Everything you Need to Know About Sports Gels

There’s a lot of information out there about sports gels and it can be confusing. There's a huge variety of brands and flavours and the content of them varies as well. Not all gels are created equally.

Here are some tips to consider when you’re buying your gels:

1. Carbohydrate content

• Carbohydrate content can range from around 20-50g of carbohydrate per gel depending on the brand.
• You don’t have to consume it all at once

2. Type of carbohydrate

• A lot of gels are made up of maltodextrin (two glucose molecules joined together) which is very easily broken down in the gut and absorbed quickly into the bloodstream.
• Some products contain maltodextrin and fructose which is a different type of sugar and is absorbed differently across the stomach lining
• The right one for you depends on your overall nutrition plan

3. Is it isotonic or not?

• Isotonic = the same salt concentration as our cells and our blood
• Hypertonic = more...

How to Lose Weight & Maintain Energy for Ironman Training

Most athletes are looking to be in peak physical condition for their A race. For endurance events like Ironman where you have to carry your weight across a long distance, performance can be improved with a good power to weight ratio. But it’s a delicate balance between being light, strong and fast and falling into a hole because you’ve under fuelled too aggressively to get there.

Here are my 7 Tips To Drop Body Fat While Still Maintaining Energy Levels And Performance Through An Ironman Build:

1. Eat Strategically

• Have a periodised approach to your nutrition
• You shouldn’t eat the same thing every day – your nutrition should match your training load
• Your nutrition should look completely different on your lighter training days vs a double session hard training day vs a long endurance ride & run off the bike type day
• Without a specific nutrition plan perfect for you, you run the risk of getting sick or injured
• Offseason ...

Eating on your Feet: Fuelling Long Runs 

It can be a challenge to eat and drink when you’re running. Your tummy is jiggling up and down, it’s hard to breathe and chew. It’s also common to experience gut symptoms like nausea, bloating, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Here are some practical strategies to help you eat on your feet: 

• Practice!

  • If you’re not used to doing anything at all, start with just a small sip of water and slowly build up over time
  • Your gut is very trainable - start building up slowly, being gradual, and being consistent to your approach to fuelling
  • Assist with increased blood flow to the gut by taking on small amounts of nutrition, more frequently instead of a whole gel or bar at a time
  • Avoid following carbohydrate targets per hour you’ve pulled from the internet – this is a recipe for disaster
    
    

• Have a periodised approach

  • You don’t need to fuel the same all year round
  • Focus on building up your gut tolerance in the lead up to races and back off in...

Coffee & Questions ☕️ 2nd September 2021

8 Key Ingredients To Becoming A SuperCharged Triathlete

1. Pre-Training Nutrition
2. Recovery nutrition
3. Periodisation
4. Run fuel
5. Ride fuel
6. Carb-Loading
7. Hydration
8. Supplements

Dial each of these nutrition components in and you’ve nailed a solid foundation as an athlete.

The Triathlon Nutrition Academy Podcast is now LIVE!

Listen in wherever you listen to your podcasts 🎧

Doors are opening on the 19th of September! Join the Triathlon Nutrition Academy waitlist HERE

TRANSCRIPT

Good morning and welcome to coffee and questions! I am live on Facebook over here, in case you see me looking from different places and Instagram over here. So hopefully you can hear me. I've got my headphones in. Yep! Alright, cool. So this morning, I wanted to introduce to you something I've cooked up. Good morning Bec Baird and Tesla and Nick. Yeah, something I've cooked up which I'm pretty excited about. And you'll hear more about it over the coming ...

Coffee & Questions ☕️

I went on a little tangent today for coffee & questions…which is not usual for me.

But I wanted to give you permission to invest in yourself.

Too often I see clients last, after they’ve tried every diet and yo-yo’d for years, or broken themselves with chronic fatigue or injury.

Nutrition becomes a fix rather than prevention.

I’d encourage you to prioritise your health and control the controllables. After all, your body is your temple and you only have one! Treat it with the respect it deserves. Particularly in such crazy times! What you put in your mouth is something only you have control over!

Because at the end of the day, I want you to feel great! Energised and well. Something you might not have felt for a while if you haven’t got your nutrition dialled in.

Let me know if any of this resonates with you or if this was the butt kick you needed to get your nutrition sorted. For life! 💬🤍

The Triathlon Nutrition Academy Podcast is LIVE tomorrow!

Listen in wherever you l...

