Energy Drinks - Do They Give You Energy or Just a Fat Gut
June 7th, 2008 by ryhan
I receive a ton of questions about all of these new “energy” drinks that have hit the market over the last few years. They seem to be all the rage, especially with the youth, and they promise you the world with outrageous claims of all of the super energy that you are going to have, and how you’ll be crushing the competition in your sport, and so on.
So a couple questions arise:
Are these “energy” drinks really any good for you?
Do they actually increase your energy?
Do they really have some sort of magical energy formula?
Will they help you lose weight?
First of all, let’s look at what most of these energy drinks are usually made of. Most of them are simply carbonated water loaded with gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, the amino acid taurine, and a few random B-vitamins thrown in for show to trick you into thinking there’s something healthy about these concoctions.
Let’s start with the high fructose corn syrup. Well, here we’ve got empty calories that will go straight to your belly fat, and that are actually even WORSE for you than plain old refined sugar.
Ok, so you say that they have low-sugar or sugar-free varieties as an alternative to the HFCS-laden energy drinks. Yes, but now you have the problem of the harmful chemicals in the artificial sweeteners.
Another problem with artificial sweeteners is that there are some researchers that believe artificial sweetener use leads people to inadvertently consume more calories and gain more weight in the long run. I won’t go into the details on that because that would fill up an entire discussion by itself. Just trust me that artificial sweeteners and artificial chemicals in food in general, are all bad news for your body!
What about the caffeine? Well, first of all, caffeine in itself doesn’t provide “energy”. Technically, the only substances that actually provide energy are calories (from carbs, protein, and fat).
However, caffeine can be an aid for livening or waking some people up, by means of stimulating the central nervous system. Keep in mind though, if you’re a regular coffee drinker, you’re probably addicted to caffeine and probably wouldn’t receive too much benefit from the caffeine in an energy drink anyway.
Besides, instead of caffeine added to some carbonated drink, I’d rather get my caffeine from a natural source like green, white, or oolong teas, which actually provide healthful antioxidants too!
Now what about that so called magical blend of taurine and B-vitamins that they load into these energy drinks? Well, big deal…you can get taurine in almost any protein source. And the vast majority of those B-vitamins are simply coming right out into the toilet in your pee. Vitamins are best obtained naturally from real food sources, not artificially added to some carbonated drink. Your body just doesn’t use fake sources of vitamins as readily as natural sources from real food.
So as you can see, in my opinion, I give all of these energy drinks a big time THUMBS DOWN! You’re better off mixing up your own homemade energy drink with some iced unsweetened green, white, and oolong teas, a little bit of 100% pure berry or pomegranate juice, and maybe a touch of a non-denatured whey protein.
Well, I hope this article cleared up some of the confusion about these energy drinks that are being so heavily marketed these days, and will help you make more informed decisions for your health.
Visit http://truthaboutabs.com/freenewsletter.html to receive a free copy of the innovative ebook, Training & Nutrition Secrets for a Lean-Body, as well as your own free personalized metabolic rate calculator.
Michael Geary (CPT) is a recognized Fitness Expert, owner of http://BusyDadWorkouts.com, contributing writer for Muscle & Fitness Magazine, and author of the internationally-selling book, The Truth about Six Pack Abs.
Tags: energy, energy drinks, Fat Loss, lose body fat, lose fat, stamina, weight lossYour Microwave is Killing You and Your Momma!
June 6th, 2008 by ryhan
I’m not going to explain the history of microwaves because that is plain boring but what I will tell you is that they were founded by pure dumb luck like most scientific experiments, and was discovered during World War II of all times. Now just about every American family owns a microwave and pop food into their like nothing. Have you ever sat down and wondered how do microwaves cook foods so fast and why the texture is so different once they come out?
I must admit I used microwaves in the pass without a second thought because they were extremely quick and I was busy like everybody these days. However, something sparked my curiosity when one day I was microwaving a meal just chilling and my food just popped like popcorn and I was like “what in the world?” I mean it wasn’t the first time this happened but for some reason this time it slapped me right in the face. I was terrified to open the microwave fearing that something would squirt in my face.
My meal had squirted all over the microwave and I had to clean that mess out. I knew right then that something was fishy with microwaves and I did some extensive research and found some crippling secrets. The microwave emits radiation, that’s right radiation the stuff that causes cancer, similar to the ways cell phones put radiation right into your ear-hole.
