On many a show and at many a health-related site, I’ve seen sports drinks vilified for their high sugar and caffeine content. Despite all that, I have CERTAINLY partaken in the monthly, sometimes weekly dose of 5-Hour Energy, Red Bull, and God help me, Venom and Full Throttle; the latter two left me with heart flutters and bugged out eyes like Spanky from the Little Rascals.
What does an expert have to say and what do you have to say about the matter? I’ll start with the one that really works for me:
5 Hour Energy: I drink this on my Zumba days because it gives me energy without the crash of other energy drinks I’ve tried. Overall I fell more aware and like I have energy enough to get through the Zumba class led by Monique the tyrant at P.G. Co’s Community College. Monique is danger and for $100 course enrollment, she can be your tormentor too. The list of 5 Hour Energy ingredients includes Vitamins B6, B12, Niacin (B3), Folic Acid (B9), an energy mix of citocoline, tyrosine, phenyalanine, taurine, malic acid, glucuronolactone, and caffeine equaling the amount of 12 ounces of the leading premium coffee.This energy blend has two curious ingredients, citocoline, and tyrosine, both of which have an effect on the brain and the latter, the brain and mood. Maybe that’s why I don’t crash when the 5 hours of energy is over.I’ve jumped back to this segment as the caffeine and stuff from Full Throttle (just typed that 3 times) has dictated.
Full Throttle: I have stopped typing up the 5 Hour Energy piece to comment quickly (because EVERYTHING I’m doing right now is being done quickly) on Full Throttle energy drink. Sure I’m 1 ½ servings into a 16 ounce can of Full Throttle and I can feel my eyeballs popping out and my eyebrows have traveled at least half way up my forehead to be near my scalp. Ok, what’s in this puppy per serving: 100 mg caffeine, 110 calories, Niacin, B6, B12, pantothenic Acid. Of course there are stabilizers and preservatives and the ooey-gooey high fructose corn syrup. If I had to run to or from something right now, I could do it in true Flo Jo style. How safe is this feeling? Me thinks this is not safe at all. And me also thinks that I’m going to have to drink some Yogi, Calming tea tonight to get myself to sleep. Sorry folks, I will not be partaking of Venom energy this week. This has been enough. And WHY should I ever drink something with the word “venom” in it again?
Red Bull: A lot of the usual suspects in this little can: taurine, B-group vitamins, glucuronolactone, sucrose, glucose, and caffeine, of course. Details of how much of what is included in Red Bull are not listed on the web site; probably a proprietary thing. This is the most humdrum of all the energy drinks I’ve tried. It gives a brief, say hour long buzz. For me, the intensity of the energy burst was increased if I drank it quickly. What I didn’t like about Red Bull was when I drank it before a workout, after the workout was over, I still couldn’t relax.
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