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Diet trends in professional cycling..

We are seeing more and more towards the shift to a plant based diet ever since Carl Lewis employed Dr McDougall to help him increase his athletic performance. Dr McDougall put Lewis on a vegan diet.

http://www.earthsave.org/lifestyle/carllewis.htm

Chiara Evans recently said on her blog she uses soy instead of dairy for Cadel 'cos its lighter!'

Mark Cavendish in his book 'boy racer' talks about how come he doesnt eat meat or dairy.

Team Garmin made the switch to more gluten free plant based products.

Basso says he doesnt eat "eggs, omeletes or anything like that.."

Lance put his name on the back of Rip Esselstyn's book 'the engine2 diet' (Its a hardcore vegan health book)

And good knows what Levi is thinking! He openly calls himself a vegetarian and does activism work for http://www.peta.org

http://blog.peta.org/archives/levi_leipheimer/

What is the peleton coming too!
 
Jul 6, 2009
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durianrider said:
We are seeing more and more towards the shift to a plant based diet ever since Carl Lewis employed Dr McDougall to help him increase his athletic performance. Dr McDougall put Lewis on a vegan diet.

http://www.earthsave.org/lifestyle/carllewis.htm

Chiara Evans recently said on her blog she uses soy instead of dairy for Cadel 'cos its lighter!'

Mark Cavendish in his book 'boy racer' talks about how come he doesnt eat meat or dairy.

Team Garmin made the switch to more gluten free plant based products.

Basso says he doesnt eat "eggs, omeletes or anything like that.."

Lance put his name on the back of Rip Esselstyn's book 'the engine2 diet' (Its a hardcore vegan health book)

And good knows what Levi is thinking! He openly calls himself a vegetarian and does activism work for http://www.peta.org

http://blog.peta.org/archives/levi_leipheimer/

What is the peleton coming too!

bad decisions from a health standpoint i get sick after a few months of no meat. humans are effective predators/gatherers thats why our eyes look forward the same as other predators. we need fruits vegetables and lean meats to be at our best physically and mentally. this is what we need from a genetic standpoint. life is soft now so sure you can get by as a vegan but why? vegetarians can do ok as they can consume milk and eggs proper complete proteins. not like the poor amino profile you get from plant sources. ever see an extremely powerful athlete vegan no and no.
 
forty four said:
bad decisions from a health standpoint i get sick after a few months of no meat. humans are effective predators/gatherers thats why our eyes look forward the same as other predators. we need fruits vegetables and lean meats to be at our best physically and mentally. this is what we need from a genetic standpoint. life is soft now so sure you can get by as a vegan but why? vegetarians can do ok as they can consume milk and eggs proper complete proteins. not like the poor amino profile you get from plant sources. ever see an extremely powerful athlete vegan no and no.

I agree with you. The reason these pros and other endurance athletes consume a lot of veggies and fruits is because they are not calorie dense foods yet they are fiber and nutrient dense and so they help you get really lean, not to mention they have the vitamins you need. But I don't understand why they wouldn't include some lean meat at least, just eat some jerky and some chicken it's good for you! Protein is needed to repair those ripped up legs. Personally I don't eat anything out of a box, all natural foods, I eat tons of sauteed veggies, raw fruit, salads, lean grilled meat, greek yogurt, and nuts. That's about it.

But I'm not sure if I'm one to talk about the ideal diet as I just swallowed my multi-vitamin with a mouthfull of beer after my ride this evening. Long Hammer IPA beer BTW, I highly recommend it to all!
 
Mar 18, 2009
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I know from first-hand experience how easy it is to ride and race well with no meat in your diet. I've been a vegetarian (not vegan) for 16 years, during which time I went from being a Cat 5 to Cat 2 between '96 and 2000. In my last full season of racing, my typical week consisted of Mon-off, Tues-race on the velodrome, Wed-fast group ride (Wednesday Worlds ;)), Thur-race on the velodrome, Fri-off, Sat and Sun multiple races. I was racing so much I barely had time to train, and I did it all on vegetarian diet with no greater health problems than anyone else.

A better example is my best friend, who was a vegan during the same time period and has multiple Illinois state championships to his name, everything from road to cyclocross to team time trial. That was on a very strict vegan diet, no eggs or dairy, not even foods like pancakes that had milk in the recipe!

Meat is overrated, don't believe the hype funded by the agricultural mega-corp's. They're just as bad as BP and Exxon.
 
