I promised you that this week on the Training Tuesday blog I would talk about nutrition and healthy eating habits that you should consider when training for motorcycle road racing. I must warn you now, nutrition is a vast topic and by no means will I cover all of it in one simple blog post, especially not when there are entire blogs out there dedicated to very specific types of nutrition and eating habits. So, I’ll do my best to give you the basics today and as the season draws near we’ll get into some more specific nutrition discussions.
For now, however, let’s talk about nutrition and the importance of the food that fuels you. Are you familiar with the expression, “You are what you eat?” Well, there’s some truth in those words. Unfortunately, we live in a fast-paced society where people are too busy or too lazy to cook for themselves. As motorcycle enthusiasts or racers, we’re always on the go driving to the next race or working up until the wee hours of the morning trying to repair last week’s crash damage so we can get to next weekend’s race on time. I mean really, who has time to cook? Toss one of those fancy Lean Cuisine meals in the microwave and you’re good to go. Dinner is done in 2 minutes or less, all with the magic press of a button; all for under $4.99! Heck, it even looks pretty healthy since it’s got the appropriate balance of protein, carbs and fat, right?
Wrong. Take a look at the packaging on those frozen dinners sometime. What exactly do you think is in them that allows the ingredients inside to remain “fresh” for so long. Nevermind the high sodium content to help the food taste like, well, food. Yep. We’re motorcycle racers. We’re cheap and we’re lazy. We’d rather save our pennies for tires and race gas than spend a few extra bucks on some healthy foods, and heaven forbid we should take the time to cook them when there’s brake pads to be changed and bodywork that needs repairing!
Processed foods are foods that have been altered from their natural state, primarily for convenience. Several processed foods are made with trans-fats, saturated fats and high levels of sodium and sugar, none of which should be the staple of a healthy diet. Generally speaking, if you can’t pronounce the name of the ingredient, it’s likely not all that good for you!
What are some examples of processed foods, you ask? Take a look at some of these:
- Potato chips and other snacks;
- Packaged cakes and cookies;
- Breads and pastas made with refined white flour as opposed to whole grains;
- Frozen foods;
- Processed meats such as hot dogs, sausage, ham and other packaged meats;
- Processed cheese such as cheese slices or cheese sticks.
Replace Processed Foods with Whole Foods and Healthy Snacks
Until next week! Keep it going!
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