Supplements, health foods and exercise strategies for cruisers

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

supermarket at Herculanium.

Herculanium?? Thats in The Brox, isnt it?


Greg: I don't think 'exercise' means real work. Its where you wear tight pink leotards and use Spray On Sweat.

Scrubbing the deck.... Torture...

[barnakiel]

We are health freaks here and so we do not do any supplements.

However.

If your passage lasts very long (e.g. non stop rtw attempts) you may need vitamin and mineral supplements. Talk to a sports doctor on this.

If you are old or pregnant, you may need some supplements. Talk to your doctor on this.

Our take is:

- we try to take as much green stuff and as varied foods as we can for every long passage (we make only long paddages actually, or none),

- docked at our home base, we exercise at least three times a week for at least one hour, nothing great, plain 6 mile run, swimming, a half-marathon now and then (not in competition),

- we do NOT use cars, lifts nor other such; we walk, run or bike to everywhere (unless the distance is well over 6 miles),

- anchored in tropical locations, we walk / trek, explore and free dive, we aim at a minimum of 4 hours of fast walk at least 3 times a week, we aim at at least one 15+ miles a trek every week, we swim and free dive when trekking is not an option (e.g. anchored off),

I am ashamed to report we do nothing on passages. Yes we stretch and do sit ups and other such mind appeasers but these are no substitute for actual exercise. Our boat is just too small and too wobbly to seriously exercise offshore, except on the quietest day.

So, to sum up, our take: a) plenty of exercise when docked / anchored, b) no supplements but just green / varied / unprocessed food, c) rhum, shrub creole or cognac. The last element is optional but since we do so much for our perishable bodies, we think it is OK to do something for our reportedly ethernal souls too!

Cheers,
b.

[MarkJ]

Anyone got thoughts on supplimenting watermaker water with minerals? I hear its too pure.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Anyone got thoughts on supplimenting watermaker water with minerals? I hear its too pure.

You heard wrong. Distilled water doesn't have minerals. Watermaker product water does... it's not the same as distilled water. Ours tested 185ppm this morning. But that doesn't even matter for the sake of argument, we get plenty of minerals via the food we eat.

But you will need to brush your teeth with a flouride toothpaste, otherwise you'll get cavities.

[zeehag]

markj, if you are concerned , then add a bottle of pedialyte or electrolyte , suero, to your daily beverage supply. is good stuff and comes in many flavors.

[dlymn]

Most cruisers spend 90% of their cruising time anchored or moored. Walking around, going to restaurants, shopping for food is the norm. Apart from Mythos addiction, we come away from cruising healthier and fitter.

[sparrowhawk1]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Anyone got thoughts on supplimenting watermaker water with minerals? I hear its too pure.

I don't remember which island but I remember reading about an island that got all its water from reverse osmosis and ran it through Coral "rocks" to add minerals and flavor.

[Sandibar]

After this summer's cruise of 7 weeks I also think extra exercise is not necessary for me. Fixing things on the boat and having to walk everywhere once docked kept me in good shape and I actually lost weight, despite the, hum, slightly increased beer and wine consumption.. Then again we mostly day sail. Maybe it would be different on a long passage?

[UNCIVILIZED]

Realistically, living aboard, your caloric intake will go up by an easy 50% just being at anchor, or tied alongside a boisterous dock. As the boat's always moving, for which you compensate, even in your sleep. So if you're eating even remotely healthily, you'll drop a bit of weight & add muscle at the same time. And underway, the excercise never stops, so...

And aside from the basics of walking, swimming, or cycling, you can do all kinds of body weight or progressive resistance excercises. Plus attending whatever you choose to on shore, whether you're at home or abroad. Sometimes the names may differ a bit, but there are only so many ways to "package" things.
And there are a lot of sailors who both do, & teach yoga for example. Some accupuncturists & massage therapists too. And the list goes on.
PS: Ditch or don't use power winches. Only the windlass.

If you're drinking RO water exclusively, you might want to add some extra minerals to your diet to compensate. Me, I'm a bit of a cooking throw back, in that I don't shop for more than 2-4 days at a time. So that everything on the boat/in the house is fresh. But for the extensive array of long term stores/staples, & the freezer. And cooking thusly tends to add both vitamins & flavor to everything. As well as getting to know where to find local produce, & assisting in meeting people. Plus, there are almost always bulletin boards at farmers markets. As well as folks selling things, demonstrating their arts. Be it raising fowl, or doing massage therapy demo's. It's fun!

