Food and water on a Nepal trek: a guide's advice

Dal bhat is what Nepali people eat twice a day, and on the trail it is the best meal you can order. You get rice, a lentil soup, a vegetable curry, pickle and sometimes greens, and the cook refills your plate until you are full. It is fresh, warm and full of energy for the next day.

Guides and porters say dal bhat power, 24 hour. After a long climb you will understand why.

Teahouse menus in the popular regions look surprisingly similar from village to village. You will usually find:

• Breakfast: porridge, Tibetan bread with honey or jam, eggs, pancakes and muesli.

• Soups: garlic soup (many guides swear by it at altitude), noodle soup and vegetable soup.

• Mains: fried rice or noodles, momos (dumplings), potatoes, pasta and Tibetan thukpa.

• Drinks: black or milk tea, ginger-lemon-honey tea, hot chocolate and butter tea in some villages.

In Langtang, try the yak cheese from the dairy at Kyanjin Gompa. On the Tamang Heritage Trail, homestay families often cook with their own potatoes, buckwheat and vegetables.

Meat is carried up the trail, often for days and without a fridge. Higher in the valleys we suggest vegetarian meals: dal bhat, eggs, cheese and potatoes give you everything you need. If you do eat meat, eat it lower down where it is fresh.

It is also kinder to your stomach, and stomach trouble is the most common reason people feel unwell on a trek.

Many trekkers lose their appetite above about 3,500 m. It is normal, but it is also when your body needs the most energy. Eat little and often: a bowl of soup, a few biscuits at a rest stop, a hot chocolate in the afternoon.

Warm, simple food goes down most easily up high. Garlic soup, noodle soup, potatoes and porridge are good choices. Keep drinking even when you don't feel thirsty, because the cold, dry air takes more water from you than you notice.

If you suddenly can't eat at all, feel sick and have a headache, tell your guide. Loss of appetite with those signs can be an early sign of altitude sickness, and your guide will check you and decide whether to rest or go down.

Tap and stream water in the mountains looks clean but often isn't safe to drink untreated. You have three good options:

• Purification tablets or drops: light and cheap; follow the waiting time on the pack.

• A UV pen or filter bottle: fast, with no taste.

• Boiled water from the teahouse, which most lodges sell by the litre or bottle.

Refilling your own bottles saves money and keeps plastic out of the valleys, where it is hard to carry rubbish away. Drink 3–4 litres a day; at altitude you lose more water than you notice, through breathing and sweat.

Lodges keep room prices low because guests eat breakfast and dinner where they sleep. Order dinner early, around five in the evening, and choose your breakfast time the night before. Everyone eats together in the warm dining room, which is one of the best parts of the day.