Bicycling is not only good for the heart and lungs. It also creates a sense of intense and lasting joy.
Several studies have shown that among the many benefits of bicycling regularly is its ability to beat depression. In fact, the past decade has witnessed an explosion of research findings suggesting that regular rhythmic exercise can benefit every part of the body right down to our cells.
Most adults initially take up bicycling to improve their fitness. Those who stay with it often achieve dramatic improvements in just a few weeks. Frequently they go on to ride centuries, or to go on long tours, or to compete in races. But all too many give up within a short time and never ride again.
What makes the difference?
Four essential factors govern success in cycling: (1) having the right bike with the right gears — a topic we’ve already covered; (2) eating the right foods to fuel your body’s energy needs; (3) becoming a competent rider so that you can keep the pedals spinning at a cadence of 60-90 r.p.m. in all kinds of terrain; and (4) bicycling regularly so that your body learns to mobilize the energy you need to build stamina.
Assuming you follow all four principles, exactly what health benefits can you expect?
To demonstrate the many and varied benefits of rhythmic exercise such as bicycling, I drew on recommendations by such leading health advisory agencies as the American Heart Association, the National Cancer Society, the National Academy of Sciences, the Pritikin Institutes for Longevity, and the various National Institutes of Health. To these I added the findings of such recent large-scale studies as the Seven Countries Study, the Paffenbarger Study of 17,000 Harvard alumnae, the Framingham Study, the Lipid Re search Clinic’s mortality followup study, and work done at the Center for Exercise Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Putting together their combined findings and recommendations reveals this overall picture of bicycling’s benefits.
Bicycling Cuts Risk of Heart Disease in Half
Rhythmic activities, like bicycling, that use the body’s large muscles, are also known as aerobic exercise. Numerous studies have revealed that regular aerobic exercise produces exceptional physical benefits, including improved oxygen uptake and cardiac efficiency. It lowers pulse rate and blood pressure and reduces risk of death from heart disease by more than 50 percent.
Lars-Goran Ekeleund, Ph.D., author of the 8½-year Lipid Research Clinic’s mortality follow-up study, also speculates that regular exercise may reduce blood platelet aggregation, thereby lowering risk of the clumping that frequently triggers a heart attack.
The rhythmic exercise of bicycling appears to boost immunity and cut the risk of certain types of cancer. For example, a study at Harvard University School of Public Health showed that sedentary women have 2.5 times greater risk of breast cancer than women who practice a regular form of exercise such as bicycling.
Bicycling is also one of the best weight-loss exercises. By pedaling at 15 m.p.h. for 9 hours a week, a 120 pound woman will lose one pound and a 150 pound man will lose 1.3 pounds. Keep this up, and in six months the average woman could typically lose 26 pounds and the average man 34 pounds. This loss rate can be doubled by changing to a diet low in fat and high in complex carbohydrates.
Get High Naturally
Thirty minutes after beginning to bicycle, clouds of endorphin are released in the brain. Endorphin, a natural opiate and pain killer, binds onto receptors in the right hemisphere to induce a euphoric high. Acting as a natural tranquilizer, it elevates mood for up to 24 hours. In the process, stress hormones are dissipated, anxiety and depression fade away, and a deep sense of physical and emotional relaxation begins soon after exercise has ceased.
Undoubtedly because bicycling is an enjoyable exercise, it brings health rewards sooner than some other forms of exercise. Beginners are often amazed at how far and how fast they can ride after only a few weeks of practice. Each time you ride faster and farther, you experience an overwhelming feeling of mastery and success.
Retard the Aging Process
Over 100 major studies have also confirmed that exercises like bicycling, when regularly maintained, can clearly slow the aging process, and may even reverse it. For instance, sedentary adults consistently lose 1 percent of their oxygen (aerobic) capacity each year. Additionally, they experience a steadily diminishing capacity of the heart to pump blood. But studies by Michael Pollock, Ph.D., of the Center for Exercise Sciences, University of Florida, have revealed that people over 30 who adopt a regular exercise such as bicycling, can increase their aerobic capacity by 15—30 percent within a relatively short time.
Bicycling regularly keeps the body in shape, gives improved definition to all muscles, and creates a firm, athletic body and a greatly improved appearance. It also increases sexual vigor and improves the quality of sleep.
