When it comes to fuelling during exercise, one of the most important strategies for enhancing performance when exercise is likely to be of a duration and intensity that will deplete your body's glycogen stores is the optimal intake of carbohydrates.

There are many ways to achieve these intakes to enhance performance. From experience, many athletes often opt for off-the-shelf formulated sports nutrition products during exercise. With vast ranges of different sports drinks, energy bars, energy chews, and energy gels available and marketed to the athlete. These are often the go-to, through a belief that these are required and are the best way to achieve these intakes.

However, many food-based alternatives (‘real food’ if you like) to off-the-shelf products can be just as effective. In this article, I will explain the benefits/downsides of adopting a food-first approach and look at some of the foods that have been shown to be as effective as many off-the-shelf products in laboratory-based trials.

Using foods rather than formulated supplements may be of benefit for a number of reasons…

Cheaper — Many sports products come at significant expense despite containing relatively cheap ingredients. Many everyday food products can be a fraction of the cost and equally effective.

Easier to get hold of — Many sports products are only available online or through specialist retailers, particularly from some of the niche brands. Opting for options that can be sourced from pretty much any supermarket or petrol station can help ensure you always have fuel available when needed (i.e. travelling/out on a ride)

Less antidoping risk — Whilst the risk is likely low, there is always potential for sports foods to inadvertently be cross-contaminated with banned substances during production, which can be devastating to an athlete’s career if it results in a failed anti-doping test. Everyday foods are less likely to be cross-contaminated with banned substances.

Supports other nutrition goals — Whilst many sports products are simply sugars, flavours and electrolytes, many normal food options contain other vitamins and minerals which can help support an athlete's micronutrient needs and general health.

Taste — We’ve all tasted gels or sports drinks that have unpalatable flavours or textures; many food options can be a lot nicer to eat.

Gastrointestinal discomfort — This can work both ways, but many normal food sources may be easier for an athlete to digest and result in less flavour fatigue and gastrointestinal distress.

So, which foods am I specifically talking about? For this next section, I will focus on the food options shown in published sports nutrition research studies to be as effective as off-the-shelf options. These are usually tested in terms of their impact on performance and physiological markers like blood glucose response compared to commercially available products.

Raisins

Off-the-shelf, dried raisins (such as Sun-Maid) pack a decent punch at around 80 grams of carbohydrates per 100gs of raisins; they have a sugar profile that consists of glucose and fructose, much like many modern sports nutrition products. While they are relatively high in fibre and large servings are high in fermentable carbohydrates called FODMAPS, which may in some individuals cause stomach distress, they have been shown to be as effective as sports beans and Clif Shot Bloc’s in enhancing endurance cycling performance and maintain blood glucose levels during exercise.

Bananas

The humble banana is one of the most ubiquitous available food products in the world, with a carbohydrate content of around 27 grams per medium banana. The sugar content is a combination of glucose, fructose, and sucrose, so again very similar to many modern sports products. Again, fibre is fairly high in bananas, but opting for a ripe banana, should help to maximize the sugar content and keep the fibre fairly low (Fibre can cause stomach upset). Banana’s a fuelling option have been tested against a standard 6% carbohydrate sports drink during a 75km simulated mountain cycling time trial and produced the same blood glucose response and performance, even at a relatively high intake of 71grams of carbohydrate per hour.

Candy Bars

Whilst the study that complete this comparison didn’t specify what exactly the ‘candy bar’ was, compared to a sports drink it was as effective. It contained 260 Kcal: 43 g of carbohydrate, 9 g of fat, and 3 g of protein which is not to dissimilar to the nutritional breakdown of a Mars bar, a common go to for the bonked cyclist who has crawled their way to there nearest petrol station. In this case it was compared to a fructose drink, which I know from personal experience, can induce significant stomach upset when consumed neat.

Apple Puree & Maltodextrin

A recently published study looked at using a combination of apple puree with maltodextrin power to form a energy chew (that is now commerically avaliable in Decathlon) , and whilst this was a commercially avaliable product, this could realtively easily be replicated in someones home kitchen with the addition of maltodextrin powder. Apples have a combination of different sugars and in puree form, whilst you’d need to consume a lot to hit high intakes of carbohydrates, it is a practical option and is readily avaliable as either apple sauce or baby food form.

Honey

Honey is pretty high in fructose, making it great for supporting liver glycogen recovery. As an energy product, there are companies out there offering it as a stand alone product in gel sachets. A study in 2004, taking on honey during a 64km cycling time trial improved performance as much as a dextrose energy product.

Sweet Potato Rice Cakes

Using a recipe of 100 g glutinous rice, 20 g sucrose, 150 g water, and 200 g sweet potato to make a sweet potatoe rice cake, a study evaluted the impact on performance relative to an energy gel. The rice cake suppressed sweetness, thirst, and hungry ratings without interfering with exercise performance, so another win for an easy real food source.

