Lets talk about Humagel...

You know, Humagel.  Are you the last to hear of it too?  I had never heard of it either until Meredith was sucking it down on one of our runs and told me about it.  As I might have mentioned, I have been trying to figure out my nutrition plan lately.  This whole clean eating thing makes it hard (whine....).  ha ha.  Seriously.  Everything seems to have a ton of sugar or chemicals or just isn't tasty enough for me to want to consume it more than once.  I thought I had found a product last week which, truth be told, wasn't all that tasty to begin with and in the heat of the summer I couldn't even manage to choke it down.  Sad but true.  Luckily, I have found a new product that I think just might fill the void!
 

My taste buds really have changed in the past six months since I have cut out sugar and grains.  Things that would have been totally fine for me to eat before just taste like a blob of chemicals.  It really is strange.  GU gels no longer are edible to me.  I have even tried the Powerbar Energy blasts which are a little pouch of blended fruit and some other additives.  The taste did not appeal to me at all.  

My first iron distance I ate nothing but GU gels on the bike and the run - and let me tell you that is A LOT of GU.  The 2nd iron distance was more of a mix of bonk breaker bars and GU.  The thought of choking down a GU right now makes me sick.  The funny thing is I used to always have stomach upset towards the end of races.  I never thought about attributing it to the GU until someone connected the dots for me.  That is actually what led me to look for alternatives.

Lately, on the bike and somewhat on the run I have been using things like cashews, Traders Joes fruit pouches (you know the ones for the kiddos), dates rolled in coconut and almond butter.  All of that is great on the bike but not super portable if you are talking about a long run.  I mean, I guess I would need a little knapsack with all my treats in it for my 26.2 miles, and who wants to carry that in the middle of the summer (or ever)?  Enter Huma Chia Energy Gel.

Humagels are 100% all natural and gluten free.  There is cane juice and brown rice syrup in it which goes against my no sugar eating plan BUT for racing and training I have come to realize that I need a certain amount of sugars to keep me going.  If I am going to take in sugars I would much rather they be in a natural form.

I was sent a few of the gels to try.  They come in apples & cinnamon and strawberry flavors. I really like both but would have to give the edge to the apple for its apple pie goodness.  On the ride last weekend, I had it in my back pocket all day and it was like a warm apple pie by the time I ate it.  YUM.

Like an apple pie but no fork required

I have tried it both on the run and ride and it gives me the little boost I expect from my nutrition.  It actually tastes good no gagging and choking at all :)  It has kind of a light texture to it if that makes sense.  Gels can be kind of thick, these are more like pureed fruit (which DUH that is what it is...)   ...and I mentioned the stomach upset.  There is none of that.  You would think the chia might be a problem digestively speaking (yes, I made that word up) but the chia is ground so it doesn't cause GI issues.  I haven't had any problems with it and they say that none of their testers have reported issues either.

Why, yes, you ARE supposed to drink it with WATER.
This was at mile 80 of a hard ride and normally M&Ms would be where the humagel is so I am calling that progress :)  
I was chased by a husky shortly after this stop and outran him.  I am giving full credit to the power of HUMA!  ha ha

If you are looking for a natural alternative to some of the gels and liquids out there, I highly recommend humagels.  They sent me a few to sample for the blog but had actually purchased a 5-pack sample of my own before I received their package in the mail.  Click the link above if you want to pick up a sample pack.  $11.25 for 5 gels.  You won't be sorry :)