# Cruising Diet Experiment - or, How to Accidentally Starve



## wind_magic (Jun 6, 2006)

I had the best of intentions ...

Stop eating fast food and other convenience foods and start eating the things I expected to eat on the boat while cruising. Canned corn, beef ravioli, dried lentils, rice, bake my own bread, make soups, etc. And it started of well enough, I was cooking, eating what I thought was a good diet, and I was even thinking how easy the switch had been and how much I was going to enjoy feeding myself like this.

But then things went terribly wrong .... 

After about two weeks I got a little tired and was feeling a bit blue. Then I didn't feel as much like cooking and my appetite wasn't very strong. None of the convenient canned food really inspired me and I didn't feel much like baking. Instead of things leveling out I eventually lost my appetite altogether, and then it all got really weird. I started feeling frustrated, then things kind of spiraled out of control and I started getting depressed and I wasn't very objective or clear minded. The unusual thing is that I didn't even associate any of it with the way I was eating, I just thought I had gotten sad for no reason at all. Anyway, at some point I started shaking (literally) and that's when I figured out it was because I wasn't eating enough and abandoned my little experiment ...

I went out and loaded up on fast food and bottled juice and things for a few days and returned to normal - happy, hungry, full of energy, and back to the old me.

I guess switching over to a full time cruising diet is going to be a little more work than I thought it was going to be. I really am going to have to bake bread on a regular basis, I really am going to have to cook a few meals a day, etc, I can't just eat a few cans of corn and expect to stay strong and sharp. Who knew that you had to eat so much rice to feel okay!! 

I think eating well while cruising is going to be a fair amount of work ...


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Not really... it really depends on setting up the right type of meals. If you have the right meals... you can have fairly good, nutritious meals that are fairly simple to prepare and don't take that much time. I'd recommend you look at some of the pressure cooker-based one-pot recipes... many are quite good and really simple in terms of both prep and actual cooking.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

*I have a simple rule for racing*

I have a simple rule for racing, no peanut butter sandwiches and I must sleep in my own bed, at home.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Try throwing in some boost or ensure and vitamins


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

I didn't notice any fruit in there. There's nothing wrong with having some junk food. You're out there to enjoy yourself, not torture yourself.


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## Sapperwhite (Oct 21, 2006)

Sounds like a college student undergoing rigorous medical testing for beer money, but without the beer money 

I'm a big supporter of MREs. Lots of calories and nutrition in a single meal, easy to make and some actually taste good. The only drawback with them is the high volume of plastic trash. You can take snack food with you too you know, tasty cakes, boxes of little debbies, cookies, all those things have a decent shelf life and are loaded with sugar (stops the shakes from low blood sugar). Unless you plan on being a minimalist, pack some goodies. Junk food can be purchased almost anywhere in the world, even if it is just little hard candies. 

Someone out there thinks you can eat been sprouts for 1000 days, and you might be able to, but I wouldn't recommend it.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Try looking at how to store fruit and veggies , dry em , jar em and such
we allways had a tripple tier fruit basket hanging in our galley . You may want to look at macrobiotic diets and high energy food and their values. 

After some research turns out that apricots are super high energy source so we kept a bag of dryed on hand for our midnight watch junk style munchies, rather than hackin away at a bag of tater chips , that does nothing but put you to sleep . 

A little investigation into what works and what doesnt may take up some time but thats half the fun . Just bear in mind that the reason Limeys are called so, is because of their discoveries of disease prevention during the golden era of sail . IE chomping into a lime or any type of citrus for that matter prevented scurvy . 

Yarrr scurvey dawg .


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## jerryrlitton (Oct 14, 2002)

Canned food is notorious for having all the vitamins and minerals leached out of the food. No wonder you felt like crap. Stock up on the dried things and expect to cook now and then.

Jerry


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## xort (Aug 4, 2006)

Did you any meat? How about fish? You are planning on catching some, yes?

Nuts make good snacks.

I didn't catch whether this was a plan for a slow cruise across an ocean or island hopping. How long do you plan on being at sea?


