Folks have used caffeine, creatine, and protein shakes to energy up athletic performances for many years. However now health influencers and naturopathic docs on TikTok have been doing one thing just a little totally different currently to spice up their exercises.
They’re gulping down a spoonful of honey sprinkled with sea salt proper earlier than lacing up their sneakers.
They are saying it’s a cheap, pure pre-workout hack that gives a fast hit of power and helps your physique maintain on to hydration due to the electrolytes in salt. However does it truly work? And is it higher or worse than store-bought power drinks?
We requested registered dietitian Daisy Mercer if a spoonful of honey with a sprinkle of salt can actually enhance your exercise.
Well being advantages of honey
Honey comprises anti-inflammatory compounds, together with flavonoids and polyphenols, in accordance with Mayo Clinic. It additionally has antioxidant properties that fight free radicals and scale back oxidative stress. So, with this sweetener, you’ll get some advantages you don’t discover in sugar or sugar-sweetened power drinks.
You’ll get energy-enhancing carbohydrates from any sort of honey, however Mercer says you might get some further perks in case you select an area honey. “Native honey could assist with allergic reactions,” she says.
That’s as a result of native honey is believed to include pollen from crops within the surrounding space.
The idea is that by ingesting small quantities of those native pollens via honey, the physique can construct up a tolerance and scale back allergic reactions when uncovered to them throughout allergy season.
This tip is extra anecdotal than science-baked, however there’s no hurt in making an attempt honey and discovering out if it helps you. TikTok swears by it.
Does it work?
In line with Mercer, this honey hack could add just a little further one thing to your exercises.
“Honey is made up of easy, easy-to-digest carbohydrates, so it gives a fast hit of power that may be helpful in train,” she says. “It means that you can really feel higher for longer whereas figuring out.” When you strive it, you would possibly end up working just a little quicker, lifting a number of extra reps, or having a better time mountain climbing uphill.
And it’s not simply the carbohydrates. The salt performs a job, too. “It helps preserve electrolyte steadiness,” Mercer says.
Although this salt-honey combo has some potential advantages, Mercer says it’s not precisely an equal swap for a industrial pre-workout drink.
“Evaluating honey with salt to a industrial pre-workout is an unfair and unreasonable comparability,” she says. “These merchandise have components like caffeine, beta-alanine, citrulline, and plenty of different issues which can be proven to extend power and efficiency. Honey won’t offer you as a lot power as 200mg of caffeine.”
Do I really want it?
When you eat a balanced food regimen with sufficient carbohydrates, protein, and fats on a day-to-day foundation, you don’t really want honey or any kind of pre-workout power drink in case your exercise is an hour or much less, in accordance with the American School of Sports activities Medication. For most individuals it is smart to stay to water.
Moreover, the science up to now doesn’t present a transparent payoff for this hack. Researchers have truly studied the influence of honey on train. A meta-analysis of 9 research revealed within the journal Vitamins reported that honey isn’t any extra useful than different sources of carbohydrates.
It’s price remembering that one tablespoon of honey has greater than 17 grams of sugar. A pre-workout banana provides you with fresher carbohydrates for across the similar quantity of sugar.
Simply don’t go to the gymnasium hungry. “You will need to devour some kind of power earlier than a exercise so you may really feel nice and supply your physique with what it must get you thru the train,” says Mercer.
