Human fuel (food)

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T

tadmaz

Minister of Fire
Dec 21, 2017
500
Erin, WI
What do you guys eat when you cut, split, stack? I struggled with feeling poorly/lack of energy for 8 years and eating tons of carbs, sometimes 4000 calories a day to keep me going at a desk job. Doing strenuous activities took even more food. I have been following the Primal Blueprint, mostly ketogenic, for the past year and compared to what I used to be, I'm practically superhuman in terms of strength and endurance. Eating somewhere between 2000-2500 calories a day even with moderate activity. It seems to work for me. By the way, in the book Norwegian Wood by Lars Mytting, he says lumberjacks used to eat 9000 calories a day. I've gone all out for 9 hours and just had to eat a good sized lunch at lunchtime. Maybe this story can help someone out there? This can be a very opinionated topic. Everyone is different and reacts differently to different diets. I'll open it up for comments, or feel free to share what works for you!

P.S. My wife lost 40 pounds without exercise doing Primal Blueprint. I've always been lean, before Primal and now.
 
I used to work at a pulp and paper mill that had the last company logging crew in the East. They mostly lived at the logging camp during the week and drove home on the weekends. I also worked with a few folks who worked and lived in the temporary logging camps years earlier. I remember one person telling me he got a job out of high school working in the camps. He was there for his first breakfast and one of the old timers pushed a dish of baked beans towards him at breakfast and said "eat the beans" this young guy had never had beans for breakfast so he declined. They then went out logging all day with just a short break for lunch brought out to them. He dragged himself back to camp at the end of the day and figured out he was in for real work. The next morning the same old timer pushed the beans over to him and he took a big helping and woofed it down. The camps always had baked beans and pea soup. The cooks would bake loaves of bread and usually would bake several pies for every supper. It pretty much came down to they ate as much as they could as the combination of 12 plus hours of work along with working in below freezing temps in the snow, they really couldn't eat enough. If you see the old photos of the logging crews there arent a lot of overweight loggers, the only folks who might have a gut are the bosses.

One of the logging operations in Maine has done recent publicity that they have seen a big shift in occupation hazards for loggers, almost all the logging in maine is now with mechanized equipment where the operators sit most of the day in cab, obsesity, diabetes and coronary issues is the new risk.

I hike as a hobby and along the way walked from Georgia to Maine over a period of about 10 years. I met a lot of thru hikers who do it in one year usually in 4 to 5 months. They have what is called the AT Diet, they can eat anything they want and as much as they want, they just have to carry it. Unfortunately many really screw up their metabolism during the hike. They lose a lot of weight on the hike but when hey finish they usually gain it all back as they have lost the ability to feel "full"

For normal hiking the goal is not to eat one big meal rather snack continuously. Folks forget, the digestive tract is very large muscle, eat a big meal and the stomach starts to pull blood away from the extremities, thus the old warning about waiting before going swimming after a meal. Far better off eating easy to digest high glucose snacks. Try to avoid fats and meats as they take a long time to digest. If you are sweating also consider electrolytes in place of water. The easy one is gatoraide diluted 50% with water. I use a product called NUUN when hiking, its an electrolyte with no sugar in it. If I dont use it, I end up getting leg cramps later on that evening.
 
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Work, its training your body to a regiment. I was raised by a mom who was anti sugar and fake fat- aka processed foods, so I never developed a taste for anything other then whole foods themselves, at 33 I'm finally starting to fill out, and this is due to just slowing down in general (need to make some lifestyle changes) but I'm now up to a 34" waist and 188lbs at 6'1.
I use to be big into weight training a few years ago, then work and lots of OT consumed my life (still does) but my deal in the weight room was low weight, high reps, 4 sets. So doing free curls I would grab 40lb dumb bells and do 4 sets of 15, then do burn outs of 10 counts with 30lb dumbbell, burn outs were starting at 1-10 curls, then 1-9 curls, 1-8 curls and so on till you hit 1.
Anyway that was just a small snip of my work out routine, I was never huge but I had strength and more importantly endurance, I would be able to eat normal meals, drink a protein shake, about a gallon of water a day and last all day in the woods cutting and splitting and still have the ability to take the girlfriend out to the bar at night.
Today I can say I have not stepped foot in a gym since hurricane Sandy..so its been over 5 years, I now have the strength of a normal person, I tire out after a decent days worth of work, I eat the same as I always have, its just that I don't have the regiment endurance anymore and I need to build that back up again.
 
