Cycling Team Wins Without Wheat
Men’s Journal has an article in their March 2010 issue that’s called “Winning Without Wheat: How a gluten-free diet powers one of the best cycling teams in the world — and how it can help you perform better and recover faster,” by Vanessa Gregory
Carbo-loading and athletics have always gone hand-in-hand. I described my experiences with going gluten free with my high school cross-country runner in my article, Running Gluten Free Style.
According to the article, the leaders of the Garmin-Transitions pro cycling team, Dr. Allen Lim, former exercise physiologist and Jonathan Vaughters, Garmin CEO believed the idea that gluten causes huge “performance hindering problems.” Bloating, stiffness, fatigue, and digestive distress are issues often associated with the ingestion of gluten. They were aware that team could eat foods non-wheat based foods in order to get healthy carbs while forgoing some of the negative effects of the wheat.
The two men were met with shock and apprehension by the rest of the team who feared racing high endurance races such as the Tour de France without their traditional pasta-filled diet.
The team noticed surprising advantages to their new wheat-free diet during racing season such as better sleep, healthier digestion, faster recovery.
According to the Article, here is a sample of what the team’s training diet looked like.
Breakfast
Fresh-fruit salad, boiled rice, oatmeal, oat milk, muesli
Syrups: agave, molasses, honey, maple
On Rest Days: hash browns and pancakes made with rice and corn flour
Eggs with yolk-to-white ration of 1 to 2 Race Snacks
Lunch
Lim’s Rice Cakes (sushi rice, egg, tamari, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and prosciutto), Clif Products (Including bars and gels), Sean’s Bars (puffed rice, oats, cashews, and almonds)
Dinner
Fresh-fruit puree: nectarines, apricots, peaches, and plums
Sean’s Salad: fresh mixed greens, sweet onions, garlic, nuts, grated carrots, apples, beets, olive oil, vinegar, and grated parmesan or manchego cheese
Vegetable and fish paella
Fresh- fruit cornmeal cobbler
Post-Race Snack (Eaten with liquids 15 to 30 minutes after exercise)
Frittata with potato and onion
