I personally think the most powerful effect cleansing brings is rejuvenation of the mind and spirit. Cleansing and fasting can be very inspiring- cultivating vitality, increased energy, and the desire for positive change in all aspects of life. It is motivating and causes us to confront stagnation in our lives; gaining the desire to create lasting health-giving habits and the will to let go of destructive behaviors. The relationship we have with food also changes as we feel the healing power of whole, nutrient dense foods. We start to want only good food, we eat less and cravings diminish. We become more content, productive and motivated, better inside and out.

Equally as powerful for most is the noticeable physical health benefits of cleansing. Our bodies possess the power to heal themselves, without expensive medical treatments or prescription medication. Giving our bodies a solid break from the toxic and congesting substances that most of us ingest daily allows our body’s detoxification systems to work to their full potential to clean out the stores of built-up toxicity. This can solve many chronic health issues people come to think of as just part of life, such as holding onto to extra weight, body aches and pains, skin problems, headaches, allergies, depression, fatigue, high blood pressure, frequent colds, and digestive issues. Healing occurs on many levels as our bodies start to function optimally and come into balance. Give it a try, you might really like it.

Green Cabbage Salad

Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable known for its anticancer properties. It is also great for weight loss and detoxifying the body, in addition to being highly nutritious! Cabbage is rich in folic acid and vitamin C, and contains selenium, an antioxidant mineral many of us are deficient in. This salad also contains cilantro, an herb that facilitates the detoxification of metals from the body. This recipe is a healthy alternative to the standard coleslaw. Vegan, raw, gluten and dairy-free.

Servings: 6   Calories: 108   Carbs: 8g   Protein: 2g   Fat: 8g   Fiber: 3g

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized head of cabbage, outer leaves and core removed, finely shredded (equal to 4 cups)
3 carrots, peeled and finely shredded
1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil (or, try 1 TBSP of toasted sesame + 1 TBSP olive oil)
1 TBSP flax oil
2 TBSP raw apple cider vinegar (try Bragg’s)
1 tsp. honey
2 TBSP sesame seeds
sea salt/pepper to taste

Instructions:

A food processor works great to shred the cabbage and carrots. Or, shred by hand with a grater. In a small jar or bowl, make the dressing by combining the olive oil, flax oil, apple cider vinegar and honey. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, and cilantro. Stir in the dressing and sesame seeds. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.

Red Cabbage and Apple Salad

This salad is simple to prepare and a great cleansing, low-calorie option to have in the fridge for munching whenever you are hungry. The deep red/purple/blue color of the cabbage leaves is from the powerful antioxidant anthocyanin. You cannot go wrong with eating a lot of cabbage! Vegan, gluten and dairy-free.

Servings: 6   Calories: 75   Carbs: 13g   Protein: 2g   Fat: 2g   Fiber: 3g

Ingredients:

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-sized yellow onion, sliced
1 large apple, peeled and chopped
1 small-sized head of red cabbage, outer leaves and core removed, chopped
1 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions:

In a medium/large saucepan over medium heat, add the olive oil and saute the onion and apple until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the cabbage, water, apple cider vinegar and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, uncover and let cool. Store in the refrigerator and enjoy.

Week-by-Week Cleansing and Fasting Plan:

Weeks 1 and 2- Transitional stage, will focus on removing toxins and congesting foods from the diet.

Week 3- Continuation of week 1 and 2 with a focus on raw foods.

Week 4- A diet of just fruits, vegetables and various low-sugar juice; 2-3 days will be juice only without food.

Week 5- A transition back to a diet mostly of raw foods.

Final Week- A transition back to a diet like the first two weeks, eating non-toxic and non-congesting foods.

Toxic and Congesting Foods

What to avoid these first two weeks: All common allergenic foods (dairy/milk, wheat/gluten, soy, eggs, shellfish and peanuts), red meat, pork, hydrogenated fats, all toxic/refined fats, refined flours, bread, baked goods, sweets, refined sugars, soda (diet too), drugs, alcohol, and coffee or excessive caffeine. Avoid all processed foods (pretty much all pre-packaged foods) and eat only organic foods, if possible.

