Cytomax on long rides?

[Ganachegrl]

My understanding of drinking cytomax while cycling over an hour is that it helps to keep your muscles strong. It feeds the muscle gycogen so that your legs don't fatigue. I would like my type 1 diabetic boyfriend to drink it but he is concerned about how it will effect his blood sugar. Sometimes during the rides he stops and eats a cliff bar but I think it would be better to slowly drink the cytomax throughout the ride instead. Another benefit for the cytomax is that it is only 90 calories vs. 250 calories.

Thanks,

[BrianSCohen]

The Cytomax is just a carb, although it claims to be a complex carb, implying that is has a smoother effect on blood sugar. A cliff bar, while it has double the carbs of a scoop of the cytomax, also has 10g or protein and 3g fat. It will be absorbed more slowly and would likely have a more blunted response.

The real thing you have to respect is that when performing an endurance sport, your body will respond in highly variable ways. Stopping when you feel low blood sugar or have a low test and then eating a measured amount may very well be much better than slowly automatically sipping something which may feed you sugar you don't really need.

[shades9323]

While cycling, I find that I need to ingest 30-40 carbs per hour depending on pace. I find it easier to eat a cliff bar(known amount of carbs) than to guess how much I am ingesting of any liquid. Plus that is one less bottle for water if you fill it with something else!