Hi,
I'm Maxi. Cooking and baking are among the things that make me happy – especially when I can bring joy to others. And when I want to treat myself, I go for a run or a bike ride. For me, endurance sports are about switching off, arriving in the moment, and taking a deep breath.
With saltfuels, I can combine both my passions for the first time: good food and sports.
The beginning
The more endurance sports I did, the more I noticed how confusing the topic of sports nutrition actually is.
I tried various bars, powders, and gels. Some were tasty, many weren't. So I started to look more closely at what's in the products – and why they taste the way they do.
The problem
I noticed two problems: artificial taste and unnecessary complexity .
Many products are based on flavorings and additives that you would never use at home.
At the same time, advertising uses technical terms, studies, and special formulas that tend to confuse amateur athletes. This creates the impression that you need a whole range of special products to train "correctly"—even though this isn't necessary in most cases.
The solution
My thought was, if a homemade cake tastes great without added flavorings, why should it be any different for sports nutrition?
Furthermore, sports nutrition doesn't have to be complicated, because in endurance sports two things are particularly crucial: carbohydrates and electrolytes. We need both when we sweat – and both are found in everyday foods.
So I started experimenting with natural ingredients and developing recipes that meet this nee.
The process
My idea: Combine ingredients in such a way that they provide exactly what you need for endurance sports. Nuts provide magnesium, dried fruit potassium, sea salt sodium, and oats or rice syrup provide carbohydrates .
What I noticed was that many energy bars contain salt, but often far too little to compensate for sweat loss. (There can be up to 4 grams of salt in one liter of sweat!) I wanted to address this better in my recipes.
The result
After many attempts, tests and feedback, the first two varieties were finally created: the Electrolyte Oat Bar and the Electrolyte Nut Bar. Both consist only of natural ingredients and contain more than twice as much salt as conventional bars.
The production
Today, I produce in small batches at HSWT in Freising near Munich. Each bar is cut and packaged by hand. I've also added another product, the Electrolyte Carb Mix, which naturally supplies endurance athletes with carbohydrates and sodium.
Sports nutrition can be simple and natural. That's the idea behind saltfuels.
