Diets
It can be said that the best diet is not one which causes you to lose the most amount of weight but rather the one that best suits your lifestyle, cultural and ethnic origins best. It is these factors that make it possible or impossible to stick to a certain diet in the long run.
Frequent mistakes
- Thinking that going on a certain diet means starving or losing weight
- Taking a diet which is drastically different from what you are used to
- Not eating carbohydrates
- Not eating meat
- Thinking that feeling hungry all the time means that the diet is working
Sugars
It can be said that the most critical factor in all diets is the quantity of sugars and fats consumed. To understand that better, one must be familiar with the different types of sugars
| Monoscacharides | Disaccharides |
|---|---|
| Glucose | Maltose (Glucose + Glucose) |
| Fructose | Fructose (Glucose + Fructose) |
| Galactose | Galactose (Glucose + Galactose) |
The greater the number of monosaccharides in a chain, the less sweet the carbohydrate becomes.
Gels
Now that we are familiar with the different types of sugars, we shall look into the no.1 fuel source for all endurance athletes POWER GEL
The “POWER” in the gel comes from a compound called Meltodextrine. It is made up of a chain of 5-6 glucose molecules. As there is a chain of glucose molecules, breaking down of meltodexterine as a fuel takes a slightly longer time, resulting in a more gradual release of glucose into the blood stream there by preventing any unnecessary fluctuations in blood glucose. More frequently, gel companies want to boost the absorption of glucose into the blood stream and they make use of the well known drug Caffeine. Caffeine rapidly promotes glucose absorption (giving you the high) but it can also cause rapid dehydration if taken in large quantities.
Hence, athletes should be advised to be very selective in choosing the type of gel they want to consume in a race, especially if they are aware that the race is going to be a long distance, or ultra distance one. As caffeine may prematurely lower blood glucose causing the athlete to have to reduce intensity for an extended period of time which may result in less then ideal performance or timing.