In another large and well-controlled study, Ralph Paffenbarger, Ph.D., of Stanford University School of Medicine found that up to a certain point, increased amounts of rhythmic exercise can reduce risk of mortality by 40 percent and, at the same time, add 10—20 years to one’s life expectancy. Within limits, this means that the more you exercise, the longer you are likely to live.
Based on the number of calories consumed by exercise, I estimate that in bicycling the limit would be to ride about 125 miles per week. Up to that point, the more miles you ride the greater the health benefits. By cycling 125 miles per week at a reasonably brisk pace you can statistically reduce your risk of dying in any one year by approximately 40 percent. But after pedaling a total of 125 miles in a week, the health benefits of additional bicycling begin to taper off.
Diet and Exercise Work Together
All the benefits mentioned so far have been attributed to exercise alone. But when a diet low in fat and protein and high in complex carbohydrates is added, both exercise and diet work synergistically to more than double the benefits that either could produce alone.
If you’ve taken up bicycling merely to try and lower your cholesterol, you may be disappointed. Many bicyclists erroneously believe that exercise protects them against the hazards of eating high-risk, fatty foods. This is only partially true.
Exercise alone does help to lower the level of triglycerides (fatty acids) in the bloodstream. It also tends to lower the level of LDL (low-density lipoprotein — the “bad” cholesterol). And it very definitely does raise the level of HDL (high-density lipoprotein — the “good” cholesterol).
Yet exercise alone does little to reduce the overall level of serum cholesterol.
This was borne out by a 1984 study of U.S. Olympic bicycle racers at the Grand Forks Nutrition Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Researchers discovered that on a diet high in saturated fats, the serum cholesterol level of the racing cyclists remained high regardless how much they exercised. But when they reduced their intake of saturated fats, their serum cholesterol levels declined by an average 40 percent.
This classic study is one of many to confirm that exercise alone will not lower the serum cholesterol level if a diet high in saturated fats continues to be eaten. But when exercise and diet are combined, results can be significant.
Saturated Fats Shorten Life
While cholesterol is no longer regarded as the chief culprit in causing heart disease, we should not underestimate its danger. Nowadays, however, saturated fat is regarded as the prime villain. Whether of vegetable or animal origin, saturated fat can boost the serum cholesterol level up to 5 times as much as does dietary cholesterol. At the same time, saturated fat raises the level of LDL in the bloodstream.
This doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat cholesterol. Whether or not you bicycle, intake of both cholesterol and saturated fat should be kept to a minimum. This translates into significantly reducing the number of calories consumed as fat.
A diet high in fat causes overproduction of natural body cholesterol by the liver. This increases the amount of body fat. As body fat increases, LDL rises and HDL drops, heightening risk of a heart attack or stroke. Several hundred studies have also incriminated a high-fat diet, and a high level of body fat, with increased risk of several types of cancer.
Because they believe that the average American will never lower his or her calorie intake from fat to less than 30 percent of the diet, most doctors and health advisory agencies have settled for recommending that Americans cut fat intake from 40 percent to only 30 percent of the diet while keeping the serum cholesterol level at 200 mg/dl or below.
While they may be a step in the right direction for the general public, these levels are inadequate for anyone who wants to achieve a high level of fitness and wellness through bicycling.
Eating for Energy and Health
Most sports doctors and others who are nutritionally oriented recommend much lower levels of dietary fat. Years ago, the late Nathan Pritikin recommended an 80-10-10 diet, which translates into 80 percent of calories from complex carbohydrates, 10 percent from fat, and 10 percent from protein.
Touring cyclists enjoy a hearty breakfast in Idaho.
“Eat before you’re hungry, drink before you’re thirsty, rest before you’re
tired,” is a commonly heard piece of advice for cyclists.
Since then, thousands of successful athletes have found that fat and animal protein are poor sources of energy. The best source of energy for long bicycle rides, or for any kind of physical exertion, is complex carbohydrates, namely fresh, unprocessed fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds in as close to their natural state as possible. Many top athletes today have become strict vegetarians. And scores of leading bicycle racers load up on complex carbohydrates for several days before a race.
Combine an 80-10-10 diet with a regular bicycling exercise pro gram and you can attain an amazingly high level of fitness, stamina, and health in a very short time. It’s not unusual for a cyclist to drop his or her cholesterol level by 50 mg/dl during the first month. Many adults who have combined bicycling with a really low-fat diet have dropped their serum cholesterol to 140 mg/dl in just a few weeks. By replacing fat and animal protein with complex carbohydrates, they have achieved exceptional levels of energy, stamina, and endurance.