Cleansing Foods

What to eat: Fruits, non-starchy greens and herbs, which are the least congesting foods. Followed by all other non-starchy vegetables, and then starchy vegetables such as winter squash, beets, carrots, peas, and root vegetables (like sweet potatoes and parsnips). Next the gluten-free whole grains- rice, amaranth, buckwheat, millet and quinoa. Slightly more congesting, but definitely acceptable foods for the first two weeks are nuts (raw or soaked, almonds are the best choice), seeds, legumes (beans) and oats (look for gluten-free).

I will personally be including some fish or chicken, about twice a week (this is optional). As far as fats go, small amounts of olive and coconut oil are acceptable. The only sweets allowed are small amounts of maple syrup and honey. At this point, you can choose to drink limited amounts of black and/or green tea, although it is best to avoid caffeine all together. Unlimited quantities of herbal teas, Cleansing Lemonade, and water should be consumed frequently throughout the day.

Later This Week

Look to our blog this week for more on how and why to cleanse and detox. To support the program, we will be posting satisfying and yummy recipes so you don’t feel like you are missing a thing.

Recipe for Cleansing Lemonade:

Juice of one organic lemon

2-3 tsp of pure maple syrup

pinch of ground cayenne pepper

8-12 oz of pure spring water

My cleanse will start Saturday, April 2nd. You are welcome to join me. I plan to embark on a 6 week program, starting with an elimination diet that removes toxins and congesting foods and gradually work towards doing a fast where I ingest no food for several days. Look for the full program coming soon to Origin’s blog. I will also be posting cleansing recipes, tips, and sharing my experience. Here’s to your health.

My contention with sports drinks isn’t that they don’t have a purpose, it’s that they’re generally overconsumed and overhyped.  I can’t help but think that sales figures are sports drink manufacturers’ biggest concern, but Kevin Garnett’s bellow seems to scream otherwise.  What’s the reasoning behind the typical sugar, water, and electrolyte composition of these drinks?  When, if at all, does it become important to rehydrate with something other than water?  What, beyond the commercial viability of selling sugar water, are the real benefits to professional athletes and amateurs alike?

The Formula

Sports drinks are generally made of water, various simple sugars like glucose and fructose, and electrolyte-containing ingredients like salt, citric acid, sodium citrate, and potassium sulfate.  The theories behind the inclusion of these ingredients are seemingly straightforward.  Water is necessary for hydration and proper temperature regulation.  Sugar is a carbohydrate and is a quick source of energy.  Electrolytes are lost when you sweat and are integral for many bodily processes including maintaining proper fluid balance and nerve and muscle functioning.

Every Athlete is an Individual

Sweating is an important process for body temperature regulation.  Unfortunately, my body sucks at temperature regulation.  Post-run you’ll find me with a bright red face and just a little dew about my temples and in the middle of my back.  My husband, however, sweats so much it drips off of his bandanna.  We both just ran the same trail, the same distance, and at the same pace, but our bodies’ reactions are not the same.  Evidence shows that we all lose fluids (and with them electrolytes) at different rates during exercise and beyond that, even the composition of sweat differs from person to person.^{1, 10} These differences are determined due to environmental conditions, clothing choices, fitness level, diet, age, gender, and use of certain medications, among many other factors.² It seems logical to replace these lost electrolytes, but evidence shows that the body is generally able to cope with and adjust to these losses by relying on dietary stores.⁸

Fluid and Electrolyte Balance

Dehydration stresses your body and decreases athletic performance, so before beginning exercise of any intensity level, make sure you are hydrated.  Those who are faster, heavier, and in warmer environments generally need additional fluids over their smaller, slower counterparts who are in cooler climates.  Preceding your athletic endeavor, it is typically sufficient to eat regularly and drink water throughout the day.⁸ While exercising, it is ideal to drink fluids at a rate to keep weight loss under 2% of total body weight (weigh yourself pre- and post-exercise to determine your water loss). ^3,8 The amount of liquid necessary to stay within this range will vary depending on your personal rate of sweating.

