The Monster in You - Energy Drinks and You

Q.

Dear Stephanie and SGT Ken,
Hello. Thanks for the nutrition advice in Operation Diet Dissection. I have a question about energy drinks. How healthy are they?

Thanks,
Private First Class Keith

A.

Dear Keith,
Thanks for the compliment! We hope that Operation Diet Dissection is working for you!

Regarding energy drinks, here are some key points to keep in mind:

• Consuming excessive sugar may cause sleepiness. The quick fix of consuming the added refined sugars causes the blood sugar to spike and then drop to an unnaturally low level. Low blood sugar can lead to low energy levels.


• Energy drinks are known for and are marketed as having
  excess caffeine in each drink. Some people believe
  energy drinks are considered an acceptable alternative to
  sleep — get more done in less amount of time by buzzing
  through your busy day. However, some studies show that toomuch of a good thing can prove to be toxic.*


• Unfortunately, energy drinks have more than just caffeine. Many of them are also packed with sugar. The sugar overload may lead to symptoms of diabetes.

FDA.gov states that based off of a 2,000 calorie per day diet for adults, a healthy diet should not include more than 300g of carbohydrates. The level of carbohydrates is based on 60 percent of total calories consumed. Sugar falls under this category. Health.gov lists 18g of refined sugars as a discretionary calorie allowance for a healthy diet based off of consuming 2,000 calories per day.

Because of the perception that bigger is better, people often consume more than the serving size of 8oz. However, even when you only drink the recommended serving size doesn't necessarily mean you are safe. Many of the energy drinks boast over 50g of sugar packed into one serving size. This is almost three times more than the recommendation set by the USDA Food Guide. The worst part is, people are drinking multiple energy drinks.

According to an article by the Harvard School of Public Health, more than 18 million American's have diabetes. The article states that if American's continue on the same growth trend, 22 million people will have diabetes in 2025. While some people are born with the predisposition for diabetes, it is becoming more common for adults to develop Type Two diabetes as a result their lifestyles.

While SGT Ken was assigned to a recruiting team for a short time, he dealt with an applicant being disqualified for diabetes. He found out that it was not diabetes, but the result of a six-month consumption of energy drinks. If you would like to read that story, download the article The Monster In You!. The article also includes additional details on several brands of energy drinks and how they damage your body.

Lastly, we would like to hear your nutrition and fitness requests. Please email me your progress at stephanie@gxonline.com. Or, simply post your request in this blog and we will respond right away!

Thanks for serving our great country!

Best Wishes,
Stephanie Weichert

References

* Harvard Health Letter printed by Newstarget.com on November 6, 2006 entitled, "Sugary Beverages Fuel the Obesity Epidemic"
* According to a "Nutrition and Health Info-Sheet" produced by Phd's at the University of Davis in November 2006, caffeine consumption in excess of 400mg may lead to nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness, increased urination [read: dehydration], abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia), decreased bone levels and stomach upset.
* www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/diabetes.html

Ken Weichert (a.k.a. “SGT Ken”) is a Six-time Soldier of the Year, Master Fitness Trainer and veteran of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Desert Storm. Ken and his wife Stephanie, a Certified Personal Trainer, founded START Fitness, a group exercise and hiking business that delivers military-style workouts to Soldiers and civilians since 1998. Ken and Stephanie have led thousands of Soldiers to better health through Operation Fit to Fight, a tactical fitness instructor training program designed to prepare Soldiers for Basic Combat Training, deployments, leadership schools and post-deployment reintegration. Operation Fit to Fight creates tactical athletes who lead by example and are ready to perform necessary duties in response to natural disasters or in defense of our country! Ken and Stephanie currently produce health and fitness programs for GX magazine, and for the National Guard website.

Comments

[#1 Posted by: Annette Kissling]

My brother has been drinking these for a long time. I wasn't sure if they good for you or not. This looks like really well thought out information. Thanks!

[#2 Posted by: ashton]

I have been working long days lately and was wondering if energy drinks would be the way to go. This has helped very much in my decision! Thanks!