A woman was actually killed by the microwave in the early 90s. She was given a blood transfusion and the blood was microwaved and she was killed by it. Why people don’t die from regular heated blood transfusions? It also significantly declines the nutrient quality of foods. Have you ever microwaved vegetables? If you noticed the vegetables will come out all soft, limp, and mushy almost like baby food.
They reduce nutrient content in vegetables by over 60 percent compared to just broiling it in light water! I threw out my microwave and I’m a fitness and nutrition expert so I know exactly what I’m talking about. I try to save as many people as possible but they just don’t want to give the microwave away.
I guess people will make an excuse for things that they love, it’s a psychological technique. You can live without a microwave, I did it and in matter of fact you can eat quick and convenient meals without a microwave. Come check me out at my website www.cardiacgym.com and I may have something for you. To tend have a healthful day, in health and fitness Doug Purcell.
Doug Purcell
CPT
Nutrition Expert
Owner of http://www.cardiacgym.com
Losing Weight Could Save Your Life
May 31st, 2008 by ryhan
Sounds very dramatic, doesn’t it? But it’s true, and for more reasons than you would think.
Being overweight places an enormous strain on your entire system. Every aspect of your life is affected. Most people are aware of the social discrimination being overweight causesevery now and then some narrow-minded fitness fanatic appears on talk show television, and accuses people who are overweight of being greedy and lazy, with mixed responses from both host and audience. Most people are outraged by such faulty preconceptions, and with good reason. They know what statements like these can do to someone’s self esteem.
Unfortunately, these are not the only problems facing people who are overweight. There are many physical complications that result form carrying excess weight around. Aching backs, and arthritic knees are examples of the so-called mechanical side effects of being overweight. And so is sleep apnoea, an alarming condition for partners, where the person affected stops breathing while they are sleeping, due to the relaxed tissues in the neck pressing on the airway, cutting off air flow to the lungs. As a result of this, sleep is disturbed, both for the person with sleep apnoea, and for their partner, who often spends wakeful nights elbowing them in the ribs to get them to breathe again. In the short term, this can lead to overweight people being tired, grumpy and bruised in the morning. Other effects include morning headaches, loud snoring and poor sexual functioning. But the long-term effects are far more dangerous. Sleep apnoea is associated with death due to heart disease, and half of all people who suffer from sleep apnoea have high blood pressure.
Which brings us to the most important issue regarding health and excess weight : insulin resistance. Most people are aware that being significantly overweight is a risk factor for heart disease and sudden death, but few seem to know that insulin resistance is responsible for most of this risk. Insulin resistance is an exceptionally common condition, affecting at least one in four people, and is the cause of Metabolic Syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It is associated with high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol levels, high blood glucose, clotting tendencies, and inflammation within the blood vessels, all of which contribute to an increased risk of strokes and heart attacks. And more than half of all people who are significantly overweight have insulin resistance.
Which is why conventional diets and diet pills seldom work. Insulin resistance makes it almost impossible to lose weight on low calorie, low fat diets, and yet doctors and other healthcare workers continue to prescribe these diets, with the underlying message being “EAT LESS!” This lack of insight is responsible for so many failed diets, as well as the loss of self-esteem and feelings of hopelessness that these failures cause. People with insulin resistance should not be eating less food, but rather eating different types of food!
Aside from these more common health risks are a number of rarer, but even more unpleasant conditions that can result from being overweight. These include various cancers, such as those of the breast and ovaries in women, the prostate in men, as well as the colon, oesophagus, liver, gallbladder and pancreas.
As you can see, being overweight can have terrible consequences for both your psychological, as well as your physical health. But it is not all bad news. Weight loss is an attainable goal, and is something that will decrease your risk of getting any of these conditions. As far as preventative medicine is concerned, weight loss is one of the few measures that really can save your life.
Dr Guin Van Niekerk is the author of “Why Fat Sticks : An Introduction to Insulin Resistance” For more information on insulin resistance, go to www.insulinresistancesite.com.
Dr. Guin Van Niekerk qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Cape Town in 1997. It was while working a few years later as a general practitioner that she developed a strong interest in insulin resistance and its associated conditions. She subsequently ran a small metabolic syndrome clinic for her patients and discovered that the concept of insulin resistance was largely unknown to the public. This led to her decision to write the book, Why Fat Sticks. She resides in Oxfordshire.
Tags: diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, weight loss