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Comment by frereubu | Hacker News Reader

The part about not eating too much fibre because it irritates the gut reminded me of an amusing anecdote in Dan Martin's autobiography, where he talked about coming (I think) third in The Tour and was sitting with Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas from Team Sky (now Ineos Grenadiers) after the finish in Paris. He was looking forward to a big burger and chips, and Froome and Thomas were discussing how they were really looking forward to a nice salad (i.e. lots of fibre). He partly admired the dedication, but at the same time wondered how on earth they could live like that.

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Salads can be really good in Paris! :D Martin might just be imagining a slice of tomato on a leaf of lettuce, Froome and Thomas might have been imagining a range of herbs and roasted nuts with a delicious oil or vinaigrette, chunks of an interesting cheese or two and some powerful olives and garlic. Or thereabouts.

Yeah, I'm sure he knows that - he lives in Andorra - but I read it as him being surprised that of all the tasty things they weren't allowed to eat (as the article makes clear the food during the Tour tends to be pretty bland) the first thing they'd crave is a salad.

I remember Fabio Aru saying that he was allowed to eat a pizza once in an year, at the end of the season. This is one of the reason why several modern cyclist had a mental breakdown like Tom Dumolin

Runners also warn about high fiber being bad. I keep being drawn back to our friend the Banana.

I think pectin is easier on the stomach than insoluble fiber, but I have a lot of gaps in this part of my knowledge.

The cheeseburger calls to us all. Some of us are just "better" at resisting the call.

>> The cheeseburger calls to us all.

One my trainers when I was in college told me that when you crave foods, its not your lack of willpower, its actually your body telling you it needs certain nutrients. He told me when you crave chocolate its because your body needs carbs, so if you get some carbs, your chocolate cravings will go away.

I'm guessing the idea you crave a cheeseburger is the same thing, his body was in need of complex carbs and protein?

This is purely anecdotal evidence of this, but in my experience as an endurance athlete (soccer, cycling, adventure racing) its seems to work. When I've craved chocolate, I just eat some toast or chips or drink some Mt. Dew (a lot of people have no idea how many carbs are in soda) and the desire for something chocolatey goes away.

As others have pointed out in the thread, everybody is different, but in my case, this idea seems to be accurate.

Protein and fat, but probably mostly salt.

One year I bumped into a friend of a friend at the checkin for a 3 day bike tour and we decided to 1) ride together and 2) see how fast we could do it. Short rests, riding hard, drafting the entire way. All day, in the Labor Day sun.

On day two after we pulled up to the stopping point, we got set up and then crawled back on our bikes to ride to the other side of this small college town to find the Dairy Queen for a bacon cheeseburger. It's not the best tasting beef I've ever had (that was in New Orleans), but it was the best tasting burger.

In a completely unrelated anecdote, one day on a club ride we were almost to the turnaround point for the day. The town was on a hill on the far side of a river valley and it was a relatively nasty hill. One of the older guys was falling off the back and I and a few other people heard him yell something but we couldn't make out what it was, so we dropped back to see if he was okay.

He had yelled "CHEESEBURGER!" as a rally cry.

Someone told me once that food cravings are often driven by our gut's bacteria. We eat what they want us to eat.

Probably because they consume the nutrients before our bodies can, so our body says “more of that please!”

That's the theory that we're all high on sugar because our gut bacteria are feeding us neurochemicals.

There's certainly circumstantial evidence that's true.

Lol what’s the nutritional case for drinking Mt Dew to avoid chocolate?

Pure carbs are better than fat and protein if you're about to start or are in the middle of long endurance effort.

There are days on the bike where I would probably commit a crime to get a cold Coca-cola, and I almost never drink sodas otherwise.

Unfortunately my taste buds get more intense with exercise and not less like some people. I just had to throw out a smoothie this morning I bought as a treat for finishing a race. I forgot how sweet this beverage was on a normal day and it was like candy to me.

Just sounds like a convenient lie to tell yourself while you eat junk food.

I'm intrigued by the mention of a banana. Is there something specific about banana fiber you are referencing?

No, it’s just that amateur cyclists swear by bananas. Starch, potassium, biodegradable wrapper. Jerseys have handy pockets that can carry several. Walkers and runners often don’t.

Ah, makes sense. My naive view of bananas would be that they are also relatively high in fiber.

This whole thread really underlines how little I understand about a lot of this. :D

High in pectin. Soluble and insoluble fiber behave differently and I used to be able to explain it somewhat but my brain has been too full of other things lately and I don’t think I can do it justice.

there's always the good old meme pic of people riding a $10k+ S-Works bike with a $.20 stale banana sticking out of a rear pocket of their jersey

I get it, though. I often crave salad when I have eaten too much fat for a day or two. Sometimes the body really just tells you what it needs.

Tomorrow's headline: Turd de France - How professional cyclists poop (or don't) on the road...

Don't poop on the road, poop in the bushes.

Cavendish breaks Tour de France stage record

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