Nutrition: a constant battle

   While on the trail one of the biggest struggles is to carry the weight of the calories that will sustain us. More food = more weight. Carrying more weight = burning more calories = needing more food = carrying more weight = ~sigh~ you gather our predicament?
   Also the ratio of fat to carbs to protein is hard to nail down.
   Before I left for the trail I started eating meat again after almost a decade of vegetarianism. I was SURE that I would need so much more protein, and that meat would be the way to get it. So I bought a dehydrator. I became a regular at the old fashioned butchery, called The Chop Shop, that serves what I call 'healthy meat' (read: hormone free, antibiotic free, local <less than 100 miles>, and generally treated well while it was alive). And lots of beef jerky was made!
   It's delicious.
   But then I discovered a series of articles on thru-hiker.com by nutritionist Brenda L. Braaten PhD (she's got a name, so she must exist, right?). What I learned is that long distance hiking is not body building (high protein) and it's not distance running (high carbohydrate) it's long distance hiking. Turns out I need a 50/35/15 diet: 50% carbs, 35-40% FAT, and only 10-15% protein.
   Woah.
   Suddenly I'm walking through grocery stores and looking at nutrition labels in entirely new ways: I'm paying attention to fat content! And not like most people! I'm trying to find the products highest in fat. Bread? Pssht! Give me those ritz crackers that pack a punch of 10g fat/serving. Tuna packed in water? what's wrong with you Chicken of the Sea? Give me tuna packed in OIL! I thought surely I'd be snacking on cream cheese, but was dissapointed to find it has LESS fat than standard cheddar. And most dissapointing of all: the cheapest high-fat foods??? Debbie cakes/ cinnamon buns/ nutty bars... etc. All the crap I'd normally avoid b/c it's killing me! (Though ice cream has always been the exception to my 'no foods that don't feed me' rule).
   All the good fats (fruits, nuts, healthy oils) are the most expensive :(
   One of the things I did right while planning this trip was to take advantage when Lara Bars were on sale (those things are only ~225 calories a piece, but are built of simple, healthy ingredients: mostly cashews and dates. Yum :). Sadly, it was always the same flavor on sale, so every care package comes with 10 or so bars that Lyss is tired of eating. Bummer for her. Yummer for me :)
   So, daily, the diet looks like this:

Breakfast: oats for me, pop-tarts for Lyss, who is sick of oats

Snack: Larabars &/or nuts and chocolate &/or beef jerky

Lunch: pepperoni slices and cheese for me, cheese and chocolate chips for Lyss

Snack: snickers and/or debbie cakes

Dinner: Knorr Sides and/or Ramen, which are gross, and gross for us, but lightweight and quick-to-cook (plus, Ramen is fried in oil :))

After-dinner snack: hot chocolate with olive oil for added fat.

When we go into towns, the fruits and veggies we crave are usually super expensive. So we just try to eat a lot of whatever we can get our hands on. Like the bowl of ice cream I just polished off while writing this :)

Ideas for ways to turn the same-ole, same-ole into delicious variety? Any tips/help would be appreciated!
Mom: I'll give you a call soon to let you know what you can send that would be a big help!