While the effects of dehydration are clear-cut, the effects of exercise-induced electrolyte loss are a bit more convoluted. If you pay close attention to the claims sports drink manufacturers make as a means to sell their products, they avoid specifically mentioning the idea that replacing electrolytes will improve performance or even rehydrate you more quickly.  They simply point out the following facts: you lose electrolytes when you sweat, electrolytes are important for various bodily functions, and electrolytes (sodium in particular) stimulate thirst.¹¹

These are accurate statements, but the marketing implication seems to be that because of these things, replacing electrolytes has an actual impact on athletic performance.  The Institute of Medicine states that, “Because substantial quantities of sodium, chloride, and to a lesser extent, potassium are lost in the sweat during prolonged exertion, especially in the heat, many are concerned that this electrolyte loss should be replenished during exercise to maintain the appropriate distribution of electrolytes in the various fluid compartments of the body.  However, there is little direct evidence of a beneficial effect of electrolyte replacement for any but a small proportion of endurance athletes.³“  In other words, replacing electrolytes during a four-mile run probably isn’t going to make me any faster, better, or stronger.⁹ Also, you don’t need to rely on specially-formulated drinks to replace electrolytes. Electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, are naturally found in many foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and sea salt.  In short-duration activities your body is able to draw on its own stores to balance itself.

Regardless of athletic impact, electrolyte inclusion has a definite positive aspect.  Research shows that small amounts of sodium chloride (salt), an electrolyte, increase the palatability of beverages.^{2, 3, 10} If enjoying drinking a beverage increases the amount a person drinks, then the inclusion of electrolytes might be an important factor for making sure you drink enough water to stay sufficiently hydrated during and after exercise.

While it’s highly important drink adequate fluids before and after exercise, you can actually drink too much water.  Normally the body adapts to increased water intake by increasing urine output.  This stabilizing effect is less efficient during exercise, however, so if you are sweating heavily for extended periods of time (such as marathons or ultra events) and drinking only water, it’s possible that you’ll end up with too much water in relationship to electrolytes, sodium in particular.  This is known as water intoxication or hyponatremia, and the result can be irregular heartbeat, swelling of tissues, and even coma or death.

Carbohydrate Content

It turns out that the part of sports drink I scoff at the most, the carbohydrate (sugar) content, has actually been shown to improve athletic performance and increase endurance when used after an extended duration of activity.^3,4 Specifically, research shows that using a carbohydrate-containing sports drink at least 30 minutes before you expect to be fatigued can delay the onset of fatigue.^3,8 It is important to note, however, that the body has adequate blood glucose and stored glucose (glycogen) to maintain energy for several hours of sustained athletic activity (generally believed to be about three hours).⁷ Ask yourself how often you exercise for several hours or more and what you’re trying to accomplish with exercise.  If you are of the camp that’s using physical activity to lose weight, you might want to reconsider adding calories that your body doesn’t really need.

Water vs. Electrolyte Drinks

Consider the following questions:  Are you hydrated before you start exercising?  How much do you sweat?  How long and at what intensity are you exercising?  Will you drink plain water or do you need to be enticed by something a little sweet and salty?

Short duration (less than 3 hours) and well hydrated?  Choose water.

Not much of a water drinker, exercising at high intensity (where you would benefit from an easily-digestible carbohydrate boost) or for three hours or more?  Try our sports drink recipes; they use antioxidant and nutrient-rich whole fruit, unprocessed sea salt (rich in electrolytes and trace minerals), and taste far less syrupy-sweet than commercially-available sports drinks.

Mango-Citrus Electrolyte Drink

• 32 oz water
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar (try Bragg’s)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup mango, fresh or frozen

Mix all ingredients in blender.  Strain.  Chill until cool.

