Walk into any bike shop and you’ll be hit by the vast number of different sports foods and supplements that are available to you. Leaf through a cycling magazine and the adverts for nutrition products are plentiful. These sports foods often provide good quality nutrients in a convenient and, most importantly for cyclists, speedy way.
Ultimately though, many are made from everyday ingredients, the type that you’ll no doubt find lurking in your fridge or cupboard. The main difference is that the sports foods you’ll find in a shop have been slightly modified to make them as effective as possible at what they're intended to do.
A sports drink is really only sugar, salt and water put together in ratios to enhance sugar and water absorption, and a shop-bought product will get those ratios spot-on. But with a little imagination you can use real food alternatives. You just need to know how to do it.
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Related: 10 cycling superfoods you need to try
Energy and recovery products
You can divide up the sports foods on the market into two groups – those which are for energy and those for recovery.
Energy products tend to consist of food and drinks that provide simple sugars for your body to use as energy and maintain blood glucose levels during training and racing. Examples would be carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks, gels, jelly beans and energy bars.
Milk
Fig rolls
Flapjacks
- 125g butter or margarine
- 100g dark brown soft sugar
- 4 tbsp golden syrup
- 250g rolled jumbo oats
- 40g sultanas or raisins
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC / Gas Mark 4 / 350ºF. In a saucepan over low heat, combine the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until butter and sugar have melted. Stir in the oats and sultanas until coated.
- Pour into a 20cm square baking tin. The mixture should be about 2-3cm thick.
- Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is golden. Cut into squares, then leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.
Cola
Fruit juice
Dried fruit
Nuts
Homemade electrolyte drink
Homemade energy gel
- 8 pitted dates
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- Pinch of sea salt
- Other ingredients to taste
- Soak the dates for several hours.
- Mix the ingredients together and blend until they form a smooth paste or gel-like consistency.
- Decant out into storage containers.
- Refrigerate until use.
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