Wesley36

These days I am all about stuff from Feed Zone Portables - especially the bitter chocolate and sea salt sticky bites (the base is oats and rice). Easy to make, and easy to eat on the bike (using their awesome ice cube tray and saran wrap technique). I like Brendan Brazier's various energy bar recipes, but these are harder to package to be mess-free in the pockets and easy to eat on the bike.

https://running.competitor.com/2013/0...arunners_79435

Wesley36

Just read this article the other day, seems relevant:

https://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/04/be...arketing-hype/

It reviews a number of articles, but here is the summary:

Ygduf

I'm screwed because the first week I ever tried the stuff, I won my race that weekend in a 60mi solo and 2-man break. Sold! I'm as unbiased a beetroot drinker as parents are regarding their newborns.

Enthalpic

My big issue with beetroot supplementation is that I don't think people have adequately addressed the nitrosamines issue. Nitrates (in processed meats) are quickly reduced to nitrites by bacteria on the tongue and get blamed for cancers. Supplementing with meat preservatives would be quickly rejected (but it works https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17635415 ) so people used beets to make it appear healthier.

Wesley36

Seems a reasonable way to go. The data is unclear at this point - it benefits some more than others, and does not seem to benefit some people at all, but it is clear that for at least some people some of the time, there is a performance boost. It does not seem to harm anyone, as far as I can tell (except people with allergies, I suppose...).

Personally, beets are plentiful and inexpensive right now (a 10lb bag is $4 at the farmers market down the road), and there are plenty of nutritional benefits to drinking beet juice even without performance claims, so I have been making beets a prominent part of my daily juicing (got a juicer a couple of months ago). I will likely keep adding beets to my daily juice, as they also store well over the winter.

PS I could be mistaken, but I was under the impression that beets were protective against at least some cancers - I think beets give more than just an appearance of being healthier than processed meats

Fat Boy

If people thought it'd make them TT faster, I'm not sure I'd take that bet.

mike868y

was riding with a few cat 1s the other day...who made a lot of jokes about me looking skinny and commented that "no one under 120lbs is allowed to ride with them anymore."

saw 122lbs on the scale today.

all good signs, especially if i can maintain throughout my january trip.

also very happy with all the nutritional changes i've made (thanks to rkwaki and others). cutting out diary and for a large part gluten (with the exception of ride food and oatmeal which has a minuscule amount of gluten) and dairy have been awesome choices and i feel better than i ever have. i'm also eating more in rides than i ever have, allowing me to finish long rides stronger, and post ride protein is greatly helping my recovery.

revchuck 

Beanpole!

dnuzzomueller

Uhhhhhhhh......have you ever met Mikey? Definitely light but I don't think many would call him a "beanpole"

(I am sorry to poke fun at you mikey )

revchuck 

Nope. It's hard to imagine a 122 lb. guy with Dunlap disease, though.

mike868y

at 5'2" i was pretty chub last season. hoping to change that for 2014!

rkwaki

At 5'10.5" tall I am literally twice as heavy as you!!!

revchuck 

Got it. I'd hate to be behind you in a paceline. I'm 6'2", and you'd be worthless to draft off of.

thechemist

So who has some good coconut oil recipes?

I am excited for lunch today: spinach salad, olive oil,grapes,tomatoes,salmon,almonds,some cheese.

rkwaki

We cook a lot of stuff with cocnut oil.
If you are looking for a good cookbook try this one:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/listin...-2690719486912

We have found that the recipes work for the entire family (kids included)

thechemist

Perfect!

ovoleg

dude I would be going to the bathroom non-stop !! I might try drinking way more water tho and see how it works for me.

rkwaki

Don't try, just do it....

dnuzzomueller

Rkwaki: What is your take on the whole "Coconut Oil is unhealthy!" thing? I am more of the ilk: Use everything in moderation, coconut oil is no different then olive oil (I know that technically speaking it has more saturated)

Yeah and the water thing is.....hard. At about 3/4 of a gallon I begin to feel like I am going to have water gushing out through my eyes.

mike868y

i tracked my water consumption one day and was around 2 gallons, including my ride.

rkwaki

Don't know. We tend to use pans that don't stick and use cocnut oil to add some flavor to things like beans, asparagus and some other greens.
I agree that anything in moderation should be fine with the exception of meth, heroin and cocaine...

lenA

"Coconut Oil is unhealthy!"

Brought to you by the 'Corn Growers of America'

Fat Boy

I think you should actually rethink this bit of advice. https://www.outsideonline.com/blog/ou...ce-sports.html

Fat Boy

I use a lot of coconut oil. It's good stuff from both a taste and health standpoint. I firmly believe that saturated fats are not the boogie-man they've been made out to be, nor is cholesterol.

The studies that have shown saturated fats to be a problem lumped man-made trans fats (Crisco) and naturally occurring saturated fats together. The man-made stuff causes all sorts of problems, but saturated fats from plants (coconut, palm, etc.) and naturally fed animals (grass-fed beef, etc.) are fundamentally different and they do not seem to be an issue. Saturated fats can be superior to unsaturated oils for cooking because they are much more heat stable and therefore don't form carcinogens when heated to normal cooking temps. Olive oil is great stuff for salads, but you have to be careful when using it for cooking because it's easy to get it too hot. If it's smoking, you're making bad things to put into your body (that goes for any oil).

Enthalpic

I second Fatboys comments about saturated fat's being demonized due to clumping with trans fats, and the desirability of high smoke-point oils for cooking.

I'll add that saturated fatty acids of various chain lengths metabolize very differently even though they are all called saturated fats. Coconut oil contains a lot of medium chain fatty acids which metabolize much differently than long chain saturated fatty acids found in most meats. Short fatty acids can go straight from the intestines to the liver via the portal vein whereas long chain fatty acids must travel through the lymph.