Foods to Avoid
Foods to eliminate include: all fatty meats, beef fat and lard, whole-milk dairy products (especially cream, ice cream, butter, and cheese), eggs, poultry skin, and saturated shortening. Tropical oils like palm or palm kernel or coconut oil are also taboo, as are the many commercial mixes and baked goods that contain these saturated vegetable oils. These include nondairy creamers and coffee lighteners, nondairy sour cream, and all vegetable shortenings made from tropical oils. All fried foods and commercial popcorn should also be eliminated.
Be careful of any processed or commercially prepared foods. The majority contain eggs or tropical oils or polyunsaturated fats. Once recommended as a substitute for saturated fats, polyunsaturated oils such as safflower, sunflower, corn, or soy oil have been found to lower the “good” HDL along with the “bad” LDL cholesterol. Furthermore, the high proportion of linoleic acid in polyunsaturated fat is believed to suppress immunity and to increase risk of cancer and gallstones.
The One Diet that Does It All
Far safer than either saturated fats or polyunsaturated oils are monounsaturates such as olive oil or canola oil. However, naturally occurring polyunsaturated fats contained in avocados, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and legumes are considered totally safe when consumed by eating these foods. Together, these sources of safe fat can more than meet any dietary lipid needs.
It should come as no surprise, really, that the foods that provide bicyclists with the greatest amounts of energy and stamina are the same foods that work best to reduce risk of heart disease, cancer, and other killer diseases. Together, a diet low in fat and animal protein, and high in complex carbohydrates, when combined with regular bicycling, enables one to swiftly reach the highest attainable levels of fitness and health.
Medical literature shows that there is no upper age limit at which these benefits cease to occur. Bicycling plus sound nutrition will produce startling results at any age. And bicycling is an exercise that can be continued safely until very late in life.
High-Risk Foods Can Impair Your Performance
How about people who stay fit by bicycling but who continue to eat a high-risk diet? Unfortunately, some of the benefits of bicycling — particularly those pertaining to reduced risk of heart attack and stroke — can be offset by eating foods high in fats and animal protein. This caveat applies also to foods high in refined carbohydrates such as sugar and white flour.
When you watch bicyclists gulping down soda drinks along with doughnuts, cookies, and cinnamon rolls at roadside stops, one can only speculate at how much overall benefit they are gaining from the ride.
All too many mature riders have discovered the hard way that even moderate amounts of sugar, fat, and animal protein visibly impair their physical performance — so much so that many bicyclists prefer to carry their own health snacks in their handlebar bags rather than rely on finding anything safe and nutritious at roadside stops.
Good Fuel Foods
Complex carbohydrates in the form of vegetable starches, as well as fruit sugars, are the food compounds preferred by the body to fuel all forms of exercise. Fat and animal protein break down too slowly to provide much energy. One of the main reasons why millions of Americans are listless and fatigued is because they eat too few complex carbohydrates.
For the first two hours of a bicycle ride, your energy is supplied by glycogen, a starch stored in the muscles and liver. After riding for two hours or more, these glycogen reserves are depleted and the muscles begin to draw on glucose, a sugar in the bloodstream. Unless replenished by complex carbohydrates, these glucose reserves can soon be used up. When this happens a bicyclist begins to feel listless and fatigued.
While riding, one’s glucose supply can be constantly replenished by eating a snack, or having a light meal, about every two hours. During century rides, and long all-day rides, it’s vitally important to eat lightly and often. A commonly heard piece of bicycling advice is: “Eat before you’re hungry, drink before you’re thirsty, rest before you’re tired.”
You should always carry a snack on any fast-paced ride of over two hours. Since women have smaller muscle mass for storing glycogen, women may need to eat sooner and more often than men riders.
Among the best snacks are bananas and oranges (which replace potassium lost through sweating); figs and dates; whole-grain bagels, muffins, fig bars, and oatmeal cookies; whole-grain bread spread with pure peanut butter; sunflower seeds and raisins; and trail mix or gorp (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts). You can make your own gorp from seeds, nuts, raisins, and whole-grain cereals.
