power bars, gels rehydrating drinks question

tonti27

I have cycled a good few events last year, M3 ride, Sky ride in Co Clare, Maracycle, tours of Louth , Meath, Cavan, lap the Lough plus commuting to work but on long events power bars, gels and energy drinks make me feel very bloated and dont make me feel great. Any advice please on other things that work other than bananas in the back pocket and drinking water thanks

petethedrummer

Chocolate spread sandwiches and wine gums.

mloc123

What gels have you tried? I like high5 isogel.. they are quite liquid like.

JacksonHeightsOwn

arent jelly babies supposedly a good energy kick as well?

i just use nutri grain bars, bananas or elevenses bars myself

ashleey

I swear by kelloggs nutrigrain bars and dioralyte dissolved in your drink. Keep one normal water though. Grab bananas at feed stops. Stay away from the space food. It's for cosmonauts and tour de France pros

Bikerbhoy

jelly beans yeah , nutella and banana on a croissant ,zero tabs for drink and Hi5 energy gels if needed (avoid gels if I can) ...

aquanaut

Bikerbhoy wrote: »

jelly beans yeah , nutella and banana on a croissant ,zero tabs for drink and Hi5 energy gels if needed (avoid gels if I can) ...

Does the croissant get crushed?

petethedrummer

All bread gets crushed into bar form in your pocket. It still tastes the same.

ednwireland

zym tablets for drinks

clif shot bloks i find easy on the stomach

Bikerbhoy

aquanaut wrote: »

Does the croissant get crushed?

Of course it does ,to a pulp generally.......but, its content not presentation thats important here

Smithzer

+1 on this

ednwireland wrote: »

zym tablets for drinks

clif shot bloks i find easy on the stomach

studiorat

Hard boiled egg!!

macken04

mini can of coke is good. I also dont think gels are amazing, I think a small bar of chocolate to be much better. Electrolyte drinks are good though

Lumen

Maltodextrin + salt.

Lashed

Lumen wrote: »

Maltodextrin + salt.

The rating for that stuff is very poor on that website. I also don't understand why you would add salt as it would dehidrate you even further.

I find anything from High5 fine and their Zero tabs are very good. I try and use as little gels as possible though, and eat chocolate and other more wholesome foods also.

macken04

@lashed, when your body sweets you lose vital salts. This can be a major cause of cramp. As far as I'm aware, taking a small amount of salt water is a good way to prevent cramp

langdang

I use a camelbak, so it's Nuun all the way for me drinkswise.
http://www.nuun.com/what_is_nuun/nutrition_and_ingredients/

Lashed

macken04 wrote: »

@lashed, when your body sweets you lose vital salts. This can be a major cause of cramp. As far as I'm aware, taking a small amount of salt water is a good way to prevent cramp

I didn't think it was common table salt that replaced those vital salts but I'm open to be corrected on that.

Lumen

Lashed wrote: »

The rating for that stuff is very poor on that website. I also don't understand why you would add salt as it would dehidrate you even further.

As macken says, you have to replace salts. Also, you are get rehydrated better than plain water (hence the popuarity of isotonics).

I don't know about bad reviews, my recommendation is based on personal experience and common knowledge, which is that maltodextrin is better for the digestive system than fructose, and better for avoiding insulin spikes than glucose.

spdmrphy

cold green tea and honey, with or without dioralyte. does the job.

Lucifer-0

Anybody know of any gluten free energy bars/drinks?

blorg

Lashed wrote: »

I didn't think it was common table salt that replaced those vital salts but I'm open to be corrected on that.

Common table salt is indeed what you need. If you are dehydrated, you will always be given salt water; if severely dehydrated to the point that oral rehydration is too late you'll be given an IV saline solution; this is simply sterile water and sodium chloride (table salt.) 0.9% salt makes it isotonic.

You can become dehydrated purely through loss of salt, even if you have plenty of water.

blorg

Lucifer-0 wrote: »

Anybody know of any gluten free energy bars/drinks?

Lemon, honey, water, salt is a good combo.

Lashed

Lashed wrote: »

The rating for that stuff is very poor on that website. I also don't understand why you would add salt as it would dehidrate you even further.

Salt (specifically Na+ ions) is essential for intestinal absorption of water and glucose, due to the fact that glucose is transported from the intestinal lumen across the apical membrane of intestinal epethelial cells by sodium/glucose cotransporters.

Thelaughingcow

i like the blackcurrant ones

Lashed

Lumen wrote: »

As macken says, you have to replace salts. Also, you are get rehydrated better than plain water (hence the popuarity of isotonics).

I don't know about bad reviews, my recommendation is based on personal experience and common knowledge, which is that maltodextrin is better for the digestive system than fructose, and better for avoiding insulin spikes than glucose.

I stand corrected.
I think i'll stick to a half a High5 tab per 750ml water though.