Answering Your Fuelling Questions — With RED-Scue’s Founder
I’ve been talking to athletes and our community about fuelling, and I keep hearing the same questions.
Not just:
“How many grams of carbohydrate should I have?”
But questions about how to actually eat when life is busy.
Because sometimes the problem isn't knowing what to eat.
It’s that eating has become another thing on the to-do list.
So I wanted to answer some of the questions I hear most often — from my perspective as the founder of RED-Scue.
“Is RED-Scue just for before training?”
No.
It can be used before training, but that's not the only reason I created it.
Carbohydrate can have a role before, during and after exercise, depending on the session and the individual. Sports nutrition guidance supports fuelling around exercise rather than treating carbohydrate as something that only belongs in one particular window.
But I also created RED-Scue because athletes are people outside of their training sessions.
You might train at 6am.
Then work all day.
Then have kids to pick up.
Then study.
Then answer emails.
Then do it all again tomorrow.
Food doesn't only matter for the hour you're exercising.
“Am I meant to train fasted?”
Not necessarily.
And I don't think every training session should become a test of how long you can go without eating.
Whether you eat before training depends on the session, when you're training, your goals, what you've eaten during the rest of the day and what works for you.
For some sessions, a normal meal beforehand works.
For others, a smaller snack makes more sense.
And sometimes training happens so early that you don't want much beforehand.
There isn't one rule that applies to everyone.
What I don't want is for “training fasted” to become another thing athletes feel they should be doing.
“Is RED-Scue just for after training?”
Again, no.
If you've finished a long or demanding session, carbohydrate can be important for recovery and replenishing glycogen, particularly when you need to train again soon.
But you might also finish training and immediately have to:
go to work,
drive home,
pick up your kids,
get to university,
or do another ten things.
Sometimes you need something you can eat while life carries on.
That's where a RED-Scue bar can fit.
It doesn't have to be your entire recovery meal.
It can simply be something to eat now, while you work out what comes next.
“What about protein?”
Protein matters too.
It's important for muscle repair and adaptation, and athletes need to think about their overall protein intake.
But I think we've sometimes made nutrition feel like every single thing you eat needs to tick every box.
Carbohydrate.
Protein.
Fat.
Fibre.
Micronutrients.
Everything.
You don't necessarily need every individual snack to do everything.
Think about your whole day.
A RED-Scue bar is primarily a carbohydrate option.
Your next meal can contain protein.
Your breakfast can contain protein.
Your evening meal can contain protein.
It's the overall pattern that matters.
“I'm stressed and completely hyperfocused. I forget to eat.”
This is probably one of the biggest things I've heard from our community.
You're working.
You get into something.
You don't want to stop.
You tell yourself you'll eat in a minute.
Then another email comes in.
Another task.
Another meeting.
Another deadline.
Suddenly it's 3pm.
And you realise:
I haven't eaten.
I've heard people describe it as being so hyperfocused that food genuinely disappears from their mind.
And I understand why.
When you've got a massive list of things to do, food can feel like one more thing you have to stop and deal with.
“What if I work from home? Do I still need to fuel?”
Yes.
Working from home doesn't mean your body suddenly doesn't need food.
Your training load will affect how much energy and carbohydrate you need, but food isn't only there to fuel exercise.
You're still working.
Thinking.
Concentrating.
Writing.
Making decisions.
Your brain is working all day too.
Work requires your brain. Your brain uses glucose as an important fuel source.
So fuelling isn't something you earn by exercising.
It's part of fuelling your life.
“I miss lunch because I'm doing my training.”
This comes up a lot.
You have an hour for lunch.
So you train.
Then you shower.
Then you get back to work.
And lunch is gone.
Now it's 2pm.
Then 3pm.
And you think:
“I'll just wait until dinner.”
This is exactly where I think we need to make fuelling more practical.
If you know you're training at lunchtime, think about what happens around the session.
What can you eat beforehand?
What will you have afterwards?
Can you keep something with you?
Can you have a proper meal later?
Training doesn't have to replace lunch.
It's part of your day.
“How am I supposed to think about food when I'm already thinking about training?”
This is where I think decision fatigue becomes a real issue.
You've already thought about:
What time you're training.
What you're wearing.
When you're going.
How you're getting there.
What session you're doing.
What pace.
What you need to take.
Then you've got work.
Emails.
Family.
Uni.
And now you're supposed to stop and think:
What am I going to eat?
It can feel exhausting.
And if you're already overwhelmed, food can become the last thing on your mind.
“Sometimes there's food there. I just don't want to eat it.”
I hear this too.
You open the fridge.
There's food.
But nothing looks appealing.
So you close the fridge.
You think you'll eat later.
Later comes.
You're even more tired.
And now you don't really want a big meal.
