B-LAB

We, at B-LINE natural energy, have been asked many times ‘how do YOU eat B-LINE?’ We will get to that information but first we answer that let us answer ‘how do we eat ANY energy gel?’

There are a myriad of products on the market that provide energy on the go with energy gels, drinks, and alternative nutrition in a pouch but let us start with the most popular:

The ‘two hander’: when an athlete is running the path or a cyclist is riding the road the last thing they want to do is stop, need two hands to open a sports drink pouch only to have it spray in their face due to the floppy packaging and the tear away top! How much do endurance athletes end up wearing and how much actually gets consumed?!? If the drink is not in the body the energy is not in your workout. No good!

Next there is the single serve gel with the tear off top. The taste of this energy gel is interesting but SO much water is needed to ‘chase’ the product that it becomes a ‘two-hander’ as well! The product is one serving and, frankly, not enough and leaves us wanting more! The tear off top creates a mess on your hands as well as in your pocket. Not enough AND messy? Who needs that?

Super excited about the third option because it real food! When tested, not even in a work out scenario, the ‘tear-off’ top does NOT tear. No use of teeth, nor pulling, or tugging could easily open the gateway to get to the real food alternative. Scissors were brought into play but who has scissors when working out?!? Our mamas taught us not to run with scissors and we do believe that swimming, biking, cycling, hiking, etc. would fall into that category as well! Once the package was opened the real food content was so thick it was difficult to eat BUT if you are patient and have the time and resources the taste is actually quite wonderful.

Then we have B-LINE natural energy! What is this all about? It’s like this: 5 all-natural ingredients, everything that you can pronounce so it is everything that you can eat AND it’s flipping delicious. Two flavors: pomegranate, banana, honey, maple, coconut AND raspberry, molasses, honey, maple, chia seeds. Awesome re-sealable cap that you can twist and slurp while on the go! Easy to get out, doesn’t require water. Won’t explode in your face, won’t explode in your pocket but it will explode your taste buds!! Best part about it is that IT WORKS!

Get ready work out with the greatness that is B-LINE natural energy! This is the energy gel alternative that is changing the game!

Comprehensive dietary macronutrient recommendations for endurance athletics is highly variable, often subjective, and largely lacking any scientific basis. Emerging evidence overwhelmingly suggests that pre-workout or pre-race dietary strategies offer only minor changes in performance (high carbohydrate vs. high fat +/- protein) assuming adequate recovery times and caloric intake prior to exercise. Conversely, nutritional supplementation during aerobic/endurance performance can provide significant advantages and this is nearly singularly attributed to carbohydrate consumption.

Our definition of “advantage” is that supplementation provides measurable performance benefits in scientifically controlled peer-reviewed published endurance sports related trials. Fat and/or protein consumption during performance show either no benefit, or possible detrimental effects due to gastrointestinal disturbance or inhibition of nutrient absorption. Therefore, our primary focus is on providing optimal carbohydrate balance and delivery as well as peripheral nutritional supplementation. The challenge is delivering this using natural ingredients compared to the majority of commercially available products which use synthetic sugars.

While synthetic carbohydrates such as maltodextrin do have strong scientific support for effectiveness, we are getting overwhelming feedback that consumers would prefer to avoid these substances if possible. This is the niche that we believe our products fill.

Research in the last few years is clearly showing that the advantages of maltodextrin (the primary supplement carbohydrate- synthetic) are equivalent and are therefore interchangeable with naturally occurring glucose and that the optimal ratio of sugars for optimal performance is somewhere right around 1:1 fructose : glucose. This ratio seems to optimize absorption, oxidation rate (metabolism), minimizes gastrointestinal upset, and most importantly optimizes performance. There are clear trends in each of these parameters as the fructose : glucose increases from 0.5:1 to 1:1 and the advantages plateau at 1:1 and may decline beyond. As future studies continue to advance our understanding of sports nutrition, the ideal strategies will undoubtedly evolve.

However, our products use ingredients with naturally occurring fructose and glucose, and our ingredient mixtures are for the purpose of achieving the current ideal carbohydrate ratios. If you look more closely into our ingredient lists, the other represented sugar is sucrose, which is fructose bonded to glucose, and although it requires a single enzymatic glycosylation step, it seems to help maintain the 1:1 ratio. Although we are able to achieve this ratio, guidance to athletes concerning total carbohydrate consumption and rate is difficult as it is dependent on effort, time, individual metabolic rate, etc. We are currently working on coming up with recommendations.

Looking at controlled or retrospective trials, we should be able to do this for running, cycling, and triathlon in men. In short, our goal is to design products in reverse, adapting the formulations to match the ideal nutritional ratios rather than creating a product and making unbiased or unfounded claims which unfortunately plague the performance supplement market.

Real Food v. Stimulants: B-LINE Natural Energy for Stamina and Endurance
food
fo͞od/

noun
any nutritious substance that people eat or drink to maintain life and growth

stim·u·lant
stimyələnt/

noun
a substance that raises levels of physiological or nervous activity in the body

Thank you, Webster’s Dictionary, for the above definition. What does our friend Webster mean?
Where is B-LINE Natural Energy in this equation and how do stimulants fit in? Food is the body’s natural
source of fuel. To make a blanket statement, food equates to calories and calories equate to energy.

Humans need a variety of foods containing a mix of protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals
to stay alive and healthy. In that sense, food is a basic biological need and essential for survival. When
food enters the body, it kicks off the metabolic processes and in the simplest terms we keep our organs
happy and functional. So far, so good?

