I was inspired recently while reading Scott Jurek’s book Eat and Run to make some homemade energy bars/balls and experiment using them while running. I finally got around to giving this a try and my first batch was (mostly) a success! I felt kind of excited and proud of myself when I pulled one of these out of my pocket on a run today instead of a gu or gel. I’ll still use those, and I have a few more thoughts on that below, but this was a fun and tasty way to shake things up.
My energy ball recipe consisted of the following:
Approximately 1 1/2 cups of dried medjool dates
Approx. 3/4 cup dried cherries
Approx. 1 1/2 cups halved walnuts
6-8 tablespoons raw honey
Approx. 1/4 cup oat bran grains
Approx. 3/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
2-4 tablespoons sea salt
I list everything as approximate for the main reason being I have learned through recovery from my eating disorder that if cooking feels too prescriptive, confined, or defined, it stresses me out and causes anxiety. I try very hard to compose meals by feel based on experience, intuition, and creativity so that it feels natural. Certainly there are times when a recipe is necessary or disaster will ensue, but with something like this, I felt no need to strictly follow someone else’s recipe. I put this together simply based on reading about a dozen homemade energy bar recipes at this point.
I ground up the walnuts, dates, and cherries in a food processor and then just folded all other ingredients into that mixture. Then I hand-packed them into balls about the size of a golf ball and refrigerated for an hour or so before individually wrapping and putting them back in the fridge for storage.
Big takeaways and things I will be tweaking in future batches:
- Medjool dates have pits still in them! Ha, rookie mistake, trust me, I know. I ended up with some potentially tooth cracking pit pieces in my balls (okay, he he, trust me, there has been no shortage of juvenile “ball” jokes and innuendo around this house since I made these) that a little soft chewing and fun spitting won’t solve. Suffice it to say though, I will be removing this peril in future batches.
- I would scale back the amount of walnuts and oat bran a little bit. I ended up adding more honey than I originally anticipated to get the mixture to satisfactorily bind together
Other than that, the actual taste is scrumptious if I do say so myself! Also, other than the honey (and there are alternatives to honey), these are vegan, which is something I’m aiming for more frequently.
As far as eating one on today’s run, that went pretty well too. I felt a comparable energy boost to a gel (I purposefully designed these to be high in carbs, natural sugars, and sodium to get that boost gels give) and I didn’t experience any digestion issues. The only note is that it was certainly more challenging to actually consume. I usually take 30-60 second walk breaks to slurp down a gel and some water, but with these it was probably more like 2-3 minutes to take bites, chew, swallow, drink, etc. I will either reserve these for longer distances where I don’t mind taking a little extra time for something that overall sat in my belly and certainly tasted better than a gel, or I may try going 50/50 or 75/25 with homemade items and gels with gels accounting for the higher percent when not 50/50.
I’ve been re-fueling on shorter 5-6 mile runs and while I’m still undecided about whether I will continue to do that, I have noticed that I’m not worn out or ravenous and inclined to stuff my face afterward. Just something I’m taking note of.
Vegetarian running is going strong. I’m opting for full vegan more and more frequently, which really just makes me feel like I’m eating the most healthy, simple foods as possible, and my body certainly thanks me for it. I don’t foresee going vegan full time right now because I genuinely still enjoy and rely on dairy and eggs a few days a week. I figure full time vegetarian with part time vegan thrown in there is still a huge accomplishment for this very recent ex-carnivore.
If you like to experiment in the kitchen and/or really just can’t bring yourself to love energy gels, gu’s, and blocks for running, I highly recommend giving something like these homemade treats a try!
Have any of you ever experimented with homemade running fuel?
Becky
Lace Up And Live Life 