Is fruit juice good or bad?

[Twilkes]

Did 47 miles today, about 3 1/4 hours riding time, and slotted in a 50 minute hill walk up and down Conic Hill near Loch Lomond in the middle.

I had as big a smoothie as I could handle around 7.15am (oats, banana, frozen raspberries, crystalised ginger, skimmed milk) and ate nothing solid for the rest of the trip.

I loaded up on water before I left, and then got through 2.5 litres of apple juice/water mix, probably half of which was apple juice. It seemed to do the job, as the times I was flagging I stopped and drank about 300mls and 5-10 minutes later I was racing away, even up hills that 10 minutes before I was struggling with. I never felt dehydrated at any point.

But should I be balancing the sugar with something else? That's about 500 calories, with around 120 grams of sugar.

I feel fine, but wondered if there was something I could change so that I didn't have those dips where it felt like my legs were getting tired. I like the idea of drinking the calories rather than eating them, hence the breakfast smoothie.

 

[Drago]

50/50 water/fruit juice + pinch of salt.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Those dips are not good. Basically you are pushing a sugar rush down you bloodstream and then your pancreas respond with a dose of insulin. The is the stuff type two diabetes is made of. Initially, switch to consuming less refined carbohydrates and more, fat and protein, in the form of solids washed down with water. Then read up on LCHF in order to understand the background to athletes who developed type two diabetes and perhaps follow the links provided in the Water Bottle thread to Tim Noakes.

The long and short of it all is that yes, fruit juice is bad because it is just sugar and it stimulates insulin production. Forget about the conventional wisdom of natural sugar vs artificial sugar. Your body breaks it all down to glucose. But, by slowing down the breakdown you don't get a sugar rush and the resultant dip 20 minutes later.

 

[midlife]

...., and it dissolves your teeth

Shaun

 

[Yellow Saddle]

...., and it dissolves your teeth

Shaun

Yup. And another area where conventional wisdom fails us. "Common sense" tells us to first drink your juice and then brush your teeth. Science tells us to first brush your teeth and then drink your acidic juice. Reason for that is that the fluoride in the toothpaste temporarily prevents your teeth from acidic attack. Teeth being bone which is calcium and stuff, don't like acid. But, if you fool the bone to behave as if it's pH is lower, then the juice does less damage.

However, drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth is like sucking on a bar of soap. So I drink water, beer or coffee instead.

 

[Twilkes]

switch to consuming less refined carbohydrates, fat and protein, in the form of solids washed down with water.

So what kinds of things can I put in my blender that would match that description? No dairy though, not sure I could cope with that on the bike.

I know you specifically mentioned solids, but does blending solids for a few seconds really do much to the processing/digestion of it?

 

[Twilkes]

However, drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth is like sucking on a bar of soap.

Interestingly (or not, depending on your disposition) the reason toothpaste does that is because it clogs up the 'sweet' receptors in your mouth, meaning you don't get to experience the sweet sensation of the juice, only picking up on its bitter taste.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

So what kinds of things can I put in my blender that would match that description? No dairy though, not sure I could cope with that on the bike.

I know you specifically mentioned solids, but does blending solids for a few seconds really do much to the processing/digestion of it?

Your smoothie as outlined above is a sugar bomb that contains nothing to slow down the rapid absorption of the carbohydrates in there. The one thing you could have done is to put high fat milk in instead of skim milk. The latter is really the worst thing you could do. Get Tesco's 5% fat Jersey non-homogenized milk instead. However, that will not solve the problem. Nothing I can think of that you can blend will do the job. You really need to get solids in there such as rye bages with peanut butter and a little bit of sugary stuff (jam, molasses or honey) to make it palatable. Or, boiled eggs, or nuts. The problem is that these things are difficult to eat when you're working hard or racing because it is difficult to swallow. Hence the invention of gels and stuff. The latter was invented not for your health, but to solve the problem of feeding on the run. It comes at the expense of long-term health.

You should be eating so that a 3 1/2 hour riding session doesn't require anything other than water. In other words, eat beforehand and eat low carb, high fat and low protein. You'll get all of that from nuts, eggs, peanut butter (although that in turn comes with a high disproportion of Omega 6 oils but that's another story), sardines and cheese. You can see the dilemma - how the hell do I eat a sardine on the go? You can't, you eat it during a break or before you start.

If you are not a competitive cyclist and can afford to stop to eat a fat and protein-heavy sandwich, rather do that. I'm afraid that your blender is going to gather dust if you want to avoid long-term heath problems. Smoothies are the opposite of health.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Interestingly (or not, depending on your disposition) the reason toothpaste does that is because it clogs up the 'sweet' receptors in your mouth, meaning you don't get to experience the sweet sensation of the juice, only picking up on its bitter taste.

I never knew that.

 

[Twilkes]

So the oats can stay, as they're unrefined carbs with some protein? Mixed with full fat milk and some nuts and maybe a banana if I'm being cheeky?

Is Pepperami a decent bike snack - protein, fat and a salt boost? I could get through dozens of those.

 

[jnrmczip]

Make mini flap jacks taste awsome and good for you

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Make mini flap jacks taste awsome and good for you

Last I checked most recipies are full of butter, brown sugar and golden syrup.

 

[Drago]

Like he said, good for you!

 

[Yellow Saddle]

So the oats can stay, as they're unrefined carbs with some protein? Mixed with full fat milk and some nuts and maybe a banana if I'm being cheeky?

Is Pepperami a decent bike snack - protein, fat and a salt boost? I could get through dozens of those.

Oats is the lesser of a bunch of evils but drop the banana. Pepperami - now there's fuel for a long-distance ride. Goes well with beer.

 

[Fab Foodie]

So the oats can stay, as they're unrefined carbs with some protein? Mixed with full fat milk and some nuts and maybe a banana if I'm being cheeky?

Is Pepperami a decent bike snack - protein, fat and a salt boost? I could get through dozens of those.

Pepperami is one of may fave long distance snacks, as is Beef Jerky, mini Pork Pies, crisps, burgers, coke. Cake is good too :-)

You need a decent breakfast. I favour 2 fried eggs and maybe a bowl of oats so simple. That gives a lot of slow release energy. Top-up with yer fave snacks as you go along. 50:50 fruit juice:water in the bottle's fine then, just don't make your fuelling fully sugar based.