Cycling Nutrition

[Paul La Roche]

Hi,
I'm a keen cyclist averaging 100 miles a week mainly made up of 10-30 mile rides, I also take part in sportives and have a place in this year's ridelondon100 (my third time doing this event).
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in March the day after my 46th birthday, since then I've lost 2 stone and have radically changed my diet and way of life, my only issue now is now that I've cut out sugar from my diet I'm stuck for ideas for what to take out on longer rides, where before Torq gels were my go to source of energy I'm dubious about using them, has anyone gone through similar and have suggestions, many thanks

 

[Northerner]

Hi Paul, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm no help as I'm Type 1 and a runner - can't even ride a bike! Hopefully though, some of our cyclist members will be able to help - I imagine @Chris Hobson would be able to offer some good tips 🙂

 

[grovesy]

Welcome, am not a cyclist.

 

[Matt Cycle]

Hi Paul

Well done on the weight loss and your lifestyle changes. I'm Type 1 but on rides will use gels and slightly slower release carbs such as malt loaf, banana or energy/protein bars. These are usually to balance my blood glucose levels rather than wanting an energy boost - although I could often do with one. 😉 However, any prolonged exercise will require energy replacement. Do you test your blood glucose levels? This is the only way of accurately knowing the effects of the exercise and carbs you have eaten.

There is info on the team bg site on T2, exercise and nutrition.

http://www.teambloodglucose.com/TeamBG/Home.html

Runsweet is mainly aimed at T1 and exercise but there is lots of useful info on there on individual sports.

http://www.runsweet.com/

Good luck in ridelondon.

 

[Copepod]

Welcome to the forum Paul.
Matt Cycle has said pretty much everything I would say.
If you want to make your own food for cycle rides, then many people find flapjacks hit the mark. I don't follow a recipe, just melt some butter or spread in a saucepan, then add porridge oats and / muesli, then add honey and / or golden syrup, all depending on what's in my fridge and cupboard. Then press mixture into a baking tray and bake at moderate temperature eg gas mark 6 for about 15 minutes. Cut into squares / strips as soon as you remove from oven. When it's cooled a bit ie no longer soft and squidgy, remove pieces from.baking tray and place on cooling rack.

 

[Chris Hobson]

Hi Paul. I'm slightly amazed that I'm now considered to be some kind of cycling sage, but I can at least let you know what has worked for me so far. Something that I have learned from visiting this forum is that we are all different, so you will have to experiment a bit and work out what works best for you. When I was first diagnosed just over four years ago I was in such a bad state that I was thought to be type 1. Initially I was very strict with myself and cut out refined sugar completely, now I am still careful but do have some sugar in my diet.

Regarding nutrition on rides. For rides around ten miles I don't really bother, I have half of a High Five Zero* tab in my drinks bottle but that's it. Up to about thirty miles I usually get dosed up with complex carbs before setting off. Porridge 100g oats and a squirt of honey, or muesli and toast with jam or marmalade, still zero tabs in drink. Longer than that I make up two drinks bottles each with half a zero tab and a single scoop of High Five energy drink. I also take along a few cereal bars which I eat after the halfway mark. I don't seem to get any high blood glucose readings from the sugar intake which I presume is because I'm working it off as I'm going along. This is the part that is likely to be different for each individual as the whole thing about diabetes is a limited ability to metabolise sugars. I'm assuming that my having achieved a very high fitness level is helping with this. I'm not a big fan of energy gels but I do use them when I'm doing organised events when I'm pushing for a good time and I don't seem to suffer any ill effects. I presume I don't need to warn you about not mixing different brands of energy products as this can tend to turn your marathon into a barfathon.

*Zero as in zero carbs/calories

Edit:
I forgot to mention that I'm not on any medication at the moment. When I was using Lynagliptin I read on the accompanying leaflet that there was a small chance of getting a hypo when taking it and I did get a very mild one just once, a few hours after doing a duathlon and not having had enough to eat afterwards. Since coming off the pills I have had no problems, although I do still carry glucose tablets just in case.

 

[Paul La Roche]

Thanks for the replies and sorry it's taken while getting back to you all.
I've cut all refined sugar and that was my worry about using gels causing spikes and making me ill. I use malt loaf but will look at making my own flapjacks too. As for hydration I use the zero tabs and find them ok, I usually don't fuel on small rides but do have porridge before big rides.
I do check my sugars pre and post ride and never normally have any real issues, I will however take my machine with me on some of my longer rides and test myself during the rides.
I'm off to Yorkshire on Friday with the bike so that will be a big test for both my fitness and my fuelling regime.

 

[Copepod]

Enjoy the hills of Yorkshire. I'll be away for a few days work in East Anglia, with my trusty folding bike, leaving MTB at home.