My experience with Lift Off has been very positive. I use the product with about two hours left in my day on the trail. My reasoning for this is the increased absorption value that I will get from the vitamin load (100% of C, 200% Thiamin, 100% Riboflavin, 100% Niacin, 300% Vitamin B 6, 200% Vitamin B 12, 100% Biotin, 200% Pantothenic Acid,
215 mg Sodium (205 mg from Sodium Bicarbonate) as my body is stressed from the high mileage and sometimes over 1000 ft a mile of elevation gain I experience here in the Appalachians. It is not that I think I need more vitamins, but the fact that the stress from the haul always leaves me more susceptible to the effects of fatigue. In my opinion, this is the reason most injuries happen later in the hike with many being directly attributed to fatigue. So I want to raise my chances of absorption of the nutrients I will desperately need at this time during my hike. The term for this kind of nutrition is micro nutrition and needs much more study, but B complex vitamins are B complex vitamins. Plus, all of these are water soluble, so there is no chance of toxic buildup The caffeine does give me a mental boost and a burst of energy to lessen the chances, at least in my opinion, of having a mentally and physically fatigued mishap. In researching the cardiovascular effects of caffeine on athletes, either professional or recreational, I find opinions, very credible sources, on both sides of the spectrum. It is well known that caffeine does affect the circulatory system as well as the central nervous system, but I can find no conclusive, universally accepted opinions that caffeine has any detrimental effects on Endurance Athletes. There are even some opinions that caffeine, in the doses that Lift-Off or a cup of coffee provide may be beneficial to people who have already developed caffeine tolerance.
If it was universally accepted that caffeine was a danger during physical exertion, I believe that all substances that contain caffeine would be labeled as such. I would also think that anyone who had developed the opinion from whatever sources they use that caffeine was a threat would be in the coffee threads of this forum warning the morning coffee drinkers of the peril their morning cup of joe was putting them in.

As far as chocolates for energy I will only eat dark chocolate broken into small bites mixed with unsalted almonds and lightly salted peanuts. I would think that all who are serious hikers know the benefits of GORP. However, the Hershey Bar that is Milk Chocolate has no place in my Trail Mix. I know what contains trans fats (most energy bars) and what contains saturated fats (5 grams in the Hershey) along with what refined, processed, bleached sugar is (22 - 1 gram packets in a Hershey) as opposed to pure cane sugar or honey. I also like to make a cookie called birdseed that contains oatmeal, honey and dark chocolate. Just melt the chocolate and mix in the oats and honey. Place on wax paper and let stand at room temperature until the chocolate re-hardens. MMM-MMM.
I also love Almond butter and sweet potato butter on 7-grain bread. I cut the sandwich into 1 inch squares, wrap in individual foil packets for day hikes.

It may have been in poor taste for me to post the Lift Off for sale in this forum. But it was not to “shamelessly self promote” as has been so often noted in this thread. My intent was to give free shipping to anyone who wanted to sample the product. That is all.
I am deeply interested in real nutrition on the trail. As I said before, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we would all be happy…

Sarah,
Would you please show me where I said nuts were not healthy. I never said that Lift Off should be taken as a substitute for food. That would be foolish. If you look at my second reply, the vitamins, of which there are many,in Lift Off increases the absorption of the good stuff found in those unsalted nuts that you so wisely eat.That is how the drink is considered to give you sustained power, by nourishing your cells with vitamins c and all of the b complexes. If you are sensitive to caffeine please do not take anything with caffeine. But Lift Off contains less caffeine than most one cup coffees. Please don't let what Summit spins because of his resentment toward Herbalife. I am not trying to make a ton of money off of this product. I just shared what I thought was sound science coming from the UCLA School of Human Nutrition. Forgive??

It was more directed at the comment that nuts were not good food...I do understand your point though in that a lot of ultralighters rely on nuts for food on long hikes-but they are a good source of, nearly a perfect food.
As for me...well, I don't drink caffiene for the most part anymore. And for me, 215 mg of sodium is quite a bit :-( (I belive that was how much I saw in the post up 2). I consume less than 1500 mg of sodium a day. So you can see...well, that would limit how much I could eat ;-) That and hearing my heart jackhammer is not fun. Heck, I cannot even take cold medicine, as it does the same thing as ANY stimulant-which is what the Herbalife is.
Nothing against you, just pointing out out the dangers, that is all. A normal healthy person usually isn't bothered by stimulants, but add in dehydration and over exertion and you can have a bad mix :-(

I rely heavily on nuts on the trail. You are correct. They are a near perfect food, especially unsalted. I have concerns with the sodium in salted, but after a day here in the south on the trail, I can sweat most of the sodium I need out. So sodium is not necessarily a bad thing in some cases.Lightly salted nuts are a good thing in our summer heat and humidity.
I have read some of your posts in other threads. Very informed. Thanks for the reply. As Roy would say, Happy Trails to you...

