Customer Reviews

The Cyclist's Food Guide

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a gem! The advice is completely practical, the themes are uniform and consistent, and the results speak for themselves. There isn't any miracle here, just excellent synthesis and communication of good information. No gimmicks. No tricks. And the fact that the themes are unified helps, because I found myself reading this sporadically, so the underlying unity helped a lot. I've done three centuries since getting this book. For two of them, I was able to stick with their advice. For the third, fate conspired against me, my nutritional plan evaporated, and I bonked. I'm convinced that I would have had a much better day if I'd been able to execute my nutritional plan on the bike. In addition, recovery has been faster, and I've trimmed a couple of pounds. Highly recommended if you're looking for fundamentally sound advice about how to make cycling work even better for you.

As a coach for mulit-sport athletes, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how to keep your body fueled for optimum performance. This book is full of great tips for choosing easy, healthful foods for before, during, and after any cycling event. It's relevance goes beyond cycling!

As a doctor who specializes in nutrition, I bought this book in the hopes of having a good resource for my cycling patients. Unfortunately, this book is not evidence or research-based, and for the most part regurgitates tired, debunked dietary myths.

The problems are too numerous to enumerate here. But a couple of examples are the authors' recommendation of fast-food joints as a source of nutritious meals, and their argument that organic food sources be avoided because they lack the nutritional content of processed foods.

If you are looking for a source of sound sports/cycling nutrition advice, I highly recommend you look elsewhere.

"The Cyclist's Food Guide" presents sound nutrition advice, even for the recreational cyclist. In particular, I really appreciated the section on Eating for Cycling where my husband and I followed the guidance given about preparing for the Event Week. By maximising our muscle glycogen with appropriate nutrition and tapering our training program, we were able to enjoy thoroughly a century ride from Brisbane to the Gold Coast (Australia). So, if you are looking for a good nutrition text that targets cyclists from all walks of life then make sure you add "The Cyclist's Food Guide" to your collection.

"I find the book to be an excellent information source on nutrition and energy requirements for cycling, and wish I had it when I began biking in earnest some 15 years ago."

"The Cyclist's Food Guide" is alot easier to understand than our new food pyramid! I rode the MS Tour of Tanglewood Century last year and had a wonderful experience. True, this was not a timed event but I felt great before, during and after. Clark's knowledge helped me through that and I'm grateful.

I have had other books about what to eat and they mostly give charts, and keep talking about percentages of what to eat. This book actually gives you the foods to eat, and when to eat them.
A good book, but can be rambling some at times.
Worth getting. I got mine under USED, and the book was in perfect shape for a much lower cost. So look for it there first.

I am a fitness expert (master's in exercise science) and healthcare provider. Nancy Clark's nutritional advice is solid - based in science and research. Her guiding principles are to eat a variety of foods (the more color the better), try to eat most foods in their natural state, and use moderation (the occasional junk/fast food isn't forbidden but should try to eat clean most of the time). Sound advice for organic foods too - basically they don't have better nutritonal value (as in vitamins/minerals) versus cost, but she does advocate following the "dirty dozen" and "clean" foods, as recommended by the Envioronmental Working Group (I think the foods on the lists have changed since her book publications, you can check them out at: [...]). She really is one of the leading sports dietitians in the country (along with Susan Kleiner) and you can bet that your health and performance will improve if you follow her guidelines. There aren't any "fad" diets or extreme practices ("good" vs. "bad" food) in here but just good science and common sense recommendations.

If you want to ride a bike for more than just around the block you will need this book. Packed with the right information to help you build energy and lose weight and many other health benifits.

Earlier this year I started training to complete the Seattle-to-Portland annual ride in one day (204 miles). After each long, training ride I felt exhausted. Even more so the next day. I had been routinely exercising (swimming, running, cycling) every day for the previous 5 years, and thus didn't understand how I could feel so drained after a...bike ride. Frustrated, I asked a dietician-cyclist-friend what I could do to improve my endurance. After discussing my eating habits, she suggested I read this book. Turns out, I was drastically under-eating for someone trying to ride farther and farther in one day. And, I was eating things someone on a weight-loss diet would eat. Bad move(s). If you're trying to become a distance rider, reading / comprehending / applying the lessons from this book is a must.