Try to avoid snacking on refined carbohydrates such as candy bars or concoctions of sugar, fat, and white flour. These foods boost the blood sugar level briefly but fail to sustain it long enough to prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and insulin imbalance. Complex carbohydrates promote much greater glycogen synthesis than do refined carbohydrates, besides which, they are filled with health-building fiber and nutrients.
Complex carbohydrates should also be the basis for your regular meals. To become a high-energy person, build meals around fruits like bananas and cantaloupes; vegetables of all kinds; whole-grain breads and pasta; cereals like brown rice, oatmeal, shredded wheat, muesli, grits, millet, or other cereals free of sweeteners; tubers like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and parsnips; and beans of all kinds, especially soybeans. Sunflower seeds and nuts are great for dessert or snacks.
To maximize glycogen storage before an upcoming ride, eat more vegetables and grains and less fat, sugar, salt, and animal protein.
For decades Americans have been obsessed with getting enough protein. According to George M. Blackburn, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, most of us eat 2½-3 times as much protein as the body needs. Through overloading the kidneys with protein-breakdown products, renal disease has become increasingly common. In reality, only 6-8 percent of our daily calorie intake needs to be in the form of protein. Most Americans get 15 percent of their calories from protein, and many get much more.
Since meat and other forms of animal protein are high in fat and calories, protein from vegetable sources is preferred. Beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and many vegetables supply a variety of amino acids from which complete protein is readily formed. Nor, as many bicyclists believe, does animal protein build up muscle. To build muscles you need exercise, not protein.
Small amounts of very lean meat, fish, or white poultry meat together with nonfat plain yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, and skim milk are among acceptable low-fat sources of whole protein.
To eat safely in restaurants while bicycling, I usually order a large bowl of oatmeal or grits for breakfast and add fresh fruit that I bring in myself. Vegetable soup with whole-grain bread, salads or salad bar items without dressings, lean meats, baked fish or chicken, pasta without cheese, plain baked potatoes, and bean dishes are among the safer items to order. Some ethnic restaurants serve a variety of meals low in fat. When touring alone, however, I often buy fresh produce at the local supermarket and prepare my own salads or other meals of raw fruits, vegetables, whole-grain bread or corn tortillas in the motel. Or I eat picnic-style outdoors.
What to Put in Your Water Bottle
Water is probably the most common beverage carried by bicyclists. But many also fill their water bottles with sports drinks. Bearing names like Gatorade, Max, Exceed, or Body-Fuel, approximately 8 - 10 percent of these sports drinks consist of glucose polymers, which are large starchy molecules designed to replenish the body’s glycogen reserves. They are also fortified with other essential nutrients and minerals that are lost through sweating. Some studies indicate that these sports drinks can improve bicycling performance by 5-15 percent. Many nutritionists, however, consider these sports drinks unnecessary under normal conditions, believing that drinking plenty of water and eating sensibly are adequate unless unusually strenuous exercise or extremely hot weather is involved.
Most bicyclists carry two large water bottles in hot weather and the majority take a long swig every 15 minutes. Under hot riding conditions, you can easily consume the contents of one large water bottle each hour — and more if it’s humid. If you have to cover a long, waterless distance during hot weather, you can carry additional water in a pannier bag. At all costs, you must avoid becoming dehydrated.
Caffeine is also best avoided. Although it provides a temporary lift, caffeine encourages fluid loss through urination. Cola drinks and tea also contain appreciable amounts of caffeine. A heavy caffeine intake may diminish your performance quite noticeably.
A Medical Checkup Before Starting to Bicycle
Although the risk of not starting to exercise is a thousand times greater than any risk involved in starting to exercise, nonetheless, most authorities recommend that you have a medical checkup be fore beginning a bicycling program. If you are over 30 and over weight or sedentary, a smoker or a steady drinker, take prescription medication regularly, or have a history of heart disease, hypertension, or any other chronic disease or dysfunction that might be adversely affected by bicycling, you will probably be given a stress test. This consists of an electrocardiogram while running on a tread mill or pedaling a stationary bicycle.
Thousands of people who formerly relied on prescription drugs to stay alive have been able to get off drugs entirely through bicycling. If you are on prescription drugs for hypertension or for any other reason, you may—with your physician’s cooperation—be able to gradually reduce the dosage, and eventually to get off drugs entirely as the benefits of bicycling replace the need for medication.
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