How to Choose Energy Foods
Nutrition science has provided a lot of performance food options
in recent years. If you're an outdoor athlete who needs a
quick, easy energy infusion, you'll find many convenient
choices to fuel your ambitions.
Before, During and Recovery
The most significant trend in the performance-food category is its
sophistication. Now you can fine-tune your nutrition
intake with food choices engineered to enhance every stage
of a workout or outdoor excursion—before, during and after
(the recovery phase).
The online product page for each performance food product offered
at REI includes a best-use designation. They are:
Before Workout
These foods or beverages are formulated to provide an elevated,
consistent energy level over an extended period of time.
They typically include a balanced mix of complex
carbohydrates, proteins and fiber. Some are suitable for
eating minutes before activity begins, though a longer
lead time (1 to 2 hours) is often recommended.
During Workout
These are designed for easy digestion and absorption into your
bloodstream. The goal is to provide sustained energy
through a gradual rise (not a spike) in energy followed by
a similarly gradual decline. Chews, gels and beverages are
favorites due to their simplicity and agreeable taste.
Recovery Phase
These are fortified with proteins, amino acids and other
muscle-restoring elements to help hasten the repair and
restoration of cells in your body.
Many products can serve more than one of these functions. But
these general designations can help guide you to choices
best suited to your needs.
How many of these items do you need? It depends on the intensity
of your activity or workout. For a light training run, for
example, you may not need any. A more moderate run, a
half-day hike or a standard training ride may call for
just a single item from one of these categories. The more
demanding (and prolonged) your activity, the more options
your body may likely need to sustain peak performance.
What do these products offer that traditional foods cannot?
Easy portability.
Bananas, as great as they are as energy
boosters, quickly get beat up when
transported in your pack.
Long shelf life. No
refrigeration (or similar food-handling
precautions) needed.
Convenience. What
you need (concentrated, specialized
nutrients), when you need it (any time you
choose) and where you need it (any place you
choose).
Which items are best suited for you? We suggest you experiment
with various products. Stick with the ones that:
- deliver the best results for you
- feel most comfortable in your stomach
- offer the most appealing flavor and texture for your
tastes.
Women's and Kids' Options
The
Luna brand has for years targeted women's nutritional needs. Their new
Luna Sport brand adds beverage and gel options to fit smaller jersey
pockets and lighter caloric needs.
Junior athletes also need
healthy, energy-rich foods but they don't always enjoy the taste of
adult energy products. Now there are options with flavors designed to
suit a child's palate.
Shop REI's selection of kids' energy food.
Energy Bars
These are a good choice when preparing yourself for endurance
activities (generally, any moderately intense aerobic
endeavor lasting at least 90 minutes). In most cases, they
are recommended for before-workout and recovery-phase use.
Bars are commonly high in carbohydrates, low in protein and fat—a
good combination to consume just before starting an
extended activity (or during an extended rest break). Bars
with slightly higher fat and protein content are a good to
eat an hour or more before a workout or anytime after it.
The high-grade carbs in bars provide an endurance boost
during a workout; afterwards, they help replenish glycogen
(energy reserves) in muscles.
With varying quantities of fat included (up to 15 or 20 grams in
some items), energy bars are the only performance-food
option that serves to quell hunger pangs, though they do
so only modestly and briefly.
Energy bars are not the same as meal-replacement bars or snack
bars. Still, hikers often use an energy bar as an
on-the-go midday snack during a rest stop. This allows
them to save time while addressing hunger and energy
issues at the same time.
Drink water when eating an energy bar. Bars are usually dense and
chewy and are easier to digest with generous water intake.
Avoid washing them down with a performance beverage.
Consuming too many carbohydrates at once can slow your
body's ability to absorb them.
Shop REI's selection of energy bars.
Energy Bites/Mini Bars
These
offer the same nutrition as the bars but in a smaller size. Choose
these if you want fewer than 250 calories per serving or prefer to get
the majority of your calories from a beverage.
Organic Bars
Many performance food choices now offer a high percentage of
organic ingredients in their products. REI offers a wide
variety of organic options.
Shop REI's selection of organic bars.
