Compilation of all GreenEyedGuide blog posts
Following your passion requires vision, commitment, persistence, and long hours. October challenges your vision and commitment because it brings shorter days, midterms, the distractions of a looming Holiday Season, and the time crunch to meet End of the Year company objectives. This month, we review an energy drink-in-disguise designed to “complement your work hard/play hard lifestyle” with green coffee beans, monk fruit, erythritol, and coconut water. Read more
Isomaltulose is a natural sweetener found in honey and sugar cane extract. It has the same two “members” that make table sugar: glucose + fructose = sucrose. However the glucose and fructose are arranged (i.e., holding hands) in a different way than they do in sucrose. As a result of this arrangement, isomaltulose is only half as sweet as sucrose.
This energy drink contains JABUTICABA, which is basically a Brazilian grape. Jabuticaba fruit contains protein, calcium, iron, phosphorus, Vitamin C and some B vitamins.
Jabuticaba has polyphenol antioxidants like those in cranberries and grapes. These antioxidants have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties…in test tubes and lab rats. It’s difficult to prove these benefits outside of a controlled cell or rat cage because life is too complicated to prove a cause and effect of this magnitude. In other words, it’s extremely difficult to control for things like diet, stress, sunlight, exercise, the number of hours sitting down, etc. to conclusively prove whether polyphenols prevent cancer.
Jabuticaba isn’t very high on the ingredients list, meaning there might not be enough of it in this drink to be an effective dose for those antioxidant health benefits. The same can be said for the other juices in here too: apple, grape, acai, and acerola. All of these juices offer some variety of health benefits related to the benefit of antioxidants. But the dosage makes a difference. So does the order.
Apple and Grape juice are the most predominant, and they are very sweet, which tells me this drink is using those juices more for flavor and sweetness than for health benefits.
Regardless, this is a healthier alternative to the stereotypical energy drink. This energy drink has 80 mg caffeine (same as Red Bull) from 3 leaf extracts: 1.Green Tea, 2.Guarana, 3.Yerba Mate. With 80 mg caffeine, this drink fits Fatigue Level 2. [See 5 Levels of Fatigue to see how to use this system to avoid caffeine toxicity, dependency, and tolerance]
Ginkgo is in THOUSANDS of products, not just energy drinks. What does it do?
In Chinese medicine, extracts from the leaves of the ginkgo biloba tree improve memory and concentration, treat anxiety and depression, and alleviate headaches, dizziness, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears).
Theory 1 – Ginkgo increases blood supply by dilating blood vessels, reducing blood viscosity, and decreasing the density of free radicals that wreak havoc on the body.
Theory 2 – The PLACEBO EFFECT! If someone told you “Take this, it will improve your concentration and calm your anxiety” your subconscious is already onboard!
Tune in next week for the answer to that question (spoiler alert: it’s complicated)…
If you enjoy these excerpts, you should DEFINITELY check-out (library joke) my book: “Are You a Monster or a Rock Star: A Guide to Energy Drinks- How They Work, Why They Work, How To Use Them Safely” available on Audible and Amazon and wherever books are sold, in all formats.
![Caffeine as a Gym Partner [GreenEyedGuide on Avitae Blog]](https://i0.wp.com/greeneyedguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/avitae_8933_email_august_1200x450_1.jpg?resize=1200%2C450&ssl=1)
Caffeine may not seem like a “must-have” for a workout, but there are three major reasons why people at all fitness levels benefit from consuming caffeine before exercise. Check out this article I wrote for the Avitae blog!
https://goavitae.com/news/top-10-facts-you-need-to-know-about-caffeine/
Vitamin B12 is the Ultimate Wingman! In this week’s book excerpt, we’ll discuss how B12 helps both folate and boring-basic-biotin, and why this makes B12 a good energy drink ingredient.
Remember when we talked about what folate does? Cells that rely on folate for growth and maturation also depend on B12 because it recycles folate, restoring it for the next round of DNA synthesis. Without B12, folate gets used up and stuck with a single carbon group. That’s like trying to take a cup of coffee from someone when you’re already holding a cup of water in each hand. To make sure sells get enough DNA to mature and divide, B12 and folate have to work as a team.
But that’s not the only vitamin B12 assists:
One molecule of fat has three fatty acids, like a three-pronged fork. Each fatty acid is a chain of carbons. Each chain gets oxidized (broken down) two carbons at a time. This becomes a problem when there’s only thee left, so a special reaction takes place for the last three in the chain.
For the science nerds: That reaction is the transformation of a 3-carbon molecule (methylmalonyl CoA) to a 4-carbon molecule (succinyl CoA). CoA is short for coenzyme A.
Vitamin B12 helps Boring Basic Biotin handle these odd numbered units so they can get metabolized into energy through the Krebs cycle.
The Krebs cycle is a giant wheel of reactions that leads to massive amount of energy per turn. Since B12 helps fats get “into shape” (as in, from odd-to-even numbered) to enter the Krebs cycle, B12 is facilitating the production of energy. It may not be as boring as biotin or as amazing as niacin (my favorite B-vitamin), but B12 gets the award for the best team player.
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