chandltp

Well, that "kooky diet" controls my appetite very well. It also controls my reactive hypoglycemia better than anything else. But I don't understand why all the real food (meats, nuts, vegetables) I'm eating is kooky compared to highly processed grain products commonly found in other diets.

Jseis 

I was a habitual high protein low carb eater and it simply does not work for cycling unless you are only base training at really mild levels and...it can be a a gout trigger. Happened to me.

howsteepisit

There are many variations of low carb eating other than Atkins. some are more lenient of carbohydrates than others. From what I have seen, there are major differences in the fat content, ranging from Atkins which pretty much said ignore everything and eat up to about 100 grams of carb per day after induction, as long as you stay in ketosis and feel good, to Sears 40/30/30 magic ratios. But in the end, you have to find what works for you and for what intensities you wish to ride at. I lost about 70 pounds on a medically supervised very low calorie low carb diet, and pretty much felt good the entire time. But as I drifted back to eating pasta and lots of breads, I gained it all back. That was 4 years after the program ended though. my current thoughts are that you will do pretty well to count you calories, eat lean meats, lots of fruits and vegetable and restrict you starchy food like breads and pastas. Avoid simple sugars like the plague unless your are engaging in exercise when the sugar is ingested. I am losing 2 pound a week with just under 2000 calories a day plus 1 -2 hours of cycling 5 days a week, 3 days with some kind of intervals, the rest just Z2 and 3 pedaling.

As always your milage will vary.

Looigi

A well balanced diet with lots of variety has a long well established history of being best. Certainly there are some medical conditions that require avoidance of certain specific antagonists, but otherwise it's not good to over emphasize one particular food group and you can certainly eat a well balanced diet without eating overly processed foods. IMO eating a lopsided diet because it makes it easy to lose weight is not a worthwhile tradeoff if it can be avoided, and I have been able to avoid it while losing considerable weight.

ericm979

You're probably fine, but if you're concerned record what you eat for three days. Then you get the fun task of deciding what is enough protein for an endurance athlete. Learned opinions vary by at least a factor of 2.

A diet with complex carbs, veggies, beans, nuts and fruit that I'm not allergic to (sigh) along with eggs and dairy seems to work ok for me, especially since I train about 650 hours a year.

Carbo loading is an old theory. It was done for marathoners before they figured out that they could consume sports drink and gels during races. The idea was to not eat any carbs for a few days, then the day before the event eat carbs. The idea was that you would supercompensate and store more glycogen that way. But the depletion phase is unpleasant, and it doesn't seem to work significantly better than simply eating a decent meal the night before.

Carbonfiberboy 

My rule of thumb is that if my legs don't hurt on the bike, I'm getting enough protein. I mean constant pain, not lactate.

DataJunkie

Usually my legs throb like crazy in the morning when I have not eaten enough protein. I can't seem to recover properly and as a vegetarian this has been a giant pita.

ThermionicScott 

Obviously you're not eating enough hummus with that.

Carbonfiberboy 

Whey protein if you're not a vegan. If so, soy protein if your guts can handle it. Then there's hemp protein. I haven't tried it, the protein. Outside of whey and soy it gets expensive and usually nasty tasting. I use ON flavored whey. Touring in the Czech Republic I had to suck it up and eat meat. Some of that was nastier than the worst veggie protein.

chandltp

So what does a well balanced diet consist of?

tastest

I have been able to lose weight, around 230 to 185, and maintain, using atkins/low carb. Overall eating better as vegetables and salads rather than breads and pastas. Not even close to a racer so no comment on that. I do consume carbs when riding. May not be needed, but works for me for longer 3+ hour rides. No impact on weight if limit to consuming while riding.

Doohickie

As someone who's done a low-carb diet (though not Atkins), the "have more energy" thing comes from shedding the extra weight. The first few weeks (Phase I/Induction/whatever the diet calls it) actually leaves dieters sapped for energy until their bodies start to more readily metabolize from fat reserves.

DataJunkie

+1
I eat quite a bit of whey. Good stuff.

DataJunkie

Meaning whey has helped me quite a bit. Still looking at improving my recovery.

Machka 

These might help to answer your question.
https://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-gu.../index-eng.php
https://www.health.gov.au/internet/ma...uide-index.htm

We were taught nutrition in school growing up ... I'm guessing you didn't live in a country that taught such things?

chandltp

At least in our country (USA), the government regulations are heavily influence by big agriculture and food corporations. That's combined with studies based on bad science. It promotes processed carbohydrates as healthy, just because it has "whole grain" on the label. So the nutrition taught in our school systems is garbage, because it's based off of corrupt recommendations.

chandltp

I was curious to find out the history of recommendations in the USA, and I found this wikipedia article. Not as many as I thought. It seems the "Basic Four" was the longest standing advice.

Carbonfiberboy 

I was taught the Basic 7. "There are those" who say that the food pyramid was built not at the behest of nutritionists, but rather at the behest of agribusiness. Note the date on the MyPlate, a much better standard IMO. I love me some long naked arms.

charbucks

I've always wondered if that was the case. Either that, or simply getting out of the habit of overeating might boost energy... I know if I stuff myself, I feel sluggish for a while.

I don't want to lose weight, but I'd be happy to have more energy and magically cure my asthma. However, I think those are side effects of weight loss, not modified diet. I haven't come across any proof that cutting carbs has health benefits for people who are already at a healthy weight.

chandltp

I don't recall the specific documentary (I've seen too many), but they interviewed the a creator of the food pyramid (IIRC, there was a group of people). She said it got sent off for approval, and when it came back she barely recognized it. Here first thought was, "this is going to make people fat". The processed grains at the base (breads, pasta, crackers, etc) were an addition, and were originally in the "eat sparingly" section at the top.

I don't recall if vegetables or grains were the base though. I really wish I remember which documentary that
was.

Here's an article I found that says basically the same thing as the documentary I watched:
https://blog.friendseat.com/food-pyra...uption-part-1/

KirkBeiser

This is my opinion also. ATkins seems to work because there are so many easy to eat snacks that are absolutely terrible for you. Some that are considered healthy alternatives are mostly just empty calories with low nutritional value. Getting rid of those regardless of Atkins should make you feel better and lose weight. Getting rid of all of the sugary drinks (carbs) should make you feel better also. The balanced diet (with less crap) advice is probably the best but balanced diet is a bit of a vague term. I cook most of my own food and I try to start with fresh meat and produce instead of prepackaged crap. Carbs are definitely part of the meal though.

I have a different background than most though since I've been on a gluten free diet (for celiacs) for the last couple of years. I was a complete disaster before I started this and basically never had any energy.

chandltp

Out of curiosity, what type of snacks are you referring to?

KirkBeiser

Which common snacks containing flour are good for you is a better question? I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat bread or baked snacks but for the most part they are empty calories that have very little nutritional content. Moderation is the key but even the food pyramid that everyone (US) was taught as children has way too many grains especially since there are very few foods that contain anything resembling whole grains.

chandltp

I'm guessing that's not directed at me, since my response was regarding Atkins snacks.. grain products of any time wouldn't be a common Atkins snack.

Editted to add:

But as far as I'm concerned, there are no snacks containing flour that are good for you. Many (or most) snacks that have a multiple item ingredient list on the bag, box, or wrapper aren't good for you.

KirkBeiser

Looking back through the thread I think we're in agreement but you misunderstood what I said.
I'm not talking about Atkins snacks here. I'm talking about the Atkins diet basically cutting out snacks that are high in carbs. Any diet that cuts out a lot of snacks that are high in carbs should show fairly significant results imo. Imo Atkins goes too far and demonizes carbs. Good carbs are not evil.