Coffee & Questions ☕️ Today we talked all about gels!

I answered your questions:

• Why do gels upset my stomach?
• Can they be mixed with water?
• Do they need to be consumed all at once?
• What to look for when buying gels?
• How much do you need during endurance events?
• Are bloks/chews better for women?
• Are there gels safe for use during pregnancy?

There were so many good questions! Watch the replay to see the discussion or read the transcript below 👇🏼

Not all gels are created equal! Some are better than others but at the end of the day, it comes down to personal preference and what fits in as part of your overall nutrition plan.

_{I have definitely seen a movement away from commercial sports nutrition products towards more real food options.}

_{If you're looking for more real food options to fuel your training, check out my Fuel Your Adventure Recipe Book! It contains a collection of Dietitian Approved energy bars and balls to fuel you from your very own kitchen.}  

If you ar...

Today on Coffee & Questions ☕️  I wanted to give you some simple, practical strategies to help you survive life in lockdown +/- kids and a few ideas to support your immune system.

We talked about:

• Ideas to keep a regular food routine when everyone is stuck at home
• My Weekly Menu Planning System that helps you plan dinners for the week and gives you your shopping list with recipe to follow
• Ideas to keep moving! 👟
• Eating the rainbow to support your immune system 🍆🍒🍊🍋🥝
• 2 supplements that may be beneficial to help prevent colds and flu’s
• How much sleep we actually need + tips to get better sleep 💤
  

 
Watch the replay for more info or read the transcript below...

If you need help mapping out your dinners each week - I've done all of the hard work for you!

Check out our Weekly Menu Planning Service HERE 👇

If you are looking for a Sports Dietitian to help you with training and racing nutrition, learn how you can work with me HERE

TRANSCRIPT

Good morning everyone and we...

How are you doing? No really?

Can you think of one positive thing that’s happened in your life as a result of Covid-19?

For me, it’s meant my husband now works from home pretty much full time. This means that he’s so much more involved in the day-to-day running of our household and our family which has been awesome.

Let me know in the comments below what positive thing has happened in your life?

Today I also helped Chris with meeting his protein, iron and B12 needs after stomach surgery.

And also Nella with a simple strategy to help maintain her weight with a huge reduction in training load post-injury.

Watch the replay to join the conversation. See you same time, same place next week! ☕️

If you need help with planning meals for the week, shopping and cooking - check out my Weekly Menu Planning Service.

I've done all of the hard work for you so you don't have to stress about it!

Check out our Weekly Menu Planning Service HERE 👇

If you are looking for a Sports Dietitian to help...

Coffee & Questions ☕️

Today we had some great questions that I answered live for you:

🌟  Tiredness and what could be the answer?
🌟 A calorie deficit that’s not causing weight loss
🌟  Foods to boost recovery from being sick with a cold (thanks daycare)
🌟  Anti-inflammatory foods for sore joints from an old retired athletes perspective (her words! 🙈)
🌟  Issues to solve cramping in the legs during 4-6hour long rides

Catch the replay for the goods or read the transcript below...

If you want to get your very own #dietitianapprovedcrew cycling kit as featured today, email me at [email protected] with your sizing and I’ll hook you up! 🚴🏼‍♀️🚴🏼🚴🏼‍♂️💨  

If you are looking for a Sports Dietitian to help you with training and racing nutrition, learn how you can work with me HERE

TRANSCRIPT

Alright! Good morning and welcome to Coffee and Questions! I've got my cycling kit on this morning because I am about to or trying to do another order for Cycling kit. If you haven't got a cycli...

My Top Tips for how to Lose weight and still maintain energy levels through ironman training - without affecting performance

1. Eat strategically
2. Get a sports Dietitian Approved meal plan
3. Let training drive the change
4. Do it earlier rather than later
5. You shouldn’t be race weight all year
6. Conversely - you don't want big fluctuations of 5-10+kg
7. Slow and steady wins the race
8. Track changes with skin folds -  not the scales
   
   

If you are looking for a Sports Dietitian to help you with training and racing nutrition, learn how you can work with me HERE

TRANSCRIPT

Good morning everyone! Welcome to Coffee and Question! So I had a couple of weeks break there because my voice failed me, it’s still feeling pretty scratchy. So I'll see how it goes today, see if it holds up for me. But I'm sorry about the delay, a bit late – the internet is not working this morning and a bit of carnage going on in our house as well.

I’m definitely a bit late but hopefully that’s given people enou...