More Food for Thought

I guess one of the advantages of being on a moderately regular, calorie controlled training diet is that you inevitably become much more educated about what you like to eat, what you will eat, and what you have to eat in terms of its effectiveness on your energy levels and your body's tolerance levels.

For example, while I like and will and can drink propel on a ride, I can't stand gatorade, and if I drink too much of either, I end up with stomach cramps. I can drink powdered green tea fruit mixes but cannot drink powdered regular or lemon tea. The hydration powders that Crystal light makes in little one serving tubes are great for riding in my second water bottle, as well as being great at cutting through the dry mouth at the gym.

Accelerade, which I carry in my water bottle, has the preferred 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein,and it not only makes a good drink to ride on, provided I drink an equal amount of water with it, but really seems to help on the post ride recovery if I drink it directly after the ride.

An iced latte or coffee is wonderful mid ride, or even post ride if I have cooled down, but before hand it just makes me jumpy. Any sort of coffee post ride has been shown toassist muscle recovery because of the caffeine lactic acid interaction. The list goes on and I won't bore anyone with it. We all have our own dietary quirks once we learn to listen to our bodies.

To that end, I proffer several recipes that have become standard pre and post ride meals for me in terms of resting easily on my stomach, being nutritionally sound and hitting the taste buds in a most satisfying way. Best of all, most, except the coffee and the smoothie, can be prepared ahead of time and easily reheated in the microwave.

Pre-Ride

Steel Cut Oatmeal- As I have mentioned before,I love steel cut oatmeal.

The brand I buy is John McCann- which is an Irish brand from the local Randals/Safeway store- It comes in a canister type can which is handy for storage of other things once the original contents are used up. The nice thing about this oatmeal is that it is already balanced in a 4:1 ratio.

Add to 4 cups of boiling water, 1 cup of steel cut oats.

Allow to return to the boil, then cover and lower the heat to simmer. Make sure it doesn't boil over. Simmer for 15 minutes stirring as needed.

Add 1 ounce of sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts and 1 ounce of raisins or dried fruit, stirring it in thoroughly.

Return to simmer another 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 ounce of flavored syrup ,the kind they use in Starbucks for flavoring. By stirring the syrup in while the oatmeal is warm, the flavor develops and it adds just a bit of sweetness without being sugary. My particular favorite at the moment is Torani Cinnamon, but you can mix and match the syrup and nuts and fruit for all sorts of variations.

I let my oatmeal cool and then pack it into a storage container in the refrigerator.

1/2 cup of oatmeal in 1/2 cup light vanilla soy milk and heated in the microwave comes in at about 150 calories, depending on whether or not you add sugar, the type of the nuts and fruits you add, and what type of milk you use. A serving will get me a couple of hours down the road. An added plus is that for some reason it represents a comfort food for me and sits very easily on my stomach while on the bike or at the gym. Plus while you are waiting for it to microwave there is just enough time to fill up the water bottles and start on the camel bak.

Yogurt and Granola

My alternate breakfast in 1/2 cup light granola in 1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt, but this is cold and doesn't seem to sit quite so easily in my stomach. It also seems to burn off in about an hour, leaving me hungry. If I am doing a weight training session it seems to last longer. It is also beneficial because of the yogurt and has the added advantage of being a bit quicker than the oatmeal in terms of preparation and you can't beat the calcium content.


Post Ride

Chili Mango Smoothie

Last summer on a ride along the Bosque Redondo bike path in Albuquerque New Mexico on a hot and breezy day, we stopped for drinks and snacks at a small ice cream place near the fishing and paddle boat ponds in the Bosque Redondo Park. One of the house specialties was Mango Chili Ice Cream which I had to try. I have been looking for it ever since. This smoothie comes pretty close to recapturing the flavor of that unusually tasty ice cream only with less sugar and fat.

If you make this up as a post ride drink, you reap an extra benefit from the yogurt in calcium recovery, plus the capsacin in the chili powder will help continue the post ride calorie burn

Smoothie

1 cup V8 Fusion juice in mango peach or better yet 8 ice cubes of the juice frozen in an ice cube tray.

1 cup non fat vanilla yogurt

Extra liquid juice either V8 Mango or papaya juice as needed for blending

1 tablespoon Chili powder- I prefer New Mexico red chili powder for its dark smokey taste, but any favorite sort will do.

Throw it all together in a blender and blend til smooth. I have also been known to add a tablespoon of red salsa and a bit of sugar for an extra kick.

