In season fueling, and breaking bad eating habits

[roseyscot]

Now that the weather is nicer, I'm logging more than just commuting miles and my metabolism is noticing. I feel like I'm constantly shoving food in my mouth, but I don't really scrutinize what/when/how I eat which is probably a big part of why I feel a constant hunger. Here is my common food routine

• banana and maybe a yogurt in the morning, before riding 1.5 hours
• maybe a granola bar during the ride
• big bowl of cereal at work after the ride (either cheerios or special k)
• snack on pretzels
• peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a microwave burrito
• more snacking on pretzels or goldfish
• ride home, usually 1-1.5 hours
• dinner (usually chicken or fish or pork and veggies like kale and broccoli and carrots or a pasta and sausage type dish or a quinoa and veggie medley)
• post dinner snacking once the boys are asleep (depends on what's in the house, sometimes cookies, or sugar candies like twizzlers and sour patch kids, or tortilla chips, pretzels, etc)

What are other high mileage (200+ during the week) riders eating to keep themselves satisfied? I'm pretty content with my weight (6'1" 175) and it really never fluctuates more than 5 pounds, so I'm not concerned about too many calories. I'm more interested in eating things that will

• properly fill me up
• help me recover well between rides
• keep me from snacking on pretzels, goldfish, and tortilla chips at 10 at night

[robin3mj]

That's a lot of daily time on the bikes, but the snacking seems to be kinda carb-heavy, with empty calories.
Maybe swap out some of the pretzels and goldfish for an apple or some veg?

I keep carrots in the fridge at work and eat a bag or two per week, instead of trips to the vending machine.

I try not to eat after dinner, but sometimes if there's snacks left over from a weekend or a party, I find my hands in a bag of pretzels. I avoid this by not keeping anything in the house, or just having a glass of milk before bed.

[marley]

Replace the snacks(pretzels) with nuts

[Britishbane]

I'd try to eat more and better in the morning were I you. Its easier for me to eat after an early morning ride rather than before (I'm just not hungry first thing in the morning). Being that you are at work, I'd guess your options are rather limited, but more protein couldn't hurt. Perhaps a drink with some sort of protein powder or what have you?

[Matthew Strongin]

Replace the snacks(pretzels) with nuts

I second this. I still eat pretzels and other savory goodies (I prefer salty to sweet), but try to limit the quantity. Raw almonds and a piece of fruit are my go to snack and do a good job of filling me up with dense, but good calories. It also looks like your meals are light early in the day and heavy later in the day (at least for how I eat). I try for bigger meals early, right before and after rides/workouts, and then taper down to smaller meals later in the day. I find myself less hungry as the day goes on. One last trick that I use to get my savory fix is to mix in some of my favorite snack foods into my healthy meals in small quantities. For example, I eat a pretty huge salad almost every night. I'll throw in a few goldfish crackers as croutons. I get my goldfish fix, but avoid downing them by the handful like I would if I sat on the couch with that giant carton.

[roseyscot]

good stuff already, thanks. i will definitely move to eating more nuts. a few clarifications too.

- i eat at least one huge bowl of cereal (like half a box), so i'm not skimping (quantity wise) on the breakfast.
- goldfish on the salad sounds gross, but i do like things like canned tuna or chicken, so i'll try to do more of that. and, if i chop up the romaine or green leaf in advance, it makes prepping a salad every night more tolerable
- i'll start bringing carrots to work. i like them anyway
- my company supplies a lot of the food i eat while at the office (the cereal, milk, pretzels, pb&j), which is why it is an even harder habit to break. we have nuts though too, so i'll shift to those

[sonny]

i feel you rosey

my diet is fairly abysmal, but when i manage to lift my head from the trough i try to change my calories around (cuz i'm gonna eat them one way or another) by:

eating more protein (vegetable and animal)
i'll often cook a pot of beans and a big steak that i can eat on through the week

more fibrous grains
tempeh/beans/quinoa/brown rice/farro/millet/random veggies + spice/sauce to dump on top is a common thing resembling a meal for me

more breakfast
more fruit
more eggs
more fat--you can buy some seriously good olive oil at the store these days
good cheese


less chips/pretzels/desserts/cereal/granola

i tend to cheat when i'm on the bike tho
can you say pastry?


i need to lose 3kg tho

[marley]

A fried (use olive oil) egg in the morning with a little cheese can also go a long way to making you feel full. I switched to having an egg before
commuting vs a big bowl of oatmeal w/a scoop of PB or crushed bannana and I can make until 11:00 am before getting hungry again, with oatmeal I was hitting the snacks by 9:30 am. In short mix in some fat/protein to your breakfast.

[ned]

The Feedzone cookbook is a great resource. If you're one who likes to follow cookbooks verbatim, buy it now. Otherwise find a bookstore with a copy and read the entirety of the Introduction. That info alone can guide you.

[Matthew Strongin]

- goldfish on the salad sounds gross, but i do like things like canned tuna or chicken, so i'll try to do more of that. and, if i chop up the romaine or green leaf in advance, it makes prepping a salad every night more tolerable

I thought the same thing when it was suggested to me. Maybe my love of goldfish knows no bounds, but I think it's the greatest advancement in salad technology since the salad spinner. I mix up a chopped head of romaine, some baby spinach, tomatoes, tons of green, red, and yellow peppers, avocado (if they're in season), slivered almonds, and a few other veggies depending on my mood. Add in a protein if I'm not eating something else (canned tuna when lazy, grilled shrimp when not). Toss a small handful of cheddar cheese goldfish and dress it with Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar. It's a big salad that will fill you up with a balance of healthy fats and proteins and plenty of vitamins.

