Let me disabuse you of the notion, should you be harboring it, that we are here at The Road Warrior Kitchen to learn all the finer points of sports nutrition. I have written some about that in the past based on work with a for-real sports nutritionist, but a) I'm not truly an expert at that stuff, & b) I don't find it that interesting to write about.
On the other hand, a big topic of conversation between my various groups of running friends is more like, "How do we balance the logistics of eating *generally* in a way that supports our training with all the bullshit of real life, AND is also delicious?"
I always love hearing what recipes, hacks, strategies, whatever that others have in their arsenal and seeing if maybe they can work for me. Perhaps you will learn something that works for you! Or perhaps you will share a hack of your own in the comments.
Before we begin, let me provide a bit of framing. I want to be clear that Road Warrior Kitchen is not about describing *THE* one true way of cooking/eating for runners, even just for me. But it will obviously reflect my personal beliefs, preferences, biases, experience, likes/dislikes/etc.
So please understand the points below as a kind of lens for understanding what does or does not show up in the Road Warrior Kitchen and why I cook & eat the way I do.
- There are no 'good' or 'bad' foods. The RWK does not subscribe to food rules, fad diets, or excluding entire foods/food groups (other than a couple of allergist-diagnosed allergies I have--you won't find a ton of peanut/hazelnut-focused recipes here!). In the RWK, we cook with butter and oil. We don't limit carbs. Dessert and wine are fair game. The phrase "eating clean" is a curse that will get you banned. That said...
- We recognize some foods are more nutrition-rich than others. Eating serves all kinds of purposes that go beyond fueling our bodies. Food and meals connect us to family, friends, culture, and memories. It provides joy and pleasure and feeds our souls. AND, another important role that food plays is fueling our bodies to do the stuff that makes us happy humans. For me, this means supporting solid training & racing, which means nutrition-rich food, while not the only priority, is still a pretty high priority on the day-to-day.
- There are no 'good' or 'bad' macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats). You will not find "low-fat" or "low-carb" cooking here. We need all the macros like we need all the TV genres and we will be cooking and eating all of them. That said...
- We pay attention to macro ratios. Getting macronutrients *mostly* *ballparkishly* right supports solid training & racing. While I'm mostly what you'd call an "intuitive eater," I sometimes struggle to eat enough protein, or on harder training days will go "Why do I feel so bad and lightheaded? RIGHT I'VE HAD LIKE A THIRD OF THE CARBS I PROBABLY NEEDED FOR THAT!" So there will sometimes be discussions of grams of macros, because when I pay attention to that, I feel and run better.
- We do not track calories. Again, I am pretty much an "eat when I'm hungry, don't eat when I'm not" kind of person, though it helps me to track grams of protein and carbs at least some of the time so I can be sure I'm getting enough. But if I want the ice cream, I'm having the ice cream. If my tastebuds tell me skin-on chicken is going to be better in this dish, we're doing it. If the soup is better with a cup of rice and a pat of butter, in it goes.
- I like to cook! The main priority of RWK is not to provide one-pot meals that come together in 15 minutes. Though sometimes it happens! But my situation is pretty privileged in that I work from home and usually only have to feed two people who are both grown-ups without too many special needs or extreme preferences. I am not someone who minds chopping a few vegetables or what have you, so most of RWK will involve, like, *some* actual cooking. That said...
- My days are busy. I'm not Julia Child over here. I don't have three hours to spend carefully crafting rack of lamb every night. So RWK will absolutely prioritize pretty forgiving dishes you can cook with half a brain post-track workout and are at least *reasonably* quick.
- Flexibility is crucial. I have limited space in my life for super fussy recipes that absolutely require x special ingredient and accept no substitutions. Honestly the most freeing thing about cooking a lot over the last 10-15 years or so is learning to adapt on the fly and make substitutions based on what I have at hand and need to use. So a lot of my recipes have become more like recipe concepts that are pretty friendly to tweaking based on what you like or have. Finally...
- Life is too short to eat mediocre food. This is the number one priority in the RWK. Packed with nutrients and perfectly balanced macros, but tastes only kind-of-sort-of okay? GTFO. I am here to bring you the good news that you can feed yourself nutritious, well-balanced food that supports solid training AND is also *absolutely* mouthwateringly delicious, food that you will look forward to truly enjoying and savoring and not just tolerating.
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