By Carl Bastedo
Riders who have been visiting or staying at the park a lot and are eating properly, have noticed a difference in their energy within 2 weeks. They have also reported they sleep better at night, get less arm pump and are less fatigued when they ride. Its all part of Motoparks, “Eat, Think and Ride to Win” program.
Remember that you need 7 to 9 hours sleep EVERY night. It’s not good to sleep longer than 9 hours, no such thing as catch up, be as consistent with that as you can.
Also, the word balance in a balanced diet is very important, don’t OD on your favorite foods and not have the others, we see that a lot here at Motopark. Remember that our diet is for very active people, like motoheads and not for those looking to loose weight or are less active.
It’s very important you have your 3 meals per day. DON’T SKIP BREAKFAST, lately the riders have been telling me the milk in cereal makes them tired. For those that feel that way, just don’t drink all the milk in the bowl. Throw out what you don’t use. Some of our riders are starting to use Orange Juice with their cereal instead of milk, try it and if you like it you’ll be all set.
Georgia Pro Clint Shealy can’t take the milk at all and has been just going with a fried egg sandwich or a bowl of fruit and multigrain toast.
We have just got some Pro riders like Iain Hayden and Zeb Dennis to start eating multigrain or cracked wheat bread for their toast instead of white. If you really want white at least eat the multigrain 2 or 3 times per week.
Fruit juice and/or a piece of fruit, round out the breakfast.
A lot of riders say they have fast food for lunch. There is some good stuff out there. Tim Hortons has a great Tuna Sandwich, you can have it on a multigrain role to make it even better. Salmon is even better for you if you don’t mind a little stronger fish. Good soups there as well. Our riders are starting to eat more and more soup.
Chinese take outs usually have great soups, maybe something with noodles in it. Skip the breaded foods there but their other dishes are usually great with vegetables, noodles, chicken or seafood.
Ultimate Pita have a great Chicken Ceasar Salad, have it in a whole wheat or multigrain Pita Pocket.
The Sub people are starting to give you the grams of fat in their subs, take a low one. Don’t skimp on the vegetables (eat lots of lettuce, tomato, onion, green pepper) or some anyhow, opt for chicken or seafood instead of the other meats. Use some of their fancy breads, Oregano, Grain, etc.
If your going to do Pizza every now and then try to get a healthy topping on it, veggy, pineapple etc. Not the greatest for you but not that bad either.
Taco Bell is great and has some healthy alternatives, it will tell you right on their menu.
We were down in Florida this winter and even got some alternative things at McDonalds & Wendy’s. Salads, a fruit plate and the grilled skinless chicken burg with lettuce, tomato and onion on something other than white was just fine for a change.
Drink anything but Pop. Water, Fruit Juice, Sports Drink, Ice Tea etc.
Remember not to eat a huge dinner and not to eat it late at night. Try to stay up and maybe even take a walk in the evening.
Pasta is our mainstay Monday thru Thursday (Carbo building but we sometimes substitute a different meal on Monday’s or Wednesday’s especially with our schools). Sometimes we have the leftovers for lunch. So, Pasta is the main food 2 to 4 days a week plus leftovers for a couple lunches.
We have salad and some kind of fruit at every dinner. We usually have the salad or fruit after the meal, like dessert. Multigrain rolls, Garlic bread are served a couple times a week.
Usually lots of Herbs and Garlic used while cooking all our dinners.
Plain Penne with Tomato based sauce, Spaghetti as well. Either can be healthied up with any kind of fresh vegetables lightly sautéed and then added to the Sauce along with a can of diced tomatoes. If you need meat. cube up some chicken and put it in with the veggies.
A little more difficult to make alternative is the Spinach Lasagna we have now and then with Oven Ready Noodles, Tomato Sauce, Cottage Cheese, Spinach and Mozzarella Cheese. Zeb ate it a dozen times before we told him the green stuff was Spinach.
Loretta’s Linguine or multi coloured Bow Tie Seafood Pasta rocks, it’s in a cream sauce (white, like Alfredo in the stores) which is not as good for us as the Tomato based sauce but the scallops, shrimp and crab make up for it. The Garlic Bread and Ceasar Salad are a must with this fancy meal. She also makes a great similar dish with Chicken.
Can’t forget our old Goulash. Lean Ground Beef, Onion, Green Pepper, Mushrooms, Garlic all sautéed up and then added to cooked large shell noodles with a rich Tomato Sauce and Diced Tomatoes. We eat it for days.
Lazy Pasta dinners include Frozen Cheese Tortellini that you just add a Tomato sauce to, sometimes with cubed sautéed chicken. Nicks favorite quicky is to add a can of Tuna to Tuna Helper or Kraft Dinner, good for you to.
For the days when we aren’t eating Pasta we have excellent balanced meals. The Salad and fruit are always there.
Usually we have a nice juicy steak once a week. Its best had with just roasted vegetables. If you need Potatoes or Bread, do multigrain and any Potato but Fried. The same for those of us that would rather have a boneless, skinless Chicken breast.
We eat Fish (in addition to all the above Tuna, Salmon and seafood Pasta) one meal a week, usually Fish Fridays. Don’t eat it fried. Grill it, broil it or bake it. We have rice with it, lay off the white rice. If you don’t like wild grain or coloured rice start by mixing it in with some white rice and eventually you’ll wean yourself off the white. Add some roasted veggies and your done.
Once a month or so we will have Jay Moto’s two favorites. One is a Bone in Ham with homemade Macaroni and Cheese and Cabbage for our vegetable. The other is a Cabbage casserole with Lean ground beef , cheese, garlic and a tomato sauce baked in the oven.
Jay loves cabbage, about the only thing he eats that’s good for him but he’s not out motoing.
We eat lots of different baked Chicken dishes, most with rice and a vegetable. Spanish rice is great now and then. Chicken or Beef stew with lots of good things mixed in are on the menu when its cold and blowing outside.
Mondays at our schools we have an all out Roast Beef Dinner with Mashed potatoes and vegetables. We even indulge with some Gravy to store some fat for later in the week.
Balance and variety are important and the odd day we substitute and have something like a pork roast with perogies and baked beans or pork chops with roasted potatoes and vegetables.
You are what you eat, and if your riding Motocross you should be following the above guidelines “Eat to Win”.
