What to do if you run low on food and water
The following are some responses from MDs and other 'experts' about what to do if you run low on food and water in the wilderness.
While Desert Survivors makes every effort to ensure that its members and trip participants are adequately prepared at all times, the nature of wilderness exploration is that the unexpected does happen, and being prepared also means knowing what to do in those situations.
Please note that many responses assume this is an unplanned, one-night bivouac, since that is the most realistic situation in which a prepared and competent wilderness traveler might find him/herself low on food and water.
Bobbie Foster (Wilderness First Aid instructor): A question came up in a
class and I sent out a request for input: below is the question and a few of the
answers I received - that might be of interest.
”You are unexpectedly having to do an overnight - not prepared ... so low on
food and water.... should you horde the food/water and spread it out for the
duration of night ... or should you go ahead and eat the last of your food and
water and wait it out... or any variation on this theme....?”
Answers:
I don't
think there is a 'right answer' to this one, depends on the situation. However,
you can easily live for a week+ without food, so that's not really the issue -
it's water.
I would personally try to save the water as much as possible. Since it's
impossible to say WHEN you might find your way out or be rescued, you should
make it last. Also should think about making or finding safe water - such as
collecting dew, making solar still, rainwater, etc. if you are really out there
somewhere.
If on the other hand, you are not lost, just benighted and it's unsafe to
continue in the dark and you are sure you can get out the next day, it doesn't
really matter either, but I would still like a little drink the next day.
Cheers,
Jack Ellis, MD
This topic has been covered in various seminars I've been to, and there are some
interesting twists. Some rules of thumb (as you know, there are no absolute
answers):
1. Water is much more important than food. People can go weeks without food,
only hours or days without water.
2. Some foods demand tremendous amounts of water from the body to metabolize --
more water than a person might have. These include any protein and anything
salty. Take home lesson: in your scenario, eat the carbs, don't eat protein or
salty stuff -- throw away the peanut butter!
3. People found in the desert dead, and people found in the desert near death
inevitably have in their possession a very interesting item: a water bottle
containing water. They were saving it for "when they really needed it" -- and
they saved it and saved it and saved it, until long past when they really needed
it. Desert natives know this maxim: the best place to store water is in your
body.
4. The follow-on to #3: if you need the food or water, use it. If you're shocky,
already dehydrated, been aerobic or highly active all day, or if you're prone to
low blood sugar -- in all of these cases, you increase your survival chances and
your comfort zone by meeting your needs immediately. To put it the other way, if
you're tired, dehydrated, and already feel cranky/hopeless/lost/etc., you're
already feeling the effects that could be remedied by water and food -- at that
point, I would use what I've got, simply to increase my ability to think
clearly.
5. And because it always gets asked: you should never ever ever ever drink your
urine if you don't have tons of fresh water. You can use your urine for cooling
(in a very hot climate, it can be used to promote evaporative cooling), but your
urine is *not* a source of viable fluids.
Hope this helps -- Mike Ciraolo, RN
My answer assumes that your expectation is to be rescued OR to have a way out in
the morning. We know that the body can survive more than a night w/o food or
water, so there is no wrong choice here. Any one personal decision is therefore
70% psychology, and 30% energy management.
Personally, I would split the water and food. I would plan 2 feedings, no
matter how little, to manage blood sugar when needed. I would nosh after sunset
so my body can keep warm, and in the morning so I can move or signal to be
rescued. I would sip water hourly when awake, and rig an overnight dew
collector. That's my take. I'd love to see other responses.
James Robinson, WEMT
I don't know any direct research on this, but I just have an opinion. If you
anticipate being short of water, you want your kidneys to go into a water
retaining mode, you want your body to be a bit dehydrated. I would tend to save
my water. Obviously, if you had 2 quarts, and drank it all at once, your body
would be overloaded, pee it out, and that water would be wasted. On the other
hand, food calories are going to be stored in your body as well as in your
backpack. Metabolizing food does produce some water. I would eat my food
first, stretching it out a bit considering when I might reasonably get to a
re-supply spot, and be more stingy with my water. Just an opinion.
