The Health and Nutrition Thread

Somebody once said to me "try to eat a rainbow" that's what i do. (Skittles excluded obvs).

Up to 50miles, just normal diet of fruit/muesli for breakfast, with home made flapjack for a snack if i stop.

Longer then I take banana, apple, cheese sandwich nothing special!

Recovery from a bigger ride is lots of water and normally grilled chicken and a huge heap of greens.....which is pretty much what I eat anyway.

Like many my carb intake is much lower the last 10 years, i find i just dont need them as much, ad I'm not needing to fuel as much as im hardly pushing the training envelope or racing any longer.

I do like a pint half way round any ride however..🤣 but that's a purely physiological gain from my perspective....it a journey to somewhere, as i hate circular rides with no purpose!
Psychological not physiological?
 
Great thread. As well as my work related bimbling, I add in a ten mile blast most days, and try to make up what I miss so it is consistent. Even twenty isn't enough to need 'added' fuel, as I'm generally well fed by that time of day. Getting a cycling sweat on at least once a day seems to keep everything ticking. We eat a diet high in fibre, lots of fruit and veg. Pumpernickel style rye bread is all I generally go near, and we use as little processed food as possible. The least healthy thing I guess is beer, which is two or three sessions a month. A glass or two of wine at mealtime. At this time of year, everything opens up to a much healthier active lifestyle as the weather improves. The secret for us is to build healthy ways into our routine, rather than heading to the gym or obsessing over diet.
 
If i do feel knackered on a ride...i put it down to not being 19 any more. But again, i would be interested to know what's actually best for performance in older mammals.....not mamils btw.
 
Sugar during exercise won’t cause sugar spikes and drops, it’s the one time it’s a win for sugar intake!
Interesting: my experience is that it’s all goes swimmingly until you run out/forget/mistime the next burst. Gels are just weird, wrong and badly packaged; carb supplements in water can smooth things out but still feel unnatural.

I’m tempted to carry a bag of jelly tots for emergencies, but prefer to just transition normal diet into cycling fuel intake. (Again, only for long / arduous rides - day to day transport is no problem)
 
Somebody once said to me "try to eat a rainbow" that's what i do. (Skittles excluded obvs).

...
Sound advice. I eat fruit cake, lemon cake, cherry cake or blueberry cake when out riding.

Occasionally, I fall off the wagon and eat chocolate chip cookies.
;)

Haven't touched meat for about 35 years though. 🤷‍♂️
 
Something that doesn't get talked about much is the need for rest days between exercise days as we get older. Once you get north of 50 it is important whether you are on the way to being fit, or are super fit already. Rest days can be doing absolutely nothing at all days and gives the body a chance to re-charge and repair.
I do 1 day on-1 day off with the odd 2 day rest, or maybe that with a block of 3 days on then 2 days off. Depends on the weather, mood, available time etc
It can get a bit random (tbh i think random is good and it does mimic what life would have been like as a hunter gatherer) at times, but i make sure i get the rest days in.
Another thing i have been allowing myself to do is to just back right out of planned hard efforts/long rides if my brain just isn't behind it. It could be signals that i have overdone it recently, or illness is afoot, or the mind just wants to look at stuff, notice things, and pleasantly pass the time. Life can be hard enough as it is without also stretching ourselves to meet self imposed goals.
 
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