Nutrition breakdown:

calories: 110
carbohydrates: 29.4 g
sugar: 24.8 g
sodium: 608 mg
potassium: 286 mg
magnesium: 14 mg
calcium: 17 mg

Berry-Citrus Electrolyte Drink

• 32 oz water
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar (try Bragg’s)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup mixed berries (any combination of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and/or raspberries), fresh or frozen
• 1 Tbsp honey

Mix all ingredients in blender.  Strain.  Chill until cool.

Nutrition breakdown:

calories: 151
carbohydrates: 40.2 g
sugar: 32.5 g
sodium: 606 mg
potassium: 153 mg
magnesium: 8 mg
calcium: 10 mg

^{1 Kilding, AE, et al. (2009). Sweat rate and sweat electrolyte composition in international female soccer players during game specific training. Int J Sports Med 30(6) 443-7.
2 Sawka, MN, et al. (2010). Exercise and fluid replacement, from Medscape http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/717055_5
3 Marriott, BM (1994). Fluid replacement and heat stress. Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board, Committee on Military Nutrition Research.
4 Gisolfi, CV (1993). Use of electrolytes in fluid replacement solutions: What have we learned from intestinal absorption studies? University of Iowa, Iowa City.
5 Irving, RA (1991). Evaluation of renal function and fluid homeostasis during recovery from exercise-induced hyponatremia. Journal of Applied Physiology 70(1) 342-348.
6 Greenleaf, JE, et al. (1996). Mechanisms controlling fluid ingestion: thirst and drinking from Body fluid balance: exercise and sport.
7 Armstrong, LE, et al. (1999). Fluid-electrolyte balance during labor and exercise: concepts and misconceptions. Int J Sports Nutrition 9(1) 1-12.
8 Latzka, WA, et al. (1999). Water and electrolyte requirements for exercise. Clinical Sports Med 18(3) 513-24.
9 Coombes, JS, et al. (2000). The effectiveness of commercially available sports drinks. Sports Med 29(3) 181-209.
10 Maughan, RJ, et al. (1997). Recovery from prolonged exercise: restoration of water and electrolyte balance. J Sports Science 15(3) 297-303.
11 (26 Aug 2010). Gatorade website, frequently asked questions, science and nutrition http://www.gatorade.com/frequently_asked_questions/default.aspx}

Making Hummus Artichoke Dip at Winter House

Origin represented Tribe Mediterranean Foods at the 2010 Winter House PR event held in Park City, where various media experts came to experience a variety of great products and participate in numerous fun events. Origin put on a cooking show, showcasing four mouth-watering hummus recipes created with Tribe’s all natural hummus. On the menu was Hummus Crostini, using Tribe’s Roasted Eggplant and Sundried Tomato Basil Hummus; Grilled Flatbread Hummus Pizza; Hummus Mozzarella Pesto Panini; and, my favorite, Hummus Artichoke Dip. The Hummus Artichoke Dip was so good we had to post it!

Tribe Hummus Artichoke Dip
It is hard not to love artichoke dip. This version uses hummus in place of mayonnaise (used in typical recipes) for a lower calorie/fat option, with equal the amount of flavor~ more to love! Serve it hot out of the oven with pita chips, tortilla chips, crackers, crostini toasts, or your favorite cut vegetables. Always a party pleaser.

Ingredients:
1- 8oz tub of Tribe Roasted Garlic Hummus
1-8oz cream cheese, softened
1-14oz can of artichoke hearts, or 2-6oz jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained & coarsely chopped
1-2 scallions, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, beat the hummus and cream cheese together with a hand mixer at med speed until well combined. Stir in the artichoke hearts, scallions, and parmesan cheese until combined. Add the worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.

Pour into a small casserole baking dish, 8×8 or 8×6. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until bubbly and browned. Serve immediately with pita chips, tortillas chips, crackers, crostini toasts, or cut vegetables. Enjoy!

