Skratch Labs Feed Zone Portables Cookbook

For years, I have loved long-distance running, but I always came back to a common problem: how can I avoid bonking at a critical part of the run because of not fueling right. I found all sorts of little tricks that would usually get me through, but often, it came at a cost. One of the most important things that this book teaches is how food we eat can dehydrate us while we eat - and it stresses the importance of moisture content in our food that we take with us when running/biking/etc. The recipes are easy to follow with plenty of clear pictures and bits of advice, and the food tastes GOOD. Additionally, they encourage readers to find what works for them and give advice on how to modify recipes or even create your own. The most helpful part of the book (for me, anyway) was the knowledge shared in the first 50 pages or so - this of 1) How much do we need to eat when exercising; 2) How much water/fluids do we need to drink; 3) Tools for dealing with calorie deficits/dehydration/etc. This information was invaluable to me and explained a LOT of the problems I had been having with being starving during runs, getting massive headaches (from dehydration), not feeling good after a run, etc. I can now run for a couple hours and bounce right back - because I'm drinking enough and eating food that will actually help me. This is not a fad book. It is based on a lot of research, and more importantly, years of experience in the field with a wide range of world-class athletes. I am grateful to the authors for such a useful book. If you are not an endurance athlete, but like to hike, I have found these recipes are fantastic to take on long backpacking trips (overnight trips are tougher because you generally want to keep the food cool). But for long day hikes, throw in a small ice pack and you have great food to keep you going strong all day.

Our family is always on the go, and we eat out way too much. I had assumed that eating lousy was simply a given when you're busy, but the title of this book made be reconsider. To be fair, I have not looked at a single recipe yet...however if you're an endurance athlete, I highly recommend you purchase this book even if you never make a single recipe from it. This book begins with an in-depth discussion of what kind of nutrition endurance athletes need, how they can deliver this nutrition to their bodies, and why simply fueling isn't enough. As an example, let's assume that you're considering an iron distance race. Let's plan on burning 8,000 calories during the race. Let's assume that you want a fast time, so you derive 75% of your calories from carbohydrate. We'll give you a 2,000 calories credit for your carbohydrate store. That means that during the course of the race, you would need to consume 4,000 calories. Easy enough...eat 400 calories an hour and call it good, right? As it turns out, getting your body to process 400 calories per hour on a hot day is a really tall order. In part because of the variables impacting the rate at which your body can absorb nutrition. If you simply pound in the calories, they may never hit your bloodstream. That's what makes this a good book-the succinct, practical discussion of the nutritional needs of endurance athletes.

I was on the fence about buying this book. The reviews left me wondering if I'd even get anything good from it. I tried going to the bookstore to preview it, but was disappointed to see it wrapped in plastic. Seriously who does that? Anyway, I'm glad I purchased it! I figured this book was geared toward serious long distance athletes (which I am not), but I wanted to find some real food alternatives to energy bars. I don't have white flour/rice in my house and honestly, I don't think I'll make the recipes with them unless I knew I'd be biking for more than 2 hours. I see these recipes as inspiration and a starting point for me to customize to my own needs/wants. I can understand why some of the recipes are made to be quick and simplistic - not everyone enjoys cooking. The first recipe I tried was the 2 bite pie with warm crust and banana nut filing. It was a tasty small treat for my family after dinner. I can see I will find many uses for the recipes beyond the authors intentions.

I have been looking for a book like this for many years. As an aging endurance cyclist I find that I tolerate fast food and gas station cuisine worse as the years progress. I find myself suffering from the bonk or from gut rot more and more often. Several female members of my cycling group have shown me their home-made fuel so I decided to follow their advice and this book was the first step. The second step was to purchase a rice cooker from Amazon which I strongly recommend doing. The first quarter of this book is dedicated to an enlightening lecture on sports nutrition. I was already familiar with much of the information here but it was nice to see the science behind what I had learned the hard way. The only thing I disagree with here is the stress on sodium over potassium in dealing with cramping. Otherwise it is spot on. The rest of the book is recipes. I have tried two of the rice recipes so far - polenta is next. The first recipe was the swiss rice recipe which had no flavor at all - even half way through an 80 mile ride. I added a few drops of soy sauce infused with white pepper to each bar to make it edible. The texture and energy boost were great but it needed twice the flavor ingredients. The second recipe was the blue berry and chocolate rice bar which scores 10 out of 10. It is perfect. Excellent flavor and texture and a real energy boost. I did some math and I reckon each two-bite bar costs about 15 cents to make and has about 60 calories. So two of these cost 30 cents and have about the same calories as a $1.50 energy bar but taste delicious and are made from purely natural and fresh ingredients. It's a no-brainer. Update: I just found this snippet on the bbc.com website. Apparently this recipe greatly reduces the energy content of the rice. Still tastes great though. "In 2015, Sri Lankan scientists discovered that they could more than halve the available calories in rice by adding coconut oil during cooking and then cooling the rice in the refrigerator." The third recipe I tried was for Swiss frittata which are great. The recipe instructs you to remove as much oil from the sauted ingredients as possible. This is really important - I could have removed more and my frittatas had a slightly greasy texture when cold but the flavor was wonderful. The fourth recipe I tried was for individual bread puddings. Basically it's bread, eggs, milk, sugar, and cinnamon. It's really easy and it gave me 12 lovely little treats. My wife has been eating them for breakfast. I'm going to ride up to the top of a mountain once I finish updating this review and I'm taking a frittata and a bread budding to treat myself at the top. It's a lot better motivation than an energy bar. I am totally sold on this book.I would recommend it to anyone. Some thoughts: The rice recipes call for 3 cups of uncooked rice or combination of grains. This makes a huge amount of food. I am halving the quantities while I am experimenting. I see nothing about the storage or transportation of the food. Is it safe to have a rice bar wrapped in foil in my jersey pocket for 12 hours in the heat? I don't know and the book doesn't say. I froze some rice bars and they were still pretty good when thawed out but they had lost some flavor.