This is where I think having something you actually want to eat matters.
Nutrition isn't just about what is theoretically available.
It's about what you can realistically consume.
“I don't want to make a massive meal.”
Exactly.
Sometimes you don't need a massive meal.
You need something to start.
Something small.
Something simple.
Something you can actually face eating.
That's one of the reasons RED-Scue bars exist.
I wanted something that didn't require:
cooking,
preparation,
cutlery,
a recipe,
or sitting down for half an hour.
Something you could grab and keep moving.
“I want something I can just keep in my bag.”
That's exactly the idea.
Keep one in your bag.
Your desk.
Your training kit.
Your car.
Somewhere you know you'll need it.
Because sometimes the problem isn't:
“I don't have food.”
It's:
“I don't have food that is practical right now.”
RED-Scue bars are made with ingredients including cassava, plantain and dates, with around 38g of carbohydrate per bar.
They're designed to be a food-first, natural carbohydrate option that you can actually take with you.
“What about keeping one in the car?”
This is something I've thought about too.
If you're constantly eating between places, you want something you can grab without creating another mess or hassle.
You don't want to open your bag and find crumbs everywhere.
You don't want something that requires preparation.
You want:
grab → eat → carry on.
RED-Scue is designed around that kind of convenience.
Obviously, storage matters — especially in a hot car — so you still need to store food according to its storage requirements.
But the idea is simple:
Make food available where real life happens.
“When I'm overwhelmed, food is the last thing on my mind.”
And this is the heart of it for me.
When you've got:
work,
kids,
uni,
training,
relationships,
deadlines,
emails,
life...
food can feel like an inconvenience.
Something else you have to organise.
Something else you have to think about.
Something else you're supposed to get right.
But you still need to eat.
And sometimes making eating practical is more useful than giving someone another rule.
“I get to 3pm and haven't eaten. Then it feels too late.”
This happens.
You miss breakfast.
Then lunch.
Then suddenly it's mid-afternoon and you think:
“What's the point now? I'll just wait until dinner.”
But missing one meal doesn't mean you need to write off the rest of the day.
You can eat now.
It doesn't have to be a massive meal.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
You can just start.
Something now.
Something later.
Then dinner.
The aim is to get out of the cycle of continually putting food off.
“Sometimes I eat after waiting all day and then completely slump.”
If you've gone for hours without eating, suddenly having a large meal can feel uncomfortable for some people.
And if you're trying to get straight back into work afterwards, that can feel frustrating.
This is another reason why I like the idea of smaller, practical eating opportunities throughout the day, rather than everything depending on one enormous meal at the end of the day.
It doesn't mean you shouldn't eat proper meals.
It means you don't necessarily have to wait until you're absolutely desperate for food before you eat.
“I want natural food and good ingredients.”
This was a huge part of why I created RED-Scue.
I wanted sports fuel that felt more like food.
Not something that felt completely separate from the way I normally eat.
RED-Scue uses ingredients including cassava, plantain and dates.
And if you're thinking:
“I've never eaten cassava or plantain.”
That's completely fine.
You might have tried plantain on holiday.
You might have eaten cassava without realising it.
They're staple carbohydrate foods in many parts of the world.
I was introduced to cassava and plantain through East African athletes, and that experience was part of what inspired me to create RED-Scue in the first place.
I wanted to take those food-first carbohydrate ingredients and make them practical for athletes.
“I've got so much to do. How do I make food something I prioritise?”
I don't think you necessarily need to put “eat perfectly” at the top of your to-do list.
I think you need to make eating easier to do.
Put food where you can see it.
Set a reminder if you forget.
Keep something in your bag.
Keep something at your desk.
Plan around training.
Have foods you know you actually like.
Have a no-prep option.
And stop expecting yourself to make a perfect meal when you're already overwhelmed.
Reduce the decisions.
Maybe RED-Scue is the reminder.
That's actually how I think about it.
Not:
“This bar is your nutrition plan.”
But:
“Here. Eat something.”
Because sometimes that first step is the hardest one.
You eat something.
Then you eat again.
You have lunch.
You have dinner.
You recover.
You train.
You work.
You get on with your life.
It's about starting the good cycle of fuelling, rather than the cycle of:
forget → don't eat → get more stressed → don't want food → keep going → realise it's 3pm → wait until dinner.
RED-Scue isn't designed to solve everything.
It's designed to make eating more practical.
For the athlete who is training.
The person working from home.
The parent running between things.
The student with a deadline.
The person who gets completely hyperfocused.
The person who has food in the fridge but can't face making it.
The person who just needs something simple.
Because sometimes the most useful thing isn't another nutrition rule.
It's something you can actually eat.
RED-Scue. Food-first carbohydrate fuel for real life and training.
