Can You Turn Gels Into Halloween Candy?

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It’s Halloween, which means lots of candy. I have some sitting on my counter right now, in fact, for guests to snack on after I’ve eaten all the Almond Crumbs in a bowl.

Most people would assume that there is no Venn diagram where candy and running meet, but “most people” wouldn’t know that PUO ultrarunning Courtney Dauwalter occasionally eats sweet jelly beans. of a horse during a race. He is a candy lover, and talks about his love for Mike and Ikes, Dots, and Sour Patch Kids. Leadville Trail 100 champion Clare Gallagher buys her Sour Patch Kids mid-race in bulk. But it’s not just ultrarunners who dive into the candy jar. Olympian and Boston Marathon champion Des Linden is also known for eating sweets before a race – not to mention the time he shocked the world. take a bath-I mean, ate a Kit-Kat…completely…normal…by the way…

Suffice it to say, there are those who swear that popping gummy bears over a long period of time gives them the same power as gel. While I’m exploring what it feels like to grill whole foods, I haven’t packed candy in my running vest. To me, it seems very unlikely that sweet foods can help our exercise, but let’s look at the facts.

This review is based on my taste and experience of running on the roads. If Halloween candy is your jam, I highly encourage you to check out this freebie strategy at any location you like.

Are All Sugars Created Equal?

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends runners consume 30-60 grams of carbs per hour for any run lasting longer than 90 minutes. The popular gels Gu and Hüma both contain 100 calories and 22g of carbs, which isn’t too far off from most of the candy in my Halloween jar.

Matthew Kadey, MS, is a registered dietitian nutritionist based in Canada and the author of Rocket Fuel: Energy-Induced Foods for Sports+Day. He is also an avid endurance athlete himself.

He says: “Different types of sweets can certainly act as an effective source of fuel for exercise. “The sugar content can provide a source of quick energy like sports products such as gels. In addition, sweets are often very enjoyable to eat and can help with palate fatigue. I think most of us would be more eager to pop gummy bears than absorb gel.

From the mouth of an expert. Candy = fat, right? However, Kadey has some caveats to heed.

He says: “The sugar content of sweets varies a lot, so you need to know how much you are getting. “Some candies will provide fewer carb calories than gels, so you need more to get the amount of simple carbohydrates to have a performance benefit. Some candies may provide with the amount of carbohydrates that can be hard on the untrained guts that can lead to gastro problems.”

RELATED: Our Editors Retell Their Spooky Running Stories

He adds that many products are also low in sodium compared to sports nutrition products, so you need to make sure you get your electrolytes from somewhere. And if you’re going to eat candy while running, she recommends eating candy that is high in carbs (sugar) like gummy bears, Twizzlers, and Sour Patch Kids.

Eric McIntyre, CPT and certified running coach based in Utah, believes that sometimes gels and candy are not that different.

“Your body’s preferred source of energy is carbohydrates, and when you’re exercising and your body is under that kind of stress, it’s going to look for a readily available fuel source, which it will be carbohydrates or sugar,” he says. “I like to use candy in training, but in races, eating something like four, five, or six candies to get the same amount of sugar or carbohydrates from one meal is not enough. that’s when it’s easy and not easy. ”

He adds that you also run the risk that the additives in sweets can upset your stomach.

Additionally, some gels contain a combination of sugar and fructose that increases the amount of carbohydrates your body can process.

Below, I’ve done a nutritional breakdown of a few of my favorites, along with my honest thoughts on how they’ve tasted/performed over the long term.

*Note: I’m not in intense training mode, so I’ve “long-term” tested these tires from 6-12 miles on the trails.

