Doug Freese said:Glycemic index is interesting but Glycemic load may shed some light.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/pyramids.html""There is one thing that a food's glycemic index does not tell us: the
relative amount of carbohydrate in a given food. Take watermelon as an
example; the sweet-tasting fruit has a high glycemic index. But a slice
of watermelon has only a small amount of carbohydrate per serving (as
the name suggests, watermelon is made up mostly of water). Looking at
the glycemic index alone may not tell us everything we need to know
about a food's impact on blood sugar levels. So researchers have
developed a new way of classifying foods that takes into account both
the amount of carbohydrate in the food and the impact of that
carbohydrate on blood sugar levels. This measure is called the glycemic
load. (8, 9) A food's glycemic load is determined by multiplying its
glycemic index by the amount of carbohydrate it contains. (For a listing
of low, medium and high glycemic load foods, see the sidebar,
Carbohydrates and the Glycemic Load.)"
Yes, glycemic load is a more useful concept. But I'm not inclined to do
detailed calculations, so it works for me to start from the amount of
carbohydrate and then assume I can have maybe 25% more or less depending
on the glycemic index. When I first tried using the glycemic index I
studied the tables pretty carefully, so I know it isn't always what you
would expect--eg. apples are significantly better than oranges.
Quoted message said:But you are failing to provide yourself with fuel and why I was
suggesting a maltodextrin drink that would provide needed cards and may
not cause a spike.Quoted message said:And my digestion is also efficient at least up to 70-80% of maximum
heart rate, so I eat regular food while bicycling.What are you calling "regular food?" For some it a double whopper and
hold the bread. 🙂
If I am going to eat carbs I want to eat what seems like a treat, so
sometimes that is tortilla chips or icecream. Sports drinks are
definitely not in that category--I've never liked sweet drinks,
particularly those that are artificially flavored. Your idea makes
sense, but isn't particularly appealing.
My current theory for a race (a sprint triathlon with a 750 meter swim,
11 mile bike, 5 k run--took me almost 2 hours) is low-GI bread and
cheese a couple of hours before, a banana right before, and a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich (on regular bread) during the bike ride, with
water to drink. I kept up the peanut butter and jelly and bananas for a
5 1/2 hour bike ride last weekend and that seemed to work, though after
the first couple of hours I was riding at pretty low intensity. I'm
going to try the idea of low-fat chocolate milk as a recovery drink.