Food and nutrition have become a major focus at altitude.

The most important reasons for this are;
Weight loss at altitude is common
Significant weight loss at altitude is associated with loss of muscle mass and poorer physical and mental performance.

The factors contributing to weight loss at altitude include:
Reduced food intake related to
• Loss of appetite secondary to acute mountain sickness / altitude itself
• Unpalatability and monotony of food
Increased requirements related to
• Increased physical activity over a prolonged period
• Increased basal metabolic rate (the body's energy requirements at
rest) by 10-15%
Gastrointestinal infections are common at lower altitudes
Impaired absorption of food from the gut may also play a role at
altitudes >5,000m.

Most people will preferentially lose fat in the initial stages of weight loss, however, the proportion of fat lost decreases at altitude and loss of muscle mass becomes increasingly prominent. Above 5,400m, up to 75% of the weight lost may be muscle. Those with a higher percentage of body fat at the outset tend to lose more weight than those with lower. Women suffer less extremes of weight loss than men; this seems to be mainly because their appetite is retained.

In an attempt to minimise weight loss at altitude, it is helpful to estimate requirements and then attempt to achieve a balance of energy intake
and expenditure. While at sea level, each team member kept a food diary for a 3-day period, and based on this, our nutritionist estimated
our usual intake. She then calculated our basal metabolic rate and our approximate energy requirements for climbing carrying a load of 10-20kg. To allow for the increased basal metabolic rate at altitudes of greater than 6,000m, she increased this figure by 10%-15%. Comparison of these figures, gives an idea of the increased intake required at altitude. This is relatively easy at lower altitudes where availability and variety of foods are not limiting factors; above Base Camp/Camp 2, where the choice is more limited and m ain meals are restricted to freeze dried packs, it becomes increasingly difficult.

The most important points are to:
Bring as wide a choice of foods as possible
Select foods with as a high a calorie count as possible (especially carbohydrate)
Try to flavour foods with herbs/spices/curries to improve taste
Bring high calorie supplements to add to drinks or take alone
Try all supplements before leaving home to ensure you will tolerate
them while on expedition

Refueling for peak performance on Everest
Nutrition will play a critical role in our attempt to summit Everest.
To have enough energy you need to consume enough energy. Getting adequate and quality fuel (food) is one of the keys to peak performance. If we fail to achieve this, our physical performance will be diminished,
we will also feel weak and tired and so increases the odds for us to make poor decisions, and this, as you can imagine could means the difference between achieving our goal and survival.

The reality on the mountain
Extreme weight loss is fact on Everest. This occurs initially because even at rest on the mountain your basal metabolic rate increases by 10%. (This means your body it burning more fuel (food) just to survive)
Other factors than contribute to weight loss at altitude is reduced food (fuel) intake due to altitude sickness, unpalatable food, most foods taste bland, as the altitude seems to effect your taste buds and so in order to maintain your energy levels you need to bring yourself to eat or else
your going to lose valuable pounds.

Naturally the increased physical activity over the period of the expedition will place demands on the body. This is true whether you're a world
class athlete or a week-end warrior, when you train regularly you need
to consider whether your body is getting the nutrition it needs to support the demands your are placing on it.

So for us on the mountain it is important to have regular intake of high quality nutrients to minimise the risks associated with weight loss.
It is worth remembering that, in every day life, a poor diet will diminish your physical performance and also increase your odds of developing some type of illness (colds, flu etc )

How to get that extra edge
Imagine spending months organising every minute detail that is vital to a successful expedition and then finding yourself within reaching distance of your goal, a couple of hundred meters from the highest point in the world. Months of hard training and personal sacrifices have been endured to finally bring you to here, only to find that you have run out of energy. Its decision time, another 45 minutes of effort, on Everest that relates to another 540 steps, and youíll be standing on top of the highest point in the world, a lifetimes dream realised, but your running on empty.

What do you do?

I know as you read this your saying to yourself 'I'd go on' but in reality choosing this option is fatal. The brave decision is to focus on getting home safely.

