What does a nutritionist bring on a 7 day cycling trip?  Well, luckily enough I get to ride the Million Dollar Challenge with the Challenged Athlete Foundation, so breakfast, lunch, dinner and SAG stops will be provided. But when we are expecting our bodies to perform, we need to fuel them for performance and deviating too much from a normal nutrition routine is not good.

I will be packing my HCl for sure!  We need HCl to digest all of our food, but when the body is under any kind of stress, it does not spend as much energy on digesting food and therefore it is not producing enough HCl.  This is a pretty easy nutritional supplement to bring along that helps to ensure I get the nutrients out of what I’m eating and better yet, that I don’t put my body into even more stress by filling it with undigested food. No reason to get into GI and immunology  issues on the road.

Next, a full can of bone broth with collagen will be traveling with me.  I could write pages on the benefits of bone broth.  In a nut shell, the gelatin within helps with digestion, the chondroitin sulphates, glucosamine, and some amino acids help fight inflammation. Finally, it is a great source of protein for quick recovery.  Now that there is a very good product in the powder form, transportation is easy.

Of course, I’ll be packing my powdered coconut water to fill my water bottles. The benefits of coconut water are far reaching.  For this trip however, I’m interested in the amazing balance of electrolytes it offers as well as its balancing effect on blood sugar in order to maintain steady energy throughout the day.

Finally, I’ll bring a stash of dried coconut chips for an evening snack.  Coconut has medium chain triglycerides as the primary form of fat.  MCTs are easily absorbed by the body and used for long term fuel the next day.

For all of you that will be traveling from San Francisco to San Diego with me- feel free to ask, I’m happy to share!!