[#3 Posted by: sunny]

You dont only have to watch out for Sugar you also have to stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup is not the cause of illness and overweight. It is our opinion that it is just another one of the unnatural foods that continually get put on the grocery shelves that can contribute to an unhealthy body

[#4 Posted by: Gary E Fassauer]

Thanks for the information on energy drinks,I was wondering, now enlighten.

[#5 Posted by: R.G.]

Can people please stop disguising their shameless advertisements as legitimate responses...

[#6 Posted by: Stephanie Weichert]

Thanks R.G. We deleted the entries in question.

[#7 Posted by: Sherry Jones]

You talk about sugar in energy drinks but there are sugar free which is what I drink. What would be the down side to that?

[#8 Posted by: Patricia Gaskin]

How about a complete whole food juice drink with 19 fruits and only a 4-6 carbs. Monavie The Real Deal that the Red Soxs among others are drinking. Any questions go to www.mymonavie.com/gaskin or the official site www.monavie.com

[#9 Posted by: larry harris]

i suffered kidney failure after drinking multiple drinks last month

[#10 Posted by: Eileen Coles]

Hey Sherry et. al, the problem with most artificial sweeteners these days is that they come with their own set of health problems. Aspartame breaks down into formaldehyde and methanol when heated, this is why you never see it in food or drink meant to be cooked. But they'll still sell you Equal in packets to put in your coffee or tea because then the decision to heat the stuff is on you and they are not legally liable. You folks have dear old Don Rumsfeld to thank for shoving aspartame through the FDA for this, some of you won't want to hear that but it's the stone truth. Aspartame causes brain damage, neural damage, blindness, all the stuff folks have come to associate with methanol. Think "bad corn squeezin's" folks.

Splenda isn't much better, it's processed in a manner that makes it chemically resemble DDT and other insecticides, and there has been no testing done as to whether all of it can be properly processed by the human body.

Truvia is Coca Cola's co-opted form of stevia which was also shoved through the FDA in a "not really peer reviewed" series of tests. This is why only Truvia can be offered for sale in stores as an artificial sweetener instead of through health food stores as a "dietary supplement".

I developed sugar sensitivity in the USAF when I used to live on Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew, I worked very long days in IT and even today caffeine is a lifestyle thing in IT. I used Mountain Dew to stay awake when I was asked to get a link for a joint services patient tracking system at HQ USAFE up and running just prior to the January 17th, 1991 Desert Storm deadline. I was awake for 72 hours working nonstop on that thing and I drank 9 two liter bottles of Dew in that timeframe. So I know how tempting it is to inhale this stuff and rely on it when you pull hard duty.

My recommendation these days is for people to go online or to a health food store and get some powdered stevia extract. Don't get the Coca Cola "Truvia" stuff, anything that gets ramrodded through the FDA in a manner that gives a big corporation a monopoly should not be trusted. I've been using powdered stevia extract for the past 2 years and I have lost 20 pounds and feel much better than I used to. Hope this helps someone out there.

[#11 Posted by: Mailman]

The nice thing about diet sodas with aspartame in them is that they taste different when they are warm and different when they are cold. Unfortunately, that's because at the different temperatures it IS chemically different. I thought about posting what Eileen Coles did about aspartame, but held off because I think I would have looked like a crazy person if I had said it in my own works.

If you can find it, there's a very interesting story about aspartame in a book called You Are Being Lied To, where it talked about two men who walked into a factory where aspartame is made without gas masks on. One of them later died, and the other suffered permanent lung damage for the rest of his life.

Me, I never touch the stuff anymore. There's plenty of other things in diet soda that are bad for you without even considering aspartame. I used to hate the heat because I drank so much crap soda. Now that I drink mostly water, temperature extremes rarely bother me.

I hadn't heard that Splenda is similar to DDT, but I had heard that chemically, it's like chlorinated sugar. I don't drink that either.

[#12 Posted by: SSG Ken Weichert]

Dear Eileen,

Thank you for the great posting! I appreciate the thought you put in to what you wrote.

Best Regards,
Stephanie and SGT Ken