Superfood – The Power of Honey

Often, we can forget some of the amazing foods we have around us that can help maintain and performance and improve recovery. The one of note in this month’s blog is honey. Honey being a source or fructose a single chain carbohydrate source like glucose.

The power of fructose is that it can be combined with glucose increasing the amount of carbohydrate that can be transported through the intestine lining in a given minute.

 

Why is this important?

When cycling over 2 hours glycogen (stored carbohydrate) will have pretty much all been used up, so to maintain our ability to ride at slightly higher intensities we need to take on outside sources of carbohydrate often in the form of gels, bars, energy drinks and that odd cheeky slice of cake too.

 

But what does this mean for Fructose?

Well glucose can only be absorbed up to ~1g/min, but when combined with fructose that makes use of a different transporter you can take this up to ~1.5g/min meaning you can fuel yourself better and  also reduce gastro-intestinal distress – great if you have a history of stomach issues.

 

Practical Application?

The real-life impact of this information means you can quite easily make your own energy drinks cheaply with a carbohydrate or maltodextrin powder and then adding honey to your drink for that source of fructose or maybe making flapjacks with honey in.

 

The 2 rules you need to follow though;

  • Try not to exceed more than 30g of fructose and hour on the bike
  • Have your homemade energy drink in a 2:1 ratio of glucose and fructose (i.e 30g glucose = 15 fructose

Here is a great post ride recipe that will help recovery after a long hard ride.

 

Recipe: Raspberry Ripple

Ingredients:

  • 200g Frozen raspberries
  • 400ml skimmed milk
  • 30g vanilla whey
  • 2 tbsp low fat yogurt
  • 2 tbsp honey

COMBINE in a processor

BLEND till smooth

DRINK and feel like a king!

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