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## sailaway21 (Sep 4, 2006)

Windy,
Whew! After that second paragraph you had me worried-I thought perhaps you'd fallen in love. (g) You'll have to admit the similarity of symptoms.

One other thing on diet. You have to adjust yourself to the lag time of preperation. Fast food means you eat when you're hungry. Preped food means you eat 1/2-3/4 hour later and are even hungrier-or seem so. Also, if you are in the habit of eating at odd times for your meals it can create some of the same symptoms and worse. Your body does best when each meal happens at the regularly scheduled time. On ships, mealtime is inviolate and if the crew doesn't get fed as scheduled all kinds of quirks in personality start to emerge-miles from any escaping them I might add.

I'll also second the veggies recommendation. Dried fruit is readily available along with decent munchies at your backpacking outfitters. "some parts are actually edible" (I've just been waiting to work that into a thread for awhile-probably nobody remembers the commercial)


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Just a quickie on the subject of things wot be dried !!

Does the word 'constipation' mean anything to you ? If you are going to pig out on dried food and nuts you need to drink a lot of water or things could get tricky at the non chewing end of the system. 

Other than that, word has is that McDonalds burgers contain so much in the way of preservatives that they never go off. Ergo, stock up on the horrid things and all will be swill, whoops spellcheck, well. 


Oh yes - prunes.


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## Freesail99 (Feb 13, 2006)

> Does the word 'constipation' mean anything to you ?


Yes, fewer marine head problems, lol


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

Two words: pressure cooker.

I favour the Magefusa line. Stews, soups, bread, whatever. Takes a little practice, but the BTUs in the propane go into the pot and don't leave (well, not as much).

Check it out. Also, lash a tray of sprouts underneath a foredeck hatch. You'd be surprised how quickly you can get a couple of pounds of the freshest vegetables you'll ever eat short of camping out in a cornfield in late August.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

tdw said:


> Just a quickie on the subject of things wot be dried !!
> 
> Does the word 'constipation' mean anything to you ? If you are going to pig out on dried food and nuts you need to drink a lot of water or things could get tricky at the non chewing end of the system.


Do you recall the "best coffee maker for liveaboard cruisers" thread, Mr. W. Bat?

The way I make java, I have absolutely no concept of what "constipation" could possibly mean. A mere 15 minutes after my first mug of my "sergeant major's brew", it's just me and the business section of the newspaper vs. the elements in the throne room.

Nothing in my experience leads me to believe life aboard would differ. God, even the _smell _of coffee sets me off...if it's my coffee!


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Yeah, just up until you actually have to use it...then you're going to have problems a plenty... 


Freesail99 said:


> Yes, fewer marine head problems, lol


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

Try storing all your fresh stuff in cool, dark places. We sailed from San Diego with a lot of fresh veggies and fruit stored in lockers that were cool and dark and had fresh salads with our lunch weeks after last seeing land. Refrigerating fruit and veggies is not necessrily the best solution because once cooled, they have to be consumed at once or they go off.

And we agree with routine. We always prepared meals at the same time daily and snacked on health bars and stuff between meals. Also, a lot of hermetically packed fruit juice, lasts forever.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Valiente said:


> Do you recall the "best coffee maker for liveaboard cruisers" thread, Mr. W. Bat?
> 
> The way I make java, I have absolutely no concept of what "constipation" could possibly mean. A mere 15 minutes after my first mug of my "sergeant major's brew", it's just me and the business section of the newspaper vs. the elements in the throne room.
> 
> Nothing in my experience leads me to believe life aboard would differ. God, even the _smell _of coffee sets me off...if it's my coffee!


Agreed !! I find it amazing how a good solid espresso with a touch of milk (I must admit) and a cryptic crossword really does concentrate the mind and body. Mind you, its not a terribly good idea to fling back that coffee and then realise you have to row to shore , quickly. 

Omatako, you speak a lot of sense. Freshness and storage are the essential ingredients. While our fridge is quite small we also have a well insulated icebox that can keep eggs, salad stuff, fruit and the more sensitive vegetables fresh for an amazing amount of time. The difficulty can be finding the produce that hasn't already been chilled or even worse , frozen.