Mashed Potato

This one hit the headlines when it was published, but again a real food product offered equal performance to a commercially avaliable energy gel (in this incidence a Powerbar gel). Whilst you do need a lot of potato to achieve the same dose (the study used just over 1kg of potatoe for the same amount of carbohydrate as roughly 200grams of energy gel!). A nice savory option for when sweetness fatigue sets in.

Table Sugar

Believe it or not, a large proportion of the carbohydrate research in the lab to date has utilised table sugar for their formulations. Owing to the carbon structure of different sugars derived from either cane or sugar beet, it is allowing the tracking of the metabolism of the ingested sugar. Sucrose is made up of a 1:1 ratio of glucose to fructose, so once it' hits the small intestine and is digested, it provides the same profile as many commercially available sports drinks.

Rounding Up

Whilst ‘real food’ sources of food can be a little more logistically challenging than sports foods, they can be a little more filling due to the large volume of food needed to achieve high intakes of carbohydrates, more often when exercise intensity is lower, these options can be the better option for fuelling. Whilst the above is by no means an exhaustive list, any source of carbohydrate that is easily digestible, and low in fat, fibre, and protein will provide a decent option for fuelling, providing you, as the athlete, can tolerate it.

When it comes to racing, there will always be a place for products like gels, drinks and chews, but it’s certainly a good idea to mix things up a bit.

For any athletes looking for great homemade on-the-bike fuelling options, do check out @Pokitfuel on Instagram for some great recipes.

Thanks for reading, and by all means, drop a question below.

References

Rietschier, H. L., Henagan, T. M., Earnest, C. P., Baker, B. L., Cortez, C. C., & Stewart, L. K. (2011). Sun-dried raisins are a cost-effective alternative to Sports Jelly Beans in prolonged cycling. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 25(11), 3150–3156. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e31820f5089

Too, B. W., Cicai, S., Hockett, K. R., Applegate, E., Davis, B. A., & Casazza, G. A. (2012). Natural versus commercial carbohydrate supplementation and endurance running performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 9(1), 27. https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-9-27

Salvador, A. F., McKenna, C. F., Alamilla, R. A., Cloud, R. M. T., Keeble, A. R., Miltko, A., Scaroni, S. E., Beals, J. W., Ulanov, A. V., Dilger, R. N., Bauer, L. L., Broad, E. M., & Burd, N. A. (2019). Potato ingestion is as effective as carbohydrate gels to support prolonged cycling performance. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 127(6), 1651–1659. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00567.2019

Nieman, D. C., Gillitt, N. D., Henson, D. A., Sha, W., Shanely, R. A., Knab, A. M., Cialdella-Kam, L., & Jin, F. (2012). Bananas as an energy source during exercise: a metabolomics approach. PloS one, 7(5), e37479. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037479

Calles-Escandón, J., Devlin, J. T., Whitcomb, W., & Horton, E. S. (1991). Pre-exercise feeding does not affect endurance cycle exercise but attenuates post-exercise starvation-like response. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 23(7), 818–824.

Earnest, C. P., Lancaster, S. L., Rasmussen, C. J., Kerksick, C. M., Lucia, A., Greenwood, M. C., Almada, A. L., Cowan, P. A., & Kreider, R. B. (2004). Low vs. high glycemic index carbohydrate gel ingestion during simulated 64-km cycling time trial performance. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 18(3), 466–472. https://doi.org/10.1519/R-xxxxx.1

Reynolds, K. M., Juett, L. A., Funnell, M. P., Schofield, J. B., Grundig, C., Melidis, G., Brown, A., Hubbard, W., Luo, Y., Almahaireh, I., James, L. J., & Mears, S. A. (2023). Apple puree as a natural fructose source provides an effective alternative carbohydrate source for fuelling half-marathon running performance. European journal of sport science, 23(10), 2011–2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2023.2207074

Ishihara, K., Taniguchi, H., Akiyama, N., & Asami, Y. (2020). Easy to Swallow Rice Cake as a Carbohydrate Source during Endurance Exercise Suppressed Feelings of Thirst and Hunger without Changing Exercise Performance. Journal of nutritional science and vitaminology, 66(2), 128–135. https://doi.org/10.3177/jnsv.66.128

Salvador, A. F., McKenna, C. F., Alamilla, R. A., Cloud, R. M. T., Keeble, A. R., Miltko, A., Scaroni, S. E., Beals, J. W., Ulanov, A. V., Dilger, R. N., Bauer, L. L., Broad, E. M., & Burd, N. A. (2019). Potato ingestion is as effective as carbohydrate gels to support prolonged cycling performance. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 127(6), 1651–1659. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00567.2019

For a great review on this topic, check out…

Reynolds, K. M., Clifford, T., Mears, S. A., & James, L. J. (2022). A Food First Approach to Carbohydrate Supplementation in Endurance Exercise: A Systematic Review. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, 32(4), 296–310. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2021-0261