Shut up

• Calories: 100
• Carbohydrates: 22g
• Sugar: 13g
• Sodium: 105mg

GU Energy Gels

• 100 calories
• Carbohydrates: 22g
• Sugar: 7g
• Sodium: 60 mg

Swedish Fish

• 140 calories
• Servings: 16 pieces
• Carbohydrates: 36g
• Sugar: 31g
• Sodium: 20 mg

Swedish fish is delicious, but I didn’t like the fact that I had to eat about 14 pieces to get 30g of carbs. I want my fat to be low, and it took me a little more than this school of snacks. Plus, I found they were stuck to my molars so my tongue was doing backflips for a long time to get things off. Maybe most of the candy was left in my teeth, because I didn’t feel as strong as I wanted with these. One bonus: they are coated with wax, so you can put them directly in a vest pocket without them melting and melting.

Twizzlers

• 120 calories
• Servings: 3 pieces
• Carbohydrates: 27g
• Sugar: 14g
• Sodium: 70 mg

Twizzlers are another easy, seemingly non-dissolving candy that I can stick in my running vest. I had no problem eating three bars of these, and they weren’t overly sweet, so I didn’t feel dehydrated after too much sugar. Plus, they’re high in sodium, so they beat Twizzlers! Pro tip: I held three in my hand and sipped them at the same time like a single Twizzler banana.

Sour Patch Kids

• 110 calories
• Servings: 12 pieces
• Carbohydrates: 27g
• Sugar: 24g
• Sodium: 25 mg

Speaking of dry, I should have known Sour Patch Kids would be a problem. I’m not a sad person, so I was crying while shaving 12 pieces. Plus, the little sugar granules stuck to my sweaty fingers and made me sticky, which I did not like. I really reaped the sugar rewards, though, and felt great when I ran.

Three fun-sized Musketeers

• 130 calories
• Services: 2 bars
• Carbohydrates: 23g
• Sugar: 20g
• Sodium: 55 mg
• Fat: 4g

I was hoping that some sort of chocolate would do the trick, but the delicious size of the Three Musketeers didn’t provide much. fun my running. While the amount of carbohydrates and sugar is equal to the gel, the chocolate itself did not sit well in my stomach. I had a cramp shortly after and felt a tingling and burning sensation. They were the easiest to eat, though, in bite-sized pieces.

Starburst

• 120 calories
• 6 pieces
• Carbohydrates: 24g
• Sugar: 16g
• Fat: 2.5g

First of all – I only eat pink Starburst. Don’t ask me to sell you yellow or red, I’m not interested. Second, these little squares were not fuel efficient. You only have to eat six for 24g of carbs and 16g of sugar, but they’re tough. It took me forever just to get through one because I wanted to chew it well-Helloeating something hard and running is a recipe for disaster.

Mini Twix

• 150 calories
• Servings: 3 pieces
• Carbohydrates: 20g
• Sugar: 15g
• Sodium: 60 mg
• Fat: 7g

Talk about horrors – have you ever had Mini Twix bars melt into your running vest? Well, I did. It may have been the heat of the day, which is out of my control, but every single one of these Mini Twix bars melted in the wrappers, so the chocolate it fit all my fingers. However, if they had not melted, they would have been a suitable fuel. I enjoy the cookies on nougat episodes in Three Musketeers, but I’m still depressed.

Mellowcreme Branch Pumpkins

• 120 calories
• Servings: 4 pieces
• Carbohydrates: 30g
• Sugar: 24g
• Sodium: 70 mg

For full disclosure, I am very impressed with this Halloween candy. And I loved it more and more for a long time. At first, I went to the store looking for Candy Corn, but I stumbled upon these old pumpkins. I only needed to eat four pieces to get the carbs, calories, and sugar I needed. And they fun.

Happy ending

There are many reasons to eat candy on Halloween, but in my opinion, for the purpose of blowing candy is not the best. There are so many products that provide what we need, while candy misses the mark a bit. As both experts in this article point out, candy isn’t always easy to use, the volume isn’t right, and depending on the brand, you won’t always get the right sugar and digestible carb content. well

If I were to continue using candy for a long time, I would choose Mellowcreme Pumpkins (which, you would have a hard time finding during the seasonal ban) or Twizzlers. Both were easy to eat, easy on my stomach, and gave me plenty of sugar.