Alright...this is going to turn into a beer and cigarettes thread fairly quickly, but:

We all talk alot about parts, and riding strategies, and lifestyle....but we rarely mention food. Its obviously a very important aspect to getting in decent shape for riding/racing.

anyone a dietician? hahaha...but seriously, does anyone know how you should be eating at meals along with riding to maximize getting into good shape?

i'm asking cuz personally, i ****ing love and cherish good eating.

ps....a vegetarian friendly regiment would be awesome!...but i guess let the meat eaters know also....

vegan and put 9 hours a day everyday on my bike with no ill effects. must be doing something right. falafel and bagels.

-jason

i have found a nice milkshake or some icecream after a long hard ride (sorry to all the vegans inthe house) is a killer way to get your muscles the protien they apparently desire after a something like a hard ride... you can spend alot more on recovery drinks and nonsense like that but apparently choclate milk is just as good.

generally though i eat pretty badly, just try to compensate by riding a lot, which leads to eating badly.

luckily i love eating and biking so it usually works itself out.

I learning right now that it's entirely possible to double your mileage and GAIN WEIGHT. So I think that eating must be part of the equation. DUH.

I don't drink much, don't eat too much meat (my wife keep that under control).

Also, I eat a lot of cereal. People think that's good for you but they're wrong. I eat too much cereal.

Full vegetarian for 12 years

-plus-

alot of beer.

Yeah, i don't put nearly 9 hours on a bike everyday, but with increased riding (i usually do two or three evenings a week up in central park) i definitely find myself eating constantly.

anyway...to all those messengers who put in full-time days...how many times do you eat during the day?

oh, I try to stay away from cookies (god, i love cookies).

This is a typical day:

Ride to work 4 miles
Breakfast
2 Egg Whites with a slice of Swiss Cheese on Whole Wheat toast.

Lunch
Some steamed dumplings or udon.

Ride home (usually stretch it out by doing a lap or two in the Central Park) 12 +/- miles.

Dinner
Curry white Fish with some rice and grilled brocolli.

After Dinner
A beer or two, maybe a cup of esspresso. and small dessert

BTW I am 6'2 175lbs

I think the best advice about eating is watch your portions no matter how "good for you" the food is, also try to stay away from anything processed.

Good Luck.....

ive lost about 10 lbs in the last 2-3 months since ive started riding again this season. although riding the past 2 weeks have decreased due to injury and f-ing weather i generally ride around 100 miles a week and i plan to increase this in the coming months. i also changed eating habits - lots of fruit, veggies white meats and fish. cut down on the drinking a lot (i cant stand waking up to a hangover anymore. id rather ride for 50 miles) and that seems to help, although beer is a great recovery drink. just take everything in moderation. self control is key. take it easy dont be too serious because that takes the fun out of it. i general you are going to know what is good and bad for you, the hard part is making the best decision. cheers.

breakfast--coffee, yogurt, banana

ride to work--11 miles

midmorning--yogurt

lunch--1/4 lb sesame tofu, bagel, vegan cookie, half quart of skim milk--OR salad with falafel balls or tuna

midafternoon--banana

ride home--11 miles or more dependin'

dinner--usually pasta with tuna occasionally (don't want to stew in mercury!), salad, lots of wine
vegetarian pizza or veggie burger about once a week

5'8", 130 lbs.

non-smoker

How do you get fat? I was eating 5 avocados a week (that's 350grams each of fat. though 300 was monounsaturated which is impossible to store, you only burn it really). I jumped ship from vegan after a year because I lost 30lbs and I was already at my ideal weight (according to BMI). so yeah the last two weeks involve me adding ice cream and cheese to my diet. I feel like I can't be vegan again unless my metabolism slows down.
edit: let me rephrase. I was ideal. Now I'm too skinny. I'm not eating fatty dairy-based foods to gain weight. yeah.

As a fellow love to eater. I think I should throw in my food thoughts.

Eat organic bull****-free food. Smaller portions, because your stomache will adapt. Don't eat after 9. Don't eat diet/light food. Drink a **** ton of water. Just try to get a good mix of everything in there.

This is probably the closest I will ever get to a loose-weight-diet, because that **** is fake.

if you're vegetarian be sure to supplement with vit. B12 and folate, especially if you're a woman. a lot of soymilks are fortified.

i think a good rule of thumb is the fewer added ingredients in something the better.

When I'm working it's generally only about twice a day with a crap load of coffee and water in between and maybe a small snack in the afternoon.

Ok so I have the worst diet ever basically revolving around meat, carbs, dairy and booze. I am in fact the anti-vegan. However this doesn't mean I don't wanna eat healthy, I just despise the taste of most vegetables. Most of the products I buy are organic and free range. Do any of the vegans or veggies here have some good, HEALTHY, recipies that if they involve veggies aren't all nast (aka squishy and foul smelling). I like a lot of raw fruits and vegs (carrots, peppers, string beans, etc) however as soon as I cook them yuck. Fixedpip and his wonderful ladyfriend have been slowly introducing me to the joys of good meatless meals however I'm a slow learner.

Vegetarian for 21+ years, here's how it's done:

Make sure you get some fat in your diet, since your body needs it. Timing on this doesn't matter so much.
If you're already at the weight you want, get some carbs before riding, since they give you energy, otherwise avoid them.
Protein after every ride. If you're trying to build muscle, then shoot for x grams a day total, where x is the number of pounds you weigh. Otherwise 50-80 grams a day to maintain what you've got.

