Grains offer a great staple to any diet. Most of you can probably agree with this knowing they provide steady release of complex carbohydrate, high in fibre and B vitamins.

Finding the perfect pre-ride meal is something of trial and error with some people not being able to manage high fibre, lactose or large amounts of fructose before sessions (this especially being apparent in Triathlon or as duration of exercise increases)

• If you have 2-4 hours before heading out grains are a carb dense option that isn’t too high in volume so you shouldn’t feel bloated– and provide a nice steady release of energy.
• If it’s a big, big day or “the” day you should have probably carb loaded for 1 day prior and have your muscles saturated with stored carbohydrate, so on the day you only need to top up your depleted liver glycogen stores.
• Grains in can be combined with other ingredients– like Maple syrup and bananas to increase the amount of carbohydrates and to further aid in the above mentioned liver glycogen replenishment – something that’s needed to help maintain blood glucose levels after an overnight fast I.e sleep.
• On a Sportive? Grains like bread, oats are available pretty much anywhere in the world (same for bananas and maple syrup), making it ideal to have in practice and on the day, helping you to keep to your usual routine and safe knowing you’re going to feel great because of it.
• Aiming for about 100-120g of carbohydrate before your ride or event should ensure you’re topped up, and will aid in performance.

RECIPE: Overnight oats

• 100g porridge oats
• 250 ml milk of your choice
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• zest of one large orange
• 50g dried cranberries

MIX together the oats with the milk

ADD the rest of the ingredients except the cranberries STIR

NOW add cranberries

LEAVE to soak

DONE

With winter training well underway you could be looking to get some extra gains from your rides and looking to different supplements of foods. One very potential one could be tart cherries or Montmorency Cherries in particular.

Tart cherries have been shown to be most effective in two main areas; Recovery and Sleep. Tart cherry juice is high in polyphenols, in particular flavonoids and anthocyanins, which have high anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and as a little boost are high in melatonin.

Recovery –It’s been found that taking tart cherry juice will actually help maintain muscle force production and reduce muscle soreness post exercise and next day when compared with not taking it.

How to take for Recovery – Take 30ml concentrate mixed with water within 30mins after exercise.

Get inventive and take it with you post workout shake blending it with some frozen bananas and berries and some whey protein to ultimately boost your recovery!

Should I use it all the time? – Currently research is quite equivocal about whether taking something like tart cherry juice regularly is a good thing as reducing the inflammatory response from training could reduce the adaptions you get from it. My opinion would not be to use it all the time and pick and choose moments.

Sleep – Due to the high amount of melatonin found in tart cherry juice it’s easy to see why it aids sleep, as melatonin is critical to the cycles of deep sleep and studies have found that there were significant increases in time in bed, total sleep time and sleep efficiency with cherry juice supplementation.

How to take for improved sleep – Take 30ml concentrate with 250ml water 30mins before sleep

Where do I get it from? Healthspan Elite are the official suppliers of Team Sky, with batch tested products and their cherry juice concentrate is just what it says on the tin, 100% cherries.

Where it really shines! – Personally, I think these cherries really shine when you’re doing a sportive or event that takes place over multiple days or after a really intense training session and recovery for the next day is paramount! If you’re at a training camp I wouldn’t take it. Try to get the most out of that week – yes you will feel tired – but the adaptions you gain will be worth it rather than potentially reducing it through large intakes of cherry juice in the name of recovery.

If you’re doing a multi-day event, I would recommend taking 30ml x2 a day for 4 days’ pre-event and on each of the race days following would be the most beneficial.

With winter well and truly being here you probably want to use every means possible to avoid that inevitable winter cold and turning into a white walker.

During the winter months we’re unable to get our usual daily in take of Vitamin D3 from sunlight due to the angle of the earth at this time of the year and the fact there is just less direct sunlight anyway.

Why?
Vitamin D is made by the body when skin is exposed to sunlight. Sunscreen, protective clothing, limited exposure to sunlight, dark skin, and age may prevent getting enough vitamin D from the sun.

