Chapter List

• Introduction to Cycling for Women
• A Note from Connie
• Keeping Up with Him
• Riding with Confidence
• Street Savvy
• After the Fall
• Breaking the Bounds
• Perfect Match
• Do You Need a Womens Bike
• Have a Seat
• Clothes with Wheel Appeal
• Fit for the Road
• Fit for the Trails
• You the Bike Mechanic
• Its Easy to Fix a Flat
• Simple Bike Care Tips
• Cycling During Your Cycle
• Riding While Pregnant
• Make a Muscle
• Love Your Butt
• Now About Your Diet
• Key Questions Answered
• Womens School for Roadies
• Playing Dirty
• Its Never Too Late
• Anatomy of a Bike

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Now About Your Diet

Now, about Your Diet

 

BY VIRGINIA DEMOSS

With all of the conflicting advice that's going around, probably the only women who aren't confused about nutrition are those of us who haven't been paying attention. After all, we're regularly bombarded with claims that some food or diet will help us live longer, lose weight, look younger . . . even ride better.

If you're tired of feeling perplexed--and perhaps bouncing from one food fad to another, only to learn the hard way that radical eating plans, magic ingredients, and expensive supplements don't work--this chapter is for you. It contains all you need to know about eating for good health and better cycling performance. No hype or empty promises, just the facts.

The Importance of Carbohydrate

If you had a plate of pasta for every article ever written about carbohydrate, you could start your own Italian restaurant. There's good reason, however, why sports nutritionists hype carb: It's your best fuel.

Essentially, carbohydrate is sugar. Simple carbohydrate is a single or double sugar molecule--usually glucose, fructose, galactose, sucrose, or lactose. These are found in nutritious foods (fruits, for instance) as well as in less healthful fare, such as candy. Complex carbohydrate is a long chain of simple sugars and is often called a starch. Potatoes and pasta are good examples.

When you eat carb, it's broken down and converted to blood glucose, your body's main fuel and the only type that can feed your brain. Glucose that's not immediately used for energy is stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen and used later for fuel. If these storage spots are full, the glucose is converted to fat.

Carbohydrate is a better cycling fuel than protein or fat. Although stored protein can be converted to energy when glucose and glycogen become depleted, the process is inefficient. Stored fat can also be a fuel source, but it can't be converted to energy in the absence of glucose. This is why you need carbohydrate. Not only does a diet that's high in fat and protein carry more calories and adverse health effects, it does a poorer job of providing energy for cycling.

During and immediately after a hard effort, simple and complex carb is equally effective as fuel. But in your general diet, it's best to emphasize the complex type, which promotes significantly greater glycogen synthesis and offers vitamins, minerals, and fiber along with the energy.

Carb Calculations

Overall, nutritionists recommend that at least 60 percent of your calories come from carbohydrate. For cyclists and other aerobic athletes, 65 percent is better. Food packages list carb content as a percentage of daily calories, making this fairly simple to track. To help, here's a formula that enables you to estimate the number of carb grams that you need to account for 65 percent of your diet.

First, determine your total calorie requirement by multiplying your weight by 15. To this number add 8 calories (10 for men) for each minute of cycling you do a day. The total is roughly the number of daily calories you need to maintain your weight. (To lose weight, consume 500 fewer calories each day. You'll lose 1 pound per week.)

For example, a 130-pound woman who does a 1-hour training ride would figure as follows: 130 3 15 5 1,950 calories 1 480 calories (60 minutes 3 8 calories) 5 2,430 total calories. For this rider, 65 percent of total calories amounts to about 1,580 (2,430 total calories 3 0.65 5 1579.5). This is the number of carb calories she should eat daily. Because carb has 4 calories per gram, she can divide 1,580 by 4 to determine that she needs about 395 grams of carb per day.

Beyond the math, the point is that you should increase your intake of whole-grain breads, nonfat dairy products, cereals, pasta, rice, potatoes, vegetables, fruits, and juices. At the same time, keep your total daily calorie consumption at the right level by decreasing your intake of fat and protein as found in meat, cheese, whole dairy products, and snack foods.

Beating the Bonk

No matter how well-trained you are, your endurance is limited by one thing: the depletion of stored glycogen. When glycogen is depleted, you become light-headed, dizzy, and fatigued. In cycling, we call it bonking. Fortunately, it isn't inevitable. There are ways to increase your glycogen stores and prolong performance.

The best way is through training. Well-conditioned muscles can store 20 to 50 percent more glycogen than untrained ones. To take advantage of this expanded capacity, you need to eat plenty of carb calories every day. Successive days of low intake can lead to a condition called training glycogen depletion, characterized by fatigue and lackluster performance.

