AN Ayurvedic Approach to Backcountry Nutrition:

Nourishing yourself in the Backcountry

When you’re expending thousands of calories, you need to bring those back in to nurture your body. There’s lots of options for prepared meal packages, but I love to make food like I’m at home.

Back when I was a backcountry biological science technician at Sequoia/Kings Canyon, I dehydrated a pantry-full of food, that I would bring with me to make my meals with a little bit of spontaneity in the wilderness. I’d have onions, squash, broccoli, carrots, and a variety of other veggies and fruit, make sauces at home to dehydrate, and then bring a mix of grains: quinoa, Israeli couscous, barley, rice, lentils… I’d also experiment with prepackaged ramens and other soups, tried to find the best crackers that offered minimal breakage after being shoved into a bear can for 7 days straight, and weighed (literally) the pros and cons of bringing various fresh foods. At one point I was even growing sprouts in the backcountry!

Now that I’ve been studying Ayurvedic nutrition, I’ve begun to integrate these integrated health principles into my backcountry food preparation packages.

Currently we are not offering food service on our yoga trips; keeping our programs both affordable and focused on quality content is our priority. Instead, we are offering to teach you how to feed yourself so you can be empowered to create simple-to-gourmet food options for yourself, not only on this trip, but on any of your wilderness experiences into the future.

We offer a Zoom course on an Ayurvedic Approach to Backcountry Nutrition (tentative dates: April 1 - June 3 - July 8 - details to come - live with recorded option). If this part seems too daunting to you, we will purchase, prepare, and package your food together (you can customize from a provided menu). You’ll still get to carry it in and participate in preparing and cooking in our supported group setting.