Aug 11, 2009
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Greyhound Velo said:
I know from first-hand experience how easy it is to ride and race well with no meat in your diet. I've been a vegetarian (not vegan) for 16 years, during which time I went from being a Cat 5 to Cat 2 between '96 and 2000. In my last full season of racing, my typical week consisted of Mon-off, Tues-race on the velodrome, Wed-fast group ride (Wednesday Worlds ;)), Thur-race on the velodrome, Fri-off, Sat and Sun multiple races. I was racing so much I barely had time to train, and I did it all on vegetarian diet with no greater health problems than anyone else.

A better example is my best friend, who was a vegan during the same time period and has multiple Illinois state championships to his name, everything from road to cyclocross to team time trial. That was on a very strict vegan diet, no eggs or dairy, not even foods like pancakes that had milk in the recipe!

Meat is overrated, don't believe the hype funded by the agricultural mega-corp's. They're just as bad as BP and Exxon.

One or two riders' amateur results hardly prove anything. I went from Cat 5 to Cat 2 in less than one full season on a diet of coffee and candy. At that level, it's really just about talent. So, consider yourself lucky: you're genetically gifted enough to outperform most other hobbyists on a weird diet.

I don't mean to say that you're totally off-base; I just think your use of empirical data is meaningless. I wouldn't suggest that anybody hoping to upgrade from Cat 3 to Cat 2 follow my lead by increasing their ice cream and dark chocolate espresso bean intakes to potentially diabetes-inducing levels.
 
Dec 9, 2009
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1000544_CVR_GrilledTBoneSteak_0010_article.jpg



Animal Proteins are better absorbed and digested by the body. Whey proteins is also digested well. I am sure they can supplement meat with Whey Protein and BCAAs.

Soy is a joke, it doesn't not have a complete amino acid chain to be absorbed properly.

I am sure you can have results on now meat...as long as your complete amino acid protein intake is above 1.5g per body weight lb.


...btw...meat is phucking awesome!

el_pollo_rico_peruvian_chicken_02.jpg
















ribs-ready-to-eat.jpg
 
Jul 11, 2010
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Greyhound Velo said:
Meat is overrated, don't believe the hype funded by the agricultural mega-corp's. They're just as bad as BP and Exxon.




Vegetarian propaganda right there!!! ;) All my meat comes from local producers anyway and a little does really go a long way, mass produced meat is usually lacking in flavour and not as good for you. That is one thing, I don't know if huge amounts of cyclists do it (certainly in other sports they do - talking amateur as well as pro) but do people eat a lot of chicken? Intensively farmed chicken is nowhere near as good as many people think or claim, really fatty these days and not as good a source of protein as it once was.

As for the pros, well Levi has plummted right down if he backs those terrorist supporters. Are all of those mentioned (apart from Garmin and Evans) on those diets for fitness purposes or is it out of personal dislikes etc.?

I'm all for eating a lot less meat unlike the poster earlier I often get sick from eating too much. Balanced diets though I guess, but I consume virtually no dairy, that I do isn't cow (not religious reasons just find that it doesnt agree) and I think I am the better for it.

I will also admit that the biggest reason for drinking soya milk is the hope that I will grow a nice pair of breasts to play with. After 26 years they havent come, but Ill just keep on trying....

(I think it is a big scare about nothing concering soy products and esotrogen!)
 
Dec 9, 2009
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Darrylc said:
Too much soya = too much estrogen.

MYTH. Soy has a very little amount of estrogen. I believe canned tuna has more estrogen.

However Soy is a sh*t protein and really has no use in anyones diet. I am unsure why health freaks are all about it. Most people are actually allergic to it.

I see no positive side to 'Soy'.
 
Jul 11, 2010
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Most people are also allergic to dairy, though as with soya it is such a minute allergy that it doesnt really make a difference.


Soya is good because it makes efficient use of land, is very versatile and actually does contain 'complete' protein - as does meat and dairy - with relatively low fat.
 
I did a blog with medical journal references that support the fact that ALL plant foods have ALL 8 essential amino acids.

http://durianrider.wordpress.com/

Cos how could I be currently racing in Div 1 after being vegan for over 9 years if 'plants didnt contain enough protein..'? :) How did Carl Lewis win all those gold medals as a vegan? When your doing drugs you better have the right nutrition otherwise you aint gonna go as far as you can. If doping athletes are cutting out meat/dairy etc then you can be certain its not just an ethical choice but largely a performance enhancer yeah?

As athletes we know it makes no sense to have meat digesting for ages in our guts when we are trying to ride at 90%+vo2max. Nor does it make sense to have our lung function inhibited by the caseinate found in dairy. Caseinate is used in wood glue.. Milk = lung glue. :).

http://www.pcrm.org talks about the medically documented links with animal products and cancer/heart disease.

