Most energy drinks on the market theses days use a combination of maltodextrin and fructose. Instead of just throwing out a recipe, I think it’s important to first understand what goes into a good energy drink and why each ingredient is included. Our testers uncork the best drinks to fuel your ride. Interestingly, plain water is not the best option for staying hydrated. Source: http://www.dr-moosburger.at/wp-content/uploads/pub045.pdf. )More: How to Fuel Your Body for Energy This provides that tangy flavor of energy drinks. Fun fact: The recipe creator Jackie is a 2:45 marathoner and sports nutritionist, so we can’t wait to try this drink and see if … Maltodextrin is a commonly available and safe nutritional supplement. You need to replace not only this fluid but also the electrolytes it contains, particularly sodium. DIY sports drink Serves 1 480ml water or coconut water ½ tsp sea salt 4 tsp honey or white granulated sugar 1. 1/4 teaspoon salt or 1 & 1/2 NUUN tablets, 1/4 teaspoon citric acid (more or less to taste) or lemon or lime juice to taste, 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of maltodextrin powder. This homemade drink mixes the tangy fruit juice with lemon and honey for a quick hit of carbs, sodium and potassium to fuel hungry muscles. To replace the sodium content lost in sweat during a long ride, you’d have a beverage with such high sodium content that it would be undrinkable, in-fact such high concentrations of salt is a classic way to induce vomiting. Recipe one is for rides that are 3 hours or less (60g/hour or less), recipe two is for longer rides (90g/hour). Check these recipes out. For simplicity’s sake, you could shove a honey bear in your pocket and be done. 2. Maltodextrin is superior to simple sugars because it is tasteless, while sugars are often unpleasantly sweet, and it has a lower osmolarity, meaning that it doesn't feel and taste as "sticky" as a sugary beverage maybe would. So why not make them yourself? Finally, we add a source of acidity. Instead, salt is used to reduce the sweetness of the carbohydrate, to increase the rate of absorption from the gut and to increase fluid retention in the blood. A diluted, homemade juice is one of the best energy drinks out there - here's what GCN use in our bottles. It is commonly used for the production of soft drinks and candy. This homemade natural electrolyte drink recipe is an alternative to store-bought sports drinks with artificial ingredients and provides vitamins and sodium. While, there are a number of energy drink mix and prepared beverage products on the market, they also tend to be quite expensive. Homemade Energy Drink Recipe (& Why You Should Stop Drinking Gatorade RIGHT NOW!) For cyclists, the advantages of Maltodextrin next to its availability and low price, are the fact that it is nearly or completely tasteless (depends on the product) and that it has a very low osmolarity, so you're less likely to get gastrointestinal distress from it. elderly people). After doing some research You might be thinking salt is included to prevent cramps and increase performance on the bike, but despite this popular belief, there’s really no evidence to back it. How Much of Each Energy Drink Ingredient do You Need, Maltodextrin Energy Drink Recipe for 3-Hour or Shorter Cycling Events, Maltodextrin Energy Drink Recipe for Cycling Events Exceeding 3-Hours, Live FTP for Zwift Ramp Test (Now with a Lite Version), List of All Zwift Worlds and Course Routes, carbohydrates are the key to performance on the bike, increase the rate of absorption from the gut, carbohydrate you need to consume during your ride depends on how long you’re going to be riding, as concentrated as 9% don’t reduce the rate of stomach emptying, carbohydrate intake recommendations are outlined here, How to Convert Watts to Calories Burned While Cycling, How to Recover Your Ride File when Zwift Crashes. (If you're not sure how much you really need, learn the rules in How and When to Hydrate. The amount of carbohydrate you need to consume during your ride depends on how long you’re going to be riding. There are four basic building blocks in an energy drink. Homemade energy drinks Make your own cranberry, maple and star anise sports drink. DIY Energy Shot With green tea and passion tea, it’s designed to be a pre-workout energy shot. Whether you need energy for intervals, extra hydration when it’s super hot, or fuel for a full day in the saddle, these drink mixes will help you go faster for longer. Get the Recipe Three-Ingredient The absorption of carbohydrates is an active process, meaning that carbs are actively "carried" to the intestine walls. Homemade energy drink recipes 1. You need to replace the water you lose to live. August 2, 2018 November 2, 2015 by Madison Morvay You walk in the door from a grueling workout, and grab a bottle of Gatorade to rehydrate. salt When out riding for longer than roughly one hour, you should provide your body with enough carbohydrates to keep your blood sugar high, and enough fluids to keep it well hydrated. Homemade Citrus Energy Drink This homemade sports drink hits all the essentials—fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates to keep you hydrated and energized for all your endurance activities. Water is obvious, I hope, as you sweat and breathe you lose water. The other advantage of using a sports drink is that it's an easy way to keep well fed. It can also be found as an ingredient in a variety of other processed foods. What’s that mean? If you’re doing a one to two hour ride and only need 30-grams of carb per hour you can get away with one bottle or you can make two half-strength bottles (a good option for hot days). And you can store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. The priorities for nutrition for aerobic endurance exercise—long rides, runs, walks, or triathlons—are water, calories, and sodium. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose and may be either moderately sweet or almost flavorless (depending on the degree of polymerisation). Of course, it goes without saying that if there’s anything you don’t For example, this homemade sports drink costs just $0.11 per 100 calories compared to $0.75 for pre-mixed commercial drink: 1/3 cup (80 ml) orange juice 12 teaspoons (50 g) sucrose (table sugar), glucose or maltodextrin (a starch) Maintaining healthy sodium levels is more about long-term diet and maintenance. For rides beyond 3-hours in length, we need to be replacing 90-grams of carbohydrate per hour. Typical energy drinks come in a concentration of around 6% carbohydrate (6-grams per 100ml of fluid). See more ideas about Recipes, Snacks, Healthy treats. The magic ingredient here is the coconut water, which is known as “nature’s sports drink” … Click! It has a little bit of caffeine from the green tea to get you going. The maltodextrin is chosen because it reduces the sweetness of the drink and fructose to take advantage of the separate absorption channel in the gut. Many cyclists prefer to get their carbohydrates in the form of a beverage these days. See the four products that will give you a jolt when you need it most. Not our goal here. This and other recipes at Best Cook Ideas website. Make it your own! Now we get to brass tacks. Divide the result into two small waterbottles. In basic terms, maltodextrin is a chain of individual glucose units joined together and it has essentially no flavor or sweetness. Homemade electrolyte drink So, you’ve trained hard and lost a lot of sweat. How much of each ingredient do you need to put together an energy drink that will get you through your ride? Macronutrient Split for Endurance Athletes. Per 25-ounce (~700ml) water bottle: 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Per 25-ounce (~700ml) water bottle: This mixture ups the concentration to provide 90-grams of carbohydrate per 700ml bottle. Many cyclists, thus, choose to make their own energy drink mix from scratch. Would love your thoughts, please comment. 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