Can anyone suggest a tried and tested alternative to Jelly baby's for running? I have worked for three years now to a JB for every mile I run, with minor adjustments for short sharp runs (3 miles) and longer slow runs (13 miles). I am sick of them. I don't like carrying a water bottle so sports drinks are not ideal and it's water only for my Camelbak!!
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So Sick of Jelly Babys
- Thread starter Scardoc
- Start Date
My husband uses smart gels which come in a foil squeezy pouch. They have about 21 g of carb in so I know he only uses these when he goes on long runs and he doesn't always eat it all. The only thing with these is they cost more than jelly babies and you have the carrying and disposable issue. You could take a bottle of lucozade and swig it as you run, but I know they taste very sweet and are not everyones cup of tea. The other thing might be to eat some slow release release carb before going for your run, something like a banana or oat biscuit so you could then reduce the amount of jelly babies you would need to take.
Hmm.. fruit pastilles, big problem with them would be stopping the kids eating them!! I have found that eating malt loaf before a long run, combined with JB's, will stop my blood sugar falling as much. This helps me to set off with a lower reading of say 8 and finish no lower than 6. With JB's alone I would need to be up at around 11 beforehand to finish at 6. I guess what I need (in an ideal world) is something that does the job of five JB's in one hit!
Sid Bonkers
Well-Known Member
Could you not just substitute the JB's for any other sweet that has a similar number of sugary carbs, I believe JB's are between 4 and 5 carbs each. So if your malt loaf JB system is working for you there must be any number of alternatives to the quick acting JB part :thumbup:
That's the plan but, with the exception of JB's, I don't eat sweets so am hoping some other type 1 runners out there have some ideas. There's 4.78g carb in a JB - I think one of my problems is that I have not looked for any alternatives as I know how JB's work and feel very safe using them. I keep logs of my running, how many JB's I eat, sugar levels before and after and I can predict with some accuracy how many to eat and what my BS will be after the run. Oh, I can also gauge the temperature by how hard or soft they are when I eat them during the run - seriously, I've become that sad.