It’s used for bone health and but aids your immune system with people being found deficient showing more incidence of illness across the board.

How much?
An RDA of 400iU or 10ug a day is suggested to be healthy but some research has shown a daily intake of 1000iU or 25ug to be beneficial in athletes and older individuals.

Where can I get it?
As mentioned in winter we’re unable to get our usual dose from sunlight, but there are a bunch of food sources we can also get it from such as;

• Salmon – per 100g – 360-685iU
• Cod liver oil – per tsp – 450iU
• Herring – per 100g – 1,600iU
• Sardines – per 100g – 270iU
• Free Range Egg Yolks – per 100g – 750iU

So why not try this recipe over this winter period and keep yourself boosted:

RECIPE

Ingredients for 4 servings;

• 4 Salmon fillets
• Thumb Size piece of ginger – shredded
• 2 garlic cloves – pressed
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• 1 tbsp mirin
• Salt and pepper

PLACE ginger and garlic into a bowl and mix with the soy sauce, maple syrup, mirin and a drizzle.

WHACK the salmon fillets in a dish, season with salt and pepper

COVER with the sticky dressing. PUT with cling film and set aside in the fridge to marinate for 20mins to 2 hours

HEAT a frying pan over a medium heat and add a dash of oil.

ADD the salmon, skin side down, HOLD the marinade.

COOK for 2 minutes, then pour in the reserved marinade and cook for
1min, till colour changes hallway up the fillet

TURN and BASTE cooking for 3 or so more minutes

SERVE

The word protein is thrown about a lot in sport, fat loss and most nutritional topics to be honest, there Is a wide array of foods that can fulfil your daily quota of protein. BUT sometimes it’s nice to get a snapshot of why we need it and an easy recipe that will enable you increase your daily intake!

How much do we need?

If looking at daily amounts as active individuals we should be having anything between 1.6-2.2g/kg/bodyweight per day. The more active you are the higher I would go on that scale and likewise if you’re on the journey of fat loss.

This is because protein aids in the recovery of muscle and cells within our body and in the preservation of lean muscle mass when in a calorie deficit (which is needed in fat loss)

How often do we need it?

We should be aiming to have protein every 3-4 hours. This is because we have something called a net protein balance. Eating protein makes it positive, not having any for a while makes it negative and will impair our recovery.

How much per serving?

We should aim for at least 0.3g/kg/bodyweight per serving to sufficiently stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the driving force behind making a positive protein balance, leading to that recovery process).

It should be noted the older you are the harder this can be to stimulate and it has been seen amounts of 40g protein per sitting is a lot more beneficial to those over 50 years of age.

Smoky Turkey Mince Chilli

Ingredients (serves 4);

• 500g 2% Turkey Mince
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin Kidney beans in water
• 1 Onion
• 1tbsp Olive oil & tomato puree
• 2tbsp Worchester Sauce
• 1tsp chilli & smoked paprika and dried basil
• Salt & Pepper

HEAT oil

CRUSH garlic and chuck in oil

CHOP onion and add to oil and garlic

HEAT till golden

ADD turkey mince heat till mostly cooked through

ADD remaining ingredients

BRING to a simmer and leave to reduce ~20mins

DONE

SERVE with rice – use cauliflower rice if you need a low carb option

When asked about the essentials needed in the diet, fruit is definitely one to come up frequently alongside a few others but it’s mostly thought of as just getting 1 of your 5 a day or that pre-workout snack, but it can be so much more!

Looking at what fructose can do in direct relation to performance can be simple but often over-looked.

Liver Glycogen:

The name for stored carbohydrate in the liver. This store of energy has a direct relationship with being able to maintain blood glucose levels during exercise, and if its low you’re going to quickly find it hard to maintain your exercise output.

You may not have known but when you carbohydrate load, saturating your muscle with loads of carbohydrate the day before a or THE big ride, you wake up with a liver empty of glycogen as that fuel is used to maintain blood sugar levels while asleep.

