Daily Nutrition

[GinnySellars]

I always chuckle when I read a Tri Magazine and there are articles about "how to replenish calories, and keep up with the calorie debt..."

This has NEVER been a problem for me. I have even managed to put on weight during a 7 day cycle tour during which we cycled about 80-100km/day and I was still breastfeeding Madeline.

If you are similar to me, and have to consciously make an effort to keep the weight down, here are a few tips that I've learned.

1) Put TIME aside to shop and prepare healthy food. If it's not READY in front of me, I won't eat it.
2) Eat every 2-3 hours. Don't wait until strong hunger convinces you to eat whatever you can grab.
3) Eat fruit/veg with EVERY meal and snack.
4) Eat protein with EVERY meal and snack. Ideas: cottage cheese, turkey pepperoni, any meat, seeds, nuts, soy products.
5) Drinks should have zero calories (unless it's a meal).

My first few years of tri training, every time I was tired I assumed I needed calories. Usually I needed water, but ate powerbars like veggie sticks....hence, I my backside got bigger. Drink first, eat smart.

Any ideas anyone?

[Daniel Auger]

Hello Ginny,
I am with you on this. I try to prepare food on Sundays so that I have something good for the week ahead. When I fail to do this, my “healthy diet” suffers for the rest of the week.  As part of last year’s Mallorca training camp, Melissa Spooner had given us a paper on nutrition that included a recovery smoothy recipe. I lost that paper in a computer crash last fall. Would you still have this paper by chance?

[GinnySellars]

I don't have Melissa's smoothie, but here is mine:

1/2-1 banana
1 cup berries (I like raspberries best)
1/2 cup mango
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup soy milk
1-2 scoops whey protein (I use Brad King's chocolate)
handful of spinach
water to the consistency that you like

Melissa adds hemp oil, or fish oil I think.

(these amounts are estimates. If the berries and mango are frozen, the smoothie is thicker)

[Daniel Auger]

Hummm! Looks good. Thanks

[misha]

HMMMMMM I'll have to try that Ginny  , thank you

                                                            Al.

[IronVictory]

If you eat every 2-3 hours, do you still have the three "big" meals of the day: breakfast, lunch and dinner and the ones in between are just snacks? Or is every 2-3 hour meal the same size so essentially your entire day meal plan is spread out over every 2-3 hours?

Also, how many drinks out there have 0 calories?

I have a chocolate sweet tooth, and I find I really use the excuse: "I'll work it off" a lot. Is there room in the diet for sweets or should they be cut out completely?

And one more, what is the best way to determine what my daily calorie intake should be?

Peter

[GinnySellars]

First, let me start by reminding you that I am not a nutrition expert. I am just opening up a discussion.

The idea of eating every 2-3 hours is that the meals are more balanced in size. Instead of having 3 large meals, they are smaller, with larger 'snacks'.

O calorie drinks basically encourages water and tea/coffee. If you have difficulty with keeping calories down, this is often the first step to take. Eliminate specialty coffee drinks, pop, and juices.

Well Peter, as an official chocoholic, I can relate on the tendency to go for sweet chocolate. I generally think, if you are able to have a small amount, include it in your diet. It'll reduce the likelyhood of a 'binge'. If you are unable to have a small amount at a time, then consider getting it out of your pantry, and just enjoying a treat when you are out. ENJOY your treats, but keep them treats, not a regular staple.

An accurate way of finding out how many calories you are using at rest and at different exercise intensities is to take our VO2 test. A simple way is to eat 'normally', and document your food and exercise. Are you gaining weight at the end of 2 weeks? If not, you are probably right on. If you are gaining or loosing weight, you know what to do.

Go for nutrient dense foods. Think about adding nutrition, rather than cutting back on food. This is less likely to make you feel that you are restricting.

[GinnySellars]

Recovery Shake:
1 scoop protein powder (18.5g protein)
1 banana
1/2 cup vanilla rice milk
1/2 cup organic berries
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tbsp hemp oil

Total calories: 409
68g carbs (63%)
24g protein (22%)
7g fat (15%)

[Dana]

Hi Ginny;

I had my LBP done this weekend, and found out that I was doing most of my training at -10. 
In the last few months I gained weight and was always hungry...an hour after eating, my stomach was growling again. 
Do you think this constant hunger could have anything to do with training at too high a heart rate?

D

[GinnySellars]

Interesting!!

Yup, I've had the same experience. When you are burning primarily sugars as a fuel, your muscle glycogen and blood sugar levels will likely drop, and you probably be craving calories. Your eating habits probably reflect that during and after workouts.

Occasionally I've ridden too hard with a group or with Andrew. Even though I had eaten well post workout the day before, I felt the need to eat throughout the ride to avoid bonking. This is because I was working too hard for a long ride, and burning sugars like crazy.

You might also want to look at WHAT you are eating. Melissa would be a good person to consult....I find that including some protein after a workout instead of straight carbs makes me feel more fulfilled for longer.

[RobHerbasz]

Hello Ginny,
I am with you on this. I try to prepare food on Sundays so that I have something good for the week ahead. When I fail to do this, my “healthy diet” suffers for the rest of the week.  As part of last year’s Mallorca training camp, Melissa Spooner had given us a paper on nutrition that included a recovery smoothy recipe. I lost that paper in a computer crash last fall. Would you still have this paper by chance?

Hi Daniel,

How are you? Mallorca last year was good wasnt it?