Gus Benner, MD
My personal approach to this question would be somewhat different than my
generic recommendation due to the influence that diabetes would have on what I
did with the food (i.e. I'd hoard it because I might NEED it later on), so what
follows isn't necessarily what I would do. Also, any generic answer would be a
bit dependent on what the next day's plan was, i.e. is it a definite that you
can get more food and water the next day or is that also a possible problem?
Assuming that you're not THAT far from a known food/water source (or car access
or whatever) and that you know that you can get there the next day (just not
that night due to trail difficulty, darkness, or whatever), I wouldn't say to
hoard the water. I'm not saying drink all of it right that second, but I am
saying to drink when you're thirsty until you don't have any water left. My
understanding about dehydration (and I could be wrong, but I have heard this
question addressed by a few people over the years) is that your body handles it
better for shorter periods of time. If you're not thirsty (i.e. your body
doesn't need water), and you continue drinking it, you'll just pee it out, so
you don't want to do that. But if you're really thirsty (i.e. your body needs
water), I think you're better off to deal with that sooner rather than later.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that it's less stress for your body to be REALLY
thirsty for a short period of time than to be somewhat thirsty for a long period
of time. At least, that's my understanding. Like any other "what if" question in
first aid, I don't think there's one generic answer that would fit any
situation.
AS far as the food goes, I think it's very person dependent. There are people
whose normal metabolic rate is so high that they'd have to eat it that night and
hope for the best the next morning or else they'd be really hurting (i.e. their
bodies don't deal well with food shortages - people with high levels of thyroid
hormones). For people with a low basal metabolic rate, who can go long periods
with little food and not really be affected, it probably doesn't matter too much
if they eat it that night or the next morning but I'd probably say that I'd save
some for the morning in that case. It's also very dependent on what the food is,
I think. Some foods provide water for the body, while others require the body to
put a lot of water into the digestive tract to help mix up the food and not all
that water gets reabsorbed. Any food that makes you really thirsty is probably
not worth eating when you're short on food (unless you're also really short on
energy). But if I had to give a generic answer (and I really don't think there's
one that works well), I'd probably recommend eating some food that night and
some the next morning before hiking out. But that's just my gut feeling - some
to replenish what you used up that day and some to give your body some food to
hike out the next day. I don't have any good solid scientific evidence to
support that recommendation. But I really do think that this part of the
question would depend a lot on the individual person and on the type of
food.
Mary, WFR
Bobbie
I don't know if there is a definitive answer to this question. I'll give you my
thoughts...
If I thought rescue would come the next day, or that I could find my way out
soon, I might eat. Why be uncomfortable?
If I had enough water to drink until my stomach was full, then I might drink it
slowly. Over drinking may stimulate my kidneys to urinate.
It likely will not matter when you eat. If you need the calories you will burn
them for energy, if not they would be stored as fat or muscle glycogen.
Most importantly, I would eat and drink if this would help keep me warm, or
allow me to sleep. I think i would like to wake up rested and warm rather than
wasted and cold.
I hope this helps.
Tod, NOLS
You can live for about three days without water and about three weeks without
food (depending on your body fat, ambient temp, yada yada yada). Anybody in the
unplanned bivy mode isn't really going to be in much trouble either way, but for
comfort, I'd probably save some water and food for "breakfast" rather than head
out with a totally empty stomach in the morning.
If it's a longer term issue...a week or two until I'm missed...I'd find a water
source and sit tight until somebody came looking for me. I weigh about 190 and
I have about 15% body fat. That's about 25 pounds of fat to live off of
(yikes!). My wife tells me that there's 3500 calories per pound of fat. Figure
about 2000 calories per day and I can go for over a month if I have
water...probably more once my metabolism shifts into starvation mode and starts
breaking down muscle too.
Something that might be useful to tell students is the rule of threes to
help them prioritize needs.
You will die within:
3 minutes without O2
3 hours without shelter exposed to harsh weather
3 days
without water
3 weeks without food
3 months without companionship
The guy who told me this taught military survival training. They came up with
the last one because downed pilots in Vietnam who had food and water and shelter
would surrender after a while because they couldn't take the isolation.
Go figure.
Jason - EMT/BAMRU - search and rescue.