiment

07:15 Camp at Pårka, between Låddejåckå and Arasluokta

Again I slept amazingly well, can’t say if it’s the ketogenic state helping with sleep also, yet I can definitely say that my sleep is better than I can recall from previous years up here.
Tonight again I got my ideal nine hours, dreaming a lot of good dreams, though I don’t remember the details I have a pleasant feeling lingering from the dreams. Having the sound of the stream accompaning me through the night and morning is soothing and relaxing. I just love these sounds of nature, be it water flowing, wind blowing and even rain falling. There’s something genuinely connecting being out in nature listening to its sounds.

I really look forward to the hike today, I remember it as beautiful and rather soft with just one real uphill climb after Arasluokta. And I’m so glad getting to Staloluokta once again, going there was in my original plan as well, just now I come from another direction. I’m really curious how the place has developed since I saw it last, I still have to look up when that was, though it can’t be less than 12 years ago!

I’m very happy and impressed with how my body feels and works, though I eat very little during the day my energy is top notch, I feel strong and my mood is formidable. From a personal, subjective standpoint this little experiment is already a success.
Especially I can see an immense shift in my mental state and stability – earlier my mood was definitely more affected by the conditions. Now, I don’t know what part the ketogenic diet plays here and what is this effect of all the mental, emotional and spiritual development I’ve deliberately gone through over the last year – and I’ll probably never will.
What I can say is that when I went out of ketosis back home to prepare for the pre-hike blood tests, my emotional stability was affected and I didn’t really like that shift!

21:55 Camp near Staloluokta, view over Virihaure

What a beautiful day, the weather was just fantabulous most of the day with a short rain shower when I stopped to do my midday measuring of ketons. Just put my rain jacket on and waited 15 min, then everything dried up just about as fast as it got wet.
First part of the hike was mostly downhill to the bridge 4km north of Arasluokta, followed by a slow uphill stretch leveling out and then descending to Arasluokta about 8km from my starting point.

 

I continued past the cabin and crossed the bridge before taking a break to measure ketons and drink some water. As the rain started I decided to have a small snack as well, I wanted to wait for the shower to pass by anyway. Bad idea… The couple handfuls of nuts lay like a brick in my belly the whole ascent up the hill and really made it a lot harder than it actually is.
Excellent learning experience, though, not to eat anything without planning some time for it to digest. I got to try it with the PF and see if I tolerate that better as a quick snack, and if there’s a difference mixing it with hot or cold beverage.

Anyway, once the ascent was dealt with the trail was pretty much level and very comfortable to hike. I stopped for about half an hour at a small lake where the mosquitoes for some reason were almost nonexistent. And had a great Sit on one of the rocks in the sunshine, just one of these explicitly peaceful and serene moments in life. I’m so grateful I take the time to enjoy these opportunities nowadays, it has not always been that way!

Through the day I met a few people and pretty everyone warned me of the mosquitoes in Staloluokta, to the point that I played with the thought to camp up at the lakes.
Imagine my gratitude when I was met by a rather strong breeze while descending to the village and this wind staying almost the entire evening!
Shortly upon arrival I went up to visit the “kyrkokåta” – a small chapel build in the traditional Sami way of a hut. There had been one of the rare services earlier today and the pastor with his people was packing up to leave. As I met him once before many years ago I naturally introduced myself and chatted with him for a few minutes, then ending up helping out with the chores.
Apparently their was some cake left from after the service and as they learned I don’t eat wheat or sugar they left me some fresh cabbage, a pack of bacon (wow, what a breakfast tomorrow!!!) and a smoked and dried shoulder blade from a reindeer to cut the meat of for snacks. Frankly I felt like a kid on Christmas Day after basically eating the same food for 10 days and starting to think too much of eggs and bacon!
Amazing!!!

So, after a snack with fat coffee and reindeer meat I made camp and then it was time for the sauna. It was every bit as good as I remembered it, I did five rounds of sauna, each followed by a dip in the little lake next to it – and with an exquisite view!
I could easily have stayed for another round, yet my growling stomach insisted on dinner, and, experiencing so little hunger during the days here, I was almost grateful for the feeling of needing something to eat.
The cabbage was a nice add on to my usual menu of ground beef with veggies and fat!

The rest of the evening was comfortably spent lounging in the cabin, chatting with other guests and reading until I felt the definitive urge to retire to my tent.
I feel very pleasantly tired and relaxed, looking forward to another good nights sleep!

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Peace // Claes

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Why this project came about!

Hey there, thanks for following my project!
I sincerely hope that You enjoy the ride and find some value in reading about the preparations and, later on, the hike itself and the subsequent results.

Anyway, I´m well aware that the vast majority of people would consider 30 days hiking in the wilderness worse than divine punishment and so I feel compelled to share my reasons for this project!

  1. As You probably already figured out (if You know me at all), I´m not one of “most people” in this case – on the contrary, spending time in nature depending on myself for days and weeks is amazingly relaxing and fulfilling for me. If You haven´t already, please check out my Off The Grid Hiker blogg for more tours and adventures!
  2. I´ve been on the low carb side of life for the better part of 10 years and personally feel and perform a lot better being fat fueled than sugar burning and earlier this year decided to really try out the ketogenic diet. Leaving no more than 25g of carbohydrates per day in my diet, moderating protein intake to 1-1.5g/day and kg of body weight and devouring tons of healthy fats dropped me from around 15% body fat to well under 10% in less than 2 months without ever feeling hungry, fatigued or experiencing any cravings. Interestingly enough I didn´t even work out very much, mostly walking and a few short lifting sessions weekly.
    Feeling constantly energized and content got me thinking about how this way of eating would work in a hiking situation and I decided to check it out.May 1st I landed on Kauai and the next day my friends Dayna and Jason dropped me of at the Kalalau trail head for a few days hiking along the beautiful Napali coast (more on that tour here).
    I started early afternoon and the first day was horrible, travel and crappy airplane food had kicked me out of ketosis and I had to literally sit down and rest several times during a long uphill stretch…
    Having brought only beef jerky, macadamia nuts and coconut oil (besides some instant coffee) for provisions saved me as I was back in ketosis the next day and the few days hiking turned out fantastic!
    This experience naturally added to my curiosity towards hiking in a ketogenic state that originated from the 2015 hike in Lappland and I decided to stay under 20g of daily carbs this year
  3.  I totally expect these 30 days in the wild to have a massive positive impact on my health, not only physically due to the clean air, food and water, but also mentally, emotionally and spiritually as a result of the closeness to nature, time for contemplation and reflexion as well as freedom from distractions and influence from advertising, social media, email etc.
    By doing some rather extensive blood work and collecting urine samples for testing stress and sex hormone status, as well as measuring waist and hip circumference, a few skin folds and scale weight before and after we hope to be able to show an improvement in all or most of the areas tested. Thereby inspiring others to use our findings to improve their own health with or without our guidance and support.

Below You can see the main parts of my pack, weighing in at 32kg (70lbs) its a little heavier than I´d like yet there´s np way around this while bringing the stuff I need for the tour and being able to get all the documentation.

 Food supply, 15kg / 33lbs totalCamping equipment and clothes

Please check out the short video, share this post with people You know who could benefit, and leave a comment below to share Your thoughts!

Mahalo, I appreciate You!

Peace // Claes