Everyday Wellness Rituals
What Marathoners Knew Before Energy Gels Existed
Al Safa HoneyOctober 6, 20266 min read
Walk into any running shop and you will find a wall of sachets engineered to deliver glucose and fructose together, because the body absorbs the two through different pathways and can take on more carbohydrate per hour when it gets both. Honey has been that exact combination, pre-split by bees, since long before anyone wrote a paper about it.
The dual-pathway advantage, in plain terms
Glucose and fructose are absorbed by different transporters in the gut. Rely on glucose alone and you hit a ceiling; add fructose and total carbohydrate uptake rises. That finding is the whole reason modern sports gels are mixed rather than pure.
Honey arrives at roughly an even split, because the bees' own invertase already broke the nectar's sucrose down for you.
What raw honey brings that a sachet does not
A gel is maltodextrin, added sweetening agents, preservative and water. Raw honey is one ingredient with its natural trace minerals, pollen and aromatic compounds still present.
It also has no wrapper to carry home in a pocket, which is a small thing until you have run twenty miles.
Timing it sensibly
Most people use honey one of three ways around training: a spoonful 20 to 30 minutes before a session, a diluted flask during anything over an hour, and a spoonful with protein afterwards.
Start with less than you think you need. Concentrated sugar straight from the spoon mid-effort sits poorly for a lot of athletes — dilution is what makes it work.
Why wildflower for training
Pure Raw Wildflower Honey is full-bodied enough to taste like something at mile ten, dissolves readily in water, and is one of our more affordable harvests — which matters when a jar is going into a bottle twice a week.
Save the rare dark harvests for the table. Train on the honey you can afford to use generously.
The ritual
The Three-Ingredient Electrolyte Flask
A homemade sports drink that costs a fraction of a bottled one and contains nothing you cannot pronounce. Makes one 500ml flask.
- 1Add 2 tablespoons of Pure Raw Wildflower Honey to a flask or bottle.
- 2Pour in a small splash of warm water and shake until the honey fully dissolves — this step prevents a sticky lump at the bottom.
- 3Top up with 500ml of cool water, add the juice of half a lime and a generous pinch of unrefined sea salt.
- 4Shake, chill, and sip steadily rather than all at once. Rinse the flask the same day.
Questions we get asked
- Is honey better than a sports gel?
- Honey provides a natural glucose and fructose blend in a single unprocessed ingredient. Gels are formulated for precise dosing and convenience. Many athletes use honey for training and a gel on race day.
- How much honey should I use in a homemade sports drink?
- Around 2 tablespoons per 500ml is a common starting point. Dilute more if it feels heavy on your stomach.
- Can I take raw honey straight before a workout?
- Many people take a teaspoon 20 to 30 minutes beforehand. During longer efforts, diluted in water is usually easier to tolerate.
Al Safa Honey is a food producer, not a medical provider. Nothing here is medical advice or a treatment for any condition — speak with your own doctor about your health, and never give honey of any kind to an infant under one year of age.
100% raw & unfiltered
Cold-extracted, never heated above hive temperature. Natural pollen intact.
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