Paleo Traileo: Snack

Grass-Fed Pepperoni Sticks

There are some different companies out there that make these. One that I love is 3 Sisters Farm from Whidbey Island, WA. They raise 100% grass-fed beef, and make delicious pepperoni sticks.

Tanka Bites and Bars

These are really expensive, but really delicious. Bison meat mixed with dried cranberries. You can order straight from their website, and I think it turns out to be a little cheaper than in the stores. They also have "specials" that include free shipping.

LÄRABARS

The thing you have to watch out with these is the sugar content. Even though they don’t have any added sugar, they have a lot of carbohydrates from the dates that make the base of the bar. However, carb content isn’t a huge issue when you’re doing a lot of physical activity, but I would just be careful not to consume too many in a day (which is really easy to do because they’re so good!). Also, some of them are made with peanuts, which are not paleo because they are legumes, but most are made with some mix of almonds, walnuts, and cashews. If you don't know what they are, check out their website; they have a ton of delicious flavors. Also, since they're such simple ingredients just blended up, you can make homemade versions pretty easily. Here are three recipes I've found but haven't tried yet:

Nut Butters

Almond butter, macadamia nut butter, sunflower seed butter, any butter but peanut butter (it's a legume, therefore not paleo). You can buy these at the store (if you care about sugar content, be careful about what kind you get...sometimes they sneak cane juice or something in there) or make them yourself (with lots of variations!) Wilderness Poets makes a lot of different kinds: macadamia, pistachio, cashew, almond, pumpkin seed, hazelnut, and even hemp seed butters. You can either buy them in jars or single-serving packets. Artisana makes almond, cashew, pecan, tahini, macadamia-cashew and walnut butters. For sunflower seed butter, Sunbutter makes an organic unsweetened one.

Dried Fruit

Again, a disclaimer on the sugar content for dried fruit. I try not to pack too much dried fruit because I end up eating way too much of it and it makes me sick. Small amounts are fine, but it probably shouldn't be a main food source. That said, banana chips, dried mangoes, and dried figs (they taste like fig newtons but without the cookie part) are some of my favorites. Dried blueberries are really good too, but can be pricey.

Nori Strips

These are really satisfying because they're salty. Eden Foods sells a couple different types. I recently bought some from Whole Foods called SeaSnax and their "Classic" flavor are made with just organic olive oil and sea salt. I don't know if Eden uses oil or what type.

Plantain Chips

These are pretty high carb, but they're also really salty and filling. There are several brands out there; we really like the Inka Chips kind. They also sell sweet potato and cassava chips.

Jackson's Honest Sweet Potato Chips

I used to guiltily eat Terra Chips, knowing they were made with canola oil, so I was so excited to see Jackson's Honest come out with sweet potato chips cooked in coconut oil. Warning: super addictive.

GoRaw Bars, Flax Snax, Super Chips, & Super Cookies

My mom got me some of the Super Cookies for my birthday this last year and Max and I thoroughly enjoyed them on a climbing trip. The list of ingredients for their products include sprouted nuts and seeds, organic coconut, organic dates, organic spices, spirulina, and raw organic cacao. They are definitely a little pricey but well worth it. Check them out here.

Nuun

Even though I've been an athlete my entire life, I've never believed in the need for electrolyte-replacement drinks like Gatorade, always thinking that pure water was the best thing for hydration. That was until I worked a swelteringly humid, sweaty, hot, hot, hot summer in Wisconsin. Although I was in good health, drinking lots of water and eating well, by midday I would get shaky and tired. My dad, a naturopath, recommended I use electrolyte drinks. Nuun is a company from Seattle that makes really good-tasting tablets (Lemon Chai, Tangerine Ginger, and Goji Berry Green Tea are some of their flavors) that are sweetened with stevia instead of sugars (they do use "natural flavoring" though, which I usually try and avoid). After I started adding these tablets to my afternoon water bottle, I felt so much better and it made me a believer that sometimes we do need a little electrolyte boost. My dad recommended either the Active Hydration or the Natural Hydration options because they contain an appropriate balance of sodium and potassium. All-Day Hydration is more of a water-flavorant than an effective electrolyte replacement.

Dehydrated Coconut Water

Coconut water makes me feel good, but it's rather impractical to carry cans of it on trips. Instead, there is coconut water in powdered form! We tried CocoHydro which was pretty good and tasted almost like the stuff fresh from the can if we put in enough powder. After a couple minutes of Google searching, it seems like there are plenty of other companies out there as well. YogaEarth has an all-organic one, available in an eco-pack or in singles. Essential Living Foods also sells it, either in a 16-oz. size or bulk in a 5-lb. size. The powder does tend to settle to the bottom and solidify so you have to do a fair amount of shaking and/or stirring to get it all mixed up. I recently read that dehydrated coconut water can be used as a milk substitute in teas. I tried this yesterday and I would say it's more of a sweetener-replacement than a milk replacement. It did take the bitter edge off the tea and gave it a pleasant, but not overbearing sweet taste. What I also discovered is that I think this will be a good electrolyte replacement for the cold season. I've already worked a few pretty cold weeks this year in Utah, and as the season moves towards winter and my water is always close to freezing, I find it hard to want to drink enough water to stay hydrated. I was using Nuun tablets the last couple weeks and, although I can suck down a water bottle of that stuff during the hot summer months, I found I had no appetite for it in the cold. Yesterday, I went on a 5-mile walk in the cold and came home quite thirsty so I decided to try the coconut powder in rooibos tea and I drank that cup of tea so fast. This coming week I'm going to bring out a thermos on trail and make hot tea with the coconut powder and see if I'm able to drink more!