Online Nutrition Center

Eight Tips to Fuel Your Body

Eating during exercise helps maintain energy levels, prevents fatigue & boosts performance. 
When exercising, and while at rest, muscles use glucose for fuel.  The harder and faster the workout or run, the more glucose burned.  While the body has some glucose stores in the muscles for a reserve, after an hour or so the reserves start to run out, according to Liz Applegate, Ph.D., Director of Sports Nutrition, University of California, Davis.  Eating or drinking a source of glucose such as a banana, Sport Beans™ or sport drink supplies the working muscles with glucose fuel.  And, as an added benefit— you stay alert and feeling energized because the brain also relies on glucose fuel for proper functioning.

Did you know… that a single pack of Sport Beans jelly beans (1 oz) contains 25 grams of carbohydrates to fuel your body during intense exercise, and a balanced supply of electrolytes (sodium and potassium) vital for maintaining fluid balance?  Sport Beans also contain Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), and Niacin (Vitamin B3) to help burn carbohydrates and fat, and Vitamin C to protect muscles and cells against oxidative damage.

How should Sport Beans be used?
Sport Beans are easy to use and they taste great, too!

• Before workout -  Eat one packet about 30 minutes before exercise with 1-2 cups of water.
• During workout – Eat as needed, aiming for one packet every 45 minutes of activity.

For pre-workout fueling: eat 2-4 hours before a workout; eat 400-800 calories at your pre-exercise meal.  Choose high carbohydrate foods that are low in fat.

Drink at least 10 ounces of water or sports drink 2 hours before your exercise. 

Sport Beans’ high GI benefits your workout!

• Myth:  High GI foods negatively impact physical performance.
• Fact:  High GI foods like Sport Beans are optimal during exercise since muscles use glucose (sugar) as fuel and need it quickly.

• Different types of carbohydrates cause glucose to appear in circulation at different rates.
• How quickly circulating glucose levels rise is referred to as the Glycemic Index (GI).
• A high GI food means glucose gets into the system faster than a low GI food.
• The GI for a food cannot be predicted based upon whether it is a complex or simple carbohydrate.
• Research studies support the use of high GI foods over low GI foods during and after exercise as a means to boost performance.

Sport Beans will not cause a "crash"!

• Myth:  High GI foods create a "spike" and "crash" in energy levels.
• Fact:  High GI foods like Sport Beans do create a rapid rise in blood sugar; providing quick energy.  However; there is no actual “crash” that occurs – blood sugar levels simply return to normal.

• Consumption of all carbohydrates result in a rise in circulating levels of sugar.
• The body handles this rise by releasing insulin, which ushers sugars into the body’s cells returning levels to normal.

Sport Beans may be used after a workout to help replenish muscle stores of carbohydrates. As always consume water to replace fluids lost through sweat.