Tips for the healthy cyclist

If you’re involved in exercise, you’re probably interested in the lifestyle, wellbeing and weight too–but it’s time to get back to the basics when you want nutritional knowledge that’s fresh, chewy and real headache.

Make these things right and the rest is only the cake icing. We have the answers, ranging from the importance of carbohydrate and protein to when we eat and drink before, during and after a ride.

PREPARE WELL

It can be quite daunting to get what to eat before cycling and I hope most of the riders will have had the chance to bike starving and have a body weight uphill! None of these encounters was particularly enjoyable. Schedule your pre-ride meal at least 90 minutes before you take the road to prevent these scenarios.

You can easily make sure you’re fed before you leave when you eat small, regular food over the day, reducing the size of your three meals to a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack. Choose instead a low-fat carbohydrate meal or snack with a small amount of lean protein as it is digested much faster than fatty meals or protein-dominant foods.

CONSUME THE NECESSARY CALORIES

If you just did the running, the first thing to celebrate is that it will raise your calorie needs. However, before you rent the refrigerator to treat yourself to your favourite treatment, be aware that many cyclists are rewarded beyond the calories burnt during a ride, so even if you have something else to eat, try not to give up healthy choices or to add to your portions.

One good way to measure the extra calorie needs is to subtract 40-50 calories in miles. Therefore you can calculate an extra calorie need, if you are a slower or lighter rider and heading up if you are faster or heaped, between 1,200 to 1, 500 calories that err to the bottom of this trail.

Obviously, a cycling computer estimating the calories burnt on the ride terrain gives you a more accurate indication of your extra need and any calories that you consume during the ride should be taken away (and any additional calories ingested immediately before or after the ride).

When you go, your appetite will rise above the amount used when your body frees hungry hormones in its attempt to preserve body fat stores, although not in the immediate aftermath of your travelling. If you’re aiming for small weight reduction, try to keep a calorie surplus substituted, producing a deficit that encourages more fat loss, but restrict it to a maximum of 250 calories per day for a deficit if you want to continue riding fast. It is also wise to avoid calories being cut when you are in or close to stressful, long or intensive workouts.

THE CARBS

The main source of energy for exercise is glucose in the body. Once retained in the muscle, excesses of the overall consumption over the calorie requirements of the body are stored as fat.

Your weekly carbohydrate needs depend on the number of miles you drive and on other demands of your life. For each kilo that you weight per day, sports scientists will recommend a 5-9 g intake of Carbohydrate. The problem is that many of us do not want to take time to count grammes of carbohydrate, so a practical advice is much more useful.

Because large portions of carbohydrate lead to an image and a decrease in energy that can make you feel very lethargic, it is an excellent practical method for you to eat carbo-hydration sufficient to support your workout, while avoiding the effect that large portions of it have the effect of eating a fist large portion of low-glycemic carbon (slow-burn) with each food or snack. This could include cereals like oats in the morning and mid-afternoon, a little nuts, a whole-grain snack at lunch and, with the dinner in the night, maybe whole-grain rice or quinoa.

Those little portions will therefore provide sufficient energy without leading to a decrease in energy. Another advantage is that you have digested your smaller portion and are ready to ride the bike 90-2 hours after your meal.

It should be remembered that not all carbohydrates have similar consequences and will affect energy levels and wellbeing differently. While many enjoy the green light of sucrose carbohydrates that cycling seems to encourage without appearing on their waistline, so

many sucrose carbohydrates will negatively influence recuperation, energy levels and safety in a daily routine diet. Instead, you should always choose grains and fruits and vegetables full of nutrients instead of refined sugar.

ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH FOOD

Protein is often considered to be muscle food and is not relevant to cyclists, but getting adequate protein into your diet will support your health, immune function and recovery. Responsible for tissue maintenance in the body and playing a vital role in the immune function, it follows that if you accelerate muscle damage through training while not meeting your needs, your recovery will be suboptimal.

By research that has been done recently, protein fills even more than the same calorie measure of carbohydrates or fat, increasing your intake can help to control your appetite.

Boobs and pulses can meet your requirements in combination with lean meats, fish and low-fat dairy foods. It is advised to reduce the consumption of meat with a higher incidence of red or processed meats. Just like starch, it is best to plunge a large hard-to-digest protein portion into one meal that produces better energy levels for each meal or snack.

THE FATS

The fat type you select is essential for health, weight maintenance and performance. Good’ fats and’ bad’ fats are gathered together. The good fats include polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats (Omega 3 and Omega 6). Omega-3 and 6 fats are important to maintain health and can be found in nuts, grains, fish and oils such as flaxseed, borage and starflower oil while saturated fats found in meat and processed foods are limited.