Athletes require special support.  Overlooking the impact of your diet means injuries can occur more easily and will take longer to heal.  Using food to address tissue and joint wear and tear, vitamin and mineral loss, and free radical formation only adds to performance.  Rather than focusing solely on volume, get more out of food by choosing nutrient-dense options like eggs, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, bone broths, and coconut oil.  These choices alongside superfoods like nutritional yeast, spirulina, and goji berries, help meet your body’s higher needs for vitamins (for energy and to combat inflammation) and antioxidants (to repair the damage strenuous exercise can cause).  Healthy fats such as fish and flax oil are indispensable for lubricating joints and minimizing inflammation.  Magnesium-rich foods like almonds and avocados are necessary for their muscle contraction and relaxation properties, helping prevent distracting and painful charley horses.  Adequate amounts of B vitamins (removed when whole grains are processed into white bread, white flour, white rice, etc.) are imperative, as they are the first vitamins depleted when your body is under the physical and mental stress of training and racing.  Because athletes need many nutrients at higher-than-average levels, they simply may not be able to eat enough food to meet their body’s needs.  A B-vitamin complex, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and a mineral supplement can all be added to one’s routine- though they should not be used in place of a healthy diet.

Before and During a Race

Eating before and during an endurance competition is a challenge for many athletes.  A sandwich may be too heavy for one person and just right for another.  During training, find out what works for your body and stick with that on race day.  Miso soup or chicken broth will nourish your body with minerals and electrolytes.  A couple spoonfuls of coconut oil are easy to digest and provide a sustained energy source.  Berries, bananas, mangoes, or citrus fruits give you an energy spike without a subsequent energy crash.  During the race, a periodic snack on dried fruit may be just enough to boost you without making you feel heavy, or you may choose to rely on an energy gel like this one.

Post-Workout Recovery Food

Proper nutrition before, during, and after the race stocks your body with the nutrients it needs.  Immediately post-race an endurance athlete will need to replace lost fluids, minerals, vitamins, and sugars.  Water, an electrolyte drink (look for one that also contains B vitamins, vitamin C, and minerals, without excessive sugar or artificial colors), complex carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables), and healthy proteins and fats are nourishing choices to refuel and repair your body.

This article originally appeared in the Park Record’s Parent section on August 15, 2009, as written by Greg Marshall.

Homemade Snacks Are Better

The biggest challenge to making healthful meals for kids is a lack of time, says nutrition specialist Michelle Larson.  Busy parents often depend too much on pre-packaged goods for brown-bag lunches that are often loaded with sugar, artificial fats and other culprits.

“It’s an easy thing to fall into,” said Larson, who is the co-owner of Park City’s Origin Nutrition.  At the same time, Larson said letting kids overindulge in sweets and snacks can be detrimental, even if long-term consequences, such as diabetes and obesity, aren’t immediately apparent.

“In a way, kids can get away with eating junk food more than adults can,” Larson said.  But careless eating early in life leads to lasting habits.  “Kids may be able to eat Doritos without gaining weight, but it’s going to be harder to break those habits later on.”

Even when pressed for time, parents can prepare wholesome food without spending too much cash.  It’s a matter of thinking creatively and planning ahead.  Rather than a packaged snack that contains bread sticks, cheese and lunchmeat, fix the snack yourself.

“The components appear to be the same, but you’ll have control over the quality of the ingredients,” Larson said.

A quick homemade treat like sliced cheese on crackers won’t have any nasty surprises such as high-fructose corn syrup or monosodium glutamate, also known as MSG.*

The next challenge for parents is, of course, how to make children eat healthy foods.  The key is to be consistent.  Give kids healthful foods, the logic goes, and eventually they will seize them.  On the other hand, kids won’t ever choose oft-bemoaned “health food” if it is rarely presented as a possibility.

It is important to lead by example.  If parents eat well, kids will be more likely to follow suit.

Remember that heart-healthy food an be delicious.  Don’t be afraid to sweeten the deal with vegetable dips, hummus and nut butters to make fruits and vegetables more palatable to youngsters, Larson said.

