- Nutritional advice can be a minefield.
We're going to help steer you carefully through some
of the most popular and some of the worst advice that
we've heard over the years.
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Fasted is faster.
There is a lot of hot debate out there on the internet
about training in a faster state
for performance enhancements.
And some of it can be misconstrued to the detriment
of the person conducting those sessions.
And this approach to the nutritional program.
Okay, there is no denying it.
Performing certain low intensity, endurance sessions
in a fasted state, can indeed be beneficial.
But only to certain individuals looking for specific
improvements to their oxidation of fat and endurance
efficiencies could it be a useful method to include
in an otherwise well thought out and balanced diet?
For most of us, not partaking in multi-stage,
ultra endurance events, we will notice more benefits
from fueling correctly,
with a healthy amount of carbohydrates,
protein and fat in our diets.
As a rough goal, you could aim for 50 to 60%
of total calories from carbohydrate,
and 30% from protein.
The fats will take care of themselves at this point.
This is only a rough goal though.
And the more intense and the higher volume you're training,
the more carbohydrate you may well require.
An easy way to consume carbohydrate on the bike
is with a specific energy product that is designed
to be easily digested and absorbed by the body.
Though you can equally use natural food products
to create non processed versions of these products.
Protein is king.
Over recent years, there's been a lot of marketing
around protein, and the role it plays in the recover
and the rebuilding of our muscles.
Some sources report that consuming up to three grams
of protein per kilo or 40 weight per day,
you'll see an increase in muscle strength and performance.
However, for someone like myself, weighing 75 kilos,
that equates to 225 grams of protein a day.
Or if you look at real foods,
two and half kilograms of zero percent fat free yogurt,
or just over a kilo of nuts.
Now that is a lot.
It is scientific evidence to support consuming
20 to 25 grams of protein per serving up to six times
a day when they'd be sufficient to see the same
purported gains as three grams per kilo per day.
So for the same 75 kilo cyclist,
that's around 150 grams.
And if we take the lowest suggestion of just 20 grams
per serving, that's then down to 120 grams,
almost half of the wildly pushed suggestions
from the marketing gurus,
within some of these marketing companies.
In fact, the recommendation given to endurance athletes,
on an otherwise calorie neutral diet,
is to consume one point four grams per kilo a day.
Which for the 75 kilo rider, is just 105 grams.
This is easily achievable through a healthy
and very balanced diet.
And for easy of use, you can indeed drink these servings
as a protein shake, either added into a blender
with some oats and fruit, or as a stand alone
protein shake style snack.
But equally, it's perfectly acceptable to consume
your protein from natural products, fish, nuts, legumes,
dairy products, meats, all within moderation
and part of a balanced diet.
Don't eat after 7:00 P.M.,
one of my favorite pieces of nutritional advice
over the years,
is that you should never,
ever consider eating after 7:00 P.M.
I can see where the foundations of this lie.
Not going to be on a full stomach which could harm
your quality of sleep,
but in practice, imagine if you wake up at 6 o'clock
in the morning and you eat once every three hours,
for regulated blood levels and energy levels.
Your essentially tipping your body into a longer fast
than you need to overnight.
Modern advice is to be smaller, more frequent meals
of a more balanced size.
Effectively, removing the final meal of the day
will only increase your chance of you overeating
before 7:00 P.M.,
your body simply, can't absorb a large meal as effectively
as it can absorb two smaller meals.
So with that in mind,
plan your snacks and meals more effectively.
Yes, it is difficult to do in a real world,
but with a little practice it can easily be achieved,
and it can almost become a habit.
A task that is then completed almost autonomously.
As a guide, your final meal of the day,
could ideally include something like a slow release
protein, casein, is often recommended as a pre bed snack,
for the slow release, helping to spread protein synthesis
over a longer duration.
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Don't eat on a ride.
This is not the same advice as fasted riding.
But for years, I've heard people recommend other riders,
they shouldn't be eating once they're on their rides.
These are two quite different categories of advice too.
Fasted riding is to go out without topping up
your carbohydrates lost pre ride,
but not eating whilst on the ride doesn't rule out
a good breakfast in the first place.
So in theory, you'd feel well fueled for the first part,
before slowly depleting those stores and oxidizing fat
as the ride went on.
It's not awful advice and it's not an awful theory,
but is kind of a half way house.
You won't be fasted to the point that your body is forced
to adapt to oxidizing fat stores,
and equally you won't be well fueled enough
to improve your fitness with high powered intervals
or intense training.
Our advice would be to do either one or the other.
Train while fueled or train in a fasted state.
But don't blur the line between the two.
Your training sessions should have a straight
and dedicated goal for each session.
And you should aim to adhere to these too.
For a well fueled session,
you should look to include around 60 grams
of carbohydrates per hour.
And split these up into three bites of 20 grams
for example, maybe one bar and one gel pack per hour,
along with something from your bottle.
Either an electrolyte drink for hydration
or another carbohydrate drink.
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Cutting out entire food groups.
Vegan, dairy, gluten, the approach many people seem to
take to losing weight these days is cutting out
entire food groups.
Before I continue, there are of course many justifications
to why one might want or need to eradicate a group
of foods, intolerances, allergies, moral reasons,
are just a few solid examples of why you would.
But, for those of us without these reasons,
it just doesn't make sound nutritional logic.
You see, many food groups are as good as essential
to the body.
Because not all nutrients and minerals are either
available or as easily absorbable as other food groups.
Meaning, if you restrict your diet by eradicating
something unnecessarily, then you are missing out
on a wide spectrum of nutrients that you actually need
to sustain a healthy, active life.
And please, we really don't need to get bogged down
into this diet is better than that diet.
Healthy, varied and balanced.
And then respect each other's choices as well.
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Supplements, saving the best til last, supplements.
You cannot out supplement a bad diet.
Just like you can't out exercise a bad diet either.
So by simply, topping up on multi-vitamins
because you missed out on your fruit and veg for the day.
Or only consuming protein by shakes,
you are still missing out on so much that you need
to consume to be the very best version of you.
Fiber for a start.
Sure, you may well find more vitamin C in a multivitamin
than you will in an orange,
but how many grams of fiber are you going to find
in that vitamin C tablet?
That's not to say there isn't a time and a place
for supplementing, but it should be viewed more
as an insurance policy alongside a good diet,
rather than a starting point for which you consume
the rest of your diet.
This way, you have a fail safe behind you,
rather than building on top of some shaky foundations.
That's it.
Some of us will sometimes have deficiencies,
which will require a little extra attention.
Common deficiencies that are regularly treated
with supplements are vitamin D, iron, B-12, calcium,
magnesium, however, to be certain,
you will need to undergo at least one blood test.
For most of us, without deficiencies,
it is easily possible to consume the nutrients we need
from our diets.
And once you have yourself a balanced and varied diet
that you're happy with,
that is the time to consider supplements.
Let us know the weirdest nutritional myths you've
ever been told in the comments down below.
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