Physician summits Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier in same month, overcoming GI distress & muscle cramps

Altitude places unique physiological stresses on the body that must be met with the appropriate nutrition and hydration strategies, not to mention those stresses are in addition to food weight and access limitations, bathroom availability limitations, and abnormal sleep patterns that are mainstays of climbing. After test hikes and climbs had revealed some nutrition-related challenges, E reached out to us for support. Blood flow and functional digestion in his gut improved through refining and enhancing hydration strategies, meal patterns, feeding frequency especially with multiple transportable carbohydrates and specific amino acids, and energy-dense foods with planned amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber. Muscle cramps resolved as well, due to a variety of strategies given that their etiology is fairly unique from person to person and dependent on many factors such as: water and electrolyte intake, muscle glycogen depletion, energy availability, poor recovery, low protein intake, overtraining, and misfiring of proprioceptive signals (from muscle spindle fibers and golgi tendon organs).