We all remember Erik De Vlaeminck eating a steak for breakfast before Paris Roubaix in that doco 'hell of the north'. But if you did that today, your DS would slap you up side the head and say 'WTF!?'.

Slowly, slowly advances in sports nutrition are coming to the forefront of the pro peleton.

Give it another 5 years and we will see it even more mainstream. Just like carbon bikes were dissed 12 years ago by certain companies that now make 95% of their frames carbon.

My fence post steel bike is fine...yeah its fine but it aint help'n ya performance is it?
I like my steak n eggs..yeah but it aint helping ya health n fitness is it? :)

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com is a great site for people whom are ignorant to the fact that you can be massive and be a vegan. No man boobs there! And these guys eat the most soy on the planet!

I race for http://www.organicathlete.org

I changed my diet cos I had chronic fatigue and anemia and I used to eat loads of animal products.
But now, after 9 years as a vegan I can objectively say Im putting out the most wattages, winning 24hr xc races, hemoglobin is over 155, hct of 49 and I have good testosterone levels.

Carbs are king and we all know that glycogen and hydration are the 2 main limiting factors in an individuals health and performance. There is no human required nutrient found in animal products that we cant get from plant foods. Even vitamin b12 is produced in a healthy body, but if your training hard, then tak'n a b12 supp regardless of your diet, is mainstream in pro sports.

Give pea's a chance. :)
 
There is no good reason to be vegan. No respected , if any neutral nutritionists will tell you it is the diet for optimal health. If you want something based on solid science, you can check out Harvard's food pyramid.

On top of that, protein replacement products such as SOY have disastrous health effects on men, and are terrible for the environment due to all the shipping, freezing, and transporting costs (with local grass fed beef being the best for environment)

Not too mention Veganism is BAD for animals. How many wild cows do you see? The nearest species to the modern cow are all extinct. Due to the fact that we eat cows, as a species they THRIVE. Eating meat is GREAT at a species level for animals.

Not too mention a lack of animal meat in your diet is horrible for mental health. 1 in 4 vegetarians suffer from depression. The real underlying reason for these people being vegans or vegetarians is that they can 'feel part of a club'..which they do, because not many people in real life like them.

....

as for athletes and diet...Michael Phelps won even more Gold medals that Carl Lewis, and his diet consists of about 10,000 calories a day of Fast food.

Carl Lewis became a vegan AFTER he won most of his gold medals, and was on the downside of his career. In fact, he never won an individual sprint gold medal after becoming a vegan. His last was in 1988. So what's the evidence that he became better after taking away animal products? None.

The future of DIET is either something like the Paleolithic Diet, with no grains allowed, or maybe we can eat some grains. But processed crap is not soo good.
 
Jul 11, 2010
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Juan - Those pictures actually make me want to go on a hunger strike!!


You say that soya is bad for the environment, well actually cattle farming is far, far worse!! (Both now aren't exactly good in the way they are produced and the volume they are produced in but believe me cattle farming is worse).

Durian - you seem to make a lot of leaps in your blog, glad veganism is working for you but you don't go any way to converting me with that sorry.
 
1. 2 pics above of bodybuilders and guess which one is on steriods..:cool:

2. 51% of global greenhouse emmissions are due to the animal livestock industries according to www.51percent.org (no thats not Bjarne Riis's site.)

3. 1 in 4 vegetarians suffer from depression? Probably true with all the chicken, fish, dairy and eggs they still eat. Animal products have been linked to depression. This following site has medical references. http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_depression.html

4. Michael Phelps eats 10 000cals of junk? I guess you aint seen the doco made about him, with his friends saying how 'fanatical' he really is about his diet.

5. Cows will become extinct if we go vegan? Perhaps we can put 'cow rescue farms' where all the McDonalds and Jenny Craig weight loss centres used to be. Cos both would become bankrupt in a vegan world.

6. Us vegans do belong to a club. Its called 'race to save the planet' from the crew that are eating it away. :cool:

Seriously though, read Mark Cavendish's book about why he doesnt eat meat or dairy.
 
Jul 15, 2010
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top_tenz_finish said:
You say that soya is bad for the environment, well actually cattle farming is far, far worse!! (Both now aren't exactly good in the way they are produced and the volume they are produced in but believe me cattle farming is worse).

Not cattle farming as done in Argentina, Australia or New Zealand. The cows roam around outside, with tons of room and a great diet, mostly grass.

In those countries soy farming would be a pillaging of the environment if it replaced cattle farming.

Now cattle farming as often practiced in the US, that would be different.
 
