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HIGHLIGHTS:
09:21 the primary component and the word behind energy is caffeine. Caffeine is what we call a Methylxanthan. Caffeine in particular is named trimethylxanthines for its structure. It’s found in coffee, 09:38 [inaudible], Methyl bromide, Aminophylline, Theophylline which is a drug we use in asthmatic patients, not as popular as it used to be.
10:17 Some other ingredients that are very popular, and I’m sure if you read the labels, you’ll see it Tyrosine. Tyrosine is a an essential amino acid. It’s not essential, but it’s an amino acid. By essential, I mean your body can’t make it. Your body can’t. Tyrosine as an amino acid that I would consider semi essential heavy exercisers, ill people, people with disease states need more Tyrosine than others, but it’s in most energy drinks.
12:33 The other ingredient that’s primary, unless you’re doing a sugar free one, is well, sugar. Sugar is just loaded in those drinks and that’s part of the reason why when you drink one in the morning at 8:00 to get up and get moving, you probably need another one by 11:00 because the caffeine is worn off and you’re crashing from that sugar and your body’s begging for more. So sugar is a primary ingredient.
13:07 Another important thing to consider in energy drinks is calories and in the sweet taste, which I’ll cover in a minute here, calories, as you know, the RecoverMe opinion is not the, they are not the end all, give all of weight loss and weight gain. Weight loss and weight gains a lot more than how much or how little you eat or how much exercise or how literally exercise.
14:16 Cost is an issue. I’ve actually had patients, I’ve asked patients that tell me they drink a lot of energy drink. True story. This happened just a few months ago.
I asked the patient, “keep track on a log in your car, how much money you spend on energy drinks every month.” You’d be shocked. He spent hundreds of dollars a month and had no idea because he innocently go in the morning half asleep, pay $6 for two energy drinks and then repeat the same act later in the afternoon. Well, over 30 days, hundreds of dollars a month. So you have to be aware cost.
15:46 maybe rather than getting energy drinks less left and right, maybe your diet should improve and you actually saved money because you can slam down a 24 hour Diet Rockstar, but to eat in four cups of black beans is going to take you a little while and give you a lot more nutrition and benefits over time. So some of the adverse reactions and some we’ve actually had people come to our urgent care here in Southeast Idaho with these reactions. And then we get a detailed history, we trace it back, “oh man, you shouldn’t have drank that energy drinks so quickly.” But some of the adverse reactions or nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness, especially. And that’s kind of a, excuse me, a very personal thing too.
17:31 Gut upset is very possible. Dehydration, if it’s a high caffeinated beverage and you’re not used to that caffeine, it can dehydrate you, so if you’re exercising, drinking energy drink and not replacing water sufficiently, you can get yourself in trouble. There’s claims that it causes addiction and I would say not necessarily a physiological addiction, but maybe a psychological addiction.
18:13 We have a sugar crash, which we talked about that can occur, especially with the high sugar beverages. And then there’s some that people don’t think about and that’s weight gain and hunger. And we’re going to cover that even with the diet ones. These things may be negatively affecting your ability to lose weight or at least obtain that optimal physique that you’re after.
24:31 Insulin is just so important. It’s a master hormone and we want it to be our friend. And in some people, especially people with insulin resistance or diabetes, when they smell sweetened beverages their insulin starts to rise and causing problems,
25:43 so energy is may help you short term, but like pouring water down a PVC pipe or your drink down a PVC pipe, it changes the hormonal response to the body and people with insulin resistance and diabetes that smell, that sweet sweet taste causes a hormonal response that does is not good for you. It really causes trouble in the big picture.
26:12 Alcohol is a liquid calorie too. So the same thing applies. Instead, these are kind of interesting on the fact, weight tends to go up and men when they’re drinking alcohol, probably because us guys, when we go out for beer, we also have to add pizza or wings to that. Women, when they have a glass of wine, tend not to eat as much. So that may be part of it.
There are also some studies out there that say regular drinkers are more active than nonactive, that I’m not going to argue those facts now. But again, back to weight loss, body optimization, liquid calories, including alcohol and in some cases you’re healthy. Protein drinks are not the best option.
28:05 Are energy drinks bad for me? Well, it depends on where you are. Hence the RecoverMe philosophy, where are you in your health in life? What’s your hormonal response to other things? How has your overall health? How’s your nutrient base? How’s your exercise? How’re all those things I listed earlier? Is their underlying medical concerns that may be inhibiting you and making that energy drink a bad guy?
It’s such an individual thing.
So again, like in everything in life, energy drinks have the potential to be bad. If we answer that question I brought up in front…… are energy drinks bad for me? Well, it depends on where you are. Hence the RecoverMe philosophy, where are you in your health in life? What’s your hormonal response to other things? How has your overall health? How’s your nutrient base? How’s your exercise? How’s all those things I listed earlier? Is their underlying medical concerns that may be inhibiting you and making that energy drink a bad guy?
