Emma Pooley prepares to compete for Great Britain at the UCI Road World Championships in 2010. Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Emma Pooley may have retired from professional cycling around a decade ago, but she believes that the effects of under-fueling – what she describes as her “weird” relationship with food – are still with her.

Those scars, Pooley says, are “permanent” and include having a bone density which is “10 to 20 years older than I actually am.”

When it comes to eating, the British former cyclist has found her mindset to be complicated and often contradictory. Pooley has always loved food, recently publishing a cookbook with some of her best and favorite recipes; but she also recognizes how her cycling career made her develop worrying and unhealthy habits.

“I sort of thou

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