Healthy nutrition increases longevity and performance. Eating a good diet reduces your risks of the most common health conditions as you age: heart disease including stroke; diabetes; being overweight, which increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes; osteoporosis; and some kinds of cancer. Research suggests what you eat may reduce the risk of dementia; however, no causal link has been established.
Eating the optimal mix of carbs, protein and fat off the bike will improve your performance on the bike. On the bike eating correctly to fuel your different energy systems will increase your endurance and capacity to go harder.
Record snowfalls and you’re sick of the trainer. Now is a good time to review both your daily nutrition and your cycling nutrition. Here’s an annotated list of my columns on different topics.
Daily Nutrition:
Anti-Aging: Nutrition, part 1: Daily Food and Drink
- The different roles of carbohydrates, proteins and fats and healthy choices.
Anti-Aging: Nutrition, part 2: Supplements: Vitamins, Minerals and Antioxidants
- Four key vitamins and minerals when your over 50; the role of supplements; detailed recommendation daily amounts of all vitamins and minerals.
- Simple carbs are bad; hydrate or die and five other myths.
Preventing Bonking with Daily Nutrition
- Daily nutrition and chronic glycogen depletion.
Cycling Nutrition
What’s the Best Food for Cycling?
- Research on regular food vs. sports nutrition; recommended ride nutrition including both sports products and real food.
- The physiology of energy production; what to consume for rides of different lengths.
Anti-Aging: Preventing Bonking and Hitting the Wall,
- Importance of glycogen from carbs; how to conserve glycogen while riding.
Ask the Coach: What Should a Beginning Cyclist Eat and Drink, pt. 1?
- Why carbs are important; which carbs are best.
Pro Nutrition
Learning from the Pros: Cycling Nutrition
- Breakfast; during the stage; fueling the sprint; fueling the time trial.
Eat, Race, Win Lessons from the Tour de France
- Sports food and drink; eating tactically; recovery nutrition
Eat, Race, Win – movie on Amazon
- The movie follows the Orica-Scott team in the 2017 Tour de France as they race to put Yates in the white jersey as the best young rider. Hannah Grant, the chef for the team, narrates the video and shows how her nutrition for the riders supports superb racing.
Hydration
Learning from the Pros: Heat and Hydration
- Why they overheat (it’s not just the sun); what they drink; how they deal with dehydration.
12 Myths About Hydration and Cycling
- Why the following are wrong: drink before your thirsty; water is all you need; sports drinks provide the necessary electrolytes and nine other myths.
Ask the Coach: What Should a Beginning Cyclist Eat and Drink, pt. 2?
- Why you overheat; what to drink and why.
Anti-Aging: Avoiding Dehydration
- How I got dehydrated on a ride and the consequences.
Anti-Aging: 5 Signs You May Be Dehydrated
- As you age your sense of thirst becomes less acute; these signs will help you to compensate.
An Effective and Low-Cost Homemade Sports Drink
- It’s tastier, has more of the electrolytes you need and costs much less than a commercial product.
- Caffeine and performance; caffeine has a minimal diuretic effect.
Recovery Nutrition
Recovery Nutrition for Cyclists
- Recovery nutrition for endurance; role of protein for older riders; timing of recovery nutrition.
Ask the Coach: Best Recovery Food and Drink
- Replacing glycogen and electrolytes; good sources of each.
Experiment of One
I make recommendations based on professional literature, my coaching experience and my personal experience. My recommendations are general; however, each of has different tastes. Winter is a good time to experiment to learn what is optimal for you.
My eBooks
Healthy Nutrition Past 50. My eBook includes:
- The key role of carbohydrates in providing the energy you need and many of the vitamins and minerals.
- How much protein you really need, and nourishing protein choices.
- The important role of fat in your diet, and healthy choices to get that needed fat.
- The principal vitamins and minerals you need.
I discuss how to eat preventively in order to reduce your risks of the most common health conditions as you age: heart disease including stroke; diabetes; being overweight, which increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes; how to reach and maintain a proper weight and osteoporosis. The 31 page Healthy Nutrition Past 50 is $4.99.
Cycling Past 50 bundle includes the eArticles:
- Healthy Nutrition Past 50 – what to eat and drink to support both a healthy lifestyle and continuing performance.
- Healthy Cycling Past 50 – what happens as we age and how to incorporate cycling and other exercise activities into our daily lives to stay healthy and active for many years.
- Performance Cycling Past 50 – how to train to achieve more specific cycling goals given the physiological changes of aging.
- Off-Season Conditioning Past 50 – how to best work on your off-season conditioning given the physiological changes of aging.
The 95-page Cycling Past 50 bundle is $15.96, a $4 saving from purchasing the articles separately.
Eating and Drinking Like the Pros I talked with racers, coaches and cooks to learn what the pros eat and translated this into information every roadie can use. I also give you 12 recipes to make your own sports nutrition. The 15 page Eating and Drinking Like the Pros is $4.99.
Nutrition for 100K and Beyond I explain good endurance nutrition for all roadies. I show how to estimate how many calories per hour you are burning and discuss the different types of fuel and the training implications. I compare the nutritional value of different sports foods and real foods. I discuss hydration and electrolytes. I conclude by explaining what to eat before and after events. The 17 page Nutrition for 100K and Beyond is $4.99
Coach John Hughes earned coaching certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. John’s cycling career includes course records in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200-km randonnée and the Furnace Creek 508, a Race Across AMerica (RAAM) qualifier. He has ridden solo RAAM twice and is a 5-time finisher of the 1200-km Paris-Brest-Paris. He has written over 40 eBooks and eArticles on cycling training and nutrition, available in RBR’s eBookstore at Coach John Hughes. Click to read John’s full bio.
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