Banana-fuel your workout!

Colleen Gray-Hewett Blog

Have you ever done an organized race or sporting event where there is a finish area offering replenishments?  Chances are, bananas were part of the spread.  If the event had on-course aid stations, bananas were probably there too.  While the banana has been prevalent for decades (or more likely since the beginning of the banana-human introduction) as an energy source, there is now some really good evidence as to why the banana may be near the top of the bunch when it comes to fuelling and recovering from your next athletic endeavour.

There is no lack of options when it comes to pre-workout, during workout and post-workout foods and beverages.  One can get quite bogged down in the nutritional details of what, exactly, will give you the best bang for your workout, race or recovery dollar.  And there is MUCH hard earned money spent.  Trust me, I’ve spent it!  Just this week I was at MEC (the Canadian equivalent of REI) and my current favourite bar is now C$4.00.  It is the size of a dollar bill folded in half and about 1/4″ thick.   I have them ONLY for on the go endurance sessions lasting longer than 2 hours or for backcountry hikes. Taste fatigue and gut issues come into play with processed sport nutrition and you (should) begin to wonder why exactly you’re trying to choke down something so unappealing.  So when I came across a study on cyclists and bananas I was intrigued!

Here’s the really short version of fuel and training and racing and even yoga.  Try not to eat too close to any session regardless of length.  You can do a morning workout of 60 min (or maybe even 90) fasted or with a really light bite (like a banana or half a banana and maybe a small cup of coffee).  Otherwise, eat at least 2 hrs prior to the workout.  During your workout, if it is approximately 60 minutes, water is sufficient.  Your body has a good 2 hours of glycogen stores already in place.  If you sweat a lot and/or just like to have flavour choose something low sugar with some electrolytes.  I can make some suggestions if you email me at communityvegan@gmail.com.

You do need to eat very soon after you workout to aid in muscle building and  recovery, and mineral rebalancing.  It is at this point – especially if you are in a gym or studio or not near your home – that you may be grabbing a shake or bar.  I’m not going to say that a shake or a bar are bad, though you really need to look closely at what you are buying.  I will say that you can get much of what your body needs very inexpensively and naturally, starting with a banana!  For those who like to see some evidence, here are the details of one study directly from peer-reviewed PLOS.org:

“Participants included 20 male and female cyclists (ages 22–50 years) who regularly competed in road races (category 1 to 5) and were capable of cycling 75-km at race pace. During the 10-week period when data were being collected, participants maintained their typical training regimen, and avoided the use of vitamin and mineral supplements, herbs, and medications.”

“One to two weeks prior to the first 75-km time trial, athletes completed orientation and baseline testing. Demographic and training histories were acquired with questionnaires. Maximal power, oxygen consumption, ventilation, and heart rate were measured during a graded exercise test (25 watts increase every two minutes, starting at 150 Watts) with the Cosmed Quark CPET metabolic cart (Rome, Italy) and the Lode cycle ergometer (Lode Excaliber Sport, Lode B.V., Groningen, Netherlands). Body composition was measured with the Bod Pod body composition analyzer (Life Measurement, Concord, CA).”

“During the 3-day period prior to each 75-km cycling trial, participants were asked to reduce the volume of their exercise training as if preparing for a race, and ingest a moderate-carbohydrate diet using a food list restricting high fat foods. Participants were instructed to keep the food record current by listing items immediately after they were eaten, to measure and record the volume using household measures (tablespoons, cups, slices, ounces), to provide sufficient detail about the method of preparation and include condiments, sugar, oils, butter, and other visible fats, and to avoid the tendency to eat less or under-report because of the recording process. The 3-day food records were analyzed for nutrient and flavonoid content.”

Cyclists were either given water, a 6% sugar sports drink or one of two kinds of bananas on 4 separate 75km efforts.  Those in the cycling world will appreciate that this is not a small test but one that would take a couple of hours per session.  What was being measured was the impact on recovery and the onset of inflammation which we are mostly trying to avoid.  Here is the technical study’s conclusion with my comments after:

“This study confirms and extends the findings from previous (peer reviewed) investigations showing that the primary nutrition-based strategy to attenuate exercise-induced metabolic perturbation and inflammation is acute carbohydrate ingestion of either sugar beverages or banana fruit. Fruit provides more than sugars, however, and this study using THP-1 monocytes supports the hypothesis that banana metabolites appearing in plasma after ingestion exert anti-inflammatory effects by decreasing COX-2 mRNA expression. Furthermore, THP-1 monocytes cultured in plasma samples from the banana versus water trials relied more on the accepted default pathway of mitochondrial respiration rather than the more metabolically expensive pathway of glycolysis for ATP production. Taken together, these data support the combined intake of sugars and phytochemicals from banana fruit by athletes during heavy exertion as an efficient strategy to improve metabolic recovery and diminish post-exercise inflammation at the cell level.”

Phew.  Ok.  So the take-away here is that for your endurance efforts (longer than 2 hours) having some natural energy source is good both for during and recovery phases.  While the sugar beverage (your typical sports drink) had limited benefit, the banana had a multi-beneficial impact on the athletes.  Here is some further insight as to why.

An average banana is about 90 calories of which the following naturally present nutrients stand out:

Fat: 0.3 grams

Sodium: 1 mg (basically none)

Potassium: 358 mg

Total carbohydrates: 23 grams (including 3 grams of fibre and 12 grams of naturally occurring sugar)

Protein: 1.1 g (which accounts for approx 6% of the total banana)

Having some protein (up to 10% for example) in your carbohydrate source during endurance activities may be more beneficial than a 100% sugar formulation which is why we now see some gels now providing some protein.  In North America, we are typically over-sodiumed which, even for heavy sweating athletes, needs to be balanced with potassium for optimal cell function (a future topic of discussion).  So grabbing that piece of banana in a race or at the finish line table is very good for you.   Putting a slightly firm one in the back pocket of your jersey for a ride on not too hot a day is also good but on long rides, a nut butter and banana sandwich steps it up one notch further.

As I aim to fuel the majority of my workouts and recovery with little to no aid from packaged food, I now bring a banana with me to consume post-early morning ride.  When you may not be eating your real meal until an hour or more post-workout, you need to start refuelling in that first 30 minutes.  I would then eat oatmeal with some stewed or fresh fruit, cinnamon, turmeric paste, black pepper, couple of sprouted walnuts, with homemade almond milk or organic soy milk which adds a lot more protein, fibre and inflammation mitigators.  This can be at home or taken to work.

A bunch of bananas is very inexpensive.  If you are a bigger person, have two.  If you are exploring raw food or 80-10-10 (fruitarian) have the whole bunch each day.  Put one in your homemade post-workout recovery smoothie or smear some almond butter on a sliced banana.  You aren’t going to be over-sugared.  You aren’t going to turn into a primate, though you may feel as strong a primate.  You will probably like how your palate and gut feel taking in a banana versus a processed ‘sport food’ product during an effort.  Your body will be given the nutrients necessary to help ensure your next training session is even better.  Give it a try.

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