There are so many ‘sports’ and energy drinks available, not just as a ‘specialist ‘ product for athletes etc available only in health food or sports stores but a product promoted to the masses – available in every supermarket, newsagents and even your local bars, pubs and clubs!
I have several gripes about these types of drink.

1. The calories. Yes, calories give you energy but some of the energy drinks available have a phenomenal amount of calories in them, most of which come from sugar. Not nutritionally beneficial – so I ask; if you are going to consume that many calories, why not at least have something that benefits your body in other ways! Too many calories make you fat – fact. Energy drinks are supposedly manufactured to replace the calories and fluid lost when exercising, fair enough if you are an athlete, but if you are trying to lose weight, why on earth would you want to drink all the calories you just burnt off!? We also know what happens to our body after a sugar rush- a binge inducing crash. So not only can energy drinks alone make you fat, the extra calories you consume in the ‘down’ after the ‘energy high’ also make you fat!

2. The idea. So you are feeling lethargic – lacking in energy. The solution is not to reach for a ‘fake’ quick fix drink. Not only will an energy drink only temporarily make you feel like you have more energy, it will cost you loads of calories (and money too probably). The best way to improve how you feel is by eating healthily. Change your eating for the better and you’re energy will improve on a permanent basis, you’ll probably lose weight and have better skin too! If you really need an energy boost, there is more caffeine in a cup of black coffee than a cup of an energy drink (most of the ‘energy’ in energy drinks is from the sugar hit), so try coffee instead!

3. The colour. Look at your average energy drink – what colour is it? Bright orange, bright green? Does it change the colour of your tongue? Most of them look like toxic waste and like they might glow in the dark – do you really want to put something that looks like that into your body. Artificial colours are not very good for you; they can cause hyperactivity and aggravate eczema for starters. Check out the ‘E numbers’ before you consume!

4. The taste. Often described as ‘mixed fruit flavour’ energy drinks, I find have a very strange fake taste. What mixed fruits taste like that! If your tongue doesn’t understand the flavour, chances are your body isn’t sure what to do with the drink either.

5. The context. Really a sports supplement type product doesn’t have a place on supermarket shelves or kids lunchboxes, but it appears there. My biggest gripe is about the consumption of energy drinks in bars, pubs and clubs with alcohol. Firstly, there are some guidelines on Red Bull cans of how many it is safe to drink in a period of 24 hours, if you’re a fan of drinking Vodka Red Bull I suggest you read it – I bet you drink more than that on a night out. Secondly, energy drinks are a stimulant, alcohol is a depressant mixing them doesn’t cancel out the effects, but just confuses the message, giving the drinker highs and lows disproportionate to their normal responses. Not safe, not good for you. Drinking these drinks late at night also disturb your sleep, a sure fire way to drain your energy for the next day, up your stress response and again add to weight gain!

6. The addiction. I’ve met several people who are addicted to energy drinks and need many just to get through a normal workday. Now many people are addicted to coffee you might say – at least coffee is a natural substance and a bit better for you.

My overall opinion of energy drinks is, yes they can make you fat, you’re better off eating the right things to give you energy than substituting a good diet with bright green, foul tasting fakery. My standard rule of eating and drinking applies – if you read the label and can’t pronounce the ingredients or don’t know what they are, don’t put it in your body.

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Thanks for tuning in!

Jango Alptekin

This entry was posted on April 20, 2011 at 1:29 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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