For several days before an important event, pack your muscles with glycogen by reducing your riding and increasing your intake of carbohydrate to as much as 75 percent of total calories. By making more glycogen available to your muscles--and using less--you'll top off your tank for the big ride. If you have trouble consuming enough food to get all the carbohydrate you need, try a concentrated sports drink known as a carbo-loader, which can supply more than 200 grams of carbohydrate per serving.

Drinking Your Energy

Even the world's strongest cyclist would run out of gas if she didn't refuel while riding. The reason is simple. Early in a ride, almost all of your energy comes from stored muscle glycogen. But as glycogen levels decline, you rely more on blood glucose for fuel. To continue riding, you need to keep these sugar levels high.

One way to do this is with an energy drink. If a drink contains too much carbohydrate, however, it bogs down in your stomach and takes too long to reach your bloodstream, resulting in dehydration and possibly nausea. The most effective drinks contain just enough carbohydrate (5 to 7 percent) to empty into your bloodstream quickly, extending performance without interfering with hydration.

Some cyclists can drink fruit juice (perhaps diluted with water) or use commercial drinks with high (up to 25 percent) carb concentrations without problems. The benefit is a bigger dose of energy per bottle. When preparing a drink, you may want to try different concentrations to find the strongest one that causes no problems. Of course, experiment during training rides, not in important events.

To be effective, an energy drink should deliver about 40 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour. Check the ingredients and consider avoiding products that contain fructose (many do). This is a slow-absorbing sugar that causes stomach distress in some riders. Look instead for sucrose, glucose, or glucose polymers. The last consist of several glucose molecules linked together. This chain is absorbed quickly, as if it were a single molecule, but it breaks up in your bloodstream to give you the benefit of several glucose molecules instead of just one.

For rides longer than 2 ½ to 3 hours, you also want solid food. There are numerous commercial energy bars to choose from, plus good high-carb foods such as bagels, fig bars, bananas, or dried fruit. Unlike drinks, these choices do not enhance hydration. Drink plenty of water with them.

Fat Facts

Next to carbohydrate, fat is your body's best fuel. It's particularly useful on long, steady rides when intensity is low. But don't assume that this gives you license to eat all the ice cream and french fries you want.

True, body fat is important for storing vitamins and providing insulation. But in excess, it's one of the biggest health risks imaginable. It increases susceptibility to heart disease, high blood pressure, certain cancers, and diabetes.

We all have plenty of stored fat and, in fact, most of us have too much. While we can store only limited amounts of glycogen, we can stockpile unlimited fat. Remember, though, that fat can be burned only in the presence of glucose. For these reasons, what we need is more carbohydrate, not more fat.

Any kind of food can turn into body fat if you eat too much. But not surprisingly, the most likely source of body fat is dietary fat. Compared with protein and carbohydrate, dietary fat has more than twice as many calories (nine per gram rather than four), and it appears to be stored more readily.

For optimal health and performance, nutritionists recommend that you derive no more than 30 percent of your total calories from fat, and no more than 10 percent from the saturated fats found primarily in animal products. The remainder should be the unsaturated form that comes from vegetable oils, nuts, and grains.

One way to ensure a low fat intake is to check nutrition labels and select foods with less than 3 grams of fat per 100 calories. If this information isn't plainly listed, you can calculate the fat percentage this way: Look on the label for the grams of fat per serving. Multiply this number by nine, then divide the result by the calories per serving. The result is the percentage of calories from fat. For example, one serving of a popular cheese spread has 80 calories and 6 grams of fat. So, 6 grams of fat 3 9 calories per gram of fat 5 54 fat calories; and 54 fat calories ÷ 80 total calories 5 67.5 percent calories from fat. (To figure a food's percentage of calories from carbohydrate or protein, multiply the number of grams by four instead of nine. Then divide by total calories.)

Trim fat from your diet by reducing your intake of animal foods. When you do consume them, select lean cuts of meat, skinless poultry, and nonfat dairy products. You should also cut down on butter and margarine, salad dressings, and hydrogenated and tropical oils (prevalent in many baked goods).

Interestingly, the fitter you are, the better you burn fat. A well-trained body is capable of delivering more oxygen into the muscles, thus increasing the rate of fat metabolism and sparing some glycogen stores.

The Right Way to Reduce

Looking for long-term weight loss that will improve your cycling performance? Then trash the crash diets. Sure, some weight (mostly water and lean body mass) may come off quickly, but it usually returns just as fast.

To take off fat--and keep it off--you must make two permanent (and almost painless) lifestyle commitments. The first is easy: exercise. Make time to ride. Don't let yourself go more than 2 days without it. Studies show that you can stay trim with as little as 3 hours of exercise per week.

The second commitment is harder: Cut calories. The best way isn't eating less, but reducing fat intake. In the average American diet, nearly 40 percent of all calories come from fat. Trim this to 20 to 30 percent, and you're almost guaranteed to lose weight.

