by Andrew Palmer

Created on: December 17, 2008   Last Updated: January 08, 2009

Biking is one the best ways to exercise, rehab joints and bones or just plain enjoy life. There's nothing quite like a Sunday summer evening bike tour of the countryside. Perhaps you're trying to shed a few pounds or maybe it's time to start training for the next race. Ever consider becoming a bike messenger? If so, there is a specific diet one should adhere to in order for ones body to perform at a top level and be able to rest well at night so that the body's muscles may repair and rebuild.

The first and most important part of your new biker's diet is your water intake. First off, allow me to inform you that the recommended daily intake of 8 glasses of water is way over board for the average person. Most of the food we eat, if it is fresh, has a lot of water in it, especially fruits and vegetables. As you begin your biking journey you may infact find that you get closer to comfortably consuming that recommended 64 oz. per day. So don't feel the need to go over that.

The next important part directly relates to your water intake and that would be you salt/sodium intake. The amount of salt in your body at the time of ingesting water regulates how much of the water stays in you and keeps you hydrated and for how long. It would be best that you get about 50% of you daily sodium intake inside you before you get on your bike so that you don't have to stop to go to the bathroom for a while. An easy way to do this to eat salted nuts which you will find to be an excellent source of biker protein which we will talk about right after...

Charbs! Yes, that's right. Everyone's worst enemy right? WRONG! I couldn't believe it when people started cutting charbs from their diet to lose weight. Yes, this will work. But carbohydrates are the most efficient form of food energy available. Foods high in charbs help you to be on your feet for extended periods of time. Even though your feet don't touch the ground, charbs are essential in a cyclers diet. Charbs are most readily found in fruit, fruit juice and bread. To find the best of the best, you want to find yourself a GI index... here's one http://www.nutricoach.net/low_gi_foods.html. GI stands for Glycemic Index. The GI is a numerical system for measuring how fast a carb triggers a rise in the blood sugar circulating throughout the body. The higher the number, the quicker the response. You will obviously want the higher numbers.

Last but not least, let us not forget protein. Probably the most important part because it is usually the last part unless you choose to end the day with a salad which is highly recommended to aid in digestion and sleep. However, protein is usually the main part of a typical American's dinner. Most of us pack in anywhere from 20 to 40 grams of protein at the end of the day. This is somewhat pointless. That's too much energy to just sit on. Most do this however because they have had little to no protein intake during the day. Protein is the key ingredient for rebuilding muscle. The average human should take in anywhere from 35 to 50 grams of protein. It's really all about how much work your body is doing. You need to eat according to what you need energy for. I would say that a biker should shoot for 50 grams and above. Keep the protein coming in all day eat nuts and seeds while riding or when you stop for a break. Another great way to get easily digestible protein is hemp or pea protein powder.

So remember! Water to hydrate. Salt to hold the hydration in. Charbs to keep those legs moving and protein to rebuild muscles and to store extra energy for when you need to dig deep. Go get em' Lance!

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