Tag Archives: nutrition

Eating MREs so you don’t have to

When I started writing about trails in the early’90s, my motto quickly became, “Getting lost, so you don’t have to.” It’s a philosophy I’ve stuck with as my scope has widened to encompass trying all kinds of things so you don’t have to.

A year ago, I had a backpacking class that included three vets, a rarity because most ex-military I encounter have zero interest in voluntarily spending another night in a tent. In our session on backpacking food, the topic of MREs — Meal, Ready-to-Eat — came up. Rather than the universal pan I was expecting from these three critics, the results were mixed. “Some aren’t bad,” they agreed. “But some are.” The next session, one of the vets pulled a brown cardboard box about the size of an iPad out of his pack and handed it to me. In dot-matrix type, it said “Egg Omelette with Vegetables and Cheese.” read more

The Paleo Diet: It worked for the cavemen

Barney on the cutting edge.

I wrote the following for The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer; it originally appeared in both newspapers on Tuesday, July 2.

Another diet, another debate about its effectiveness.

The Paleo Diet, dubbed the caveman diet, promotes simple eating – lean meats, fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables and nuts. Processed foods are out, as are refined sugars, excessive salt, grains and dairy. Eat like our ancestors did 10,000 years ago, goes the Paleo mantra. read more