Regular readers know that I ride my bike daily here in Chicago and when the temp is over 45F I take the dog along in a basket on the front. When I ride with the dog I stop every 30 minutes to give her a break. She walks around a little and gets some treats. The interesting thing is that when I ride without her, I find myself looking forward to the 30 minute breaks, so I continue to take them.
When I take a break every 30 minutes, or around six miles or riding, I always have some small energy snack. I wrote up Honey Stinger Waffles previously.
A single waffle weighs just over an ounce at 30 grams. It has 160 calories 7 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, no cholesterol, 55 mg of sodium 21 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fiber and no protein.
Individual Belvita biscuits are a little smaller than the Honey Stingers.
One package of biscuits is 230 calories, 220 mg of Sodium 8 grams of fat, 35 grams of carbohydrates. And while the front of the package touts 18 grams of whole grain, there’s only 3 grams of fiber in each packet.
Regarding the energy breaks, I try to limit myself to a 50 calorie snack. That way I get the benefit of the energy without overburdening my digestive system and interfering with the ride. So, I end up snacking on 1/3 of a Honey Stinger compared with one entire belVita biscuit. These are roughly equivalent to 50 calories.
First of all, there is the matter of texture. The waffle is soft and chewy while the biscuit is more firm and crunchy. I enjoy both of them equally.
In case it isn’t obvious, 1/3 of a waffle is a small snack while one entire biscuit is a bigger snack even though they are equivalent in terms of calories. I have to confess that it can be difficult to limit myself to 1/3 of a waffle as they are wonderfully delicious, sweet and tasty. On the other hand, the single biscuit seems just right. It tastes very good, too.
As far as the energy goes, I am satisfied that they are about equal, too. I would not choose one over the other on the basis of that. It just comes down to the eating and taste. I think they are equal in these departments, too. I slightly prefer the whole biscuit to the third of a waffle, so on that basis I guess I favor the biscuits by a 55 – 45 percentage.
I recommend using either of them for your endurance needs, whether it be running, biking, whatever.
Let me know what you think.
Tony
Do either of them have any awful-sounding chemical-like ingredients listed? That could be a deciding factor one way or the other… They seem suspiciously like processed foods, to me. Somehow I don’t see you whipping up a cookie tray full of home-made energy bars to take along on your rides. But maybe you could try a few recipes (tons on Pinterest) and let us know? – An Internet challenge! – lol
LikeLike
Good question, Vinny. Always nice to hear from you. The biscuits are processed foods, but the waffles are organic and do not. Mr Lazy Cook will have to think about making something like this. The closest I have come is my Super Simple High Energy Snack.
LikeLike