For those who read this blog, may have noticed some inactivity on my part for the last week and a half. There is a good reason for this!
See the video above! Me and 4 friends took on a challenge of riding 587 Miles across the Czech Republic, stopping at a new city each night for a week. In each city was a UNESCO site, to add a bit of class to our travels.
On the topic of food, eating vegetarian in the Czech Republic is possible, but not very easy. For the purpose of my ride I needed as much calories as I could handle, as I was burning off between 3 and 5 thousand calories a day. This led to me straying from a perfect clean diet, and yes I ate meat. The Czech lifestyle is very much centred around pork, beef and some chicken and in some cases it wasnt possible to get a vegetarian meal. One place had a choice between a hamburger or pork and dumplings.
So bear that in mind if you are a strict veggie and heading to Prague or one of the other awesome cities.
On the flipside, it is generally very cheap, especially if you leave the major cities. We managed to get a 3 course meal, and 3 pints of beer for less than £10 each.
Overall we are on course to raise over £1000 for charity, supporting Martins House Hospice for the work they are doing for a sick girl.
I am fairly new to the whole vegetarian lifestyle. It has been a few years since I initially became fully aware of the crap food I was eating and the effect on my body and decided to make a change. More recently I began to implement a vegetarian mindset into my diet. In the last 2 months, I admit I have eaten meat, but only for 3 meals (when it was inconsiderate and easier in the situation as to not be a pain in the ass). I would consider my diet at the moment to be 99% vegetarian. I have no craving for any meat, even though being an omnivore all my life I know how good it can taste.
There are different types of Vegetarian diets, and I chose the Ovo-Lactotype. This basically means I will eat eggs and dairy. This is purely a choice based on nutrition. I have always consumed a lot of these and to block them out would not only restrict my efforts for a healthy lifestyle and also drive me nuts.
There is also the Vegan camp who choose no animal products whatsoever. I disagree with Veganism, and this is because all the vegans I have met seem pale and malnutritioned. Obviously those who know the diet type well and do enough research can lead a full and healthy life as a vegan but the majority do not, and this isnt safe. Fair play to you if you do.
When I first started reading up on Veganism I came across this video, and yes, it is shocking and yes it did change my mind. If you're not easily shocked, its well worth the time to watch it all. Bear in mind it is taking place in a vegan restaurant and is slightly biased but a good vid anyways.
But the main reason for taking on a 99% vegetarian diet is a combination of my first hand experiences in the food trade and my attitude towards sports performance.
Where Does Meat Come From?
I have seen many abbatoirs and farms, and many are clean and well looked after. However I have seen a lot, and many more are filthy. They often smell unpleasant and I have seen plenty of common practices involving the carcasses of animals to be prepared for food which have knocked me sick, because I never stopped to think about it beforehand. Most people choose not to, and thats fine. But for those who are interested, they will definately find vegetarianism the more appealing choice.
Another disturbing video - discretion is advised, but it is very well known amongst the veggie community.
Sports & Veggies
There is nothing anywhere to say that an athlete needs to eat meat. Yes its easy for protein and you get a big hit of vitamins but there is also the bad side such as cholesterol and contamination through the food chain (take mercury in tuna for example).
My aim was to lose weight for a cycling tour. I weighed nearly 14 stone and that was gonna kick my ass on the big climbs up mountains, and vegetarianism has helped me shift 1-2lb's of bodyweight a week for the past 3 months, and long may it continue!
For cycling, the main nutrient needed for performance in my experience is sugar, in the form of glucose and dextrose. These are fast acting and can supply your muscles with the fuel you need for a full days riding, or as a quick shot before and intense period.
For bodybuilding however, sugar is generally not very welcome. It is know sugars can spike insulin and unless you know about insulin spiking, its best left alone. Bear in mind there is 4 calories per gram of sugar also, and when that could be substituted for the equivalent in protein, sugar doesnt really have a place.
Proteincan be sourced quite easily when you think about it. Whey protein is more popular than ever, its quick, convenient, and it works. Eggs, if you still want to eat them are a staple bodybuilders go to food. Other foods such as tofu, beans, quinoa, lentils, cheese, milk and many many more also pack more than a good share of protein so as long as you are careful and count the amounts you eat, you are good to go. Bear in mind beans and the like tend to not be complete protein, so you have to mix and match to get all of the types of amino acids which make it up.
Basically it is up to you and your opinions.
Dont be pressurised into eating meat, many people wont understand your choices.
Know your reasons, so if people ask, give them a good answer.
Know your goals. Why are you going veggie?
Here's just a few of the thoughts I went through before changing my diet.
The Pros and Cons of a Veggie Diet
Pro's:
Eating less or no meat and replacing these parts with extra veg or fruit allows higher quantities of plant based vitamins and minerals to enter your system.
