Endurance Foods: Research and Reason

This will be an interesting one. I realize muscle milk isn’t exactly an endurance food but I’ve been hearing more and more about this product lately and wanted to take some time to analyze what it has to offer from an endurance standpoint as well as a whole foods perspective. Before I get underway, I acknowledge the difficulty of getting whole foods into a beverage. I therefore will ‘go easy’ when it comes time to assign a score to Muscle Milk Light.

First things first… let’s look at the ingredients list. Second to water, Calcium and Sodium Caseinate is at the top of the list. As a very amateur foodie, I certainly can’t list other foods that contain this ingredient so I had to do more research on it. So are you ready for a tongue twister… “Precipitation of the casein through acidification” (Themilkwhey.com). Say that 10 times fast! This phrase describes the process by which this ingredient is made. No, I’m not going to try and explain it further. I read into the more scientific side of what occurs and my head started to hurt. I did find this phrase on good ‘ol Wikipedia regarding Calcium Caseinate specifically: “It is also used as a dietary supplement by bodybuilders and other athletes, who ingest it before bed, with breakfast, or as post-work out meal, as it breaks down at a slower rate than whey protein, thus supplying the body with a sustained protein release”. Cha Ching. So apparently that’s why it’s the second most prevalent ingredient in muscle milk light.

The next item is related to the first: Milk Protein Isolate. “Though Milk Protein Isolate is not used widely as separate whey and casein proteins, individuals will love the results they get from this clean and fresh tasting product.  Milk Protein Isolate provides the user with a quick burst of amino acids (whey) as well as a longer lasting, slow digesting protein (casein).  Users with find this product possesses a great combination of anabolic and anticatabolic properties” (TrueProtein.com).

I have to take a brief tangent to talk about isolates. This has been a topic we’ve been chatting about in the office lately. It is my understanding that isolates are essentially one element of something that was originally in or close to a whole food state. It is extracted through various processes (dried out, reduced, washed) and then included as an ingredient to accomplish a specific process. I appreciate the value of this but we have to ask ourselves why it is necessary to change something so dramatically from its original state in order to prepare it for the human body? I realize there are folks with allergies out there and I fully appreciate their needs. However, for everyone else, can’t we find whole foods in their natural state (picked right from the vine, dug right from the ground, pulled right from the tree) that accomplish similar outcomes but do it without having to make them into something they’re not? It just seems to me that eating natural is such a powerful strategy and as I read the word ‘Isolate’ in any ingredient, I take that to mean that ingredient is no longer in its natural form (attached to whatever it was isolated from). Just food for thought.

Next we have ‘Blend of Vegetable Oils’. Specifically, sunflower and canola oil. Interestingly, I came across an article on about.com, also available on snopes.com, that claims canola oil comes from a genetically engineered rapeseed plant that is actually toxic to humans in its natural form. Snopes calls this false and there are many other sources that verify this conclusion (it does make for an interesting conversation piece though). Here’s what WebMD.com has to say about healthy oils in general with an emphasis on the oils in this product: “One way to reshape your diet is by choosing heart-healthy oils. Canola oil, which is made from the crushed seeds of the canola plant, is among the healthiest of cooking oils. It has the lowest saturated fat content of any oil commonly consumed in the U.S., at just 7%. By comparison, sunflower oil has 12% saturated fat, corn oil has 13%, and olive oil has 15%”. I think it’s important to remember our bodies need good fats to survive. Unsaturated and polyunsaturated are certainly the way to go as opposed to a slice of bacon or too much milk fat. In our world of nutritional trends, I personally feel the ‘Fat Free’ trend caused people to forget that fat certainly has its place in the foods we need to survive.

Now I have to pause and acknowledge that many of the sources I reference aren’t scholarly journals or published studies by the American Dietetic Association. However, I like using social and opinion sites because it conveys what the ‘buzz’ is saying about these particular ingredients. I do try to look at several references before I paste a quotation but understand there are pros and cons to my more casual approach. That said, here’s what WiseGeek has to say about our next ingredient, Maltodextrin: “As a rather common additive to a number of different types of foods, maltodextrin is classified as a sweet polysaccharide. While containing sweet qualities, maltodextrin is considered to contain fewer calories than sugar. Here are some examples of how maltodextrin is made from natural foods, as well as how maltodextrin can be used in a number of recipes”. As an analytically minded person, I’d love to dig into what ‘derived from natural foods’ really means. However, I think I’ll have to save that for another day. If any of you have insight into this or want to take some time to do the research and then post as a guest author, let me know.

