no added sugar

Finally we are sweet enough??
Well actually no. And sorry to say and we are not going to get any sweeter on this trip.
For us on any normal hiking trip a good part of our diet would be mars bars, moro bars and my favorite chickito bars along with plenty of snickers and if we could find them, some good old peanut slabs. It had been a good way to have a guilt free stuffing of junk that could be walked off on the next hill.
We have done plenty of 8 to 10 day hiking trips where we have slogged over tough terrain, up and down hills all day carrying big packs. We would have our normal hiking diet of snack food and dehydrated meals and wonder why all the hard work didn't result in a few less pounds on the bathroom scales when we got home.
We have always convinced ourselves that the best food for hiking was the one with the most 'energy' to keep us going. It did work mostly, and a snickers bar sure did provide enough energy to warm you up on a cold rainy day.
This trip we thought we would take a different approach! No added sugar...
In the place of chocolate we are eating nuts and dry fruit. Where we would have had sweet biscuits we are eating plain ones.

What a difference it has made!

The first thing we noticed was how much less money we had in our pockets. This made us feel so much lighter, until we put on our packs and we noticed how much heavier they were. In towns we have been doing a lot more sightseeing as we walk from shop to shop trying to find the food we need to keep up this diet up... 😀 haha. Actual its been a really good thing (apart from the few things I have mentioned above.)
We have found we have LOTS more energy and we have lost LOTS more weight and we have gained LOTS of muscle mass and strength all thanks to eating 'slow burn' energy food.
At this stage, we have not weighed in since leaving New Zealand but we feel and look different.

​We will weigh in at the end of this trip, 1000kms of walking and let you know if it has been worth all the extra effort.

Our snack food for 7 days