Sarah, I'm also nuts about nuts. I'm not vegen or raw, but when exercising, I stay away from caffiene and sugar and go for a good mix of protien and carbs like a small handfull of almonds and an apple about a half hour prior to exertion.

Hi All,

Runner's World has said that caffiene boosts performance in distance running events. It improves the ability to metabolize body fat for energy and raises pain tolerance.

Caffiene has definitely been shown to increase aerobic performance, however the effects aren't huge. The benefits have to be wieghed agaist the potential detrimental effects (ie diuresis which could predispose to dehydration). If you are running a competative 10k it might be worth using, but for backpacking I doubt you will see a big effect. However, if it makes you feel better its not dangerous. See below references.

Multiple effects of caffeine on simulated high-intensity team-sport performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2005 Nov;37(11):1998-2005
INTRODUCTION: Caffeine enhances performance of single bouts of endurance exercise, but its effects on repeated bouts typical of those in high-intensity team sports are unclear. PURPOSE: To investigate effects of caffeine in a performance test simulating physical and skill demands of a rugby union game. METHODS: The study was a double-blind, randomized, crossover design in which nine competitive male rugby players ingested either caffeine (6 mg.kg(-1) body mass) or placebo (dextrose) 70 min before performing a rugby test. Each test consisted of seven circuits in each of two 40-min halves with a 10-min half-time rest. Each circuit included stations for measurement of sprint time (two straight-line and three agility sprints), power generation in two consecutive drives, and accuracy for passing balls rapidly. Interstitial fluid was sampled transdermally by electrosonophoresis before ingestion of caffeine or placebo and then before testing, at half-time, and immediately after testing; samples were assayed chromatographically for caffeine and epinephrine concentrations. RESULTS: The effects of caffeine on mean performance (+/-90% confidence limits) over all 14 circuits were: sprint speeds, 0.5% (+/-1.7%) through 2.9% (+/-1.3%); first-drive power, 5.0% (+/-2.5%); second-drive power, -1.2% (+/-6.8%); and passing accuracy, 9.6% (+/-6.1%). The enhancements were mediated partly through a reduction of fatigue that developed throughout the test and partly by enhanced performance for some measures from the first circuit. Caffeine produced a 51% (+/-11%) increase in mean epinephrine concentration; correlations between individual changes in epinephrine concentration and changes in performance were mostly unclear, but there were some strong positive correlations with sprint speeds and a strong negative correlation with passing accuracy. CONCLUSION: Caffeine is likely to produce substantial enhancement of several aspects of high-intensity team-sport performance.

J Sports Sci. 2006 Apr;24(4):433-9. Links
The effect of caffeine ingestion on 8 km run performance in a field setting.Bridge CA, Jones MA.
Sport and Exercise Research Group, Edge Hill College, Ormskirk, UK. bridge@edgehill.ac.uk

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of caffeine ingestion on 8 km run performance using an ecologically valid test protocol. A randomized double-blind crossover study was conducted involving eight male distance runners. The participants ran an 8 km race 1 h after ingesting a placebo capsule, a caffeine capsule (3 mg x kg(-1) body mass) or no supplement. Heart rate was recorded at 5 s intervals throughout the race. Blood lactate concentration and ratings of perceived exertion were recorded after exercise. A repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) identified a significant treatment effect for 8 km performance time (P < 0.05); caffeine resulted in a mean improvement of 23.8 s (95% confidence interval [CI] = 13.1 to 34.5 s) in 8 km performance time (1.2% improvement, 95% CI = 0.7 to 1.8%). In addition, a two-way (time x condition) repeated-measures ANOVA identified a significantly higher blood lactate concentration 3 min after exercise during the caffeine trial (P < 0.05). We conclude that ingestion of 3 mg . kg(-1) body mass of caffeine can improve absolute 8 km run performance in an ecologically valid race setting.

There are plenty more similar references but I've probably taken up more than enough room.

There was/or is a beverage called morning thunder, brewed like a tea, that will light you up like a booster rocket if your stomach could take it, just full of guarana. I worked with a fellow from S.America that told me it was matte and that it is drank with a ton of milk and sugar. Usually sold at a health food store. Much cheaper path to a stroke if that is what you be needing.

The "Power Bars" work well for me. The only down side is the weight, but they taste good and don't require any refrig.

MikeB

>don't require any refrig.


That's the downside: if they get "refrig"ed (i.e., anywhere below about +35F) they get hard as rocks. Of course, you can shatter them and slowly eat the pieces although they tend to stick your teeth together. I have found that the temperature range between being frozen solid and being very gooey is too narrow. YMMV.