Dried Fruit for Energy?
 

So, on the one hand ... I'm trying to lose weight. On the other hand, I understand the value of glucose boosts during a ride. What is your thought on carrying dried fruit in your bicycle bag?

Any issues of carrying dried fruit all day in your bag ... in the summer ... when the temperature is 80+ degrees?

Also, I've looked at the labels on dried food servings at supermarkets. Every packaged serving of dried fruit that I've come across show a high percentage of sugar added to the dried fruit. Is there a good source (online perhaps?) of dried fruit that has no sugar (or just a smidgen) added?

Your body needs the sugar as fuel for your ride. I've lost weight eating cookies, dried fruit, and food bars during and after rides. Your body requires it for fuel. IMO, using sugar-free products is like putting water in your car's gas tank just to save money.....

I have two thoughts on this. First, I think dried fruits can be quite useful. One of my staple snacks are simple fig bars (these have no fat and would meet your needs in this area). Second, I use dried fruit as a lunch substitute on days when I teaching a full schedule and can't get a legitimate lunch hour in. I do this year round, and have even left dried fruit in the car in the sun in the summer with no ill effects. I actually dry most of my own fruit, but here's a link to a resource I used to use a good bit. They can be pricey, but you get what you pay for. http://www.walnutacres.com/

Natural sugars from fresh or dried fruit work fine for us.

Dried fruit is fine as it also has a certain amount of carbo-hydrate aswell,. This is mainly what you need for energy. Sugar will give you a quick blast and is gone. Carbs take a while to be assimilated but for a longer lasting energy source- they are better. My carbs on a ride are cereal bars- Dried fruit- Cake- Marmite sandwiches and rice or pasta. I also take a little bit of cheese as protein and this seems to help me aswell. Mind you- a Mars bar or a packet of Fig Newtons does not go amiss either.

One Thing I never take are power bars. Constituency of cardboard- very artificial taste and the only good thing about them is the amount of water you have to drink to get it down the throat. I do use the gels though but if you need one now- you are about 20 minutes too late. It takes that long for it to get into the system and do its good work.

Like dried fruit as it fits into a baggie nicely in your back shirt pocket and if you do it right you can munch while you ride. Opposed to energy bars or whatever, don't know. I like a mix of rasins, dried cherries, figs, and whatever else I can find in the snack isle. Agree some of the dried tropical fruit is too sweet.

It's a favorite of mine. In particular, don' t have it sugar cured.

Fig Newtons are a favorite of mine when on tours or long day rides. I ate countless boxes of them this Summer on my XC tour.

Pretty much any dried fruit is good too, but I would rather have fresh fruit in my jersey pocket when possible.

You may want to consider adding some protein, nuts or jerkey, to the fruit. It helps to moderate spikes in blood sugar levels.

I'm not a fan of dried fruit, but I eat the regular stuff (wet fruit?) all the time. I've always got an orange or two, or some apples in my bag. Although in strawberry and cherry season, happening upon a stand selling fresh-picked, well, I'm likely to still have my oranges and apples at the end of the ride. Doesn't hurt them. I put them back in the fridge for another day.

i make up a mix of dried fruit, nuts and beef jerky- call it martian mix.
there is a small local maker of beef jerky, they have little ends left over from the dryer
which they sell in 2 lb bags. place a couple cups of these ends in a blender to chop
them up into small pieces and shreds. mix the chopped jerky into a large plastic bowl with about a pound of dried cranberries and or dried cherries (harder to get) and half a pound of split roasted almonds.
this stuff keeps well, gives you a little boost while riding and is satisfying.

I pack unpitted Medjool dates or Calimyrna figs -- they still taste good if they become slightly compressed, and there's no sugar added. Checking the assortment of dried fruit at the market shocked us -- so much sugar added to already sweet food.

+1 on the dates.

Wow, I hope my first reply didn't seem flip... it looks like that to me (now) but I sure didn't mean it that way... :o

I think dried fruit is an excellent snack for a ride.

For the record, I didn't detect flippancy in your reply. Everyone's experiences vary. No big whup.

At Costco here, they sell pitted dates. I guess they're not subjected to a drying process. But dates are like dried fruit and tastes good. I don't know about its nutritional value. I'm guessing it has to be pretty good for riders.

I don't use dried on the bike so much, but I do have it when on a long hike as a 'way meat'... something to hew on when walking. I fully agree about the added sugar, there is enough in the fruit to begin with, so why add more? Naturally occurring sugar in fruit also has carbs, and that is what you need, a hit of sugar... then a slow release of energy from the carbs.

I think you have enough fat to fuel your ride from here to Timbuktu. The only reason you'd need sugar is for explosive burst of energy. If that's what you're after then consider looking into preloading using complex carbs.

Drying the fruit just concentrates the sugar and guess what you end up with? Otherwise you don't need sugar at all, and certainly not cookies.

I'm sure he's had time to figure it out in the past 10 years.

Well OP hasn't posted in 9 years, so for all we know he's died from prune poisoning. RIP.

Larabars: All of them are based on dates (the dried fruit) with a few other ingredients, and no added sugar.
They sell for $1/ea at the local supermarket.
https://www.larabar.com/our-products/larabar

ETA: Damn. I just posted to a zombie thread.

Or he's still out on the road. Took a backpacking/survival class in high school and found one of my favorite snacks. GORP
https://barefeetinthekitchen.com/gorp-recipe/

What is the world coming to when you can't rely on the new posts actually being new?

:eek: How sad......................

I eat a lot of unpitted Medjool dates too. I usually take a bag of 8 or so on every ride. ( I only eat a few per ride) They must be near 90% sugar, they're like candy.