The Energy Drink Blog

It has been found that most Americans are not getting enough nutrients and vitamins with their daily intake of food. With an increasing number of people over weight, this can be hard to believe, however with further analysis into the situation it can be seen that most people get their nutrition from diets that are loaded with sugar, sodium and other unhealthy ingredients. This lack of whole, unprocessed foods could be a major reason for missing dietary essentials and an obese population.

Some of the essentials that most people are missing include calcium, fiber and vitamins. There are many ways however, to increase intake of these essential nutrients without having to buy diet pills. These ways include changing the diet to include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as whole grain foods. Low fat dairy products are also essential because they are an excellent source of protein, and calcium.

As anyone who has recently tried to lose weight knows, foods rich in protein and fiber are essential to feeling fuller and burning calories. Eating foods that make us feel full help cut back on the calories that we take in daily. Eating these foods also help supply our bodies with elements such as potassium and magnesium which are critical for proper cell reproduction and function.

Not only will making simple diet changes improve health, changing the foods we eat can help us lose weight and prevent the likeliness of suffering from diseases such as cancer and others.

Did you know that the human body is more that 65% water? Everything from our blood, muscles, brain, and bones are comprised of a significant percentage of water. Water is a vital element for sustaining life and body functions. Unfortunately most of us do not drink nearly enough water and are dehydrated. Dehydration can have a negative effect on our bodily systems. To further illustrate this read the following.

Often times thirst can be mistaken for hunger. If we feel hungry, it is often that we are not hungry, but rather thirsty. A way to be sure that we are giving our body adequate hydration is to drink water even when we are not thirsty. Usually, once we realize that we are thirsty, it is too late and we are already dehydrated.

Aside from keeping us hydrated, drinking water is also necessary for those who are trying to lose weight. Drinking water not only helps us to feel full, but it also helps to flush our body of toxins and helps aid fiber in the digestion process.

If you often feel tired, it could be because you are not hydrated enough. When there is not enough water in the blood, it slows down the body functions and often leaves us feeling sluggish and tired. Headaches and constipation can also result from dehydration.

To prevent dehydration from occurring, it is recommended that ½ to ¾ of an ounce of water be consumed daily per pound of body weight. This will ensure that the body is properly flushed of toxins and waste. Staying hydrated will also help keep the skin looking young and plump and full. Water can also give definition to muscles.

If drinking water seems too bland, water can be mixed with low calorie and low sugar mixes, as well as whey protein. For those who want to drop some pounds, hoodia extract can be mixed with water to suppress the appetite.

Choosing the right foods to snack on is very important, especially for eating properly after a workout. It is important to building lean muscle mass and quickly repair muscles. While working out, the body depletes its source of glycogen. Not replenishing your body of this will likely cause fatigue and poor performance during future workouts.

Eating snacks that are a combination of carbohydrates and protein is the ideal post workout snack.  To achieve optimum benefits from a post work out snack, the snack should be consumed 30 minutes post workout and another meal should be eaten about 2 hours after the snack. Choosing snacks that are low in sugar is also important.

As mentioned before, the ideal post work out snack is a low sugar combination of protein and carbohydrates. Some of the following snacks are not only great to help lose weight, but are also great for post workout.

1. Protein shake with fruit: Mixing up a whey protein shake with some frozen fruit after a workout may seem like a decadent treat, but this is on of many weight loss tips. As bodybuilders know, whey protein is quickly digested and absorbed into the body providing quick energy and recovery.
2. Energy drinks: Finding the best energy drink and weight pills is very important to maintain weight loss. Be careful when choosing an energy drink as most of these drinks are saturated with sugar! It is very crucial to find a drink that will send you into an energy crash after consumption, or disrupt sleep patterns at night.
3. Lean meat with cheese: You can skip the bread this time around. Enjoying a slice of lunch meat and cheese will provide essential protein and calcium post work out. Enjoying a few slices of fruit along side will also provide adequate carbohydrates and fiber to keep you feeling fuller for the rest of the day.

Even though your tolerance for hot and spicy may be limited, the benefits of using cayenne pepper as a home herbal remedy are great. Cayenne pepper is popular in many food dishes including chili. Recently, cayenne pepper can be found as an ingredient in gourmet chocolates, giving the chocolate a spicy, smoky flavor.

The benefits of using cayenne pepper are many. Cayenne pepper has been used to promote circulation of blood to extremities. This is good for people who often have cold hands and feet. Cayenne pepper also is known for preventing blood platelets from sticking together. Additionally, as can be seen from eating a too hot buffalo wing or salsa, cayenne pepper also induces sweating. This helps to raise the body temperature as well as drain mucus membranes.

The ingredient behind the hot and spicy attributes of cayenne is capsaicin. This compound works well as a muscle and joint rub. It is extremely important to use caution with cayenne pepper as it causes irritation to skin and eyes.

Even though cayenne pepper can be found in a diet pill and other weight-loss supplements, it is unlikely to help you lose weight. Nevertheless, cayenne pepper may support your diet and exercise efforts for other reasons. Research shows that it aids in digestion and absorption of nutrients. Like hoodia gordonii, cayenne pepper can suppress appetite that is due to poor absorption of nutrients, especially with overweight people.