Edit: One other tip I just thought of. I try to never let myself get hungry. I eat on the bike, I eat between meals, I eat small amounts of food constantly. If I can't or don't for some reason and then get hungry, my next meal is always more than I needed of stuff I shouldn't be eating. By avoiding feeling hungry to begin with, I make better choices.

[liv2bike]

I have to feed the tapeworm quite often esp. this time of year. I eat something every 2 hours. Apples, bananas (lots of them), greek yogurt with stuff ie peaches/pineapple/strawberries, granola bars, figs. I make my own trail mix...pecans, almonds, cashews, macadameias, dark chocolate squares, raisins, dried anything, yogurt covered raisins and pretzels. I eat heaps of veggies at night. I avoid breads, cereals, empty calories. I would rather have the occasional beer. Just some of what I do.

[bcm119]

I often get the constant hunger, usually a sugar craving. I've found that protein is usually the deficiency though, not sugar. I consume carbs on the bike and immediately afterward, but then try to eat more nuts/fruit/veggies/protein off the bike. What has made a difference for me is an extra dose of animal protein during the day-- either a couple hard boiled eggs or a can of sardines. I love sardines in olive oil... and they are very nutritious. But a can of tuna might do the trick too. Just one extra serving of animal protein seems to prevent that constant hunger. I pretty much avoid all refined sugars except in dark chocolate, mostly because I drink wine or beer every day and don't need any more empty calories.

[jdhansen63]

The Feedzone cookbook is a great resource. If you're one who likes to follow cookbooks verbatim, buy it now. Otherwise find a bookstore with a copy and read the entirety of the Introduction. That info alone can guide you.

+1
Great book with easy to make healthy recipees and lots of great information about what/when/where/how/why.

[boxerboxer]

A fried (use olive oil) egg in the morning with a little cheese can also go a long way to making you feel full. I switched to having an egg before
commuting vs a big bowl of oatmeal w/a scoop of PB or crushed bannana and I can make until 11:00 am before getting hungry again, with oatmeal I was hitting the snacks by 9:30 am. In short mix in some fat/protein to your breakfast.

I second this, except that I find I really dislike eggs fried in olive oil. If it doesn't bother you it's a good way to go, otherwise I've found coconut oil (which Costco has in giant tubs for very reasonable prices) works well. YMMV.

[marley]

I have been using olive oil with the eggs and on salads (little salt and pepper to bring out the flavor) as means to get more monounsaturated fatty acids in my diet

Never thought about using coconut oil but you have piqued my interest,

[boxerboxer]

I have been using olive oil with the eggs and on salads (little salt and pepper to bring out the flavor) as means to get more monounsaturated fatty acids in my diet

Never thought about using coconut oil but you have piqued my interest,

It's weird, I love it on most things. It's pretty much just eggs that it doesn't agree with, at least to my palate.

[Octave]

Avocado oil is also an excellent alternative - great source of vit E and monosaturated fats and an absurdly high smoke-point (450+f). Adds a really nice flavor and has a great profile.

As for other good foods when it comes to wanting to be full, remember the differences between soluble and insoluble fiber. A diet with some solid soluble fiber can keep you full all day, and let you have much more control over your nutritional profile re: what/where you get your calories from.

[classtimesailer]

My mileage is similar with 2.5 hours of commuting per day. Long weekend ride(s).
Granola in the am.
I take to work: pnut butter and jelly sandwich, a banana, a zip-lock of mixed nuts and dried mulberries, and another zip-lock of mixed carrot sticks and sliced red bell pepper with 2 dates.
Increasingly vegan dinners for me as my wife is a serious nutritional vegan.

Research says that you'll be better off if you substitute ANYTHING fresh/natural for the processed snacks.

[Tom Officer]

Lots of good ideas here...I think you need to change the what and when you are eating and then the amount will change, you'll eat a little less. I avoid as much processed stuff as I can, no cereal, goldfish, cookies or pretzels....my breakfast is a small bowl of fresh fruit, usually cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, etc with a dollop of yogurt, then 2 fried eggs, 2 pieces of a special bakery loaf called holiday bread with some raisins and nuts, black tea or coffee. Mid morning snack is homemade banana bread and a thermos of tea, lunch is a peanut butter sandwich made with rice cakes, a small box of raisins and water, mid afternoon snack is a handful of mixed nuts and apricots or raisins, most training rides I don't eat, but might have a homemade energy bar (see Pez website) and water, after training I'll have a recovery drink (Hammer Recoverite) and then dinner is a salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, etc or sometimes just sliced tomatoes, grated carrots, chopped onions, avocado, with sliced mozzarella and some tuna fish. But remember I'm 135 lbs and I know many of you will say that's not enough protein, but works just fine for me. I take a multi-vitamin, extra vitamin C, D, E and Calcium.

I really think eating more in the morning and a lot less in the evening works best for keeping the hunger pangs away and also for helping recover between workouts better. Also not drinking anything but water or tea/coffee...skip the milk and OJ.

[devlin]

The big one for me was removing anything that has added sugar in the mix and pretty much all processed/packaged foods. Remove the bodies need to get more sugar and the hunger pangs go away and your daily energy is more even. Things like cheerios are pretty much the worst of foods. Also having a small hit of protein in your post ride meal goes along way for recovery for your evening ride. I usually have a quick protein shake when I get to work (watch the sugar content on those) and after the shower etc I go an get an egg and bacon roll without the bacon with my morning coffee. Keeping it simple is the key. No added sugar or anything really.