There’s a weird thing about fuelling marathons that means good nutrition tends to stop on the start line. Once the gun goes we’ll squeeze down whatever’s necessary to earn those finish lines. Most traditional energy gels are based on cheap – and not very healthy – ingredients including maltodextrin and artificial flavourings. And let’s be honest, despite attempts to come up with a multitude of elaborate flavours to mask it, quite a lot of them taste far from brilliant. Thankfully there’s a new trend on the rise that means it doesn’t have to be that way. Natural energy gels made from real food ingredients.
Many of these new natural gels are vegan, some are organic and they promise a much better bang-for-buck nutritional payload than traditional endurance energy gels, with flavours that are a far cry from the chemical gloop you get with some products. Heck, there are some you might even look forward to eating.
I’ve spent the past six months trying the latest all-natural gels on the market from the UK, US and beyond and in the video below, I take a look at some of the best real-food options and compare them to the popular brands like SiS and Gu.
Warning: This video’s a long one so I’ve included some handy jump in points below the video for anyone who wants to skip.
Best natural energy gels compared
@6:20 – The Big Squeeze – take a closer look at how easy to open & squeeze and the consistency of each gel.
@7:15 – Natural gels vs Science in Sport (SiS) – you’ll be quite surprise by how these gels look when you line them up on a plate.
@8:28 – The Taste Test – going into detail on the flavours and textures.
@22:40 – The Verdict – see which gels stood out and what each is best used for.
