Why I Might Recommend White Bread and Lollies for Training

How much "wrapping paper" is around the carbohydrate?

We are usually encouraged to choose less processed foods that contain more fibre and nutrients, and that advice absolutely makes sense across the day. But immediately before or during hard training, the goal can be a little different.

Think of carbohydrate as the gift an athlete's muscles are waiting for.

Foods such as white bread and honey, LCM bars, sports drink or lollies are a bit like a parcel with one simple layer of wrapping paper. They provide carbohydrate with relatively little fibre, so there is less for the gut to work through.

Other carbohydrate-rich foods, such as wholegrain bread and cereal, fresh fruit and dried fruit, come with more fibre and therefore a few more layers of wrapping paper. These are all nutritious foods, and many can still be very useful around training. The important piece is how much the athlete needs to eat, how close they are to training, and what their gut comfortably tolerates.

A banana, a couple of dates or some dried mango may work beautifully as part of a pre-training or during-training snack. But if an athlete needs a larger amount of carbohydrate in a short space of time, relying only on higher-fibre choices can sometimes mean a lot of food, and a lot of wrapping paper, for the gut to manage. Add larger amounts of protein or fat and there is now more tape, more ribbon and perhaps even an unnecessary cinnamon stick on top. 🎀

Why this matters around training

At rest, the gut has plenty of blood flow available to support digestion. During harder training, more blood is redirected towards the working muscles, so the gut has fewer resources available, while potentially being asked to unwrap a much more complicated parcel.

An athlete may also need to eat quite a lot of food to reach their carbohydrate target. Higher-fibre foods can create more food volume, which gives the stomach even more to manage. If that food is still sitting heavily in the stomach when training begins, it can contribute to feelings of heaviness, nausea, cramping, bloating or an urgent trip to the toilet — otherwise known as the dreaded gut or butt bomb. 🤢💣

This does not mean fruit, wholegrains or higher-fibre foods are bad for athletes. It simply means timing and context matter.

Using "this AND that", not "instead of"

This is where the idea of this AND that is useful. It is not about choosing the sports drink instead of water, or white bread instead of wholegrain bread. It is about using the right option at the right time.

• 🍎 An apple puree pouch before training AND a whole apple with the peel in the school lunchbox.
• 🍞 White toast with jam before training AND a wholegrain chicken and salad sandwich at lunch or as a recovery meal.
• 🥤 Sports drink during a long, hard training session AND water or milk as everyday drink choices across the rest of the day.
• 🧃 A juice box before training AND whole fruit in the lunchbox.
• 🍫 An LCM or Rice Krispie-style bar before training AND a wholegrain oat-based muesli bar in the school lunchbox.

That is what context looks like in practice. An athlete does not need to choose between "healthy food" and "sports food." They need a variety of foods across the day, with choices that match what their body is being asked to do in that moment. Sometimes that means more fibre, colour and variety. Sometimes it means less wrapping paper and quicker carbohydrate.

What might "less wrapping paper" look like?

When there is only a short time before training, think mix and match. The goal is not simply to give an athlete something to eat — it's to help them take in enough carbohydrate to top up and help saturate those muscle glycogen "sponges" before the session begins. 🧽⚡️

Depending on how much carbohydrate they need, athletes might combine a few familiar carbohydrate-rich options such as:

• 🍞 White toast with jam or honey
• 🍌 A ripe banana*
• 🥤 Sports drink or juice
• 🍬 Lollies
• 🍓 A fruit puree pouch
• 🍫 An LCM-style cereal bar
• 🥨 Pretzels or plain crackers
• 🥞 Pikelets or crumpets with honey or jam
• 🥭 Dried mango**
• 🌴 Dates**
• 🍇 Sultanas or other dried fruit**

*Fresh fruit such as banana can be a great pre-training option, but it does bring more fibre and food volume than some lower-fibre choices.

**Dried fruit provides plenty of carbohydrate in a smaller food volume, but it is also higher in fibre. For some athletes, larger amounts of fresh or dried fruit close to training may be harder to tolerate, so mixing them with lower-fibre options can work really well.

For example, it might be toast with jam plus a banana and juice, an LCM bar plus a fruit pouch and sports drink, or a couple of dates plus white toast and juice.

The exact combination will depend on how much time an athlete has, how much carbohydrate they need, what sits comfortably in their stomach, and, importantly, what they actually enjoy eating. That last piece matters more than you might think. Helping a teenage athlete find fuelling choices they genuinely look forward to eating can be one of the most effective ways to help them eat enough and fuel consistently. The "perfect" option on paper is not very helpful if it comes home uneaten in the training bag.

So give them some ownership. Mix and match, experiment, and find the foods that tick all the boxes: enough carbohydrate, easy on the gut, and enjoyable to eat. The more useful questions are:

Can they digest it? Can they tolerate it? Will they actually eat enough of it to support the session?

Think enough carbohydrate, with as little unnecessary wrapping paper as possible.

Where Fuel School comes in

If this is the kind of sports nutrition guidance you would love more help with, we dive much deeper into it inside Fuel School. There is a whole module dedicated to training nutrition, including what to eat before, during and after training, how much carbohydrate an athlete may need, how timing changes food choices, and how to make it all work in busy family life.

The goal is to help you feel confident making fuelling decisions without second-guessing every snack or meal. Explore Fuel School and join us here.