At the same time, packaged snacks don’t need to be entirely eliminated from diets, but only given sparingly.  “You don’t want kids to think of sweets as ‘forbidden fruit,’” Larson explained.  Just as parents have been saying for generations, moderation is the best principle.  By including just one fresh item in daily lunches and using fewer bagged foods, parents can steward healthier habits.

Larson offers a simple health test for nutrition labels: the simpler, the better.  Ingredients that are hard to pronounce are usually created in a laboratory, and are not the healthiest options.

Keep in mind the consequences of eating poorly.  Sugar is a brain drain.  Consume it in excess and mood swings, energy crashes and restless nights ensue.

Afternoon sugar cravings should be red flags to parents.

Diagnosing and treating the problem early is important.  Often, parents wait for advanced symptoms such as gratuitous weight gain before intervening.

A child’s weight, experts say, is not always a dependable measure for how well they are eating.  Instead, parents should gauge a child’s energy.  Do they have enough energy to finish their homework?  Are they engaged or distracted and tired?  All of these can be symptoms of eating the wrong foods.  “Weight is part of a bigger picture,” Larson said.  “Weight is just a symptom.”

*You’ll only be able to avoid these ingredients by becoming an avid label reader. High-fructose corn syrup, especially, is in almost everything these days!

Pesticide use

As defined by the US Department of Agriculture, “Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides [and] fertilizers”.  It’s strange, given this definition, that the reviewers didn’t consider pesticide residue as worthy of examining.  “We didn’t look at that.  We looked at nutritional elements only.  Pesticides are fine, because they are monitored and we don’t believe they are dangerous to food.”  To be fair, they’ve since recognized that the question of pesticide use is indeed a valid question that would be better addressed in another review entirely.  The problem is that we’re likely to remember the headline “Organic Food No Better” without remembering the specifics about what the study actually evaluated.  Instead we have to wait for additional details to amend the story, and by then it could be too late, because we’ve already come to believe that organic food is not worth the cost.

This recent report, however, shows that pesticide residue isn’t monitored as well as some might assume it to be, resulting in pesticide levels far beyond the allowable limits.  This particular story also uncovers the presence of pesticides that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not approve for use.  As it turns out, the pesticide-monitoring system is not used to prevent farmers from applying excessive levels of pesticides, but to highlight violations after the fact- sort of a post-problem tracking system.

The reviewers evaluating the possible merits of organic food contend that pesticides aren’t dangerous to food.  They don’t believe that there is a connection between applying chemicals to our soil that are designed to kill insects and fungus and the deleterious health effects produced in a person then consuming these same chemicals.  Yet a recent study shows that a toxin we apply to our skin to kill mosquitoes (DEET) could damage our nervous systems, and we’re not even eating it.  And here’s information about a popular weed killer (used on everything from farms to golf courses) that is receiving attention due to recent research showing it is both more prevalent (in drinking water) and more dangerous (possible links to birth defects and menstrual problems) than previously thought.  As the reviewers pointed out, pesticides are monitored, but the agency in charge of doing so, the EPA, is not scheduled to review the new research on this weed killer until next year at the earliest.  Surmising that pesticides aren’t dangerous is not exactly accurate.

Healthy Foods Need Healthy Soil

Nutrient levels in real, whole foods are a reflection of the nutrient levels present in the soil in which those foods were grown.  If the soil is depleted of nutrients, the food will be depleted of nutrients.  But the picture is larger still.  Nutrient levels change according to when those foods were harvested- did you buy a local tomato that ripened on the vine, or was your tomato picked while it was still green (before the nutrient levels were allowed to reach their peak) and ripened due to chemical exposure (a practice used to artificially ripen prematurely-harvested produce)?  Allowing your food to ripen while still on the plant is integral to the optimization of nutrients, and that means buying foods that are locally-grown.

Sometimes these small-scale farmers cannot afford the certification process to be declared “organic”.  Developing a relationship with the person growing your food, however, gives you an opportunity to dialogue with them regarding their farming practices, including pesticide use.