There are a few other ingredients but, other than some added vitamins, I think what I’ve listed really represents the large majority of what comes in Muscle Milk Light. I certainly recognize the value of the 15g of protein but there are only 4g of Carbs which, as a Registered Dietitian friend of mine recently taught me, doesn’t make total sense because our bodies needs carbs in order to capitalize on large amounts of protein. So if you’re a Muscle Milk or general Protein consumer, keep a close eye on your carbs to make sure you’re not wasting time taking in so much protein.

Considering the fact that it’s not intended to be an ‘endurance food’ per se, I think Muscle Milk is a decent product that fills a niche with growing popularity. I personally didn’t enjoy the taste of the vanilla flavor but my 1 year old and 3 year old couldn’t get enough. Take that for what it’s worth.

Well, that’ll do it for now. I hope everyone has a healthy, happy weekend!

Up next: Prana Bar (for real this time).

Okay so I’ve tried to make it abundantly clear in writing these product reviews that I’m not a nutrition expert.  However, I consider myself a solid researcher so I try to apply those skills in retrieving and consolidating the opinions and conclusions of people who know much more than I about nutrition and wellness. Just as I’ve done before, I’ll take a more ingredient centric approach to reviewing Full bar in order to really hammer out what the ingredients of this product will do to and for the body.

Interestingly, the first ingredient in the Cranberry Almond Full bar I tried is Brown Rice Syrup. We call this ingredient a ‘sticky binder’ here at Rokit Fuel which just means it’s an ingredient used by many companies to help bind the ingredients in their products together. Up to this point, however, I’ve never dug in to discover what it actually does for the body so here we go…

Brown Rice Syrup benefits, according to triedtastedserved.com are:

- Low glycemic value (no sugar rush)

- Good source of minerals

- Good sources of magnesium (helps with workout recovery) and potassium (reduce water retention)

- Good source of B-Vitamins

The other main message I gathered while reading through different reviews of this ingredient is that it’s preferred to refined sugar and is better for the body because it’s considered a complex carb.

Alright, moving on. Next we have Puffed Wheat. I remember loving puffed wheat cereal as a kid but I haven’t seen it in a nutrition product before so I was curious about the benefits and reason for it being in Full bar. This is a very interesting quote I found on carbs-information.com. “Although many cereals have vitamins added, many cereal-brands typically contain refined carbohydrates. These refined carbs are digested quite fast and may contribute to spikes in blood sugar levels, causing appetite swings and food cravings”. Maybe it’s just me but it seems odd that puffed wheat could potentially cause food cravings. Isn’t this product all about helping the consumer feel full so they don’t crave more food? I just thought it a little ironic that this effect potentially occurs after eating this ingredient. Of course it’s just one persons opinion as well. Sanitarium sells Puffed Wheat by the box so I can take a walk down memory lane and enjoy it all over again. To see the nutritional breakdown on their site, go here.

One of the ingredients that caught my eye was Glycerine. After searching several articles and forums, I didn’t find much by way of specific nutritional benefits. I did find several sources that claim Glycerine is good for maintaining moist and healthy skin and potentially reducing acne. So, in that case, a consumer can drop a few pounds and improve their complexion as well!

Bwahaahaaha! I’ve been wanting to write about this ingredient for some time now and had no idea today was the day. ‘Natural Flavor’. This is something I researched sometime ago and was amazed and somewhat appalled with my findings. Under ‘Food and Wine’ on today.msnbc.com, the following definition was shared in an article about this ingredient. This is actually the FDA’s definition of natural flavoring: “The definition of natural flavor under the Code of Federal Regulations is: “the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional” (21CFR101.22). Isn’t that nuts? Wow. I know there are some aspects of that definition that may not necessarily be unhealthy for the body but it’s amazing to me that the definition actually specifies the ingredient is not for nutrition but taste. My theory is that truly good food tastes good all by itself.

Here’s another very interesting tidbit about natural flavoring which I retrieved from supermarketguru.com: “Both artificial and natural flavors are made by “flavorists” in a laboratory by blending either “natural” chemicals or “synthetic” chemicals to create flavorings. Gary Reineccius, a professor in the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Minnesota says “The distinction in flavorings–natural versus artificial–comes from the source of these identical chemicals and may be likened to saying that an apple sold in a gas station is artificial and one sold from a fruit stand is natural.”” Fascinating. I realize the evidence isn’t nearly as obvious as with High Fructose Corn Syrup but still, I’m certainly going to think twice before snarfing large amounts of products with ‘Natural Flavor’ in them, if not only because of the lack of nutrition and the ambiguous FDA guidelines which create far too many possibilities for this item.