Sunflower seeds and raisins

An ounce of each packs a powerful punch of nutrition, and can also be kept in your jersey pocket as an energy pick up on the ride. Plus, since sunflowers contain primarily protein, the raisins will add the carbohydrates to bring the balance up to the magical 4:1 ratio.

I usually flavor mine with one of several Japanese mixtures of salt, herbs and seaweed,(Nori fumake) which are made as rice flavoring. I munch this mixture and drink the last of my water and accelerade to start the re hydration and recovery process.

Dill Pickles

Especially after riding in the hot humid Houston headwinds, I crave salt. Dill pickles, and or a spoon full of dill pickle relish straight out of the jar, seem to be the answer. I also save the pickle juice and marinate fresh carrots in it. These are almost as good as a pickle and a lot crunchier.

Garbanzo Torteloni Soup

This is quick, filling, soul satisfying and very nutritionally sound. Garbanzo beans are a source of protein plus being good for the heart. Make up a big batch and keep it ready for reheating whenever you need it.

1 can of garbanzo beans
1 package dried torteloni
1 can stewed Mexican spiced tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic or 1 tablespoon chopped roasted garlic
1 vidalia onion
1 cup chopped up carrots, snow peas, zucchini, peppers, celery or veggies of your choice
3-4 cups water
2 tablespoons Old Bay seafood seasoning or any interesting herb rub or mixture from Penzey's spices.
1 tablespoon olive oil

Chop up the onion and garlic and sweat them slowly in the olive oil until tender.

Add all remaining ingredients except torteloni and seasonings.

Simmer for 30 minutes, add another cup of water and torteloni.

Simmer 15 minutes or until torteloni is tender, cool until tepid and then season to taste.

Makes about 8 servings

Reheat to serve. A 1 cup serving contains about 350 calories of nicely balanced nutrition and helps restore hydration as well as being tummy pleasing.

Iced Latte

This is my reward for a ride well done, and I am enough of an espresso fan to have my own little espresso machine. Anyone who has their own machine already has their own preference for brand of coffee and probably method of preparation. However, I did work as a barista as well as in a small independent coffee shop for 5 years. During that time I discovered some interesting facts about espresso and coffee latte.

Factoid 1- Espresso is the shade of roast before French Roast but after Dark Roast on the roasting scale from green coffee to burnt coffee. The beans should be a very dark brown/black and oily looking. Dry black is French Roast, chocolate brown is grocery store roast. The purpose of an espresso roast is to fully develop the flavor aromatics without roasting away the essential coffee oils which give the flavor. A good espresso roast is low in acid and should have an almost fruity slightly smokey taste.

Factoid 2- Espresso refers to the roast, the drink and the method of preparation. Espresso the drink, is the coffee extract made from the espresso roast coffee which is prepared in an espresso machine, which extracts the essence of the finely ground coffee with steam and pressure.

Factoid 3- Coffee latte or cafe latte, depending on whether or not you are being affected, simply means espresso with milk, usually in a 1/3 espresso to 2/3 milk ration. Cappuccino is a similar ratio but usually indicates added flavoring and steamed, frothy milk.

Factoid 4- Espresso actually contains less caffeine than regular coffee, but more flavor. The roast is less acidic, the complex sugars and aromatics more noticeable, and the ratio of milk to espresso means that you are usually consuming only of a couple of ounces of espresso as opposed to 6 -8 ounces of coffee in a regular cup of coffee. Espresso roast also makes an excellent brewed coffee.

Factoid 5-Espresso has a slightly greater density than milk, which means that for more even mixing and blending of flavors, the espresso should go into the milk (whether hot or cold). The exception is when you are trying to do some of the fancy foam art designs, in which case the milk goes into the espresso so a thin layer of espresso colors the milk and allows for the thinner foam to show through white in the design.

Factoid 6- The sugar or flavored syrup goes into the pot before the espresso goes in so that the flavor will "melt" into the hot espresso as it brews.

So my favorite brew is as follows

1 tablespoon raw sugar in the bottom of the espresso pot.

6 ounces of water into the pot, 1 ounce of espresso into the holder.

Allow to brew until the machine gets really excited and starts making all kinds of noise, then allow remaining water to bleed off as steam. This usually gives me about 4 1/2 ounces of espresso.

Fill a pint glass with large ice cubes and add 5 ounces of milk or light vanilla silk.

Stir the espresso and pour slightly over 1/2 over the ice. Stir briskly and savor.

To me, a freshly brewed latte is the perfect end to a good ride.