Hi Gemma! Is it ok to eat a larger evening meal the night before a big ride / competition the next morning rather than fuelling with breakfast? (e.g. if a super early start is needed or low appetite / nerves in the morning mean that eating a biggish breakfast is difficult).

Gemma talks with Carina Hamel, a lifelong athlete, mother, and co-founder of Bivo drink bottles.

Carina shares the story behind Bivo and how she and her husband identified a gap in the market for non-plastic hydration solutions for athletes and everyday use. She discusses her journey from a career in footwear product development to starting her own business, the challenges of balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship, and the importance of creating products that address real-world issues like minimizing microplastic exposure.

The conversation also touches on the personal joys and challenges of parenting, finding balance, and the importance of having fun and staying active with family.

Gemma interviews Dr. Jose Areta about the energy needs of female cyclists, particularly during events like the Tour de France. They discuss a recent study on energy expenditure in female athletes, highlighting surprising findings such as high daily caloric needs and energy deficits similar to male cyclists. The conversation touches on the complexity of measuring energy intake and expenditure, the challenges of conducting accurate research, and the impacts of chronic low energy availability on performance and health. Dr. Areta emphasizes the need for more extensive research on female athletes and calls for support in this area. They also discuss broader factors affecting athlete performance, such as psychological stress and sleep, advocating for a holistic approach to athlete health.

In this episode, host Gemma sits down with pro cyclists Lizzie Holden and Nick Schultz to discuss the concept of 'Pock-it Fuel' and its role in sports nutrition. They explore how their interest in baking and nutrition led to creating homemade training snacks. The cyclists share personal insights on the importance of fueling correctly, overcoming flavour fatigue, and incorporating variety into ride food. They dive deep into the nutritional strategies used in racing versus training, the psychological aspects of food, and the evolving understanding and acceptance of adequate fuel among pro cyclists.

Gemma sits down with Georgie Howe, a professional cyclist for Liv Jayco Alula.

Georgie shares her journey from rowing in Australia to becoming a cyclist, including her struggles with non-selection for the Tokyo Olympics, transitioning into management consulting, and finding her passion for cycling during the COVID-19 lockdown.

She discusses the physical and mental challenges she's faced, such as significant weight changes and amenorrhoea, and emphasizes the importance of proper fuelling in sports.

Georgie also talks about participating in a study on energy expenditure during the Tour de France, revealing the high caloric demands of the race and the impact of nutrition on performance and recovery.

Gemma shares her most overlooked and undervalued nutrition tip: incorporating more plants into your diet. She highlights the significant benefits of eating a diverse range of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds

Is there anything about your life that you regret or wish you could change looking back? One of the most impactful books I've read is the top 5 regrets of the dying by Bonnie Ware. Sounds morbid but it is a very inspirational book and thinking about these regrets helps me make decisions and live a life full of intention.

What's changed in pro cycling nutrition? I joined Tim Podlogar, Sam Impey and David Dunne at Hexis Elite Cycling Nutrition Conference Q&A panel to discuss fuelling practices, whether we need to fuel at 120g per hour, cyclists using ozempic to lose weight, protein, vegan nutrition and more.

How do you learn to like eating healthy? This is a question I received on Instagram and I found it very interesting because the meaning we attach to the word healthy can influence how easy or difficult we perceive it to achieve.

In this episode I discuss what healthy may or may not look like for you and steps to help you make changes to live a healthier lifestyle and eat in a healthier way without feeling deprived or overwhelmed.

Often people come to me with these idealistic goals and visions of what they want to do achieve or change around their nutrition. Kind of like how at the beginning of the year we can get sucked into the whole new year new me resolutions kind of things. This year I'm going to be different. We make all these changes, but they are so far from our starting point that we set ourselves up for failure and most people give up before January is even finished. We are more than a quarter of the way through 2024, can we all get on board and agree that the whole new years resolution style of thinking just doesn't work? You know what DOES work though?

If you get dropped on a ride - does that demotivate you or does it motivate you?

Maybe I'm weird, but for some strange reason when it comes to group rides, being dropped REALLY motivates me to work harder and to ride my bike more regularly.

It all started with the Sefton park chain gang 9 years ago in Liverpool.

I am a 57yr old female Cycling endurance athlete. I like to compete for overall and AG in 80-100mi sportive/fondo/ races. I am using a trainer and on the average put in 10-15hrs/week. I am interested to hear your macro recommendations when it comes to older but still competitive athletes. For example, some say that with aging athletes, %fat should be a bit higher than with younger athletes. What about Protein (super important for aging athletes) but how much is needed vs carbohydrates? I have a science background and listen to most all the new recommendations but I have found it all falls apart when you look at the needs for an aging yet still competitive female athlete!!

Have I always had a good relationship with food? This week on the podcast I am doing something a little different. One of my Fuelled team members asked a question about my relationship with food, how that has changed over the years as a dietitian and things I recommend you consider to improve yours.

When it comes to sports nutrition for cycling and triathlon, I like to view it in three distinct, but related components.

We have Everyday nutrition, Training nutrition and then our event or racing nutrition.

They have overlapping but distinct needs and challenges to address, which I teach my 1:1 clients privately in our 1:1 sessions as well as online using my Fuelled Framework.

Nutrition can either make or break a ride, and it's when you put it to the test and experience this properly for yourself that you really understand that it's not just a fluke.

What does it take to fuel a Kona slot when you are an Ironman triathlete? Today I have invited Dan Barry, a triathlete and previous client onto the podcast to share his experience learning how to optimise his everyday, training and race nutrition through 1:1 sports nutrition coaching. He recently won his Age Group, breaking 9 hours at Ironman New Zealand achieving his goal to race at Ironman World Championships in Kona later this year. Listen to hear what changed in his nutrition, how he fuelled his Ironman race, what surprised him about levellling up his nutrition and more.

Have you ever thought about what motivates you? What drives you to do the things that you do or don’t want to do?

I’ve been sharing a lot lately about the topic of motivation and how it influences us, how it shifts how it changes throughout different phases of our life or even different seasons of the year.

Many cyclists assume that if you weigh less your power to weight ratio will be higher and you’ll perform better on the bike. While this CAN be the case - it is not always true for every individual depending on their starting place and the strategies they have used to change their body composition.

Ask a Sports Dietitian: My blood tests show that I am anaemic. I don’t like eating meat and am not a huge fan of eating eggs. What foods should I eat more of to help increase absorption and help manage fatigue?

For female cyclists, and female athlete, there is a lot of debate about whether our menstrual cycles influence our performance... how, when and what to do about it.