Here's Mel Spooners recovery shake :-

Recovery / Meal Replacement Shake

Not only is this a good option for after your workout as your carbohydrate intake on the days of your activity will be vital for your recovery and replenishing your muscle glycogen stores.  In addition to carbohydrates proteins play a vital role in maintaining strength therefore a recovery drink with protein and carbohydrate is mandatory for proper recovery taken 30-minute post workout.  This shake is also a good option for those busy days when a “real meal” isn’t always an option.  Therefore keep these ingredients handy if in a pinch

The following is an example of a post recovery shake   

1 scoop protein powder (18.5g protein)
1 banana
½ cup vanilla rice milk
½ cup organic berries
½ cup orange juice
Optional ½ cup organic yogurt
1tbsp hemp oil
Total calories= 409
68g carbohydrate (63%)
24g protein (22%)   
7g fat(15%)

Rob (from the UK)

[Allyson]

Great dialogue (above) about nutrition!

I'm CONSTANTLY hungry...ever since starting this lovely sport, I find that I'm always thinking about eating. I have found a great deal of success in addiing more protein to my diet. It's keeping me "fuller" longer and I'm not getting the ups and downs of being hungry. On a side note, when I don't eat and I am hungry...I can't concentrate, I'm shaky and I get REALLY cranky. Then I eat and I feel much better.

I must admit, I do fall victim to the "cravings"...my weakness is ice cream. It's also doesn't help when two nights a week I'm at work and the guys there are worse than me. We frequent Dairy Queen so often that the girls there rarely need to ask me what I want (...a chocolate dipped cone, thanks...I keep it simple). I do get "concerned" that I'm putting "bad" food into my system, but then that moment passes as I begin to devour my cone.

I'm a big believer in breakfast. GOTTA HAVE IT! Just can't start the day with anything less than a nice big bowl of porridge and fruit...again I get given a hard time at work because, according to one of the guys "...you eat the same thing EVERYDAY...doesn't it get boring?". Well, not really. I am a complete creature of habbit and actually enjoy the stuff. It's cheap, quick to make and is VERY good for you, oh, and it keeps me full until I get to eat again 2 hours later. The other day, before a big brick workout, I changed it up a bit and added protein powder and exchanged the fruit for pecans and sprinkled a brown sugar on it...holy crap, that was delish!

Speaking about long workouts and nutrition I've experienced an "ah-ha" moment. I've not been the most dilagent with my nutrition when on a long ride/brick...mostly I get so caught up in what I'm doing that eventually I "forget" to eat/drink. Let me tell you, it's been disasterous. In my last race (Grand Coulee), I felt I was pretty good eating on the bike...I just forgot to drink. SO there in my stomach were about 6 gells and not much water to wash it all down with. By the time I got about 5km into the run I was done. Like, really done. I was miserable, nauseated, exhausted...it was terrible. Over the course of a 3 hour ride I only managed to take in about 750-1000mls of electrolyte drink...and no water. I had a similar experience in Joshua Tree and Andrew basically sat on me until I drank about a liter of water. I tell ya, my world changed as soon as I got some water into the mix with all that sugar in my stomach.

So...I am beginning to "get" how important hydration/nutrition is. It seems a bit obvious, but until it actually happens to me, there was a bit of a disconnect. I am now experimenting with Carbo-Pro and am incredibly impressed with the outcome. The other day Paul and I did a 3 hour bike and then a 1 hour run and I used that workout to experimented with it. I brought 3 bottles on the ride (they contained 2/3 carbo-pro powder to 1/3 e-load electrolyte powder) and I drank almost 2-1/2 bottles while riding. We stopped so i could pee (inerestingly enough I only HAD to pee once with all that going in...a mystery!) and I bought a bottle of water. My intention was to introduce water back into the mix of gells and electrolyte conction over the last 15km. And, I'm pleased to say...it worked! I got off the bike, put my shoes on and ran happily for an hour. I finished feeling like I had worked hard but could continue...Starbucks was infront of me at this point so I opted for stopping.

I bought the Carbo-Pro from the Starting Block (Vernon) and it comes in a HUGE container. Unfortunately it only comes in that big size, so if you're interested in starting to use this product (or products like it...there's a few on the market) you might want to go in with someone and split the cost. I am totally sold on this and will continue to strive to perfect this part of my training and race preparation.

As an aside, I just bought the May issue of Triathlete Magazine and there's a pretty comprehensive article on, quite possibly, EVERY bar, gell, powder, nutritional supplement on the market today. Interesting and quite informative. There's also a quirky article about surviving on supplements alone for a week...it's a pretty eye-opening. I prefer actual food...call me crazy!

What are other people's experiences with eating/drinking on the bike? This is my concentration for the next few months leading up to IMC. I want to truely enjoy that day and not be "that" girl who is puking, sobbing, sleeping at the side of the road because I didn't do my homework on the nutrition side of things. So, any suggestions would be great!!!

Hope everyone's training is going well!

Ally

[Rebecca]

Andrew and Ginny turned me on to Carbo Pro a few years ago and it really works for me. I swear by the stuff.   And like you,  I prefer real food and try to eat the real stuff before/during and after when ever possible.... but if I can't ...its Rasberry CLIFF BLOC SHOTs for me!!  They have a habit of sticking to your teeth, so you get a nice continuous release of energy as they dissolve

[IronVictory]

I am using the Infinit products where you can tailor the drink specifically for your needs. To start I used the base Ironman recipe with a few modifications. My goal is to only have a liquid nutrition plan during IMC and with Infinit I can mix it in a concentrated form so it will last a lot longer. The Infinit stuff is great because I can modify it according to what my body needs. For example I tend to lose a lot of electrolytes when I run, so I just increase the electrolyte blend. It also has a high Osmolality (http://www.infinitnutrition.ca/information/osmolality101.asp) so it is easy to digest. I've been using it a couple of months now, and so far so good. They also have an excellent recovery drink which I am using.