Runners Forum - Kick Runners banner

"real food" energy bars and gels

2K views 35 replies 12 participants last post by  Tri-Tammy 
#1 ·
A fresh topic for though. I am finding out that one thing that triggers my headaches is a drop in blood sugar so I increased my use of gels and bars but they are so full of stuff I don't want including the vitamins that will cause other stomach issues. I tried justins butters but sucking a little nut butter form a foil packet seems rather unsatisfactory for training. Many moons ago a little company was getting started when I worked in a bike shop and mike brought us their home made "power bars" with milk powder, honey, malt and peanut butter. I am tempted to try to recreate that recipe now that powerbars have morphed into the vitamin laced candybar of the masses! I know my stomach wont' tolerate much fiber or vitamins when I am working hard. So what does everyone else use? Any recipe ideas?
 
#2 ·
I haven't tried it for fueling yet, but I plan to in the coming months - for now I just make them as quick easy 'healthy-ish' snacks for the kids and I to grab.

1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1/2 cup nut butter (smooth PB works best in my experience)
1/3 cup honey
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal (may not be the best addition for workouts...)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together, roll into bite sized balls and keep them in the refrigerator. Tasty. (about 150 cal each depending on size)
 
#3 ·
For bike training and even racing I've been using PBJs. They've work well for me. I was never really into gels or other food like that. For runs I've found that shot blocks seem to work. Otherwise I had not found a good run meal type food. I'm not sure this even helps you but what the heck. I'm putting it out there anyway.
 
#4 ·
Real food on the bike: Thunderbird Energetica bars (was surprised by how well these sat in the tummy, actually) & exo protein bars (yes, made with cricket flour, but it's 5th in the ingredient list

on the run I've been using Honey Stinger chews with great success

WRT fluids, I use skratch labs while both on the bike and on the run (also water)

You might find some inspiration in The Feed Zone Portables book
http://www.velopress.com/books/feed-zone-portables/
 
#5 ·
MQ is that a pb&j sandwich? This might help! And there's a few more things to try Thanks! I keep thinking pb and honey plus something to make it easy to handle without the slowing caused by fiber. But what? I tried chia, that was a disaster! My friend almost didn't' get out of the pool fast enough after our chia cubes experiment. Now we just say chia and can't stop groaning. popcorn and raw oats are other fails.


For me, at least, there are 2 kinds of "bars" (etc) there are the ones that are meal substitutes/snacks and there's pure fuel something to keep the blood sugar up for the exercise now, it needs to be followed by a meal after I stop. Meal replacement could have fiber or vitamins or intestinal irritants (in moderation) but then there's fuel during the event. I find I need that to be more pure fuel. Maybe its my digestive system its very fast, it doesn't need added fiber and I seem to go through glucose stores too fast (or maybe its because I exercise so much every day and don't remember to refuel).


All the high fiber stuff (thunder bar, the home made bar etc) are of the meal replacement type for me. Then adding irritants like maca and turmeric and vitamins might even be too much for me as a snack. Finally fat soluble vitamins there are too many in a lot of these bars (such as luna) they might do more harm than good. I understand average non-athletes have started chowing these bars like candy and the industry dumped all kinds of stuff into them to make up for not eating real food but my stomach won't comply with the hype. I never tried cricket powder I will have to track one of those bars down!


Skratch labs excited me until I saw how much ascorbic acid is in their drinks (strike 1 it causes diarrhea, strike 2 decreases up take and three the increased acid may damage teeth)it is a cheap preservative but it has these downsides. I asked if they could make it without or with less but they said no other customer ever asked. Soo I'm putting it out there in hopes that other customers will ask! Sparty beware coconut plus raw oats plus flax, maybe try it when you have time to be near the bathroom. A group of use ate ones like this with some sesame and cocoa dust and had to retire to the bathrooms instead of swimming.


An aside on power bars, we had some on a ski camping trip once, a heavy storm and avalanche got us stuck in camp for a few days. Powerbars turn into bricks in the cold so each day we'd boil water and break out the power bars then put them back, we decided we could live indefinitely on powerbars in the cold because we couldn't' really eat them (we did resort to putting them in the water at one point).
 
#8 ·
Skratch labs excited me until I saw how much ascorbic acid is in their drinks (strike 1 it causes diarrhea, strike 2 decreases up take and three the increased acid may damage teeth)it is a cheap preservative but it has these downsides. I asked if they could make it without or with less but they said no other customer ever asked.
Do you know that ascorbic acid causes diarrhea in you?
I have been using skratch labs for 3 years now with much better success than gatorade endurance or accelerade. I know folks who feel that skratch labs doesn't give them the "gut rot" that the more traditional sports drinks do. Decreases uptake of? Nutrients in the stomach? I used skratch to hydrate during many training runs/rides of varying distance in varying temperatures, century rides, half marathons, half ironmans, and two ironmans. Also, my teeth are fine. To quote my dental hygienist, "Keep on doing what you're doing." Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) is the last ingredient on the ingredient list and provides only 15-20% (percent daily value) vit C according to the nutrition labels on the bags I've got.

I get sample sizes of skratch for free whenever I order from them. Let me know if you'd like to give a serving a try. I've got raspberries and pineapples.

All of our guts are different, tho. :)

You may be best off making your own mix using stuff like carbo pro and sea salt.
 
#7 ·
I would think that puffed or popped rice might have too dry a mouth feel.

You can check out the ingredients list for the exo bars at http://exoprotein.com/

Send me your mailing address via a FB message and I'll send you a cacao nut bar (they are only online). I feel like I should point out, however, that the exo bar has 7g of fiber vs only 3g in my favorite Thunderbird bar (cashew fig carrot...at 150 cal I wouldn't consider it a meal replacement).

