I developed this Beta Red Fasting Fuel recipe by pushing my own limits. I’d gone too long between meals while engaging with athletes and wanted to get out for a lunch ride without bonking or eating a full meal. I've also utilized it when wanting to hit an 0-dark thirty training session before the family awakes while trying to get around spiking blood sugar immediately before training.
From Katie Compton's Beta Red Brownies to Matt Cusack's Beta Red Orange Cranberry Muffins and Kelly Newlon's Beta Red Limeade, I've gotten to try some great combinations. I now want to see what you have up your sleeve. Have a special Beta Red recipe that you've come up with for pre-workout? Or maybe something to fuel day-long adventures or races? How about a killer post-workout treat? Whatever it is, I want to know.
These Beta Red Orange Cranberry Muffins are a great pre- or post-workout snack. We substituted isomaltulose for regular sugar to make these muffins blood-sugar friendly. Like traditional sugar (sucrose), isomaltulose is a naturally-ocurring disaccharide. However, unlike traditional sugar, isomaltulose is broken down slowly and releases glucose and fructose into the bloodstream gradually. This allows you to have longer-term energy and avoid the blood-sugar roller coaster experienced with traditional sugar. This makes them more effective for fueling hard training sessions.
Late spring of last year I realized I had gotten spoiled by living in Colorado for so long and wasn't taking enough advantage of the amazing mountains here. It was a bit of an epiphany, actually. I was coming back from a few weeks in Arizona when the drive through the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo Mountains made me reflect on how I had not been exploring these and other amazing Colorado mountain ranges enough. I had passed the Great Sand Dunes and was near the northern tip of the San Luis Valley driving toward Poncha Pass when I vowed to change this. The result: my most action-packed summer and fall in the Colorado high country.