Keeping a workout fun, fresh, and new are sure ways to be sure that your New Year’s resolution is kept throughout 2009. If going to the gym and running on the treadmill or using the elliptical seem like an activity that you can not handle one more time, try these new and fun activities in the New Year.  

Group exercises: Sometimes the motivation to workout is lacking when it comes to flying solo. Participating in a group activity will surely be a fun change of pace when it comes to getting fit. Some creative activities for the New Year include dance based routines such as Zumba, and military regimented boot-camp styled courses.

1. Yoga: Yoga is a great way to relax and stretch. Even though this is a group based class, there is no competition between participants. Yoga is strictly about you. However, participating in group classes is a great way to share a positive experience with others.
2. Group Sports: It doesn’t matter if you were the starting quarterback in high school or the water boy, participating in a group activity such as tennis, basketball or racquetball is a great way to work up a sweat as well as make some new friends. Team sports are a great way to make use of the competitive spirit as well as get fit. Just remember bowling with the guys on Wednesday nights while drinking beer and smoking cigars does not count as working out and will not help you to lose weight.
3. Get Back to Nature: Getting fresh air outside is another great way to get in all the fitness and exercise that one needs. With so much time spent indoors these days, taking a long hike through the woods or along the beach will provide a great opportunity to get fit as well as get back to nature.  Be sure to pack some healthy snacks while out on a hike. Some great choices include whey protein bars as well as energy drinks.
4. Hi-Tech Fitness: From the way we listen to tunes to the specialty socks on our feet. Technology and fitness have merged together to bring getting fit into the 21^st century.  From MP3 players that we wear in our shoes to the moisture wicking properties of clothing, technology has given us the opportunity to take our workout to a whole new level.  This is proven with Wii Fit and other interactive video games.

Stevia is making news lately as the two leading soft-drink manufacturers; Coca Cola and Pepsi have plans to introduce this sugar substitute in their drinks. As early as this month Coca Cola, who has more than 28 billion dollars in sales annually, plans on introducing Sprite Green in two unnamed test markets. While this is good news for cola lovers who want to lose weight, it still has not been officially approved by the FDA.

So what is Stevia and how does it differ from other sugar substitutes already on the market? Stevia is derived from a shrub that is native to South America. Stevia has been used for centuries by South Americans to sweeten beverages and is classified by the FDA as being generally accepted as safe for consumption.

Stevia has not yet been approved in the United States, Europe or Canada, but has however been used for over thirty years in the Japanese market as a sugar substitute. While the FDA has not yet given the official green light to Stevia, it has been sold at farmers markets and health food stores in the United States for decades.  There are many energy drinks and diet pills that can be found that contain Stevia in the ingredients. Despite the fact that they have been prohibited from using the official label of sweetener, they have still been used as such for decades.

Further research on the plant will be conducted; however studies that have been conducted so far show that using the stem of the Stevia plant shows no adverse side effects on cardiovascular, reproductive or digestive systems.  Studies have also shown that fluctuations on blood sugar for people with diabetes have been noted. Since Stevia is all natural, it should not have harsh side-effects. This is similar to hoodia gordonii, a native plant to the African Kalahari that is proven to suppress the appetite with no adverse side effects.

When these products hit the market, Truevia and PrueVia are the brand names that Coke and Pepsi products use, respectively, and promise to provide a new generation of products and options to people who want to lose weight but still be able to enjoy a soft drink now and then.

Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR as it is referred to is the amount of calories that the body needs to consume to maintain existence. This value is usually determined when the body is at rest, usually in the morning when you first wake up and are still. Those who seek weight loss tips often are guided to this number as a first step in losing weight.

Studies show that approximately 70 percent of the calories that are burned in a day are devoted to BMR.  Ten percent of calories consumed are needed to digest food and the remaining twenty percent of calories are assigned to other activities such as exercising and going about daily routines.

In general the formula for BMR is pretty good estimate of needed caloric intake, however there are other contributing factors that influence a person’s BMR. These factors include lean muscle mass, physical state, and overall health. As is well known, strength training is an essential factor for weight loss and for increasing the number of calories burned.  This gives way to the fact that people who have more lean muscle mass than those who do not, may have a higher BMR, since they are constantly burning more calories.

There are other factors that can affect the BMR of an individual and that is the stage in life in which they are in. For example, women who are in menopause may notice changes in weight due to changes in metabolic rate. How this does in fact affect an individual is dependent on the individual make up of every unique person. Some people may find that their BMR increases while in others it decreases.

Using a BMR calculator is a good way to decide how to adjust the diet in order to lose weight. BMR calculators use factors such as age, gender and height to figure the caloric intake that should be consumed. This is a great tool, however it is important to never go below 1200 calories a day in order to maintain proper nutrition.

“A moment on the lips, forever on the hips;” this holiday season are words to live by. While you may have been good all year, over indulging on holiday food may show up on the waistline come the New Year. Many favorite holiday foods are loaded with calories, some with exceptionally high values. Usually dishes at holiday times take everyday nutritious foods and turn them into a diet disaster. The following foods should be avoided from a nutritional stand point.