B-LINE Natural Energy is a food, it provides a mix of all-natural nutrients and our body breaks it down into
carbohydrates; A.K.A sugar. As the simple sugars in our energy gel are quickly absorbed during physical
activity, the body reacts chemically by powering our extremities to run farther, bike faster, swim longer,
etc. This is usually accompanied by an emotional reaction in the shape of a smile as one conquers all
endurance related activity.  B-LINE is natural, it’s made with real food and your workouts will thank you.

Stimulants have their place in a balanced diet, but not instead of real food. Coffee, for example, is part
of many people’s morning ritual. Stimulants work through changing our brain chemistry by increasing
the release of dopamine (fancy word for a chemical that keeps our brain functioning). They can also
induce a feeling of euphoria, increase blood pressure, heart rate, constrict blood vessels and increase
the levels of blood glucose. This is clearly a bit more elaborate then the simple digestion of B-LINE’s fast
absorbing carbohydrates. We’ll keep with coffee as the example. Coffee is a stimulant that’s found in
both food and drink. When consumed it can provide additional benefits to a healthy and active lifestyle.
It can help rev up metabolism, improves focus and provide a brief boost of energy. However, coffee
should accompany a meal, not be one. It’s a short-term solution. Stimulants alone don’t provide
enough nutrients for sustainable activity.

The bottom line is this; food is the simplest form of energy.

Eat real. Eat B-LINE.

B-LINE natural energy was started by a few diehard mountain bikers with a dream. You have heard about the founders and how they created these energy gel alternatives out of need to naturally fuel the workouts of runners, cyclists and endurance athletes everywhere. So, all of us at Uber Endurance, Inc. wear many hats. This week we have our biggest event of the year, Cyclofest 2017, hosted by the U.S. National White Water Center in Charlotte, NC

This is event is near and dear to our hearts because the bikers that started the company get to try, play, and race bikes as well as talk about B-LINE with all the top brands in the industry. It is all fun and games for us because we are so passionate about our products we produce.

But as a small and growing business there is a lot of prep work to be done. We are in the kitchen mixing honey, maple, molasses, pomegranate, banana, chia, coconut and raspberry. We turn on the very loud air compressor and fill and cap each pouch for the attendees that love us, and those who are yet to be introduced to us. There are gift baskets to prepare, tents to clean, samples to transport so that every cyclist that comes out to Cyclofest 2017 can have the opportunity to try and fall in love with our all-natural energy gel alternative. Once they do try and fall for us they can eat B-LINE without the possible ill effects of a synthetic gel and with the confidence that what they are putting into their body is as good for them as the exercise that they are fueling, whether it be running, cycling or an alternate endurance sport!  

So if you are anywhere near the U.S. National White Water Center in Charlotte, NC please come by booth #1016 to meet the B-LINE natural energy crew and fall in love with our energy gel alternative and leave feeling good about your work out fuel!

To work out the body needs energy. The quickest source of energy comes from carbohydrates. Energy gels contain carbohydrates. Most energy gels on the market today have ingredients that are unrecognizable and even unpronounceable.   As performance athletes focused on healthy eating, do we really want to ingest ingredients where we can’t even pronounce the name?   B-LINE is created in a kitchen and not in a lab and is an energy gel alternative that provides carbohydrates from all natural, whole food sources.

Trail Runner Magazine, wrote an article 4 Natural Energy-Gel Alternatives stating that while maltodextrin (the carb source in many energy gels on the market) is derived from natural sources like rice, potatoes, wheat and, most often, corn, the processing to extract the benefits of said ingredients creates a substance that is hard to swallow (literally as well as taste wise).

The article offers 4 all-natural substitutes for the athlete who is looking for a non-synthetic source of energy. These alternatives are:

1. Honey
2. Maple Syrup
3. Dates
4. Black Strap Molasses

 With this list in hand any athlete can go to the grocery store, purchase each item, figure out which is best for their current workout or how to combine them, pack a lunch box with all the pieces and then consume each one, individually, prior to a work out. Sounds like a confusing, time consuming process! Fortunately, all this can be eliminated by choosing an energy gel alternative. B-LINE natural energy offers a 1:1 ratio of honey to maple in every pouch. The BLUE, Raspberry Molasses flavor offers the second alternative offered, organic black strap molasses as a source of potassium. As far as the anti-inflammatory benefits that Dates offer B-LINE offers raspberries as our all-natural alternative. The RED, Pomegranate Banana flavor offers pomegranates as the source of the anti-inflammatory and organic banana provides the potassium (see our ‘What’s Inside’ page for addition health benefits of our all-natural ingredients).

Additional benefits of choosing a whole food, simple, clean energy gel alternative is the body processes it as the food that it is. Being a non-synthetic substance, B-LINE is easier on the stomach especially with the Chia and coconut to aid in digestion and helps the body absorb and use the provided energy at a natural rate. Furthermore, many energy gels are in such a concentrated form that water in required to ‘chase’ the consumption of the gel. With B-LINE this is not necessary. The consistency as well as the properties of the product do not require water at the time of consumption. What a convenience on a ride or a run!

Energy gel may be commonplace in the life of cyclists, runners and endurance athletes today, but this does not mean that a synthetic gel with unpronounceable ingredients must be the only choice. An alternative source of all-natural energy that has ingredients that you know, can pronounce, and buy at your local grocer in the convenience of a resealable, two serving pouch is offered to you by B-LINE natural energy.