What role does fruit play in this?

Well fruit is first and foremost broken down in the liver with a large proportion of that energy being stored there.

What does this mean for me?

Knowing that, you can make that pre-ride/race breakfast improve your performance even more than before. Combining a steady, slow releasing carbohydrate like porridge or brown bead with fruit like banana and honey can help increase

How else can fruit help?

You may have seen quite a lot of energy drinks or gels being a 2;1 ratio of Glucose:Fructose. Fructose being the sugar found in fruit (never would have guessed that) uses a different means of entering through the intestine wall than glucose.

This means that you can increase the amount of carbohydrate you take per hour, and help reduce the potential risk of stomach discomfort!

How much should I have?

For breakfast – Looking solely at performance and not accounting for goals like body composition then having 100-150g of carbohydrate made of a mixture of fruit and low/medium glycaemic index foods 2-4 hours before the ride should be perfect!

If you’re already out riding – Having fruit in your pocket, honey in your water or some fruit juice are all sources of fructose and can be had in amounts of up to 30g an hour while on the bike. Great ideas of ways to save money on gels and still help your performance.

Energy bars can be a minefield with so many of them being bought, bitten and binned. Our choices can be down to taste or possibly brand allegiance. But if we ignore flavour and look specifically at the ingredients, are some bars better than others and do some owe themselves more to a specific time period?

*do check the package for details to check ingredients

5***** rating based on the bars aid in performance specifically and ingredients:

OTE – Apple & Cinnamon Vegan Anytime bar – This provides a decent hit of carbohydrate at 35.7g a bar it does also come with a big hit of fat at 11.4g per bar. If you consider the recommendation of fat for an endurance exercising individual is between 0.6-0.8g/kg/bw (70kg = 56g) 1 bar an hour on a 3- hour ride will eat up most of your daily fat intake. A decent option for a long day out on the bike that isn’t performance related. ***

Veloforte – Di Bosco – High carbohydrate and calorie amount per bar though most of carbohydrate is fruit based making it very high in fructose. This is a slower digesting carbohydrate compared to glucose and over consumption in an hour, or hour on hour may see some potential stomach issues. It is also higher in fat though the nuts may be great of texture it won’t improve performance. Ideal to break up the monotony of all the other bars and bring some zest. ***

Named Sport – Total Energy Fruit Bar – A decent no nonsense bar. Low fat, no protein and 25g of fast absorbing carbohydrate makes a decent choice. It does however have a lot of additives to achieve the makeup and texture of this bar, and while none are bad for you, it does bring question to quality and sourcing of ingredients, when you compare it to some of these bars. ***

Mule Bar – This bar is ideal for those bigger training rides where you’re hitting Z2 for most of it. Low fat and protein so it won’t slow digestion too much while providing 27g of carbs per bar. It provides these carbohydrates in a mix of glucose and fructose making the most of multi-transportable carbohydrates. *****

SiS – Go Bar – Similar to the Mule and Stealth bar the SiS one is bringing a simplistic bar with 26g of carbohydrate to the table, once again a mixture of glucose and fructose are the makeup utilising both those carbohydrate transporters. I don’t think it does the job as well as the 2 aforementioned bars as they achieve it with less fat and protein in the bar but similar ingredients. When riding and looking at fuelling, incidental amounts of fat and protein aren’t needed and only increase calorie cost and potential digestion time. ****

High 5 – energy bar – This product varies greatly depending on the flavour you choose– Carbohydrate amount ranging from 25g to 39g and Fat from 2.3g to 13g making some far from ideal. The peanut and caramel options have higher fat content; the yogurt covered bar a potential no-no with diary being a know contributor to potential gastro issues and the berry, with 60% fruit could possibly provide too much fructose if consumed more than once an hour. I wouldn’t race with these but I would use this mid-range bar for training rides and something to break up other choices. ***