Sweet potato casserole: Sweet potatoes are generally a nutritious diet food. Full of beta carotene and other healthful vitamins, come the holiday season, this otherwise healthy vegetable gets smothered in sugary marshmallows, butter and brown sugar, a lot of empty calories!

In addition to sweet potatoes, otherwise healthy regular potatoes get jazzed up with cream and butter. If you are the cook, try substituting chicken broth for the butter and milk. No one will be the wiser. Actually in addition to a better health option, chicken stock also offers an additional flavor enhancer to holiday dishes.

Eggnog: the combination of sugar, heavy cream and alcohol surely tastes delicious; however a single serving of this festive libation packs nearly 400 calories! That equals a lot of time on the treadmill to work off. If this drink is too much to pass up, be sure to cut back on other indulgences.  

Fried stuff with cheese: What can be tastier than the salty combination of cheese combined with some fried carbohydrate? Even though these comfort foods bring back fond memories, they contain little or no nutritional value and a healthier substitute should be taken into consideration.

To offset these diet hazards those serious about weight loss have found appetite suppressants such as hoodia extract a great tool in the fight against hunger cravings. Also meals high in protein, or a supplemental protein shake will send the signal of fullness to the brain, in turn curbing the appetite.  Finally remember if you are serious about your efforts to lose weight, self control and moderation are the key to enjoying the holiday season that is upon us.

Your friends talked you into it, so now what? Training for your first 5K may seem like a daunting and impossible task, but it can be and should be a fun and growth experience…a step in the right direction to better physical health.

Signing up for and participating in a 5K is a great first step to running a marathon. At only 3.1 miles, a 5K is an accomplishable goal for most people to achieve. It is also a great starter way to ease into the running world.

Running is not only a physical activity that does not necessarily require any fancy, expensive equipment, just a good pair of running shoes and breathable clothing; it is also a sport that can be done anywhere anytime. While some people may enter onto the running scene to lose weight, others do it for the stress relieving qualities and empowerment it provides.

Tips for 5K training beginners

1. Watch what you eat. While you are surely burning up calories, it is important to maintain healthy eating habits. Staying away from refined food products as well as sugars is important. Whole grain breads and pastas as well as protein shakes are easily digested and will give the body the energy and nourishment that it needs.
2. Start with a plan: Rome wasn’t built in a day, so don’t feel like the first time you lace up and head out the door you need to do the whole mileage non –stop. Start slow and pace your progress. This will help you build strength and endurance.
3. Fuel your body. Be sure that you eat. If you feel drained, try an energy drink. The best energy drinks will not disrupt your sleep patterns or cause you to crash after taking them.
4. Stay motivated. Usually 5K races are a fundraiser for a local charity or worthy cause. The fact that people are going to benefit from your participation should be motivation enough. Also downloading your favorite upbeat tunes should be enough to get spirits up and moving.

Your metabolism is the key to burning fat and calories efficiently. As we age weight-loss can become difficult for a number of reasons but one of the most common reasons is due to a sluggish metabolism. Here are some changes you can make to help kick your fat burning furnace into high gear and keep it there.

Begin your day first thing in the morning with an intense workout of cardio.  It’s best to do this upon waking because you burn calories from stored body fat rather than calories consumed over the course of the day.  It’s also a great way to get energized for the day and keep your metabolism revved for hours.

Eat a healthy breakfast shortly after you workout but don’t eat a heavy meal. Choose sources of food that are high in fiber and protein as they will keep you satisfied longer and take longer to digest.

Eat small portions or snacks instead of sitting down to large meals. Eating frequently in smaller amounts is easier on the digestive system and prevents the stomach from being stretched. It also prevents binge eating later in the day.

Try to consume only complex carbohydrates such as slow cooked oatmeal, brown rice, or whole grain bread instead of refined starchy carbs. Complex carbs offer a high source of fiber and satisfy hunger longer because they take longer to digest. The key with consuming carbohydrates is to eat them earlier in the day when your metabolism is at its highest so they are easily converted to energy and burned off. This means that a couple servings during the day would be ok while omitting them at dinner would be a better option.

Proper elimination is very important when it comes to having a healthy metabolism. If you are not going to the bathroom daily you may want to think about doing a colon cleanse. By cleansing the body you are eliminating toxins and chemicals that can slow your metabolism down. This is also a great way to increase your energy naturally, and clear up your skin. It allows the liver to process waste more efficiently which can help boost metabolism and weight-loss.

Make sure you are drinking enough water everyday because it is required for just about every bodily function. Water is also important for proper elimination and helps with regularity by drawing fluid to the colon for waste removal.

Get adequate sleep each night and you will continue to burn calories at a rapid rate. Studies show that lack of sleep not only attributes to weight gain, but it also slows the metabolism down and inhibits the lack of growth hormone which is necessary for  rejuvenating the body and burning fat more effectively.

As we get older it becomes harder to lose weight for various reasons. Keep these healthy tips in mind and you can burn calories effectively at any age.