About the author

Tim Moss

Tim Moss has supported over 100 expeditions across all seven continents. He has climbed new mountains, crossed a desert on foot and recently cycled 13,000 miles around the world. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society London and a Guinness World Record Holder. He aims to encourage more people to live adventurously. Read more...

9 Comments

  1. 1

    Michael Halls-Moore

    Extremely useful article, dude. This will help my eating habits no end!

    Mike.

    Reply
  2. 3

    Sarah Outen

    Sounds good useful stuff Tim, as ever. Always make sure to top up with some carbs and a chunk of protein (some meat or nuts or seeds) straight after exercise too, for the recovery process.

    Reply
  3. 4

    Chris Larvin

    Interesting stuff here Tim, although I often will stash a banana in the back pocket, gels/bars/etc have a massive convenience factor (size/weight/packaging) over most supermarket choices. My recovery foods are based on simple foods (milk, tuna, etc) rather than protein/recovery shakes.
    I’ve been looking more into a homebrew approach to making my own isotonic drinks and gels which appears to be working quite well and certainly saves a lot of cash.

    Using my homebrew approach I can make a batch of 24 gels for an average price of less than 14p each. Compare that to the 70p or more you’ll pay for buying SiS GoGel or similar in bulk you can make big savings.
    The base for the gel recipe I use is simply supermarket apple juice boiled up with maltodextrin, beta alanine, BCAA and occasionally some caffeine bought individually from http://www.myprotein.co.uk. There are quite a few recipes out there to play with.
    You’ll have to spend around £30 to buy the initial ingredients but you’re talking about a lot of gels worth! You’ll also have to get your own gel bottle but they’re less than £5. I quite like the fact I know exactly what’s going into the pan and out of my bottle.

    Unless unavoidable (i.e. in a race) I steer well away from Lucozade. Having trained with their stuff for years, I do think it’s full of rubbish and now gives me terrible stomach cramps. I’ve also had too many stomach problems just using ordinary squash or fruit juice.
    Instead I use a low cost option of High 5 ZERO tablets (strictly electrolytes not isotonic) in drinks bottles then try and take on most of my carbs through gel or solid food. They’re about £5 for a tube of 20 tablets which is good for around 15 litres. The ZERO tabs are much more palatable than any sugary drinks, particularly in hot weather and have proven pretty good for staving off cramp on long rides.

    You can mix and match supermarket options, homebrewing and some of the lower cost options on the market to balance out your nutrional requirements without breaking the bank.

    Reply
  4. 5

    Tim Moss

    Thanks Sarah. I was going to add another section on alternatives to protein shakes/bars but decided that it’s easier to do and well covered elsewhere.

    Chris, some great stuff there – thank you.

    You are spot on that the supermarket stuff is often less convenient (though dried fruit/jelly babies/bananas aren’t too bad) but I like that your home-made stuff means knowing all the ingredients.

    I’ve not tried High 5 ZERO but it sounds a lot like Nuun – http://www.nuun.com/

    Reply
  5. 6

    Tim Moss

    Recent related piece on Carbs & Sugar by Dan Martin here – http://www.danmartinextreme.com/archive.php?post=966

    Reply
  6. 7

    Tom Allen

    Great article, very useful. Just discovered semi-dried bananas, in packs of 12 taking about as much space as one standard banana. They are quite gooey, not like the dried banana chips. I wonder if they would do the same job as fresh ones?

    Reply
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  8. Pingback: Natural alternatives to energy drinks/bars/gels | Blog of a holistic mum

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