Food is Fuel fit body

The basic philosophy of the book is that food is fuel that can be defined, measured, and managed to benefit cyclists in ways never before achieved. In the foreword, Lance Armstrong writes that "I paid little attention to what I ate when I started out… the biggest lesson I’ve learned about sports nutrition is that paying attention to it can make your dreams come true, and neglecting it can be your undoing."

What you eat, drink, and take are the elemental building blocks that will be used by your body to create the muscle and tissue you need to be effective. Put in bad fuel and your body has inferior raw material to work with. Put in the wrong kind of good fuel and your body lacks all the elements it needs to construct the greatest whole. Fuel yourself properly, and you just might get the absolute most out of what genetics has blessed you with; it’s that critical of a science to understand as an athlete.

I like many things about this book. One in particular is the way Food for Fitness debunks the idea that nutrition is a static concept. Many of us, even those who think they know a little about eating healthy, have been taught globalisms about nutrition: eat pasta, lean proteins, whole grains, vegetables and organic foods; avoid saturated fats, glutens, sugar, and caffeine. But Carmichael says you can’t take a straight-line approach to nutrition when, throughout a normal training season, you’re putting different kinds of demands on your system.

He says your nutrition needs to change with your workload since different fuels are suited to different kinds of work. It’s a concept born out of the principle of food as fuel and is a complement to Carmichael’s complete training system, which uses the now widely accepted principles of specialized training blocks and cycles to bring an athlete to a physical peak for competition.

For example, when athletes move into specialized periods of training, "High intensity training and participation in goal events require a lot of carbohydrates for fuel, and the workouts during this period will burn through your glycogen stores faster than during any other portion of the year. This increases the importance of protein… there is a lot of muscle repair going on."

Another thing I like about the book is how Carmichael takes time to work out the different nutritional needs people besides just the Lances of the world. He recommends, “During pregnancy, you need only 300 or so extra calories a day, a bit fewer during the first trimester… When a woman continues to exercise (during pregnancy), she needs to pay even more attention to her dietary intake.” Besides offering sage advice for pregnancy and nutrition, Food for Fitness als