Most of you know by now that I’m a huge advocate of using whole foods whenever possible and that extends into what I use to fuel my extended workouts. I have previously written about the need for fuel when you are exercising strenuously in an endurance situation. What, and how much you need to consume will depend upon the length, and type of activity, as well as how well fueled you were prior to your activity; each individual and their circumstances are unique!
There have been some recent studies on whole foods that got me excited. One study showed that raisins worked as well as sports jellybeans for endurance runners. There had previously been studies showing that raisins and other dried fruit worked well for cyclists, but there was some question about GI upset with runners due to the presence of fiber in the raisins. Raisins were shown to not only work as well as the beans, but there was no difference in GI upset when using the raisins over the beans. There have also been studies with cyclists showing that bananas not only work as well as the typical sports drink, but they come packaged with nutrients and compounds that will benefit the athlete beyond just carbohydrate replenishment.
While I have been known to do a lot of things, I have not yet started running with bananas; what I have been doing is running with dates! I have occasionally used dried fruit in the past (including prunes) with no GI upset. But over the winter I was using some jelly candies and had also tried some other packaged sports chews; the problem with these things for me was that I suffered from sugar fatigue! I just can’t stomach that much sweetness for very long, yuck! One of the big things that has been keeping me from relying on dried fruit was the combination of electrolytes they contain. Of course dates are a fantastic source of electrolytes except for one – sodium! Since I’m such a heavy and salty sweater, this is a bit of a problem for me. I came up with what I think is a great solution; dates with salt.
What I do is to cut open the date to remove the pit, and then sprinkle a little salt inside. Not only does this take care of my sodium problem, but it also gives me a sweet/salty taste with every bite. Think about a salted carmel and you get the idea. I package them up into a little bag and away I go. Each date has about 25 calories (a little over 6 g Carbohydrates) and it’s easy to dole out just the right amount for 9 miles versus 13 miles. Of course I’m also following a hydration plan and I chase each of these salty dates with some water. So far this plan has really been working for me. I look forward to putting dates into practice during my next half in September!
