The daily energy requirements for a very active man are about 14,600KJ (kilojoules). The IceTrek team expects to use about 25,200KJ. Two units describe energy: joules and calories. 1 kilojoule=4.2 kilocalories.

Scott wrote in 1902 "There can be little question ... that polar sledging ranks an easy first as a hunger-producing employment"

Dry air, sweating and the difficulty of making and storing water to drink can easily result in dehydration. The signal for adequate hydration is when the pee is clear and copious.

The diet for the expedition was based on what was called "sledging rations". These set a daily ration for each person per day. This ration was: 20g tea 454g biscuits 24g cocoa 340g pemmican 57g butter 85g sugar Canned pemmican was a mixture of minced and compressed dried meat, fat, and cereal. It was eaten boiled with water so that it resembled a thick soup. Occasionally this "hoosh" was flavoured with curry, onion powder, pepper or raisins, and biscuit added in to it. Some chocolate was carried but it was not a part of the regular diet. A typical daily meal routine would be breakfast of pemmican, 3 biscuits and tea, lunch of pemmican, butter and 3 biscuits, and a lighter supper of a pemmican and pounded biscuit porridge. At times horsemeat was added into the hoosh. There were two main problems with Scott's sledging diet and these had a major effect on the five men who travelled to the Pole. 1. Scott's diet provided a total of 4 200 calories per man per day on the Barrier stage and 4 600 calories on the summit stage. For the very strenuous man-hauling work Scott and his team did this daily calorie intake was insufficient. It has been suggested that this deficiency was between 1 500 and 3 000 calories per day. This meant was that Scott's men were gradually starving through their expedition. By the fourth and fifth month this undernourishment was having a significant physical and mental effect. 2. The diet was lacking in essential vitamins. The sledging ration allowed for no vitamin C, the essential vitamin to avoid scurvy. Some vitamin C was available in the horsemeat that was eaten but it was insufficient to meet the needs over a long period of time. One effect of the developing scurvy was the failure of wounds to heal eg Edgar Evans's hand and the reopening of old wounds notably Oates' Boer War wound. The effects of this were evident by the time they had reached the top of the Beardmore Glacier where he was showing a distinct limp. Vitamin B requirements were also insufficient. Scott's white flour biscuits contributed to this deficiency which had a marked effect on the mental and nervous system. Symptoms of this deficiency appear to be evident before the return journey.

IceTrek's diet will consist mainly of foods containing a high fat content. A combination of saturated fats (animal fats ie. bacon fat, pemmican) and mono-unsaturated fats (olive and canola oils) will be consumed with carbohydrates as a base (rice and pasta). Nuts and dried beef will provide proteins, and high fat chocolate provides morale-boosting sugars. Daily multi-vitamin supplements ensure that the expeditioners maintain a balanced nutrition. Each expeditioner will consume over 6000 calories per day. This is over 1000 calories above the amount consumed by Scott and his men (1911-12), and Fiennes and Stroud (92-93), both of whom suffered considerable wastage. More recently, Ousland (96-97) arrived at Scott Base after his solo Antarctic crossing in good health having consumed over 7000 calories per day. The team will consume 3kg of food per day, and will require 3 litres of fluid per person per day. 0.6 litres of fuel will be required per day to cook food, melt snow for water and warm the tent in extreme cold. TOTAL FOOD - 300kg TOTAL FUEL - 60lt (65kg) Food per person per day Quantity (g) Protein (g) Fat (g) Carbo (g) Energy (Kj) Breakfast Instant Oats 70 6.51 3.9 50.8 1120 Powdered Milk 70 18 16.9 24.1 1316 AMF 40 2.5 36 0.0 1377 Sugar 40 0.0 0.0 40.0 640 Energy Drink 50 0.0 11.0 36.0 983 Morning snack Salami 50 9.5 37.0 0.0 1410 Propel Bar 50 3.4 6.7 35.9 877 Chocolate 50 4.2 13.8 31.3 1079 Sports Drink 25 0.0 0.0 25.0 400 Lunch Instant Noodles 50 5.5 9.4 31.0 937 Crushed Pecan nuts mixed with dried basil Cheddar Cheese 150gm 15kg Chocolate 150gm 15kg Muesli Bar 100gm 10kg Enery Drink with Milk Powder and sugar Snack Propel Bar Chocolate 732 20ml 2kg Dunkaroo Biscuits Sports Drink Dinner Soup Freeze-dried meal with vegetables/rice/pasa 185 Rice or Pasta AMF Enery Drink with Milk Powder and sugar Snack Propel Bar Salami 732 20ml 2kg Extras Tea 30gm Coffee 30gm Vitamin supplements 200gm Supplements The high fat diet must be supplemented with vitamins and minerals to offset the effects of nutritional imbalance. The supplements must be natural to balance the intake of preservatives, fats and chemicals inherent in the diet.