Cliff – Nut butter filled – Possibly one to break up the monotony of food on a ride but I wouldn’t say this is the most performance-based bar – 11g of fat and 7g of protein and 23g carbs mean this “energy bar” provides more energy from fat -a macronutrient that we can’t utilise while riding and only slows the breakdown and absorption of the carbohydrate. It provides the same fat as the OTE but with less carbohydrate making it not optimal in performance and other bars doing a better job. **

Stealth – Juice Bar – A strong bar with no fat or protein to compromise digestion – just pure carbohydrate (27g). This makes it a great choice for fast absorbing energy that is made up of multi-transportable carbohydrates mean you can get more in per hour and not worry about your stomach too much. Doesn’t have a huge list of ingredients or other randomly added vitamins and minerals. *****

Torq Bar – Organic Mango – Purely carbohydrate based, provides 33g of carbohydrate and uses multi-transportable carbohydrates making this is an ideal performance choice. I do however question the need for all the added vitamins as there is no real need, and may be an issue when combined with a healthy diet, daily multi-vit and then several of these bars on a ride regularly. It doesn’t state the amount of D-Ribose either, which needs to be loaded to see the desired effect they mention. Still a decent choice bar just be aware of what else you’re taking. ****

Aptonia Fruit Bar Red Berries – 75% of this bar is fruit which initially may not be a bad thing but this means that of its 26g of carbohydrate – 19.5g is coming from fructose. This could be a problem as our maximal fructose digestion limit is 30g an hour. So, if we’re consuming more than 2 bars an hour, after a few hours you may find yourself getting some stomach issues. Additionally, 69% of that bar is made from dates and everyone knows that too many dates help you hit the loo so you may ride quicker than planned at some point. Not a bad choice to mix with other items. **/***

Trek Cocoa Coconut Protein Flapjack – Quite a big hit of calories this bar brings to the table, but with the most calories coming from fat (12.7g) and then carbohydrate (20.3g) leaves a little to be desired in the performance department. That being said if you’re touring and just need to get some calories in, this isn’t a terrible choice. ***

Meridian Peanut & Banana – This probably isn’t the best choice bar to have on the bike for similar reasons to the Trek bar, with more calories coming from non-carbohydrate sources in particular fat (9.1g) compared to the carbohydrate (15g) you will find that this isn’t an optimal choice for improving performance or recovery and doesn’t have the same calorie hit you may need on a bit day – more a hunger curber. **

Mars – I wouldn’t say this is the most ideal option as you may expect, but from a macro nutrient point of view its very similar to the OTE and Cliff bar with 8.5g fat, 35g carbs all of which are fast releasing and only 2.2g protein. Is this better than those? No! Vegetable and palm fats added in and the high sugar content means its not ideal on the teeth whereas the OTE in particular are all whole food sources and will contribute more towards a wholesome diet. But the occasional bar on a 4-hour ride isn’t going to kill you.

Bread and Jam – A personal favourite – this is a cheap and inexpensive option providing ~40g carbs per half sandwich (20g jam, 1 slice bread folded). Low in fat, protein and fibre with the sugar providing glucose and fructose to the combo makes it easy and fast digesting. A loaf and pot of jam setting you back about £3 mean it’s the same price as most of 1 of these bars. Not ideal on the teeth but most of the bars here whether from fruit or glucose will be similar to that extent. Definitely worth considering, just look at your soigneur folding skills though or that could be messy!

Banana – Never a bad choice but is cumbersome in the pocket per medium banana you’re looking at about 28g of carbs and fructose, maxing out your fructose intake for that hour. Best used on a 2-3 hour ride where you don’t need to pack loads of food and have the space for 2 gunslinging; rear pocket, banana guns.

Soreen – mini lunchbox loaves provide 18g of carbohydrate; are low in fat, in-expensive, variety of flavours, individually wrapped and small for pocket storage. Though it may not be as high carb as the Stealth, Go, Mule and similar it definitely has more bang for its buck than the Trek, Meridian and Cliff bars both in money and carbs.