Meat takes longer than fruit or veg to digest.
Eating gram for gram meat or veggies, veggies will fill you up more. 100g of Broccoli is a bigger volume of food than 100g of Steak.
Free your mind from the suffering that would have happened to an animal when it was slaughtered should you be now chewing on its muscle fibre....
Increased digestive health
Find food sources out in the open should you be stuck. Cant just grab a leg of lamb on the road. The lamb will most probably object unless you're the Bear Grylls type and ready to slaughter and prepare your own food.
Your food wont have come from an abbatoir with suspect standards.
Most of your food will be low fat.
Con's:
Those who eat meat have easy access to high levels of protein
There is also quite a substantial amount of naturally occuring creatine in products such as beef.
Fruit and Veg isnt perfect, and can contain pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified products.
Organic foods are generally more expensive.
You may have to supplement with multivitamins
Its easy to get stuck in a cycle of the same food
Friends and family might not accept the change initially
Ingredients:
40 Quinoa
1 Banana
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Can Mushy Peas (300g)
Cut around the stalk of the pepper, and remove the top. From there you can scoop out the insides, most will come out with the stalk.
Slice one banana into small chunks.
Boil and simmer the quinoa in 250ml water for around 12 minutes. When ready, scoop with a spoon into the hollow pepper. Place on a baking tray and put in a preheated oven for about another 12 minutes.
In the meantime, fry the banana with some low cal spray, and put the mushy peas in the microwave for a couple of minutes.
Hopefully it will all come out at the same time, and be ready to eat!
Video Recipe
I added some extra coleslaw just for the hell of it (not counted in the macros below).
1 Mission Deli Wrap (i used regular, wholemeal would be better)
1 Scoop Chocolate Whey Protein
1 Egg (Whole)
10g Chocolate Philadelphia Cheese Spread
Crack the egg into a microwavable bowl, and add in the 1 scoop of whey protein. This doesnt have to be chocolate, I have made it with vanilla before, but i prefer this version! Using a fork, mix it all together until you have a smooth batter.
Put this batter into the microwave on full power for about 50 seconds.
In the meantime, take the wrap and down the middle, spread in the chocolate cheese. I used Philadelphia for this, as it was what I had available at the time. However, Nutella or something similar would do the job. Its not ideal, with the high processed crap content, so if you can find a sugar free or low fat version that would be perfect.
Take out the egg and protein batter, which will now look like a small cake. cut this in half, and place along the chocolate spread so that you can roll the wrap closed as you usually would.
Wrap it all up, and place on a microwavable plate, then blast in the microwave for about 20 seconds more, just so you can melt the chocolate without making the wrap too soggy.
First add a scoop of whey and a scoop of oats into a mixing bowl. Crack open the egg and add that to the mix.
Give this a gentle stir to get it going, then add a small amount of milk. You want it like a batter, quite thick in texture.
Add in the 2nd scoop of protein and another half scoop of oats, this will thicken the mixture further so you will need to judge for yourself how much milk to add in.
Add the raisins, just a small handfull will do, and mix that in fully.
Scoop the mixture out onto a backing tray, and try and shape it into a square or rectangle, this makes it easier to cut into chunks later.
Stick it in the oven for around 5-7 minutes, the edges will turn a little bit golden and it should be firm throughout.
Take it out and slice into bitesize pieces.
Macros:
Approx 500 cals depending on how much raisins/ extra protein you put in
40 carbs
59 Protein
14 Fat
First, finely chop the peppers, onion, and carrot and tomato and keep them to one side. Meanwhile, take the Sweet Potato and cut it finely into slices, keeping the skin on, before putting into the microwave for about 3 minutes until it is piping hot throughout.
Add some Extra Virgin Olive Oil into a frying pan, then add in the chopped veggies. Sprinkle a pinch of Thyme and a generous helping of Paprika into the mix, and give it a good stir to even it all out.
Leave that mixture to brown in the pan and in the meantime cut the desired amount of Tofu into cubes. Add the tofu after about 5 minutes of frying the veggies.
Continue to cook the mixture then add in your sweet potato, this is already half cooked so we are going to continue to fry the meal for about another 5 minutes until all ingredients are cooked well through and the tofu begins to brown with the paprika.
A quick video to show what I usually eat before and during a ride on my bike. On Day 1, we stopped around halfway through for lunch, where I also had coffee and Poached Eggs on Toast. Other than the Oats in the video, the fruit and gels where to keep me going when its not convenient to stop. I also went through 2 full water bottles each day and 1 SIS Fuel Bar each day. No stops on Day 2, so had to resort to the food above for carb sources.
Here is my recipe for an incedibly tasty Chocolate Fudge Granola, using just three ingredients. Mix together some natural yoghurt, tropical flavour granola and some whey protein and enjoy the chocolatey goodness.
