What I Eat
It’s been asked by a few inquiring minds what I eat to maintain my health, fitness, and this starved look I have going lately. Let’s start with the fact that I ride a lot. 15 hours a week on average, so I’m burning a lot of calories and need to replace them in order to keep my energy up. During the week I usually do three 2.5 to 3 hour rides which can cost about 1500 calories each….this is about what a sedentary person will use all day. On the weekends I’ll ride both days for 3 to 6 hours unless I am racing then it could be anywhere from 6 hours to 24. What I am trying to say is that volume of food that I must consume just to maintain my weight is large and to be honest I can’t keep up with it most of the time, so I lose weight during the heavier racing and training seasons. I do use my rest weeks (lower training volume) and tamper weeks (consecutive lower volume weeks prior to a major race) to put some weight back on, but then burn it up during and while recovering from races. In the past I’ve tried to just cram more food in or use body building type weight gaining products to keep from losing weight so rapidly, but both of these usually cause digestive issues in both the short and long term, so I’ve gotten away from this. For the record as of this writing on 3/17/2006 I weigh 148 lbs and have 4.5% body fat.
The general rules I try to follow when choosing my foods are as follows:
No trans fatty acids. Labels, by law, now have to show the trans-fat content.
No high-fructose corn syrup. Google this stuff and read just how bad it is for you.
Lots of fruit and vegetables.
Lean meat (occasional red meat).
Good fats (Avocado, flax seed, olive oil, nuts, etc…)
Whole grain, unprocessed, unrefined grains.
Don’t over do the caffeine (I break this one too often).
Lots of water, all day, every day (I almost always carry a 32oz water bottle every where I go and keep next to the bed when I sleep).
Eat organic if you can afford it.
Soy over real milk every time. Yogurt is the exception (because it’s yummy and good for you).
Never eat fast food.
So all that said on to what I eat….
Before breakfast I’ll drink 8-10 oz of water. I’m always dehydrated in the AM and too full after breakfast to drink much water, so I do this as soon as I wake.
Breakfast:
My breakfast rarely charges day to day, as a matter of fact I don’t like to change it much at all. I’ll eat this whether I’m training (if I am training in the early AM, then I’ll wait until after my ride to drink this), racing, resting, or in the off-season and I’ve been out to beer festival all night.
Every morning I have a smoothie starting with All in One Step by Progressive Labs:
I’ve added a link to another page I have set up about this product. I have no affiliation with Progressive Labs. My cousin, who is a doctor, recommended this stuff to me a few years ago to help lower my cholesterol & boost my immune system and I think it works well enough to continue using it daily. It’s not a cure-all, but it certain covers a lot of nutritional bases.
Along with the One Step I mix in a blender:
Soy milk
OJ
One Banana
some fresh fruit (what ever is in season)
some frozen fruit (usually blue or blackberries)
Flax seed oil
Avocado (optional)
In addition I take a couple of fish oil capsules and glucosamine/chondroitin tablets …oh and two large cups of coffee. The portions of each ingredient will vary depending on what’s in the house and if I think I need more or less calories at a give time. This drink can be as large as 40 oz and very thick and up to 2000 calories. This will usually satisfy me for a couple hours.
A bit of warning if you choose to try One Step, read and understand this info. This is a total body cleansing product and you may experience some gastrointestinal distress during the first week or two when using the product daily.
Next up is lunch. Lunch for me usually consists of several small (fist size) portions of easy to prepare food.
The usual fare includes:
Instant oatmeal (I’d go stove top if I was at home)
Fruit
Leftovers from the night before.
Protein bar (when I’m too lazy or hurried to do anything else)
Natural Peanut butter, strawberry preserves and whole wheat bread.
I keep the oatmeal and the PB&J in a drawer at my desk, so it’s always handy and the most convenient thing to eat.
If the above items are not cutting it and I really need to chow there are two salad bars, a Thai place and a Moe’s around the corner. I try to limit this to twice a week for health and financial reasons. I usually avoid the meat at any of those restaurants just because I figure that cuts a big portion of the calories and bad fats out. Moe’s is my favorite and I usually get rice, beans, guacamole, pico, jalapenos (fresh not pickled) cheese and cilantro.
I usually follow each of these meals with a cup of green tea.
Next up is dinner…..later.