I am an avid mountain bike and do some running. When you are riding 25+ mountain miles you need real fuel. I have always struggled with finding a "clif bar" that didn't upset my stomach and tasted good. After years of trying I never found one. I bought The Feed Zone Cookbook and immediately gravitate to they're portable selection and I love each recipe. My boyfriend who eats like a 5 year old even loves them and regularly asks me to make them. So when I learned about Feed Zone Portables I was ecstatic!! I awaited its arrival like Christmas morning too bad it was 4 months before it was going to be published. I've had it for about 2 or 3 weeks now and have made 3 recipes all great as expected. They went down very smoothly on my 13.1 mile trail race last week. Some of the recipes are a tiny bit time consuming but so worth it. The instructions are super easy to follow and they encourage using what you have on hand so many options for substitutes. They photos are also fantastic.

This book does two things. The first is to teach you about how many calories you actually burn during a ride. (Not the overinflated numbers that bike computers tell you). Then it teaches you what you need and how much to keep riding on long rides. The second thing it does is provide recipes for great rice and other foods to take with you. I made the bacon and swiss rice cakes for a century ride, but before I left for the ride, my 16y/o son had eaten them all. So, after making a second batch, I used them on the ride. I didn't eat any of the rest stop food, but only the scratch labs hydration and the rice cakes. It worked great, good energy throughout the ride, no bonking at all.

Gels work for me on a half or maybe marathon. On the road. On the trail, with ultras, they make my stomach hate me with a passion usually reserved only for my mother in law. I've found some way to better fuel with some non-candy aid station goodies, but those only go so far. So I asked the local runner/dietitian for ideas, or other endurance runners (I hang out with marathoners. crazy understands crazy.) for help. They all not only drew blanks, but came back asking why the heck I would turn my back on the often praised gel. Truth is, you could hand me a big bowl of wendy's chili 30 miles in. I might feel miserable after, but I'll still feel better then if I've been running on gels and sports drink. My challenge was simple: find a small food to carry on the trail, high in carbs, easy to digest, and bonus points for a bit of protein to help keep my muscles from cannibalizing themselves. I just want to drink water and eat real food. I found a gold mine. The book not only list calories and breakdown of macro nutrients per recipie, but mostly contain easy to digest foods, and some even look pretty tasty. The expirament is underway, and it's more then I could have hoped for.

Just like the original Feed Zone cookbook, this book is full of easy, practical, healthy, and tasty recipes that can be tailored for anyone's nutrition needs. I despise commercially prepackaged foods for many reasons-one of which being the constant mystery of how the twentieth ingredient down on the list will make me feel. The recipes in this book help eliminate those worries. As a bonus, none of the recipes in this book are repeats from the portables section of the original cookbook (which I highly recommend). Also, the nutrition facts table in the back is calculated for whole batches, so it is easy to calculate what the nutrition facts are for individual servings depending on your preferred serving size.

Delicious recipes, doesn't feel like you're on a diet at all, and it definately puts sandwiches to rest!

Livro ótimo para parar com o consumo de gels, produtos industrializado e levar uma vida esportivas mais saudável! Vale a pena.

Testo appunto "unico" nel panorama di informazioni nutrizionali sportive. Ad una prima parte tecnica e ben scritta sulle esigenze nutrizionali sportive ed i fabbisogni calorici nel ciclismo e nella corsa a piedi, segue la sezione principale con ricette per ogni esigenza, veloci, gustose, facili e molto pratiche: anche indicazioni specifiche se senza glutine e/o adatte ai vegetariani. Per cui, se intendete darvi alla preparazioni di snack alternativi ai classici prodotti integrativi ad uso sportivo (barrette, gel..) da consumare durante le vostre sessioni di allenamenti, non avrete altra scelta migliore che questo testo.

Me encanta este libro! He aprendido muchísimo sobre la nutrición durante los entrenos y las recetas son muy buenas. Dan ideas y mucho juego para experimentar con otros ingredientes. 100% recomendado!

Fiquei muito satisfeito, era exatamente o que estava procurando para colocar mais sabor na alimentação durante a pedalada. O gel e as barras são bons, mais usando frequentemente ficam sem graça, já os portables, podemos sempre variar.