New to road riding, always hungry.
 

I've taken to road biking quite a bit in the last month or so and have been doing 35-45 mile rides now 3-4 days a week for the last week or two. I've noticed my appetite is massive now and I'm starting to put more thought into what I should eat to keep my energy level up.

People in other threads mention certain amounts of carbs and proteins but I guess I'm more needing to know what foods in particular are these that have protein, carbs, etc and what combination is best to keep me going good.

Also, should I be paying attention to the amount of calories I'm taking in? I don't know how many calories 2-3 hours of riding burns but for the rest of the day after a ride I feel I could just eat non-stop.

Cool, isn't it?

I just got back into cycling last summer after 15 years of being a computer geek and sitting on my ass all day. I'm basically hungry all the time, I'm eating just about anything that doesn't run faster than me and I've lost 12 lbs.

If you're worried about it, you can find some tools online that estimate how many calories you burn bicycling at X mph for Y min. But, I'd recommend just making sure that what you eat is reasonably healthy and varied, stay away from saturated fats as much as possible and try to get some carbs and protein into yourself in the first 30-60 minutes after a ride. Meats, dairy, beans and nuts tend to be high in protein. Grains and fruits tend to be high in carbohydrates. A PB&J and a glass of milk is usually my "recovery food".

Eat an entire bag of edamame (soybeans in the pod) on riding days. 250 calories, 10g fiber, 20g proteinn. And so good for you.
Eat a bag on off days too.

Eat a lot of green leafy veggies (dark leaf salad, broccoli, asparagus and others) to replace all the minerals you lose riding.

Focus on nutrient rich, whole grain foods.

Fruits are good too, I love eating fruit. Fresh apricots, bananas, oranges, pears, dried apricots etc.

Dried apricots actually have more potassium than a banana(or so I have heard) so they are good as a before/during ride snack to help protect against cramps.

Eat lots of complex carbs like bread, pasta, cereals, rice, etc. Simple carbs are good too(as far as I know simple carbs are sugars).

I don't really know what ratio of carbs to protein is good for you, I kind of just eat anything in very large quantities.

Make sure you are getting lots of high quaility fats hemp oil or udos blend also you will get more from your food if you have lots of friendly bacteria in the stomac organic yougurt and raw food miso kimchee all are good also look into a multiviatmin supplement as well as micro mineral replacement our food is grown on very empty soil it is almost impossible to get everything you need from a balanced diet part of your hunger is because your body is craving nutrients not calories

What are you eating before you go out for your ride, and what do you eat during your ride?

Koffee

Ewww!

i eat breakfast (usually a veggie burger or oatmeal with a fruit (orange or bananna) then I ride, and I usualy eat clif/builder bars on the ride, or more fruits and/or a bagel...i dunno, works for me, pbj pretty often too...veganism will do that to you...

-jason

Usually I ride in the mornings before work so I'll eat a bowl of cheerios and maybe a bannana. During my rides I don't eat anything but the last two 40 milers I did I took a power bar and at about the half way point I ate about half of it and that really seemed to help.

Thanks for the replys. I've been trying to eat foods that don't have a lot of steps in their production and upping the amount of fruit I eat and that seems to be really helping.