Leisure Cycling : Nutrition Basics

Ensuring a suitable carbohydrate intake before and during exertion can really improve performance, especially during lengthy exercise.

Carbohydrates taken immediately after exertion restore the energy used more quickly and completely.

Simple carbohydrates consist of monosaccharides. this group includes glucose, saccharose (common household sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and others. The complex carbohydrates consist of a number of monosaccharides chained together: this large family includes the starches, which are plentiful in foods such as bread, pasta, potatoes and rice.

Complex carbohydrates yield energy gradually to the body. Simple carbohydrates are assimilated rapidly, they are consequently ideal during exertion and constitute the basis of energy-giving products.

Proteins are essential to our body structure and to our muscles in particular. We need to absorb just under 1g per kilogram of body weight, i.e. approx 60g for a person weighing 70kg. There are numerous forms of proteins, each made up of a succession of smaller "building blocks", the amino acids.

A correct diet primarily means choosing the right foods and distributing that food intake correctly during the day, as follows:

• A frugal lunch, preferably based on carbohydrates (pasta or rice is ideal, especially for those who will be working hard in the early afternoon) and vegetables.

• A more complete evening meal, Italian style, with a first course of pasta eaten with a sauce, and a second course of meat, fish or cheese (although cheese should not be eaten more than twice a week) with vegetables.

• Fruit should be eaten only between meals, its important nutrients are better assimilated in this way, and the time taken to digest other food is not increased.

A correct diet also means eating foods which have a high carbohydrate content and contain little fat (especially animal fat) and which provide a sufficient protein and roughage intake.