Quote:
Originally Posted by rousseau
For these best five months of the year we're currently in I'm riding every day if I can, otherwise 5 or 6 days a week. Some days hard, some days not. I'm not too systematic about it, but I do intervals sometimes, and hard efforts sometimes, and on days when I wake up "feeling it" I take it easy.
This has served me well. I'm 51. And after a lifetime of eating crap food like a teenager, this January I gave up all junk food and extraneous liquids, and concentrated on having good home-cooked meals. It's amazing what whole, healthy food will do for your day-to-day sense of well-being! I don't miss Doritos or Wendy's at all. I've lost two notches on the belt.
I think I'm lucky, actually. Because I had no cravings when I quit smoking ten years ago, and I have no cravings for junk food now. It's a new stage of life for me, and I just feel a sense of detached curiosity at how I used to eat.
But I do enjoy the reward of a recovery drink after riding. Here's what I've currently been doing:
Thing is, I want to fine tune this. I'm thinking I'd like to try a smoothie like this:
This is pretty much a slam dunk, isn't it? Less sugar, bit more protein, closer to a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein? I mean, is there any possible reason why I shouldn't go from the first option to the second one? |
Your shakes sound fine to me, OP. In fact I make a similar one for my wife and I every morning when we get up - which is our breakfast I suppose. I basically fill each of our bullet-type blender cups with: half a banana, a tbsp PB, quarter to half cup uncooked oats, some type of fresh or frozen berries - whatever I have on hand, also some cinnamon, some splenda or saccharin or stevia, ice, and water. I vary it up sometimes with pineapple, or add some kale, or a scoop of whey protein, or whatever.
I like shakes a lot in general, because you can combine a lot of good-for-you ingredients into a compact, easy to drink, low calorie meal. I use these same shakes after long rides too sometimes - usually 40 miles or more.
Your new lifestyle sounds like a great change. Just make sure you watch your diet - which you seem to be doing - and you'll make great, positive changes in your life. I do all our cooking for my wife and I, and I'm careful about caloric intake, and of course what we eat. We're mostly vegetarian, and I make sure we eat a lot of salads and veggies, fish a couple times a week too, and I limit our simple carb intake - desserts, that type of thing.
I'm in my mid 50's and am still carded when I buy alcohol, and am routinely told by people I meet that I look like I'm in my 30's. My wife who's in her mid 40's gets the same type of comments. We also get stellar physicals every year, and are not on any prescription medications. This wouldnt be the case if we ate the normal crap diet many Americans eat. Diet is just SO important.
Hope this wasnt more info than you wanted, lol. But yeah, keep up what your doing, and good luck!