Finally, I decided to read into Soy Lecithin. I was able to find multiple sources that talk about this ingredient and its health benefits. Here is one quotation from nutritional-supplements-health-guide.com: “Lecithin has been used for a variety of health benefits. Soya lecithin (the commercial kind of lecithin) has been popular through the years as a supplement taken for the purpose of fighting cholesterol, supporting liver health, and promoting weight loss.”

So all things considered, I’m certainly not completely turned off to this product. However, there are plenty of other products out there that I would personally recommend before Full bar. I was talking with a friend over the weekend and she related Michael Pollen’s stance regarding food which is essentially eating whole foods that are as close to the source as possible rather than just an element of the food which has been separated or extracted. Her comment made me want to pick my copy of ‘In Defense of Food’ back up and finish it.

When it comes right down to it, there are so many things we don’t yet understand about food. I personally take how I feel after eating a particular food as a much more significant indicator of how good it is for me rather than just reading what someone else has to say about it. I therefore always encourage my readers and friends to eat for themselves and let me know how a certain food makes them feel.

The bottom line on this product from an endurance food/whole food standpoint is reasonable. There are 4 whole foods by my count (sunflower seeds, cranberries, wheat, almonds) so, besides the neutral or potentially negative effects reviewed above, your body will get some goodness from Full bar.

Up Next: Prana Bar.

If you’ve spent any time in the sports-nutrition world lately, or even your local natural food store, you’ve surely heard of

Chia Seed

chia seed. As a lay nutrition enthusiast, I thought it best to share excerpts from several more authoritative sources to convey the value of chia seed as an endurance food. I’ve chosen not to assign a score simply because this is not a product but rather an ingredient found in an increasing number of endurance foods and sports nutrition products.

From HealthMad.com: “The chia seeds are great for athletes because they are highly hydrophilic. Being hydrophilic means it absorbs large amounts of water. Chia Seeds can absorb over 10 times their weight in water making them a great enhancer in hydrating our bodies. They absorb the water we drink holding it in our system longer.”

From Chia4Athletes.com: “When in the stomach, Chia seeds mix with water to form a fiber and oil gel, much like gelatine. This has the effect of creating a physical barrier between ingested carbohydrates and the enzymes that break them down ready for absorption. The resulting slow breakdown and absorption of carbohydrates means that their energizing effect lasts for longer and athletes regularly report that they can perform at their optimum level for greater periods of time.”

From Healthy-Holistic-Living.com: “Chia Seeds have twice the protein of any other seed or grain, five times the calcium of milk, two times the amount of potassium in bananas, three times the antioxidant strength of blueberries and three times more iron than spinach. They also have boron, which is a trace mineral that helps transfer calcium into your bones, omega 3 and omega 6 which are essential oils for the body.”

Here’s a link to an interesting CNBC article about how Chia seed is starting to take off in the endurance world.

Well, though I was already sold on this little wonder-seed because I’ve been eating Holy Pinole! with Chia Seed in it for some time now, I’m even more excited to make it a more official part of my workout regimen. I’ve also been experimenting with some different potential products in our test kitchen that are predominantly Chia seed but the jury’s still out on whether my work represents anything groundbreaking. I’d love to hear any experiences or critical insights into the Chia seed. Has it worked for you? Is the hype over rated or will it see the rise predicted by so many in the sports-nutrition world? Let me know your thoughts.

I’m not nearly as familiar with Tiger’s Milk bar as I am Power Bar so I’ll just bypass the fancy introduction and get right to the nutrition facts.

The first ingredient on the list is Peanut Butter (roasted peanuts, salt). Nancy Clark, MS, RD, stated, “Peanut butter contains folate, vitamin E, magnesium and resveratrol, all nutrients associated with reduced risk of heart disease. Magnesium is also associated with reduced risk of adult-onset diabetes” (2004). Nancy also related a Purdue study indicating those who eat peanuts daily did not over consume calories (Kirkmeyer, Int’l J Obesity 24:1167, 2000). That’s certainly something to keep in mind as we each try to build a solid endurance nutrition plan to keep us going through the toughest workouts. Aside from the benefits mentioned previously, I personally think Peanut Butter by itself isn’t enough of a contributor to call Tiger’s Milk an excellent Endurance Food. This is especially the case as we look at the next ingredient on the list…

High Fructose Corn Syrup: Really? If you’ve kept up on sports nutrition media and blogs at all, you’ve surely heard people ranting about how bad this ingredient is for the body. I’ve seen many products that now tout, “Now made without High Fructose Corn Syrup” and similar phrases that draw attention to the absence of this sticky fitness-killer. Another recent study stated, “Critics believe HFCS plays a direct role in obesity by disrupting normal metabolic functions. According to a Princeton study, rats fed a diet rich in HFCS accumulated more belly fat and had higher levels of circulating triglycerides (i.e., fat) — both of which are factors in metabolic syndrome, a precursor to heart disease — than their sugar-fed peers” (July, 2010). Well, I could go on all day citing credible sources screaming about why to stay away from this ingredient. The bottom line is, there doesn’t seem to be a single benefit to fitness or nutrition in consuming this ingredient.

