Drinking enough will help you maintain race weight
Proper hydration can actually help you lose excess body fat. It can increase satiety and boost your metabolic rate. A study has shown that drinking 2 liters of water every day can increase your total energy expenditure by up to 96 kcal.
For maximum effect you have to not only drink enough but also time your water intake right. Drinking water half an hour before meals is the best, that way it doesn’t interfere with digestion but makes you feel more full, so that you eat a bit less. Drink cold water can also be beneficial, because the body has to use additional energy to heat the fluid to body temperature.
Beetroot juice for the win
The amount of beetroot juice that provides the nitrate needed for the average person to sufficiently increase their blood nitrite and get the performance enhancing benefits is about 300 – 500 ml. If you’ve ever wondered how to incorporate beetroot juice into your race prep diet, the following recipe for you.
Recipe: Beet, Carrot, Apple and Ginger Juice
Beetroot is not the tastiest thing but the combination with carrots, apples, ginger, and lime makes it a lot tastier, you won’t even know there’s any beet in this juice. If you want the beetroot to kick in before your ride, drink it 2 – 3 hours before you head out.
Ingredients
- 3 medium beets, cut into small pieces
- 2 large carrots, cut into small pieces
- 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and quartered
- 1 Gala apple, cored and quartered
- 1 7cm (3-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions
- Pass beets, carrots, apple and ginger through a juicer. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Add lemon juice and mix to stir.
- Pour into glasses and enjoy!
- If you don’t own a juicer you can mix the ingredients in a blender and separate the fibre with strain the mixture through a mesh. There will be some pulp left inside but it will still be tasty.