We find that citrus works best hung in one of those hammock type nets as do potatoes and onions. We also like those health bar thingy's as they combine the dried fruit and nuts with a bit of muesli. (Good lord, next thing you know we'll have a thread on bowel movements. Enough he cried.  )

On the food topic, we also carry a selection of asian (chinese or japanese usually) soups, both noodle and non. One of my favs is Japanese Miso soup. You can buy it in either a block or in sachets that last forever. The sachets are good as they include some seaweed and tofu. It's warming, good for you and no trouble to prepare. I prefer the light but you can get it in different ways, the darker the heavier.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Valiente said:


> Two words: pressure cooker.
> 
> I favour the Magefusa line. Stews, soups, bread, whatever. Takes a little practice, but the BTUs in the propane go into the pot and don't leave (well, not as much).
> 
> Check it out. Also, lash a tray of sprouts underneath a foredeck hatch. You'd be surprised how quickly you can get a couple of pounds of the freshest vegetables you'll ever eat short of camping out in a cornfield in late August.


Oh my, I do like the look of that Magefus gear. Tasty !! Nice looking coffee makers as well.

On the subject of sprouts the snow pea ones are the best I reckon but I'm no great fan.


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## Robby Barlow (Apr 23, 2006)

Hey Wind, I quite agree with U that changing from fast to junk food is not the solution.  

You should definitely try to put some fresh produce into your diet plan. Veg, fish, salads and fruit should be easily available everywhere, and if properly stored should last you for 2-3 weeks without a problem. 

As preparation goes, the easiest & quickest way for starters, is by using a Wok. Chop it up throw it in move around and within 10min. you got a meal on the plate. 

Save the cans for foul weather emergencies.

U should be able to overcome the syndromes of abstinence within a reasonable time period.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Simple problem, the way I see it. You missed the fifth food group. I didn't see any mention of rum, beer, scotch, vodka, port, gin, bourbon, wine, tequila, schnapps, grog, saki, cider, mead or whisky. What the heck were you thinking? You'd start out on a cruise with no alcohol on board?


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## jerryrlitton (Oct 14, 2002)

AS far as coffee goes get a hand crank grinder for very course grind and a metal French press. It will make even cheap coffee taste ok and it will last forever....and no filters.

Jerry


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

jerryrlitton said:


> AS far as coffee goes get a hand crank grinder for very course grind and a metal French press. It will make even cheap coffee taste ok and it will last forever....and no filters.
> 
> Jerry


Jerry there is a divide here far wider than less important issues such as gun control, abortion and the Iraq war.

You see there are the espresso fanciers and then there is everybody else. Espresso fanciers like their coffee preferably out of an espresso machine , short, perhaps a touch of milk but much much stronger than you can ever get with a plunger. It would be nice if they could do it but alas they can't. Plungers make acceptable French coffee. Now the French, god bless their cotton socks, make great wine, cheese and pastries but lets be fair their coffee is about as good as their border defences.

Given that the world's only surviving 12v espresso machine was unceremoniously donated to one D Jones Esq by some twit of a Porthole (Hi Alex, love your work ) the rest of us are reduced to those screw apart coffee makers that make coffee that is good, better than all but a real espresso machine, but not the best. And so the search continues for a really truley fabulous 12v espresso machine. Don't hold your breath.

Mind you it is possible that some of these coffee freaks are anal retentive arseholes who insist on making tea in a pot and like to drive a manual gearbox motor. There's no pleasing some wombats, whoops , other people , is there ?


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## SimonV (Jul 6, 2006)

Good food comes in CANS, FREEZE DRIED PACKETS, and JARS. Every food group can be hunted and collected this way even flat breads come sealed in plastic with an expiration dates 12 mths away.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

SimonV said:


> Good food comes in CANS, FREEZE DRIED PACKETS, and JARS. Every food group can be hunted and collected this way even flat breads come sealed in plastic with an expiration dates 12 mths away.


