An Energy Drinks Roundup? 268
NecroWraith asks: "Ok, I'm sure most folks on Slashdot have something they eat or drink that helps you stay awake far beyond what your body wants you to for, whatever reason: late night gaming sessions; late nights at work; or late nights in the pub. The big one now is energy drinks. I swear I see a new one on the shelf every week. Rockstar, Red Bull, Monster, Hansen's, Jolt, Red Jak, Lost, Sobe, Bawls, Amp, MDX, the list goes on. So, what have you tried, and what do you like? What tastes best? What works best? Which one is the best deal?"
My favorite.. (Score:2, Interesting)
H2O (Score:5, Interesting)
It's also required that I walk back and forth to the bathroom multiple times during the course of a night.
Bawls Guarana (Score:2, Interesting)
It tastes good, comes in a pretty, decorative blue bottle, and the name can inspire an endless stream of juvenile humor.
Plus, mixed with orange juice, tastes just like a mimosa.
I have NO idea if it actually "works."
The best deal (Score:3, Interesting)
None (Score:5, Interesting)
As for the sinus problems, when I went off meds, I had the "usual" problems a few weeks later, and just gave myself more time to rest. It took a few days, but then I felt fine. About a month later, I had sinus problems again, but they went away faster this time. That happened two or three more times, each time effecting me less and less and lasting less and less. My body had seemingly become conditioned to receiving meds to heal and soon learned to work the natural way. I started feeling better overall and found I had much more energy.
So I'd say my answer is what you don't want to hear: balanced diet and exercise, don't spend all your time in front of the computer (or only at the computer then the pub!), and don't continually push your body beyond what it tells you it can handle. If you do that, then when it comes time for those 48 hour coding sessions, you'll do fine and probably have more energy than most of your co-workers. You can be dependent on energy drinks and such or dependent on good health. I've picked the the latter. I'm not saying you should or have to, but I've found it is easier and works better all around.
Iced Tea / Lemonaid (Score:5, Interesting)
I didn't even think about this until one time at work I bought one for a coworker that moonlighted as a teacher at the fire academy. The next day he said he was running circles around his cadets, and he said the only thing he did different was to drink 32oz of what he called my "monkey brew." He started drinking one every afternoon before he went to teach and swore it was the best energy drink he ever had.
Enter my cube (Score:5, Interesting)
Best:
- Venom: best tasting of the bunch, actual flavor balancing quasi-bitter with sweet (but not sickly sweet).
- Amp: essentially "Distilled Mountain Dew", good flavor with strongest keep-awake effect I've found.
- Source Burn: a fine general energy drink with a few vitamins.
- Monster Khaos: actually contains 70% juice, tastes good.
Of note:
- Avoid the 16 oz. cans; they tend to have more "stuff" than some bodies can comfortably handle. Von Dutch has the strongest unpleasant aftereffect feeling (tastes pretty good though).
- RockStar is reportedly made by the/a son of Michael Savage (nutrition expert and political pundit) claiming it's the best balance of "energy" ingredients.
- Red Bull is the standard to measure all others against.
So far my collection includes in no particular order:
Large cans:
- Raw Energy Fuel
- MDX
- Extreme Energy Shot
- Lost
- Von Dutch
- Rooster Booster
- Horse Power
- Hansen's Energy Delux
- Full Throttle
- Monster
- Monster Khaos
- Monster Assault
- Rip It
- FirePowerEX
Small cans (preferred size):
- Crunk
- Donkey Kick
- Rush
- Amp
- Rooster Booster
- Hansen's Energy
- KMX
- ROX (Austrian)
- Red Bull
- RockStar
- Hair of the Dog
- Source Burn
- Diablo (Canadian)
- Sobe Adrenaline Rush
- Liquid Z
- Glaceau SmartWater
SmartWater is actually the best: just water, distilled & selected electrolytes - just what your body ACTUALLY needs.
Re:H2O (Score:4, Interesting)
If hydration is the problem, caffeine can actually make the problem worse because it is a diuretic. I advise anyone who is having energy or concentration problems to try drinking more water and do some stretching.
-matthew
Distilled Mountain Dew? (Score:2, Interesting)
Well, at this one site, they had mountain dew, but the CO2 and water weren't hooked up. Mmm....Mountain Dew syrup. That was a buzz.
Re:None of them (Score:4, Interesting)
That's why you feel so sleepy and sluggish. You need to get up and around to get the blood flowing every once in a while. It is very hard being a desk jockey. I always make a point to keep the temperature cool (67 degrees) if I can and always have a jug of plain water nearby. The cool temps plus the water makes for a full bladder and that entices me to get up periodically. I also exercise quite a bit and after a while of doing it, you get more energy all the time. I do my running and weightlifting in the evening so that I am not tired during the day as exercise does wear you out after you do it.
Ups and downs (Score:2, Interesting)
The so called energy drinks might give you a high for a short while but you'll be crashing down soon enough. I've recently switched my usual carb loaded lunch with a glass of whey protein. It is amazing how much more energy I have late afternoons, where I used to feel tired and peckish. Other than that, eat a high fibre breakfast cereal and a multivitamin in the mornings, a fresh, healthy dinner (no instant meals) early in the evenings (at least 3 hours before bed time).