Tofu is great for a fast meal. Open and drain the package, chop it up, put some soy sauce and olive oil on it, and eat.
If you're not a vegan, cheese is your friend. Soy milk is too, but not cow milk. Always get wheat instead of white. Read labels.

i'm neither, but i think any way you can make vegetables appealing is more healthy than processed stuff.

one of my favorites is to cut up a head of cauliflower, douse it in olive oil and parmesan cheese (like i said, healthy is relative). you can control how "good for you" it is by how much oil and cheese you use. put it in a baking pan in the oven at 400 for about a half hour or until the parmesan is brown and crispy. tastes so good you'll forget it's cauliflower.

edit: oh yeah, garlic

I forgot about that. Water is a natural steroid (at least that's what a former power-lifter friend of mine told me). If you're not properly hydrated your muscles don't reubild right, so drink lots of it before, during and after rides.

There's a story on an endurance mountain bike champ who is also a strict vegan in this month's Dirt Rag.

the protein advice is awesome. I didn't know that about body weight and grams per day. Being veg its definitely harder to aquire, but i'm gonna start focusing on that. I usually base my diet around a 2000 calorie a day give or take 100 or so. I do the smaller portions as well.

my usual day is something like this:

Oatmeal
ride to work: 3 miles
Gym
Banana
Small Sandwhich with hummus and fake meat for lunch w/COOKIES!!
clif bar/pb&J sandwhich
ride home: 3 miles
Dinner: pasta dish with eggplants/zucchini/mushrooms, or rice and beans, or lentils....i love cooking..it varies.
Post-dinner dinner: rice cakes w/pb&j

Then three times a week, add 2 laps around central park to the excercise of riding and gyming.
i feel hungry constantly though. I wanna get up to 100 mile weeks. I'm almost there with leisure riding and stuff.

I'm amazed. So far there's been no mention of chocolate or pie in this thread. IMO, both are required for healthy living.

When choosing for your next meal, look at or visualize each possible food item and ask yourself if you're really hungry for it. Your body will tell you. Don't eat something because you are bored, or you have always eaten it at that time of day, or it's part of some diet formula, or the package is pretty, etc.

Get organic, free range, minimally processed food. Avoid stuff that's good in your mouth and then it tries to kill you. Zip stuff up with spice, not sugar and fat. (Yay Penzey's!)

Do not quench your thirst with beer. Have some apple juice or water first. If you want beer after that, treat yourself. If you drink too much, chase it with lots of water so your body can get rid of the toxins.

Drink lots of water between meals. Don't guzzle during meals.

Don't starve yourself. You'll become ravenous and then eat all the wrong things.

Word on this. You've got a basic numbers game going and too much processed food tricks your senses. I've noticed that if I really listen, my cravings will tell me what I need to add to stay balanced.

When I have been training 4+ hours a day in the past, bagels with butter and then peanut butter were the only thing that kept me from completely wasting away.

randy - where do you factor in the 3-4 slices of cake per week from Atlas? if you came over to eat dinner with me when i invite you i'd help you out bro! we cook good stuff! and healthy!

you need more greens. eat leafy greens (collard, mustard, chard, kale) at least twice a week. make sure you get some iron! if you have one, cook stuff in a cast iron skillet to get extra iron. don't cook veggies down too much. also, get some flax seeds and sprinkle them in the greens when ya cook em. flax has omega 3 fatty acids that are absent in most vegan food. plus they taste good.

get some nutritional yeast fortified with b12 and put it on everything. it's tasty so that shouldn't be a problem. it also provides amino acids. don't buy it from bulk bins though cause exposure to a lot of light can deplete the b12 in it from what i've been told.

in the mornings i usually eat oatmeal with some fruit (bananas mostly) and little brown sugar and/or a bagel with a little margarin and nutritional yeast. also get some raw nuts, not roasted, to eat during and after rides for good protein and other stuff. almonds are the best. chickpeas are also good. i usually make at least one big batch of hummus a week and eat it all week for a snack.

lunch is my weakness. i rarely eat lunch cause i'm out and about, and when i do it's usually garbage.

but yeah, we should get an NYC pot luck ride or dinner ride together soon.

edit: oh, also drink a ton of water. 65 ounces a day is a good goal, more if you're sweating a lot. get a nalgene (or similar product if nalgene manufacturing devices to hold animals for testing bothers you), it makes it easy to keep track.

also,in regards to the person mentioning free range. free range is a crock. i'm not saying you shouldn't buy free range, just don't be under the illusion that just because it's free range it's vastly more humane.

My girlfriend is a holistic health counselor. She tells me what to eat.

here's an average rundown of my diet

Breakfast: hemp granola, bagel w/ tofutti better than cream cheese, or peanut butter sandwich & banana
Lunch: salad w/ flax seed oil & balsamic vinegar, veggie burger or tofurky sandwich
Dinner: pasta w/ vegan meatballs, veggie & seitan stir fry over rice, or vegan grilled cheese & tomato soup

i'm 5'7" and 149lbs

also, everyone eating all this fake meat stuff. learn how to make and manipulate seitan at home. most tofutti and fake meat stuff is insanely processed and contains all kindsa nastiness. if you get some wheat flour or gluten flour you can make your own at home, know exactly what is going into it, season it how you want, and make a LOT more for your money.

that said, i love that tofurky sausage stuff!