Next up is… wow, this one is pretty crazy… “carob coating [brown sugar, partially hydrogenated palm kernal oil, whey powder, carob powder and soy lecithin (as an emulsifier)]. Talk about a mouth full. The first major red flag I see in that list is ‘partially’. From my reading in the past, I’ve come to understand that anything that has been partially modified is generally a very tough ingredient for the body to normally digest and is actually harmful to the body. Though he doesn’t have any initials next to his name (ie: M.D.), Eric Armstrong put it succinctly: “Partially hydrogenated oils will not only kill you in the long term by producing diseases like multiple sclerosis and allergies that lead to arthritis, but in the meantime they will make you fat!” (retrieved 2010).

Alright so, I don’t know about you but I’m basically completely turned off from this food from an endurance nutrition standpoint. There is a lengthy list of additional ingredients but I’m not impressed with any of them, especially because they represent such a small portion of the contents of the bar. There is a fair amount of protein but, to me, it’s just not worth taking in all those other harmful or ‘fluff’ ingredients in order to get to it.

Any benefits the peanut butter brings in this product are completely squashed by the previously mentioned nutrition killers. If you’re a fan of Tiger’s Milk Bar, please send me an email or give me a call so I can get enlightened regarding the goodness of this product. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just enjoy NOT eating it.

PowerBar was the pioneer of the bar category. The concept of a relatively healthy, on-the-go food for athletes was new a decade ago and they’ve obviously done well in keeping stride with an exploding number of other bars that have emerged since that time. I decided to pick up one of their traditional PowerBars which holds the label ‘Performance Energy’. It also contains the sub-caption, ‘More Energy to Muscles with C2Max’. But what is reality? Does PowerBar really pack a powerful blend of ingredients? Let’s dive into the ingredients list and nutrition label.

The first item in the ingredients list is the aforementioned C2Max Energy Blend which contains: evaporated cane juice syrup, maltodextrin, fructose, dextrose.

Evaporated Cane Juice: WHFoods.com reports, “Evaporated cane juice is a healthy alternative to refined sugar. While both sweetners are made from sugar cane, evaporated cane juice does not undergo the same degree of processing that refined sugar does” (2010). So, I suppose as far as sugar goes, PowerBar chose a decent solution for athletes and the health conscious.

Maltodextrine: According to Wikipedia, Matodextrine behaves similarly to sugar when being digested by the body. I couldn’t find a list of any specific health benefits or contributions to building muscle. Wiki did say it is easily digestible so, as far as eating on the go, that feature can be considered beneficial.

Fructose: One of the first results that came up when I did a search on ‘Fructose’ was an article with the title, ‘The Dangers of Fructose’ by About.com. About identifies Fructose as a ‘simple sugar’ with a low glycemic index. This simply means it won’t cause a sharp spike in blood sugar (no sugar rush as with Sucrose). Under ‘What if I consume too much fructose, we find: “When too much fructose enters the liver, the liver can’t process it all fast enough for the body to use as sugar. Instead, it starts making fats from the fructose and sending them off into the bloodstream as triglycerides“. The other statement that interested me was, “A small amount of fructose, such as the amount found in most vegetables and fruits, is not a bad thing.” These two statements lead be to conclude there may be too much fructose in this particular PowerBar (25g of Sugar in all). I’m pretty sure there isn’t that much sugar in a carrot.

Dextrose: Medterms.com had this to say about dextrose: “Better known today as glucose, this sugar is the chief source of energy in the body. Glucose is chemically considered a simple sugar. It is the main sugar that the body manufactures. The body makes glucose from all three elements of food, protein, fat and carbohydrates, but in largest part from carbohydrates. Glucose serves as the major source of energy for living cells”.

Up to this point in my reading, I was a little confused regarding the title ‘C2Max Blend’. However, after I searched for ‘dextrose, fitness’ in google, I found a fascinating article on mens-total-fitness.com. It goes much deeper than I will here but feel free to read into it if you’re a sucker for a good technical article. Author Gabriel Wilson states, “When a proper amount of sodium and glucose are combined, an even greater amount of glucose is absorbed, and in turn, a higher rate of H20 is absorbed. Thus, dextrose increases fluid uptake, and contributes to blood glucose maintenance. Which in turn helps spare liver and muscle glycogen from being depleted”. Though I’m not nearly as smart as Gabriel, it seems to me this is really the core of the value the C2 blend brings in powerbar. It sounds like it also potentially helps soften the impact of the higher Fructose content.