It’s often underappreciated how much protein we actually need to facilitate recovery and promote adaption to exercise stimulus. And that is what protein does it is the main nutritional driver of recovery and adaption that we need to get stronger, faster and recover quicker.

Protein is mentioned a lot and we all know it needed but when was the last time you actually tracked and looked at how much you’re taking on board?

When you see how much you’re taking it is now time to compare that to what you should be getting.

How much do we need?

Active individuals we should be having anything between 1.2g-2.2g/kg/bodyweight per day. With more research coming out showing that higher protein consumptions are favourable to body composition. It’s also shown during periods of hard or intense training periods higher protein intakes aid in recovery.

And for most of you out there wanting to drop some body fat – protein is going to be the main reason you’re not also dropping power on the bike and staying strong!

I recommend 1.8-2.4g/kg/bodyweight per day.

How often do we need it?

We should be aiming to have protein every 3-4 hours. This is because we have something called a net protein balance. Eating protein makes it positive and not eating any for a while makes it negative and will impair our recovery and potentially lead to muscle wastage. What this means is no point in having all your protein in one sitting for your evening meal, make sure you’re getting it at every meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner add in a snack and a post workout and you’re pretty much there.

How much per serving?

We should aim for at least 0.3-0.4g/kg/bodyweight per serving to sufficiently stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the driving force behind making a positive protein balance, leading to that recovery process).

It should be noted the older you are the harder this can be to stimulate and it has been seen amounts of 40g protein per sitting is a lot more beneficial to those over 50 years of age.

Here’s an easy batch cook high protein recipe to help

RECIPE: Parma Ham wrapped Chicken

Ingredients for 1 breast

• 1 Chicken Breast
• 2 slices Parma Ham
• 2 Sundried tomatoes
• 20g Feta
• Fresh Basil
• Salt & Pepper

SLICE Chicken breast down the side and open

STUFF with chopped sundried tomatoes, crumbled feta and basil

SEASON with salt and pepper

LAY 2 slices of parma ham next to each other

LAY stuffed breast top down

WRAP Parma ham over

PLACE on a baking tray

BAKE at 180C fan assisted for 25mins or till done

Blackcurrants, in particular the variety found in New Zealand, have been gaining some traction in recent months for its performance enhancing effects. What effects are these?

They seem to be two-fold; the blackcurrants are a vasodilator which cause the blood vessels to expand and improve blood flow to the areas that need it most. Secondly, they seem to have a high level of anti-oxidants which help reduce oxidative stress from exercise thus, reduce the levels of inflammation in the muscle, aiding recovery and allowing you to train harder again sooner!

How do we get these effects though?

Taking the correct amount of blackcurrant extract supplementation of 300mg a day for 7 days saw an improvement in performance in a repeated 4km Time trial with 10mins rest in-between. The total improvement was only 1% though and other similar trials about 2% improvement.

Not ground breaking but any of you looking for an edge maybe in summer 10s series or crits it may be worth a gander. Ultimately though foundations are made in a good diet, solid body composition and dedicated training.

What’s the take home?

There are a lot of options out there that currently result in similar improvements but it’s not known if you added them together you would gain combined benefits of all of them. Opting for the well proven beetroot or tart cherry juice for performance and recovery respectively would be better or just ensuring you’re getting the carbohydrate you need to do your ride or adequate protein to recover.

How can I get it in my diet?

As mentioned before the only real way to get that amount is through supplementation but here is a beautiful high protein and fresh snack.

RECIPE:

Ingredients;

• 200g fresh or frozen Blackcurrants
• 2tbsp Maple Syrup ~30g
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 200g Low fat Greek Yogurt

HEAT berries, maple syrup and lemon juice in a pan till bubbling

POUR yogurt into a bowl

POUR hot or cool compote over yogurt

DONE

Getting on track and heading towards your fitness/health/fat loss goals can be daunting especially when you have no idea where to start, so making this journey as easy as possible is paramount to your success but also your enjoyment of the process.