Additional benefit from these fats is to reduce inflammation in the body and to provide a stimulating advantage to the metabolism as well as to help people with asthma and allergies. Also known for lowering bad cholesterol (LDL), good fats are an important part of the diet to help prevent heart disease. Good fat is a great strategy to promote wellbeing without the possibility of having too many heat-fat in the diet for about 20g per day.

CONSUME THE RIGHT VITAMINS

The fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamin types exist. The body conserves fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, K. Nevertheless, the water-soluble are not contained in the body and are therefore required everyday in the diet. The daily, but only very small quantities, minerals such as calcium, iron, and zinc are required.

These vitamins and minerals are available in several foods. The 5 pieced fruit and vegetables prescription by the NHS per day is intended to lead to the daily use and adequate consumption of these vitamins and minerals. It is advised that you choose a rainbow of colours to obtain darker coloured fruits and vegetables.

A good multivitamin is a wise investment, but avoids a mega dose of the nutrients unless used for short-term therapy (for example for use with vitamin C and zinc during a chilly period to reduce symptoms ‘ severity and duration) in order to prevent shortcomings. to ensure a continuous exercise.

ARE YOU HYDRATED?

Drinking plenty fluid not only lets you get better cycling, but also increases energy levels during your everyday life. If you have experienced the foggy head after a long time, generally it’s a sign to have a beer. To order to match the injuries, cyclists can drink extra fuel, while drinking 1,50-2 litres of water every day.

You can easily weigh yourself before and after the trip. If you need an extra litre of water for any kilo you’ve lost, then you just need an additional 500ml of fluid on the food if you’ve had a 60-minute drive to leave you 0.5 kg lighter.

These numbers should be taken into consideration, with only 2% dehydration resulting in a significant decrease in efficiency.

FUEL YOUR RIDE PROPERLY

Quick drives in less than 90 minutes do not necessarily require additional fuel supportive when you eat properly all day. During this period, your carbohydrate stores will supply lots of fuel.

Nonetheless, topping your carbohydrate reserves will help you improve your efficiency if it goes on for a longer or more difficult ride, so you can stay strong at the end of your trip.

Studies show that a fuelling plan with carbohydrates ranging from 30 g to 60g / hour is optimum, so that experiments in this range are a good starting point. A carbon drink, a mixture of water and gels or bars, or a combination of all three are available. Just check the contents of carbohydrates instead of assuming that carbohydrate is the total declared weight.

The number of people able to take carbohydrate is highly individual. Some can absorb 30 g an hour, while others can take 60 g without gastrointestinal discomfort. Start at 30 g and step up on subsequent drives to figure out how much resistance you can. This will improve the performance if you can handle 60 g, so it should be tried to make the body used to it.

Consider how hard the workout is and how long you travel can decide what you can ingest for. Solid foods like bars are usually better tolerated at the start of a ride, for example and are ideal for the first half of a sporty day, but taking a bar for a high intensity race like a time test would make you have difficulty digesting it. As the time or pressure decreases, turn from bars to gels to make additional carbohydrates.

Make sure to take water with it when you are taking carbohydrate in a gel form unless you use an isotonic gel, with the best fuel supply obtained by taking the carbohydrate into a 6-8% solution. This requires that 125-150ml of water is consumed, each 10 g of carbohydrate provided by a gel (which contains some fluid, thus reducing your additional requirement).

CAN I TAKE CAFFEINE

Some people prevent caffeine, such as pesticides, and others embrace it for its effective effects. If you are a fan, most sports physiologists will be there with studies showing that 1-3 mg caffeine per kilo of body weight will lead to increased performance, increased output and an improved mind focus.

Ironically, the effects of caffeine seem to be rejected by the weather, with no results from research in hotter climate.

Try it in training first if you think about giving a caffeinated drink or gel in an event. It isn’t for all, however. Caffeine is not recommended if you suffer from high blood pressure or heart disease, and if you are on any medicines, it’s best to have a look before trying.

RECOVERY FOOD

The 20 minutes after a trip are known as the best refuelling time when carbohydrates are properly consumed and delivered to the muscle shops. Using a meal or a drink high in carbohydrates in this period will increase the depletion rate of your energy stores, which will directly affect the energy supply for the next trip.

Studies showing the ideal for refuelling a 1 g carbohydrate intake per kilo, a 70 g carbohydrate feed for a bike rider of 70 kg. Combining this with 10 g of protein decreases the chances of injury, encourages muscle regeneration and eliminates muscle pain, as well as improving carbohydrate muscle refuelling.

A yoghurt shake, a smoothie filled with whey or soya protein, a potato jacket and beans, as well as a specialist recuperation recipe, all create good and receptive choices. With certain special formulations, two proteins that can provide extra immune protection during strenuous training sessions or races may gain for ingredient such as glycol and colostrum.