So, here’s how I rated this particular PowerBar on my endurance foods index:

1. Number of Whole Foods in Product – 1 (roasted soy beans; this product also contains oat bran but it is not considered a whole food as it is only part of the grain)
2. Number of Preservatives in Product – 0
3. Good Fats in Product – 3g
4. Complex Carbs versus Simple Carbs in Product – 5 complex carb sources vs 4 simple carb sources (approximates).
5. Taste of Product – 4/10 – The taste was decent. I chose ‘Honey Roasted Nut’. I like the texture as it gives the consumer the feeling of consuming candy rather than a healthy product.

In terms of how well PowerBar acts as an endurance food, I couldn’t feel good about assigning anything higher than a 3. I admit I was pleased regarding the nutrition benefits of some ingredients I wasn’t formerly acquainted with but the low level of whole foods and high simple carb count restricted my ability to assign a higher score. Please feel free to post comments below or contact me through rokitfuel.com.

Up next: Tiger’s Milk bar.

Before I post my first endurance foods reviews, I wanted to take a minute to explain my criteria for rating products. First, my effort to find world supreme endurance foods is not driven by taste. I don’t mean to imply that taste doesn’t matter but there are a million other blogs that review which foods taste the best. My effort is focused on identifying how well certain foods will help you perform. That said, I’d like to make it clear that I believe the best performance foods should also taste great but I want you to understand my first priority is how well fueled you’ll be as you consume the foods I’ll rate.

While serving on active duty in the military, I studied the Analysis of Competing Hypothesis, which is a theory articulated by Richards J. Heuer, Jr. in his book, ‘Psychology of Intelligence Analysis‘. The basis for this theory is taking an approach to problem solving that allows the analyst to consider several items at once without becoming biased toward a single item. In my intelligence experience, this helped me consider all enemy courses of action without becoming focused on a single one until I had identified actual indicators that one was more likely than the rest.

I’ve decided to take a similar approach with my whole foods study and any other subjects I feel inclined to post on this blog. I took Richards J. Heuer’s theory and tweaked it to create a whole foods matrix. There are 5 primary criteria at the top of the matrix as follows:

1. Number of Whole Foods in Product
2. Number of Preservatives in Product
3. Good Fats in Product
4. Complex Carbs versus Simple Carbs in Product
5. Taste of Product

In addition to these 5 criteria, I’ve also assigned a weight value (between 1 and 3) to each one. Though I will sometimes express my personal opinion regarding taste, I’ve only given taste a weight value of 1 because, as stated earlier, it doesn’t relate directly to how well the product will help you perform. That said, I’ve assigned weights as follows:

1. 3
2. 2
3. 3
4. 3
5. 1

This may seem a little confusing at first but it helps me consider each product in context with the goal of finding world supreme endurance foods. Even with the matrix, the system isn’t perfect so if there are glaring items in the ingredients list that I feel, and discover through research, will adversely impact your performance or endurance, I’ll simply cite the source, describe the impacts, and assign an endurance foods index value accordingly.

The endurance index will range between 1-10 and will be driven by the above criteria. An example of a solid 10 would be a food that has at least 5 whole foods, has no preservatives, has at least 33% daily value of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, has a solid level of complex carbs and tastes great.

Finally, let me make it clear I’m not an expert. I don’t have a medical degree or certification but I am passionate about what I do. I work for Rokit Fuel Nutrition Corp. and am striving to help develop the world’s best endurance foods as part of my company’s efforts. Though I do have interest in creating and marketing these foods, I promise my views will be focused on finding the best endurance foods on the planet and not on peddling Rokit Fuel products.

Life is so dynamic. Factors from food to family to work to friends have a significant impact on who we become. I suppose the primary factor though is how we respond to all of the above. The purpose of this blog is to explore the role of food and good nutrition in life. I’ll interview experts, talk to friends, poll the general public and make videos about how certain foods make me feel and how they impact my performance as an outdoor enthusiast and wanna-be athlete. As I kick this thing off, I want to be sure to recognize the elephant in the room. I am writing for Rokit Fuel Nutrition Corp but I promise my intent is not just to peddle my company’s products. My goal is to share things that are relevant to others like me and to research and share about other foods that are out there which you may find worth looking into. So, here we go. I hope you’ll enjoy the adventure with me.