Most people likely have too much fat (good or bad) in their diet. And calories. There are exceptions.
Many moons ago I discovered eating freeze dried crud on a backpack hunt turned my legs to water after a couple days. I took to carrying a couple cubes of butter and adding a couple tablespoons to each sawdust meal. Flavor and fat content. Win -win.
On another occasion, I was working USFS trail crew, 10 on - 4 off.- Hard manual labor. We were eating OK, but come the 4 day weekend, Jim and I went moose hunting (we had been clearing trail after hours, for a week in addition to our 8 hour trail work day) 5 miles up this side valley.
Jim shot a moose first day, and on our second day, headed 10 miles out on foot to get horses (part of the deal for clearing the guide's trail) while I continued hunting. By noon I had rubber legs. which I then directed to the gut pile where I cut out a fist sized chunk of stomach fat, took it back to camp, broiled and ate it.
End of rubber legs.
The three major rules of extended heavy-duty backpacking are :
1. Take care of your feet
2. Sleep warm, (preferably dry also, but at least warm!)
3. Get enough calories. Usually not a problem for couch potatoe-ing.....
noun into verb!
Assuming no injury, everything else on a 10 day to 2 week backpack trip is manageable, no matter how miserable it gets. Or get smart and buy, borrow, or steal horses....
I have to admit tho, I tend to use butter more than olive oil when cooking, except when frying burrger from game animals. In that case, I mix olive oil into the meat, then fry it in butter.....
. Grilling I use olive oil only, if anything.