Organic and Local

Releasing a study that ignores the crux of the issue, pesticides, is, at best, short-sighted and, at worst, deliberately misleading.  The tracking and evaluation systems in place to protect us from excessive chemical exposure are sadly lacking.  As a consumer you can choose to limit your exposure to these damaging chemicals by supporting organic products.  You can take it a step further and buy foods that are picked at the peak of nutrient development by purchasing form local farmers.

Origin’s Energy Gel Recipe

• 1 cup Brown Rice Syrup (try Lundberg’s Organic Sweet Dreams Brown Rice Syrup)
• 1/2 cup Barley Malt (try Eden’s Organic Barley Malt syrup)
• 1/4 cup Unrefined Coconut Oil
• 1/4 cup Organic Creamy Peanut Butter, all natural variety (without hydrogenated oils or sugar added)
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• 1/4 cup hot water

1. Use a make-shift double boiler by placing a glass jar inside a saucepan. Fill the saucepan with water so that the jar is a little more than half immersed.
2. Combine all ingredients except for the hot water into the jar. Turn heat to med-low and warm mixture, stirring frequently, until it is runny and well combined, about 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, then remove the jar from inside the saucepan. Add the hot water to the mixture in the jar, stir and shake vigorously until well combined and no separation occurs.  Let cool.
4. Fill gel containers as needed for workouts. Store extra gel in the jar with a lid in a cool, dry place.

Yields 18 fluid ounces

The gel will stay liquid enough to easily squirt from your tube-like container during workouts or races. In cold weather, the gel may become quite thick. Test it out, you may need to add a little more water for a thinner consistency in cold weather, or try storing it close to your body for heat during a workout.

Low-down on the Nutrition

One ounce of this gel contains 150 calories, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 1.8 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fat-  ratio of approximately 64% carbohydrates, 5% protein, and 30% fat. Mostly carbohydrates, but enough protein and fat to balance your blood sugar and keep it from spiking or dropping during a workout or race- which is crucial to maintain your energy!

Brown Rice and Barley Malt Syrups

The brown rice syrup, the main ingredient in the gel, is 46% complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), 29% maltose (a disaccharide), and 25% glucose (a simple sugar). Brown rice syrup also provides .46 g of protein in 2 TBSP. The barley malt syrup is 76% maltose, 16% glucose, 6 % sucrose (a disaccharide), and 2% fructose (a simple sugar). Barley malt syrup also provides nearly 3 g of protein in 2 TBSP. Both of these syrups are slow and easy to digest and provide the body with an immediate burst of necessary energy (due to the simple sugars), and then lasting carbohydrates (the poly and disaccharides) to refuel your cells. These syrups are about half as sweet as sugar to the taste.

Unrefined Coconut Oil

I used coconut oil to run a marathon. Great stuff. I have a sensitive stomach when I workout, my body turns off digestion more than most. The morning of my big race, I ate two spoonfuls of coconut oil, a banana and miso soup. It was the perfect fuel for my marathon. Coconut oil belongs to a special class of fats called medium-chain fatty acids. These fats are not normally stored in your body as fat, but are instead quickly converted to energy. They also boost your metabolism. This makes unrefined coconut oil an excellent oil for weight loss and athletic performance, as it helps produce lean body mass.

Organic Peanut Butter

The Peanut butter provides valuable monounsaturated fats, protein, and flavor to the energy gel. Make sure to choose an all natural variety that only contains organic peanuts and salt. Avoid peanut butter with added sugar and hydrogenated oils (trans fat).

Sea Salt

Sea salt provides valuable minerals for electrolyte balance. A high quality sea salt is rich in potassium, magnesium, sodium chloride, and trace minerals.

To Better Rides

A balanced, nutritionally sound gel to keep you feeling strong and charged when it matters. I have been using this gel on mountain bike rides and love it.  It beats eating an energy bar that tends to sit in my stomach.  The inspiration for this gel recipe goes out to my brother Jarrett and husband Bryan, thanks for asking for it.