You can also sprout, which is a great veggie source on boats. Ditto on doing a bit of seasteading (Google it). Run your juicer... Glean much of your meals from the sea, & I don't just mean fish or seafood.

It's Much healthier living than on land, unless you now live in an area with lots of small & or organic farms.


Edit: Honestly, there are a lot in of minerals in (clean) salt water, & various sea vegatables. Most more so than in land ones, as they've not been genetically bred over hundreds of years.

[roverhi]

I've always had the ability to add weight at the blink of an eye. Have had to watch how much I eat since I was a preteen. Was a few pounds overweight when we left on the cruise but lost it quickly. Probably in the best shape of my life while cruising French Polynesia, definitely the lightest. Didn't consciously make an effort to lose weight and keep it off, it just happened. A combination of exercise and eating off the land. Meals usually consisted of lobster, fish I speared or land animals that I helped the locals harvest. Vegetables weren't easy to come by but fruit, avocados, green papaya and coconut were abundant. Got plenty of exercise rowing the dink, diving for food, and hiking on land. AS I said, traditional vegetables that were common at home were hard to come by

We spent no time in marinas and were usually anchored out with no other boats around. Seldom ate out largely because there was no out to eat in at the time and areas we were cruising. Probably 3-4 hours a day in the water snorkeling/free diving and took regular hikes onshore.

Probably wouldn't hurt to take a multi vitamin but wouldn't worry about the healtfood/exercise regimen that the health gurus are peddling these days.

[Tom and Maje]

I have free weights on the boat, and I do Pilates. We walk a lot when we're in port. I paddle board and swim as well.

Maje

[AZUS]

For resistance training, take a look at TRX. (www.trxtraining.com). I use it at home, and will be using it on passages. Light-weight, takes little space, and is as hard as you want it to be.

[Kenomac]

We suppliment our diet with gelato as much as possible.

[SeeLevel]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

OK, I'll try again. Here's a picture of this evenings meal aboard the good ship lollipop. A one inch thick pork roast fried up in virgin olive oil, served up with mashed potatoes and shreaded raw carrots topped with oil and vinegar. Total cost per serving: Less than $1.00 USD here in Croatia/Montenegro.

As a registered nurse with a background in nutrition and as a competitive cyclist for fifteen years, I can tell you from first hand experience that nothing beats a balanced diet. There's no need to supplement a balanced diet...it's all included. Add in the expensive suppliments and you'll be literally flushing your money spent on those suppliments down the toilet.

Today's exercise was a walking adventure through the ancient walled old town of Dubrovnik, Croatia.

THAT is NOT a balanced diet, nice try though.

[Kreef]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

OK, I'll try again. Here's a picture of this evenings meal aboard the good ship lollipop. A one inch thick pork roast fried up in virgin olive oil, served up with mashed potatoes and shreaded raw carrots topped with oil and vinegar. Total cost per serving: Less than $1.00 USD here in Croatia/Montenegro.

As a registered nurse with a background in nutrition and as a competitive cyclist for fifteen years, I can tell you from first hand experience that nothing beats a balanced diet. There's no need to supplement a balanced diet...it's all included. Add in the expensive suppliments and you'll be literally flushing your money spent on those suppliments down the toilet.

Today's exercise was a walking adventure through the ancient walled old town of Dubrovnik, Croatia.

IC U R using olive oil for frying!!That's a definite NO NO NO just google it and see what I am talking about.Far Far better to use a mixture of 2/3 coconut oil and 1/3 organic butter as a frying oil as it does not become toxic on heating and things you fry will not stick to the pan .Make sure your pan is not one coated with black non stick Teflon I think it is called as this is carcinogenic .
As to the question of a healthy diet at sea make up as needed for a trip one liter sealable glass jars of fermented vegetables which will give you a very good gut flora.Do read up on the importance of having a healthy gut some amazing new discoveries of how important it is in having an all round healthy body which may and should in fact improve your overall health which sounds like it needs improving.All details of preparation of fermented vegetables is to be found online of course.Oh and do take a daily dose of KRILL OIL which has been found to be the best of all anti oxidants.A multi vitamin is also not a bad idea.
Dr Mercola has some amazing advice on staying fit and eating right .You can get a daily health newsletter from him for free by going online and registering for it.
All the best.