Originally Posted by
nancy sv
He can have some sugar (and he does on a fairly regular basis) but if he eats a lot his behavior goes haywire and he drives us bananas!! I've found he's OK with pretty much anything that has at least some semblance of nutritional value. Granola bars, even though they have a lot of sugar, also have the whole oats, so he's fine with that. Dried fruit is fine, even though it's very concentrated sugar. Chocolate or cookies, on the other hand, set him off.
This makes perfect sense. Not all sugars are the same. Natural sugars (complex carbs) found in fruits are fine, it's the refined sugars found in junk food that aren't. They will generate a quick high through a spike in blood sugar but you will just crash after your body burns through the cheap carbs. Additionally your body cannot transform as much of these cheap carbs into energy as it can with complex carbs.
Check out the following article, especially #2 Simple Sugar Consumption:
The 10 Biggest Mistakes Endurance Athletes Make
Originally Posted by
nancy sv
I'll just put nuts or fig bars in his handlebar bag rather than carrots and that should be enough calories to keep him in the black.
Yeah I think you will notice a big difference with fig bars over carrots. Also you can mix things up with raisins. Great source of complex carbs and should be easily available in little boxes (collapsible paper boxes too!).
Have you considered contacting Hammer Nutrition about a sponsorship? They could ship product to different destinations along the way.
Perpetuem and
Endurolytes are amazing products frequently used by endurance athletes. I never leave home without their stuff for my 100 ad 200 mile rides. A steady steam of Perpetuem, Sustained Energy, fig bars, and pickle juice got me through my first double in March in 13.5 hours. I think I managed around 10,000 calories that day!