Follow on from ENews Jan 2011
Message from Susan Griffith
The rainy holiday period gave me time for reading. If you'd like to lose a kilo or 2, I urge you to read the book Sweet Poison. The book confirmed to me just how bad some sugar (or carbs) is for us (in more ways than just adding unwanted calories). You will need to read the book for full details but in the main the devil to watch out for is fructose.
Though there is good news for endurance athletes. They are the one exception to the absolute rule against fructose (a large element of sugar). The only time we can safely consume fructose is when our glycogen stores are depleting eg after about 90 mins of continuous exercise. Endurance athletes can safely consume fructose containing drinks during the event/long training periods, but should avoid them the rest of the time. Fructose is particularly efficient at restoring glycogen but dextrose will work (just less quickly) if the athlete would really prefer to keep fructose out of their system (because of the addictive effect) ... if that's the way they want to go then Lucozade original is a good (but expensive) choice.
So as I coach I'd recommend you take water or a product like HIGH5 Zero (has electrolytes but no carbs) for training sessions under 75 mins. Use sports drink/gels for your longer session. After you read Sweet Poison you may start to read the ingredients labels of what you eat in more detail - I know I do!
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