peakbagger said:
I used to work at a pulp and paper mill that had the last company logging crew in the East. They mostly lived at the logging camp during the week and drove home on the weekends. I also worked with a few folks who worked and lived in the temporary logging camps years earlier. I remember one person telling me he got a job out of high school working in the camps. He was there for his first breakfast and one of the old timers pushed a dish of baked beans towards him at breakfast and said "eat the beans" this young guy had never had beans for breakfast so he declined. They then went out logging all day with just a short break for lunch brought out to them. He dragged himself back to camp at the end of the day and figured out he was in for real work. The next morning the same old timer pushed the beans over to him and he took a big helping and woofed it down. The camps always had baked beans and pea soup. The cooks would bake loaves of bread and usually would bake several pies for every supper. It pretty much came down to they ate as much as they could as the combination of 12 plus hours of work along with working in below freezing temps in the snow, they really couldn't eat enough. If you see the old photos of the logging crews there arent a lot of overweight loggers, the only folks who might have a gut are the bosses.

One of the logging operations in Maine has done recent publicity that they have seen a big shift in occupation hazards for loggers, almost all the logging in maine is now with mechanized equipment where the operators sit most of the day in cab, obsesity, diabetes and coronary issues is the new risk.

I hike as a hobby and along the way walked from Georgia to Maine over a period of about 10 years. I met a lot of thru hikers who do it in one year usually in 4 to 5 months. They have what is called the AT Diet, they can eat anything they want and as much as they want, they just have to carry it. Unfortunately many really screw up their metabolism during the hike. They lose a lot of weight on the hike but when hey finish they usually gain it all back as they have lost the ability to feel "full"

For normal hiking the goal is not to eat one big meal rather snack continuously. Folks forget, the digestive tract is very large muscle, eat a big meal and the stomach starts to pull blood away from the extremities, thus the old warning about waiting before going swimming after a meal. Far better off eating easy to digest high glucose snacks. Try to avoid fats and meats as they take a long time to digest. If you are sweating also consider electrolytes in place of water. The easy one is gatoraide diluted 50% with water. I use a product called NUUN when hiking, its an electrolyte with no sugar in it. If I dont use it, I end up getting leg cramps later on that evening.
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My grand mother who passed away last year was a camp cook, and my grand father was a river driver who didn’t know how to swim.

Man do I miss her biscuits and homemade bread
 
the following is my routine when I go out on a sat. morning to slay the firewood!

Friday night- go to bed early
Saturday- get up EARLY! slam some coffee, get all saws and other effects ready and in the truck and wait for sun to come up while guzzling more coffee ! go out to the woods and slam out a pickup load. come home and unload the 1st load. go back to the woods and slam out another load. by now I have switched from coffee to water. come home with second load. it it's 10am or before, go for the 3rd load. if it's after 10:30 go in and eat lunch with wife/kids. after lunch, begin splitting and stacking the wood. at precisely 12 noon crack a beer! As far as diet I just try to eat a good balance of fruits and vegetables, carbs and protein. we try to grow as much stuff as possible as well as canning, harvesting wild game and getting our hogs and beef from our butcher friends. I think it makes a difference vs. the stuff from the store with all the chemicals and hormones in it
 
Burgers. Beer . A little long leaf chewing tobacco. Actually I have found not eating much and working stupid long hours works best for me. Don't get me wrong after about 2 days of it I'm ready to eat a horse.
 
Most of my life I've followed a strict Seefood diet. Whatever I see, I eat, especially if it tastes good. As an old man I've cut way back on desserts. When I split wood, I eat whatever the hell I want to, including desserts. I split in cold weather, so there's double the reason to eat hearty.
 
