Why Eating Sour Candy Before A Workout Is A Good Idea

A sports dietician weighs in on whether you should eat sour candy before a workout — a pre-exercise snack plenty of folks on #FitTok swear by.

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Before you work out, you might fuel up with a nutritious smoothie, banana, or bagel for a dose of carb-based energy. Eating a bag of gummy worms in the gym parking lot doesn’t seem like the best move in comparison, but with over 1.2 billion views, sour candy has officially become the go-to pre-workout snack on GymTok.

It might sound strange, but folks on TikTok swear that eating sour candy — like sour strips or gummy worms — is the key to getting through a tough gym sesh. And according to sports dietician Kelly Slovin, MS, RD, there might actually be something to it. “When thinking about a pre-workout snack that can give you quick energy, you want to look for something that is mostly made of simple carbs,” she tells Bustle, noting that that describes sour candy to a T. Compared to fiber, protein, or fat-rich foods, which provide a sustained release of energy, simple carbs enter your bloodstream pretty much immediately. As Slovin explains, the candy is easier to digest, boosts energy, and won’t cause any GI distress as you power through leg day.

When it comes to working out, your muscles also can’t tell the difference between a hit of energy from sour candy or a banana, says Slovin. Your body will break the glucose (aka sugar) down in the exact same way to fuel your routine. “Of course, a banana will provide more nutrients that can be used for other purposes, but when looking specifically at the function of the carbohydrates, all sources of simple carbs will produce the same outcome,” she says.

To make the most of your yummy pre-workout snack, Slovin recommends gobbling a few gummy worms 15 to 30 minutes before you exercise. “Since it’s a quick form of energy, it will not last all that long, especially when working out,” she says, so timing is everything. “As far as serving size, it depends on the candy. You want to aim for roughly 30 to 90 grams of carbs for a pre-workout snack, depending on your personal needs.” So read those labels.

While you’re at it, you might even want to bring the bag into the gym with you. Plenty of people on FitTok are eating mid-workout as a way to keep going, though Slovin says that’s only really necessary if you’re exercising, running, or lifting for longer than an hour. During an endurance workout, your body taps into energy stores to fuel your muscles. As those stores deplete, you’ll start to feel sluggish, and that’s when re-fueling with a sour strip could be helpful. “The body receives energy from the carbohydrates in the candy, which can quickly be utilized during the workout,” says Slovin.

Sour candy is also easy to keep in your gym bag or in your running belt, and comes in handy when you don’t have time for a proper meal or snack before going to the gym. The convenience, the quick hit of sugar — as well as the novelty of eating something that tastes like sour watermelon — is likely why this trend has taken off, Slovin says.

That said, as a dietician, she typically recommends eating whole foods whenever possible, like a handful of granola, pretzels, bananas, or some dried fruit. Still, she gives sour candy the OK as a pre-workout snack — as long as you get real nutrients, too.

Studies referenced:

Hervik, AK (2019). The Role of Fiber in Energy Balance. J Nutr Metab. doi: 10.1155/2019/4983657.

Holesh, JE. (2023). Physiology, Carbohydrates. 2023 May 12. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan–. PMID: 29083823.

Ormsbee, MJ. (2014). Pre-exercise nutrition: the role of macronutrients, modified starches and supplements on metabolism and endurance performance. Nutrients. doi: 10.3390/nu6051782.

Rothschild, JA. (2020). What Should I Eat before Exercise? Pre-Exercise Nutrition and the Response to Endurance Exercise: Current Prospective and Future Directions. Nutrients. doi: 10.3390/nu12113473.

Source:

Kelly Slovin MS, RD, sports dietician