The extra edge you need to overcome the above predicament will be found in the nutrients you feed your body every day of your life. Choosing to fuel your body with good food is the secret. Plant foods like fruits and vegetables should be the foundation of your diet. Thatís not because animals foods are bad for you- it's because plant foods are so good for you. If you eat at least the minimum number of recommended servings per day, you'll be on the road to peak performance and better health, now and for the rest of your life.

The truth about the food you eat
Here is why you won't get much speed or stamina if your diet relies on protein or fat.

The energy requirements of muscles used in intense activity (climbing Everest in our case) are met largely by oxidisation of carbohydrate
- with only 5% from the breakdown of protein. That's why you can't rely on a high protein diet.

Fat is a good fuel for walking, but not anything faster. That's why you can't rely on a chocolate bar for a marathon.

The higher the intensity of exercise, the more you rely on carbohydrate. When you reach 75% of your oxygen uptake carbohydrates replaces fat as the major fuel.

If you don't have enough carbohydrates in your system, you drastically reduce your speed, stamina and recovery time.

So for us to avoid been within reach of our goal and not to be able to continue because of fatigue it is essential to not only feed our bodies good quality foods (fuel) but 60 to 70 % of the calories should come from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates fuel your muscles and power you through your workout. The best sources are complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, whole wheat bread, pasta, and fruits and vegetables. Yes biscuits, soda and sugar are carbohydrates and while they provide you with calories, they lack the vitamins, minerals, and fibre that are abundant in complex carbohydrates and crucial for good health. These simple sugars alone will not help for endurance but they can assist us when we high on the mountain and in need of a 'quick hit'. But it is the complex carbohydrate that will deliver the consistency of energy required over the duration.

How Good Food Helps Build a Stronger Body
"Unlike drugs, nutrients do not have any rapid effects. No Quick fix. The business of nutrition is to build a better body which has to wait on nature to turn over body cells. A blood cell lasts 60/120 days. In 3 - 4 months your whole blood supply is completely replaced. In 6 months almost all the proteins in your body die and are replaced, even the DNA of your genes. In a year, all your bones are replaced, constructed entirely out of the nutrients you eat. When you start feeding it better, you have to wait on your body to grow new, improved cells. The shortest nutritional program we will give any athlete is 6 months"
Dr Michael Colgan - Optimum Sports Nutrition

Once you have read the above it becomes clear that not only what you eat during your chosen event is of importance. Optimum nutrition is important for everyone, and especially for athletes and active individuals. The body is subjected to higher levels of activity and performance, which increases the need for a more perfect balance and plentiful supply of nutrients. Where should this added nutrition come from - foods or a nutritional supplement?

Because of the limited food choices available to us and the vital need
to achieve optimal nutrition we choose to 'bridge the gap' by using supplementation. First you must understand that pills can never be a substitute for food, but we believe after much research that we have sourced the next best thing.

Recently, a new nutritional technology has made it possible to get a 'whole food concentrate' in a capsule. The concept is to take whole foods, in this case 17 of the most nutritional fruits and vegetables, juice them and then reduce them to a powder through a highly effective process of dehydration. This is then combined with more vitamins and minerals from natural sources and put in capsule form. Thus, you have the nutrient essence of the food, and in a convenient form. Since every food has not only vitamins and minerals, but enzymes, fibers, and thousands of recently discovered 'phytochemicals'- this concept is dramatically superior to taking isolated vitamins and minerals.
We have found Juice Plus+ to be the most thoroughly tested nutritional supplement on the market place today. It has been analyzed to determine what's in it, where it goes in the body, and what it does when it gets there.

It is because of this we have chosen Juice Plus+ for the Irish Everest 2004 Expedition.

We will be using both the Juice Plus+ capsules and the powered version called Juice Plus+ Complete.

The capsules will deliver the essence of 17 of the most Nutritional Fruits and Vegetables. We see it as a natural, simple and convenient way of supplementing the daily nutrition we need from fresh fruits and vegetables.

Juice Plus+ Complete gives us a proper content of vegetable proteins, simple and complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals fibre and enzymes as well as the 17 different fruits and vegetables juice powders contained in the capsules.

For further information on Juice Plus+ please contact Padraig at 087-6595258 or e-mail juicefit@eircom.net