The Feed Zone Cookbook
By Biju Thomas & Allen Lim
This one is a gem!
Allen & Biju have created a cookbook of quick, easy and healthy recipes with athletes in mind. This book is not only for cyclists, but for active people who care about nutrition - both for health and for performance.
Allen Lim has a doctorate in integrative physiology from CU Boulder, which led him to work with the Pro Cycling Tour. Biju Thomas is a self-taught chef with a passion for cycling. Together thru trial and error cooking some of the worlds top athletes, they have created a collection of recipes that suite any athlete - healthy, tasty, and easy.
The book includes an informative introduction by Allen that describes how these recipes were developed, and the logic behind putting real food (not just sports gels) in athletes, as well as proper timing of foods (when to eat what).
Recipes include portable foods to take on the go, quick prep meals for before and after workouts, breakfasts, dinners and desserts. You also learn some techniques for streamlining your cooking time while not sacrificing quality of food.
Our favorite things about this book
1. It is non-partisan
This book is NOT a fad diet plan. How refreshing!! We give Allen two thumbs up for being the voice of reason in a world with countless fad diets.
2. The #1 goal is to put quality ingredients into your body
Ok, there is an agenda: get healthy food into your body using tasty, easy to make recipes that you can actually use
3. There are recipes for everyone
The book includes 104 vegetarian and gluten free recipes. As for the other recipes, substitutions are generally simple.
4. This food tastes good and anybody can make it
If Dr. Andy can make Allen's rice cakes (which were quite tasty after the Sunshine Hill Climb) as well as pasta salad with olives and beets, these tasty recipes are clearly for anyone.
Bottom line
We think every athlete should have this book in their library.
Read Allen's introduction. It is informative and logical. You will learn something. Then start trying some of the recipes. We think you will expand your own menu and improve your dietary habits.