A Shred Girl Guide to Sports Nutrition: Is Junk Food Really Junk?

If you read the post on the basic guide to nutrition and the post all about how to fuel for your riding, you know what we’re talking about here: The basics that you need to know to ride and race like a boss, without getting too crazy with fad diets or weird food hacks. So today, I wanted to talk about that topic we all know and love: JUNK FOOD. Being a cyclist is pretty funny—the more you ride, the more you need to eat, so suddenly, the stuff that isn’t good for you in regular life/nutrition is super helpful.

Think about bike racing, for example: companies are making gummies to eat while riding… but gummy bears are junk food, right? And gels are really common for cyclists to eat, but they’re basically single-serve packets of frosting. WHAT THE HECK?

Here’s the deal: If you love junk food (and let’s be honest, most of us have something that we love, whether it’s sweet or salty), the good news about riding bikes is that there is a good time for you to indulge that sweet tooth.

Time sugary snacks around rides

Riding is a great time to have those sugary snacks you crave — a lot of pro cyclists will use their rides to munch on cookies instead of eating bars or pre-packaged food! You also need some carbs (meaning sugar) to feel good heading into a ride, so pre-ride is a great time to have that muffin you’ve been thinking about all day. And post-ride, your body needs to replace that glycogen (sugar) you burned, so again, a couple of Hershey’s Kisses are totally fine.

(PS This includes soft drinks and other sneaky sugars… try to time all of it around your most active parts of the day, and cut back on the junk around dinner and bedtime!)

Remember moderation

OK, so we’ve established that sugar is going to help you on the bike… but that doesn’t give you license to go out and eat a whole bag of Snickers bars (sorry!). Still think about moderation here—one donut, not two or three!

Don’t let junk replace a good meal

Remember that fat+protein+carb+veggies meal we talked about a couple weeks ago? If your junk food eating means you have no room for spinach, it might be time to cut back. This is actually the biggest issue for cyclists. It’s not that we can’t eat junk food, it’s that we eat too much of it and it gets in the way of our healthy eating habits.

Be aware of what you’re eating

Things like orange juice sound healthy, but they are PACKED with sugar. So while it’s not bad to have a glass of OJ, pairing it with pancakes and maple syrup versus an egg + veggie scramble is going a little sugar-heavy.

Talk to someone if you’re worried or have you-specific questions

Whether you’re worried you’re over or under-eating, or you’re stressed about your weight, talk to your doctor or even school nurse, and they may have information for you or might be able to recommend a nutritionist or another expert to help you out. This is a SUPER important time in your development, and there are tons of people who would love to help you out! Nutrition can make you faster and stronger when done right—it’s the ultimate secret weapon!