Good for you Simon. We'll track those pesky widdle buggers down and shoot 'em where they stand.   Shhh, Simon and Wombat are hunting wild baked beans. 

or maybe


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## jerryrlitton (Oct 14, 2002)

tdw said:


> Jerry there is a divide here far wider than less important issues such as gun control, abortion and the Iraq war.
> 
> You see there are the espresso fanciers and then there is everybody else. Espresso fanciers like their coffee preferably out of an espresso machine , short, perhaps a touch of milk but much much stronger than you can ever get with a plunger. It would be nice if they could do it but alas they can't. Plungers make acceptable French coffee. Now the French, god bless their cotton socks, make great wine, cheese and pastries but lets be fair their coffee is about as good as their border defences.
> 
> ...


It may not be French. The 1st time I actually had anything close was in Kuwait at a Turkish restaurant. They called it a Turkish press there and they have this great proverb; "Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love".

Jerry


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## labatt (Jul 31, 2006)

Going to a nutritionist is cheap. Go to your local YMCA and ask for a reference to a nutrionist - they usually have one on staff. They will examine your current diet and your daily activities and make recommendations on caloric, fat, vitamin and other intakes to maintain your health and lifestyle. My wife saw one and it was pretty impressive as to what they accomplished.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

jerryrlitton said:


> It may not be French. The 1st time I actually had anything close was in Kuwait at a Turkish restaurant. They called it a Turkish press there and they have this great proverb; "Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love".
> 
> Jerry


I was figuring you where talking about a plunger style coffee maker such as Bodium make. Glass beaker with push down insert is the most common but you can get them in all metal.

The only middle eastern version I've seen was more of a dripolater. It was a two piece thing but not the type where the water is forced up through the coffee into the top section,. This thing you filled the bottom with water, coffee in the middle, top empty. When the water boils you turn the whole thing over and the water drips through the coffee.

For me the Italians perfected the art of coffee making. Spanish got close but no cigar, French lacks grunt, Greek Turkish Lebonese take it from the sublime to the chewable.


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## jerryrlitton (Oct 14, 2002)

Come to think about it, that was what they were using. The dripolater. However it was very good coffee. I use the metal version of the pres which is also insulated. But you need to use a coarse grind.

Jerry


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## wind_magic (Jun 6, 2006)

Thank you all for the incredibly helpful feedback. There were too many good posts in this thread to respond to each one of them individually, I really appreciate all of the responses.



AntonR said:


> Just a thought...How much salt do you use in your cooking?


Good point. I wonder if this could be it. No, I never use salt when I cook, don't even have any salt in the house in fact, I thought they said it is bad for you ?  I like the idea of doing a salt test to see if it tastes good, that is interesting. I bet this really could have something to do with it.


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## xort (Aug 4, 2006)

Fine table salt will clog from moisture. We have a sea salt grinder that works pretty nicely. I believe sea salt is better for you.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Mournful cry !!!

Best advice I can give anyone is whenever you sell a boat strip it of evrything that's not nailed down. I had a salt grinder that in 20 odd years never clogged and I left the bloody thing on the PB when I sold her. Been through five since, cannot find one that works properly on land let alone on board.

BTW for those of you who can't be bothered with grinding , stick some rice in your salt shaker, For whatever reason the rice stops the salt from clogging up with moisture. No it doesn't work in a grinder. Oh yes, I know someone who tried. 

ps - Wind_Magic - Salt is important. You cannot live without it. Sure too much is bad for you but you do need a regular intake. Apart from which it makes vegetables in particular taste better. I'm not a medical person but I believe that cramping also results from low sodium levels.


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## wind_magic (Jun 6, 2006)

Thanks tdw, you are as wise as you are herbivorous and furry.


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## eryka (Mar 16, 2006)

Hey, Wind, if I interpreted your post correctly you went very suddenly from a primarily carniverous diet to one that derived a lot of its protein from beans and rice supplemented with meat? Your body requires different enzymes to digest meat v. vegetable protein; if you didn't have time to build those up might you have a bit of a protein deficiency?


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