And get regular excercise - even on a busy schedule, 30 minutes before or after work is not that much compared to how much you'll get back out of it!
150 energy drink reviews (Score:3, Interesting)
Monster Lo Carb (Score:3, Interesting)
I've actaully been able to pick it up by the case. Go to their website and call them, they'll tell you who is the local distributor. I've gotten cases for paintball tournaments that I've hosted for $32.00 (24pack).
I'm not addicted, I can stop any time I want...
Here's one that you should maybe stay away from (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's the text of the review of Redline, though.
Quite Possibly the Most Powerful Energy Drink Ever
October 7th, 2005 3:34 pm
Seriously, the drink may mean the end of this blog. In the before time, conversations generally went a little something like this:
So, whats a good energy drink in terms of strength?
Well theres a lot to choose from, based on caffeine content, taurine, ginseng, green tea extracts
Well what if Im just interested in caffeine content?
Well just go to The Caffeine Database and look around!
The point, probably lost, is that theres a lot of drinks, in varying sizes and caffeine contents, that also contain a lot of other things.
So then this new thing came out. Its called VPX Redline Fat Burner. Amazon is lacking a little information, so heres a little more:
Check out this freaky scientific VPX breakthrough: RED LINE®: is the only matrix ever developed to shred fat through the shivering response in the body. By shivering the body burns huge amounts of stored bodyfat for energy in an effort to keep the body warm. Thats not all! In addition to shivering, youll also be sweating up a thermogenic storm. The combined mechanisms of these two processes results in unparalleled fat loss!
What fun. Now, its pretty obvious looking at the ingredients that theres caffeine. But get this: all of the aforementioned goodness, and the serving size is FOUR ml. About one TENTH of an ounce. The whole bottle has 240 ml, or 60 servings. Basically, a bottle of this, less than the size of a normal can of coke, WILL kill you. This is nothing to be playing around with.
I have friends. Not just normal friends, mind you. The kind of friends that voluntarily live on the streets. The kind of friends who, when drinking, race to forgetting. The kind of friends who take caffeine pills, ephedrine pills, and asprin.. all at once. One, in particular, drinks and consumes over a gram of caffeine daily, to stave off the headaches. So you know this is a serious review:
oh yeah, its definately 90% caffeine. the aftertaste is unmistakeable. the best part is that since i didnt have my normal dose this morning, i probably wont actually feel sh*t.
[10 minutes later]
the caffeine kicked in a lot faster than i expected. though in retrospect, it normally does when its in syrup form and tastes like ass.
feel oddly cold too. took me a minute to realize that while i still was warm, it was that shiver reflex kicking in. its a lot like when
you get a chill at the back of your neck, but somewhat continuous.
So whats in this magical bottle of awesome? Caffeine, Green Tea, Yerba Mate, 5-HTP (5 hydroxy-1-tryptophan), cAMP, Yohimbe, Evodiamine, and Vinpocetine. And a few other things.
I know, I know, so heres some more info:
cAMP is cyclic adenosine monophosphate. It supposedly sparks many intercellular processes. Whatever that means. Increased concentrations supposedly raise thyroid horomone levels, and help fat burning (would help explain why its in a fat-burning supplement).
Yohimbe is a bark extract from a tree in Africa. Its considered a natural aphrodisiac, and sold here to treat imotency, dialate pupils, and stimulate fat loss. It can also mess with your blood pressure, so watch out.
Evodiamine is derived from some Chinese fruit called Evodia Rutaecarpa. Supposedly burns fat.
Vinpocetine is an alkaloid derived from some periwinkle plant. It is used in Europe, Japan, and Mexico to treat crebrovascular and cognitive disorders. Some people claims it elevates metabolism, but with no proof.
And the interesting one in the group: 5-HTP. I made sure to spell it out, so the smart ones in the group have already figured out the key: Tryptophan. It
Re:No More Sugar! (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the main reasons for caffeine giving you a wake-up call is that it forces the liver to hydrolise glycogen into glucose. So you if you are drinking a caffeinated drink your blood sugar level will rise regardless of the sugar level of the drink. This will give your brain food as brain can consume only glucose (nothing else can traverse the hematoencephalic barrier). As a result you wake up.
In fact, I have found high-sugar containing fruit like grapes to be nearly as effective as a whole jug of expresso when waking me up. If I do not wake up by the end of the second expresso jug I usually munch down half a kilogram of grapes. That does it and usually does not stick on the "rubber ring" the way junk food does.
Re:No More Sugar! (Score:3, Interesting)
Cold Turkey (Score:3, Interesting)
It contributed massively to my continuing downhill hill slide in the general health area.
Coffee is a diuretic, diuretics cause you to lose water from your system, the less hydrated you are the more sluggish and lazy you feel, after a while (if your lucky) you wake up and realize that you stopped exercising a long time ago and now your an unhealthy fat fucker.
You can do one of two things..
Sue Starbucks (not gonna win)
Get up off your lazy fat arse and go exercise _every_ day
Bet ya most people sue
The stuff is subtle and dangerous, consumers beware.