You might find the simplified ingredients of the Rise Protein+ bars to your liking. The bars with pea protein are softer than the bars with whey protein and you can find them at REI and Whole Foods.
https://www.risebar.com/product-category/protein-bars/
 
#9 ·
check out thefeed.com - they've got a ton of varied stuff, and you can see the ingredients and nutritional info online.

I love the thunderbird bars, but I can't run with them. If I ever get back on the bike, I'll try them again. I ended up using the EVO Hemp (cacao cashew) for NY. Same amount of fiber, but less gut problems.
 
#10 ·
Oh, we have the feed zone portables cookbook - Adam used the rice PB&J sandwiches for a while until he switched to pre-packaged rice krispy treats last year. :)
 
#13 ·
Now I want PN and J! I'm hungry and about to go ride :( I need to smuggle in bread to make sandwiches it is what my friend's family calls contraband (or contra-banned) but I don't have a problem with it. Thanks for the links and Cak I'll take you up on the bar offer. Like MoCo it is some combination of amount and type of fiber that I haven't' quite worked out oat is bad, what is good and everything else in between is so far..in between! I once looked at the portables book, a friend had it, it deserves another look I think! I cook most of my own food so maybe I can throw together portables too, when I'm home. I also travel a lot and then prepackaged is really handy.
 
#16 ·
The Feedzone Portable book is awesome! I've grown weary of gels and chews and such.. not too mention how expensive they are. So I started using this book for long training days and keeping the pre-packaged stuff to racing and short days (when needed).

I really like the rice cakes but I have not been able to get the consistency of the rice correct.... I have ended up on several occassions choking by inhaling the rice.
I'm a savory girl- not much of a sweet one so one of my favorite recipes is an egg/bread muffin. I used this one with potato bread mostly. (which helped my gluten free friend out on one particular training ride last year) It had egg, a little parm and a little ham in it. I baked these in mini muffin tins and they were super easy to eat on the bike. Easy to chew and moist!
 
#25 ·
MQ- I will definitely post it when I get home tonight. Super easy. :)

Tammy, for the rice, I finally got it after making sushi rice and using a simple sugar solution to wet it. I also didn't drain the rice to keep the extra starch.I think it made it a little more chewy, but kept it moist. I had one or two "rice coughs" when I didn't chew it well or ate too much too quickly. Oh, and if I had it in the fridge and uncovered, it got dry and tougher to eat.
Adam- I've been using calrose rice and I use some rice wine vinegar in the water mix to make it a little stickier. I don't recall rinsing the rice. Maybe it's just something I need to play with more.

My question for all of you- how are you storing this stuff? I usually make a half batch but even that makes a lot!
 
#19 ·
By reading this thread, I am a bit motivated to start making my own next year (I really can't eat much 'real' food during a run). Yes, the egg bread muffin recipe please! Sounds like a great snack for kids too. I did try to make my own trail mix ball when my boys were training for the Philmont hike last year, but that was really unpopular.... just didn't stick together well and fell apart.
 
#20 ·
cook sweet potato via your favorite method, cut into cubes
spray a 24 mini muffin pan ("two bite" sized) with coconut oil (or your favorite nonstick stuff)
add lightly beaten eggs, seasoned with what you like (I use 6 eggs for this one pan)
add a few tiny cubes of cooked sweet potato to each mini muffin mold
350 degrees for about 10 minutes
I rotated the pan 180° half way through

:D
 

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: Tri-Tammy
#21 ·
Tammy, I'll ask AdCo to weigh in on the rice - he spent a ton of time getting the consistency right.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tri-Tammy
#22 ·
Tammy, for the rice, I finally got it after making sushi rice and using a simple sugar solution to wet it. I also didn't drain the rice to keep the extra starch.I think it made it a little more chewy, but kept it moist. I had one or two "rice coughs" when I didn't chew it well or ate too much too quickly. Oh, and if I had it in the fridge and uncovered, it got dry and tougher to eat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tri-Tammy
#27 ·
  • Like
Reactions: cak73
#29 ·
PM Me address and I can see about hooking some sistas up
 
  • Like
Reactions: cak73
#32 ·
I'd love to try one or two I think you already have my address?


I tried making some of the rice bites but the rice does not hold together well enough to eat on the bike! I will have to try again using some vinegar, I used to make a lot of sushi tolls but having the seaweed wrapper held them together so I guess rice integrity didn't' matter. I don't' think I'll get through the entire 1/2 batch I made so I'll try freezing them.


Tri tammy's muffins sound good although I need to get some bread for them, we don't have it in the house (I need it for the pb&j too)! I can't do bacon, I had it before a couple long swims and now..I don't like bacon any more it was only the taste that lingered I didn't think it was possible to not like bacon but here we are!


For those using bacon the trader joes precooked bacon is a fast way to get the cooked stuff to add.
 
#30 ·
Here is the recipe for the bread cakes (muffins). I half this recipe and it still makes plenty

4 cups favorite bread cut into cubes (I really like this with potato bread)
2 cups milk (I used almond milk - original)
4 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used Parmesan or Swiss)
1/2 cup cooked bacon or other cooked meat cut into small pieces (I use ham unless I have bacon around)
brown sugar

Heat oven to 350
Put the bread cubes into a large bowl
In saucepan bring milk to simmer
Pour hot milk over the bread and then mix
Let rest for a minute or so until all liquid is soaked (gluten free bread will take more time)
Add the eggs, cheese and bacon and stir to combine

You can bake this in a loaf pan for 20 minutes or you can do what I do and put it in a mini-muffin tin. It usually takes about 15-20 minutes depending on the size you make.
They should be firm.

Sprinkle the brown sugar and a little bit of salt on top and then let cool

Good luck!
 
#35 ·
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top