Using honey as an alternative to energy gells

paulraphael

hi Harrow,
i'm pretty sure this doesn't actually work. what counts is the overall osmolality of the solution in your stomach, so the two kinds of carbs aren't really mutually exclusive.

the powdered sports drink i use has a big warning on the side not to mix it or consume it along side simple sugars. not that you'll die or anything ... they just know it won't work and don't want you blaming them!

BrittsHoney

HONEY USE
Honey is mainly composed of simple sugars, antioxidants (two of which are found only in honey), small amounts of vitamins minerals and 18% water. The advantage with honey is that it needs no digestion providing an instant boost the minute he/she takes a drink. Honey with a small amount of salt, fresh lemon, water makes a very refreshing pick-er-upper when working out in the heat. I have used the above combination for years. When I first got the idea of using a natural unprocessed sweetener with food value beyond that of empty calories like most other sweeteners in common use I adhered to specific recipes. I soon found that the best recipe was simply to mix it according to my current taste and anticipated need. When exercising in the blistering heat I found I preferred a drink that was lighter, not as sweet, in the cooler weather I found that a sweeter drink was better. A basic recipe to use for a starter is:
1 liter water
1/3-1/4 cup honey
1/4 tablespoon salt (sodium-chloride)
and fresh lemon/other fruit squeezings to taste. I find two medium lemons juiced works very well
I use only natural honey that has not been pressure filtered, heated just as it is straight from the hive. In fact it was my quest for a natural sweetener with food value that got me interested in honey eventually leading to my becoming a part time beekeeper.
For those of you new to honey the darker honeys like Eucalyptus, safflower, tupelo.are generally higher in antioxidants than the light colored honeys like star thistle, clover, sage, etc.
Enjoy!
bfloyd4445@aol.com
Honey Use

paulraphael

I haven't seen any research done on honey specifically as an endurance fuel, but from everything I know about it I would assume it's very poor. Somewhere lower on the scale than drinking coca cola.

Here's why: the main sugar in honey is fructose, which, in terms of dextrose equivalence (and therefore the amount of dilution/time it takes to pass into the blood stream) is just about the worst sugar there is. I don't know where the notion came from that honey "needs no digestion" or provides an "instant boost." Nothing does. All food needs to pass out of your stomach, through the linings of your intestines, and into the blood. Honey will do this more slowly than other, larger sugar molecules, or will require a much weaker dilution. At any rate, you will not be able to get nearly the same number of calories per hour as you will with better suited carbs.

I'm also not a fan of the idea of consuming anything citrus during training or competing. You want to avoid acidic foods and if possible lean toward foods that have a buffering quality. Your body chemistry is going to tend toward an acidic state on its own during hard exercise, and you want to counter this process, not help it along.

If you like the idea of a do it yourself fuel, i believe someone said you can get bulk maltodextrin for cheap. This, with a touch of soy protein and some electrolytes should work great. you'd have to experiment with the formula and the dilution, but you pretty much have to do that with store bought formulas too.

Honey would probably be ok for a post ride recharge. Your body is primed to restore muscle glycogen in the first hour or so after a hard ride, and anything that spikes insulin will work well for this. complex carbs are still better ... you'll digest more of them faster ... but for some reason i find myself craving sweets after a ride (like coke .. just about the only time i drink it). it seems to work fine.