Raw Foods
While most performance foods are not excessively processed, a new
subcategory of energy bars features minimal processing-or
no processing at all. These bars include whole, uncooked,
energy-inducing foods (nuts, seeds, fruits) that are
chopped, pressed and compacted into a single-serve
package. For on-the-go food purists, this is a great
convenience.
Gels
Gels are very popular among hikers, cyclists, paddlers and runners
for on-the-go (during-workout) use. They are syrupy,
semi-liquid products--usually high concentrations of
carbohydrates--that come in small, squeezable packages
that bring to mind squeeze food tubes used by astronauts
in the 1960s.
Their chief benefit? They swiftly deliver a very-easy-to-digest
energy boost—offering perhaps the quickest energy input of
any performance food option. Some gel-makers create
specialized gels by add varying doses of caffeine (a
potent fatigue-fighter) or sodium (for people sweating
excessively due to high temperatures or humid conditions).
Caffeine-enhanced products are usually clearly marked. If
you prefer to avoid caffeine, take note when selecting
gels.
Gel packets are small, very light (1 or 2 oz.) and easy to stash
just about anywhere.
Shop REI's selection of gels.
Chews
Some people find the gooey texture of gels less than appealing.
Electrolyte chews were created for them. Chews are offered
in varying consistencies. Some are like gumdrops, or gummy
bears, and others are more like jelly beans.
They provide essentially the same function as a gel—infusing the
body with carbohydrates (to delay fatigue) and
electrolytes (to replenish stores of salts). Because their
soft-yet-solid texture requires slightly more digestive
work than a gel, their benefits may be slightly slower to
impact your body. Chews are designed exclusively for the
during-working stage of activity.
A
recent addition to this category are the so-called Fastpak chews, which
offer a convenient squeeze delivery of small chew blocks.
Shop REI's selection of chews.
Beverages
The beverage category, which launched the modern energy-food
movement with the introduction of Gatorade in 1965,
includes items that cover all the phases of
activity—before, during and recovery.
Better known as "sports drinks," performance beverages brought the
term "electrolytes" into the mainstream lexicon decades
ago. Electrolytes are minerals, primarily salts, which
exist in your blood and carry electrical impulses (such as
muscle contractions) between cells. They are important to
bodily processes that involve your heart, nerves and
muscles.
Major electrolytes in your body include sodium, potassium, calcium
and magnesium. During hard or prolonged exercise,
perspiration drains you body of electrolytes, particularly
sodium and potassium. The typical result: fatigue and
diminished performance. Performance beverages help prepare
and sustain an athlete's body in sweaty conditions.
Beverages with high protein content (and thus higher caloric
content) are designed more for recovery, although some
beverage-makers assert that protein boosts endurance as
well. Nutrients are rushed in liquid form to fatigued and
depleted muscles, speeding their ability to rebound and
provide a high level of performance the next day or later
that same day.
Effervescent and Low-Calorie Beverages
These are a couple of relatively new twists on the performance
beverage front.
Effervescent beverages come in tablet form and offer 2 benefits:
1) electrolyte replacement in a lower-calorie liquid and 2) a more
reservoir-friendly concoction for people who enjoy sipping
a flavored beverage through their hydration system.
Effervescent tabs do not create the potential for
gunking-up a reservoir the same way a high-carb powdered
energy drink mix might. Most effervescent beverages also
contain fewer calories than typical sports drinks.
Many trainers and nutritionists advise exercisers training at no
more than a moderate level of intensity to drink diluted
performance beverages or drinking water at the same time
when drinking a full-strength performance beverage. A
low-cal beverage can accomplish the same goal. Plus, by
consuming fewer calories in their beverages, athletes can
obtain rely on more on solid food for their caloric
intake. Low-cal beverages also succeed at minimizing
residue left inside a hydration reservoir.
Shop REI's selection of beverages.
Snacks
Since most performance foods offer sweet or fruity flavors, the
snack bar (with a saltier flavor emphasis) now fills the
salt-craving void for hikers and other outdoor athletes.
These foods offer the convenience of a single-serving
snack package that provides a healthier combination of
ingredients than can be found on grocery-store shelves.
Shop REI's selection of snacks.
Supplements
One
way to add vitamins and nutrients without any calories are performance
supplements. These capsules can offer a variety of benefits depending
on your needs. Be sure to follow the directions on the packaging for
correct use.