Lets remember that over 85% of Australian forrests have been cleared for livestock and grazing..and according to the CSIRO, the biggest use of water in Australia is Dairy industries. http://www.savewater.com.au/index.php?sectionid=97 Ive cycled from Perth to the tip of Cape York and can tell you first hand of the environmental destruction via meat and dairy.

Here are some stats cos you didnt ask for em. :)

HUNGER:

-The Number of people worldwide who will die as a result of malnutrition this year: 20 million

-Number of people who could be adequately fed using land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 100 million

-Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people: 20

-Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 80

-Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 95

-Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90

-How frequently a child dies as a result of malnutrition: every 2.3 seconds

-Pounds of beef produced on an acre: 250

-Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production: 56

ENVIRONMENTAL:

-Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect

-Primary cause of greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels

-Fossil fuels needed to produce meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 3 times more

-Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75

-Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising: 85

-Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million

-Amount of meat imported to U.S. annually from Central and South America: 300,000,000 pounds

-Percentage of Central American children under the age of five who are undernourished: 75

-Area of tropical rainforest consumed in every quarter-pound of rainforest beef: 55 square feet

-Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests for meat grazing and other uses: 1,000 per year

CANCER:

-Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week: 3.8 times

-For women who eat eggs daily compared to once a week: 2.8 times

-For women who eat butter and cheese 2-4 times a week: 3.25 times

-Increased risk of fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than once a week: 3 times

-Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk daily vs. sparingly or not at all: 3.6 times.

CHOLESTEROL:

-Number of U.S. medical schools: 125

-Number requiring a course in nutrition: 30

-Nutrition training received by average U.S. physician during four years in medical school: 2.5 hours

-Most common cause of death in the U.S.: heart attack

-How frequently a heart attack kills in the U.S.: every 45 seconds

-Average U.S. man’s risk of death from heart attack: 50 percent

-Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat: 15 percent

-Risk of average U.S. man who eats no meat, dairy or eggs: 4 percent

-Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption of meat, dairy and eggs by 10 percent: 9 percent

-Amount you reduce risk of heart attack if you reduce consumption by 50 percent: 45 percent

-Amount you reduce risk if you eliminate meat, dairy and eggs from your diet: 90 percent

-Average cholesterol level of people eating meat-centered-diet: 210 mg/dl

-Chance of dying from heart disease if you are male and your blood cholesterol level is 210 mg/dl: greater than 50 percent

NATURAL RESOURCES:

-User of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.:livestock production

-Amount of water used in production of the average cow: sufficient to float a destroyer

-Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25

-Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of California beef: 5,000

-Years the world’s known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat-centered diet: 13

-Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat: 260

-Calories of fossil fuel expended to get 1 calorie of protein from beef: 78

-To get 1 calorie of protein from soybeans: 2

-Percentage of all raw materials (base products of farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels) consumed by U.S. that is devoted to the production of livestock: 33

-Percentage of all raw materials consumed by the U.S. needed to produce a complete vegetarian diet: 2

ANTIBIOTICS:

-Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock: 55

-Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13

-Percentage resistant in 1988: 91

-Response of European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: ban

-Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: full and complete support

PESTICIDES:
-Common belief: U.S. Department of Agriculture protects our health through meat inspection
Reality: fewer than 1 out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues

-Percentage of U.S. mother’s milk containing significant levels of DDT: 99

-Percentage of U.S. vegetarian mother’s milk containing significant levels of DDT: 8

-Contamination of breast milk, due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products, found in meat-eating mothers vs. non-meat eating mothers: 35 times higher

-Amount of Dieldrin ingested by the average breast-fed American infant: 9 times the permissible level

ETHICAL:

-Number of animals killed for meat per hour in the U.S.: 660,000

-Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker

-Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job-injury in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker

Article Source – “Diet For A New America” by John Robbins

Please Visit earthsave.org
 
durianrider said:
1. 2 pics above of bodybuilders and guess which one is on steriods..:cool:

2. 51% of global greenhouse emmissions are due to the animal livestock industries according to www.51percent.org (no thats not Bjarne Riis's site.)

I am sorry, but this is just BS. It is not even junk science, it is not science at all. Over years I have seen so many different numbers what all these vegan and vegetarian climate action world watch blablabla sites are floating, it is just ridiculous. 51%, is this new fashion?

Just one example. World watch claims that eating 1 kilo meats destroys 110m2 rain forest and hundreds of vegan sites are happily repeating this claim. I once made a calculation, if true, then every year mankind should destroy 30 million km2 rain forest. Funny thing, there is just about 10-15 million km2 rain forest at all....
 

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