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While I don’t always follow it, a lot can be taken from the writing of dick proenekke, who should be considered a true woodsman. He said his fuel was “ oatmeal, and everything that can be added to it”. I haven’t yet started following this advice but would like to.
 
I usually don't eat much when I'm doing wood. Breakfast of coffee and a lighter lunch while drinking a good amount of water and perhaps a Gatorade or two.

This is pretty much the same whether I'm felling/limbing/tractor toby, bucking, or gathering rounds for the splitter and stacking as my dad splits. This is generally how I eat during any outdoor activity day, from deer season, to yard/garden work, to firewood. Two weeks ago I burned brush all day and just drank coffee and water all day with a beer toward evening. Ate pretty well for supper though.
 
Depends on what is in the fridge. Egg sandwich, fruit, & coffee for breakfast. Sandwiches for lunch, and 2 plates of whatever was fixed for dinner. Water all day long & wintergreen gum. Snacks of granola bars or trail mix & more water. Once I get tired, I stop for the day. Warm shower & ibuprofen before bed.
 
I train for life, not the occasional activity like logging, bucking or splittling. I workout 3-4 times a week with mostly weights. Deadlifting, presses, and pushing movements. All compound movements.
My diet is likely 3-4k calories per day. I eat lots of protein with healthy carbs (low GI carbs) and fresh veggies and fruits. I eat as little trash as possible but my diet is not perfect.
In winter I tend to eat like a bear getting ready for a coma. Then I shed fat weight for summer.
I'm about 210 lbs at 5'10" and steadily gaining. Hoping to reach 220 before June. I have a new friend that is keeping me accountable for gym workouts. :)
 
Two eggs, 4 pieces of bacon, two pieces of toast with honey, and juice for breakfast 3-4 days a week. Other days is a bowl of oatmeal or cold cereal with juice.
My stomach is usually growling by 12 PM so a peanut butter sandwich, apple or orange, and a carrot for lunch. Dinner usually several vegetables and a piece of meat.
Lot's of water during the day.
Sometimes I'll make split pea soup or chicken adobo in the crock pot for dinner. Smelling that all day makes me hungry.
 
Early to bed...up early to eat a hearty breakfast...eggs,bacon,taters,toast, juice and coffee and coffee for the road..pack plenty to drink...and snacks to munch on...I am filling a 14k tandem dump..this takes awhile...if I am to worn out...I split the next day..and repeat the routine.
 
Whatever I can find to eat . . . and whatever is convenient.

My body is a temple . . . a ruined, fallen down and ransacked temple to a long forgotten Greek god, but a temple nevertheless.
 
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Breakfast: pancakes, sausages, coffee, orange juice
Noon: cheese and sausage or jerky, nuts, olives, crackers, beer. Note, beer is the primary “carb”.
Dinner: whatever I’m served, with a Manhattan or Martini

Plenty of water throughout the day.
 
Bacon--lots of bacon!
 
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Whatever calories I can get to before my boys (13,15) do. We did a marathon session last winter after a decent breakfast. Wife made a lb of spaghetti with a lb. of ground italian sausage in the sauce for us. I then remembered I had left my phone down in the woods, liesurely walked the dog back down to get it, came back to NOTHING left.
Wife didn't eat any, she thought it was pretty funny though.
 
firefighterjake said:
Whatever I can find to eat . . . and whatever is convenient.

My body is a temple . . . a ruined, fallen down and ransacked temple to a long forgotten Greek god, but a temple nevertheless.
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;lol;lol Mine's more like a pool hall.
 
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osagebow said:
Whatever calories I can get to before my boys (13,15) do.
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I used to work at a grocery store, and there was a mother who'd come once per week and fill four large grocery carts. You'd think she was shopping for the local orphanage, but it was just her husband and three teenage boys, all of whom were football players. When she made chicken for dinner, she'd make four, one for each of those teenagers, and one for her and her husband to share. She'd take ten or twelve gallons of milk on each trip, and almost as many boxes of cereal. If I recall, her grocery bill was $650'ish per week, in 1980's dollars.

As a bagger, whose job it was to help with the carts, we'd get a kick out of her visit. The store manager would have two or three of us follow her around the store, each with a cart for her to fill.
 
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