Oh man, day number 2 with eating nothing but survival rations has been tough. 1200 calories a day and expending around 2000 calories (perhaps a little more) performing normal everyday activities including working out and just being out and about is tough. Definitely not as easy as we expected it to be.

I’m hungry, no doubt about it. In the morning, the ration bar actually tasted okay. Not as good as it was yesterday as I think psychologically, eating bland food is having an impact on my mind. Throughout the day though, the rations really start to wear you down as your body starts to crave other things, especially as I’m being bombarded by food advertisers in all directions. Keep in mind, we didn’t really train or adjust ourselves for eating this food.

All we did was check in with our doctor before hand and switched over eating rations abruptly. I’ve personally never tried these types of rations before and neither has Sara.

By late evening, I’m dying for some real food and the lemony bars are starting to taste like chalk. Really pastey and not really something you’d want to eat, but just need to.

I also took a multi-vitamin this morning to keep my minerals up.

One thing I’ve noticed through the last two days is that these bars are best consumed a little bit at a time. One ration bar should take you about 15 minutes to eat. Eat it faster than that, and it’s like a rock sitting in your gut. Slowly and small bites are the best way.

The other thing is that these things are super sweet. I haven’t had anything besides these bars for almost 48 hours now and they’re super sugary right now. I checked the sugar content and it’s around 35 grams per bar. That’s pretty heavy duty sugar and balanced by only a 9grams of fiber and 5 grams of protein. That’s not a lot of much needed protein.

After eating a bar though and downing some water, I definitely feel the sugar rush. The instant rush really gets me focused but there’s a definite crash a short hour or so later. My guess is that with more protein and fiber, my body might actually process the bars slower and release energy in a smoother fashion rather than a quick energy rush.

I’ve watched survival shows before and usually Les Stroud (my favorite Survivorman) uses these bars or something similar to setup a trap to catch game or fish with it and now I see why. Energy wise, you’re not going to get a lot of out this small bar and being mostly sugar and starch, it’s tastey on an empty stomach but hasn’t really provided the food energy boost I personally need.

Right now, I’m feeling very cold in the evenings. Being concerned I consulted my doctor on if I was getting sick or something. He tells me it is a direct result of expending too many calories and not getting enough in.

Interesting note though is that I have lost about 3 pounds in 48 hours, which is probably mostly water weight from just drinking water and eating 3 ration bars a day.

One more day to go with this stuff and I can’t wait to get day #3 over with.

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