Remember, fat is twice as calorie-dense as protein or carbohydrate. So as long as your foods aren't fatty, you can eat plenty and still keep your calorie intake relatively low. For example, in a study at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, subjects were put on either a 40 percent or 15 percent fat diet and allowed to eat all they wanted. Both groups ate similar amounts, but those in the 15-percent group averaged 700 fewer daily calories.

Protein Precautions

Cyclists do require more protein than sedentary people. But this doesn't mean you have to increase your protein intake. In fact, you're probably already getting more than you need.

One reason that cyclists need extra protein is for fuel. Once muscles have depleted their primary energy source (carbohydrate), they begin using protein. "Protein can be a small but significant source of energy--about 5 to 10 percent of total energy needs," according to researcher Michael J. Zackin, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. "Protein calories become increasingly important in carbohydrate-depleted states. If you train more than an hour a day and begin to deplete glycogen stores, you become increasingly dependent on body protein for energy."

Though results vary widely, Dr. Zackin says that cycling may raise your protein requirements 20 to 90 percent beyond the U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). The RDA is 0.363 grams of protein per pound of body weight. For a 130-pound woman, this is about 47 grams per day. Add the 20 to 90 percent, and the daily protein need rises to 56 to 89 grams.

That may seem like a lot, but most active people are already at these levels or beyond. This was illustrated in a study of eight highly trained women cyclists. Though their diets fell short of recommended values for several nutrients, their protein intake was 145 percent of the RDA. High protein levels simply aren't hard to reach. For instance, 3 ounces of meat, fish, or poultry contains 21 grams of protein. A cup of beans has 14 grams, 3 tablespoons of peanut butter has 12, and a cup of nonfat milk contains 9. All of this adds up quickly. In fact, the average American consumes 100 grams of protein per day.

So unless you're a strict vegetarian or chronic dieter, you probably don't need to increase your protein intake. Instead, worry about where your protein comes from. The best sources are low in fat and include a healthy dose of complex carbohydrate. Muscles are built by work, not extra protein, and work is best fueled by carbohydrate.

Some low-fat, high-protein choices include whole grains, beans, vegetables, fish, skinless poultry, soy products, lean cuts of meat, and nonfat dairy products. Even vegetarians can get plenty of high-quality protein with a varied diet combining grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs.

Overall, nutritionists say that about 15 percent of your diet should be protein calories. But don't sweat it. This is one nutrition goal that you'll reach without even trying.

Do You Need Supplements?

If you're eating a well-balanced diet, you almost certainly get all of the vitamins and minerals that you need. A cyclist's vitamin and mineral requirements are no greater than those of a sedentary person, according to nutritionist Ellen Coleman, author of Eating for Endurance. "Remember, vitamins do not provide a direct source of energy. Their only purpose is to help people with nutritional deficiencies stemming from poor diets."

No research has found that taking supplements improves performance in well-nourished cyclists. On the other hand, some substances can actually accumulate in the body to dangerous levels if taken in large quantities. Too much niacin, for example, can cause rashes, nausea, and diarrhea. It can also interfere with your body's ability to burn fat for fuel. This forces you to use glycogen at a faster rate, with makes you fatigue quicker during a ride.

At about a dime per pill, a daily vitamin/mineral supplement is often viewed as cheap insurance. So go ahead if you want to be sure that all bases are covered. But if you're feeling tired or your performance is slipping, don't expect supplements to help. The cause is probably too much training or eating too little carbohydrate, not the lack of some vitamin. "When people feel better after taking vitamin and mineral supplements, it's usually due to the strength of their belief that they'll help--the placebo effect," Coleman notes.

Cycling and Burning Calories

How many calories does cycling burn? That's a tough question. All the variables that can occur during a ride--uphills, downhills, headwinds, tailwinds--plus the type of bike you're riding, the surface you're on, and the speed you're going can cause swings in calorie consumption. Still, weight-conscious cyclists want to know. This chart, developed for Bicycling magazine by James Hagberg, Ph.D., professor of kinesthesiology at the University of Maryland in College Park, answers the question for the most significant variable: speed. It's well-known that the energy used in cycling varies dramatically as wind resistance changes. Simply choose your average speed, multiply your body weight by the coefficient for that speed, and you'll have a close approximation of the number of calories that you burn per minute. Going uphill adds to the energy cost. Coasting downhill burns no extra calories, of course, but the combination of going up and then down always uses more energy than riding on flat ground. In general, add an additional 20 calories for every 100 feet of elevation gain during a ride (an average value for a cyclist and bike with a combined weight of 150 pounds). CALORIE CONSUMPTION AVG SPEED (MPH) COEFFICIENT (CAL/LB/MIN) 8 0.0295 10 0.0355 12 0.0426 14 0.0512 15 0.0561 16 0.0615 17 0.0675 18 0.0740 19 0.0811 20 0.0891 21 0.0975 23 0.1173 24 0.1411