Here are 6 simple things that you can do;

1. Walk – One of the biggest factors on our energy expenditure is our “non-exercise activity”. This is everything you do that isn’t specific exercise, so walking to the bus or train, walking around at the office or at lunch etc. If 1000 steps equate to around 50Kcals then if you increased your daily step count by 2000 steps at the end of the week you would have burnt an extra 700Kcals. And all you had to do was to walk a bit more.
2. Track your food – This is a big one! If you want to lose body fat having an idea of where you are calorie-wise is important. Without getting too technical about the ratios of what you’re having, if you start tracking your food and realise your weight/ measurements aren’t dropping then look at your average intake over a week and reduce it by 100-200kcals per day and you should see further loss – that is If you exercise stays consistent 🙂
3. Do exercise you enjoy – Too often people believe running or other various forms of exercise are the best for “fat loss” but honestly the best is the one you’re going to enjoy and consistently keep doing
4. Eat protein – Protein at every meal helps with the retention of muscle when in a calorie deficit – something you must be in to lose fat – as nobody wants to lose the muscle they have! It is also highly satiating meaning when you’re in that calorie deficit you feel less hungry, the hungrier you are the harder it is to adhere to you diet and stay on track.
5. Drink Water – The principal of all life and performance and fat loss. The process of breaking fat down is done through something called hydrolysis, and as you may guess that process requires water, and is performed much more efficiently in a hydrated state. You want to perform well in the exercise you’ve chosen, whether it’s faster or stronger and hydration has a massive impact on that with being dehydrated as little 2% seeing a significant decrease in performance.
6. 6. De-stress – Sometimes we set our goals and we’re smashing our workouts, eating well and for some reason you’re not dropping weight, or your stomach has reduced in circumference and in the end, you feel like giving up! Well it can be so easy to forget but being stressed can cause us to retain huge amounts of water thus feeling like you’re not making progress! Think about your week; think about how much sleep you’ve had; how’s work? The best way to de-stress is to ensure you’re getting those 7-8 hours of sleep; meditate; take time for yourself; organise your diary. All of these can help you de-stress and you may find a bunch of that water-weight coming off.

If you need more help drop message on my social media or website

Veganism and opting for less meat in our diets is becoming more popular and there added benefits to having more items like pulses and lentils in our diets with more micronutrient density.

Pulses and lentils are a great way to add protein and slow releasing carbohydrate to your diet that help aid in recovery and provide slow releasing energy for training, particularly great if you’re having a training session 2-4 hours after eating them.

Why 2-4 hours?
They are low GI carbohydrates so they’re digested a lot slower and so need time allow for that release of energy which is important if you’re wanting to focus on performance.

100g of cooked chick peas will provide you with;
164Kcals
9g protein
27g carbohydrates (8g fibre)
3g fat
16% your RDA of Iron

The quality of protein is dictated by the amount of amino acids that food contains and the bio-availability (how we digest them). Very few vegetable sources contain a complete amino acid profile meaning sometimes we need to combine foods together to make them complete.

Why is this important?
All nine of the essential amino acids are needed to promote “muscle protein synthesis” or the creation and stimulation of recovery and growth in muscle.

The protein of pulses is high in certain amino acids and low in others whereas grains are the opposite being high in what pulses are low in. Combining them provides all the essential amino acids needed to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.

This is really important to know if you’re a vegetarian/vegan.

Here is an awesome recipe of mine that you may enjoy

RECIPE: Roasted vegetable and lentil soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tin mixed beans (can be in a sauce)
• 1 tin mixed pulses or chick peas
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion & bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves – minced
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/2 tsp chilli,
• 1tsp smoked paprika
• Salt & Pepper
• 1tbsp Worcester sauce
• Fresh Coriander to garnish

CHOP onion and bell pepper and fry in pan till golden

ADD rest of ingredients and bring to a simmer

LEAVE to cook for 15-20mins and reduce

DONE

SERVE in a big tortilla wrap with some fresh coriander and some sour cream