The Energy Drink Scam

Do Energy Drinks Help You, or Can They Actually Make You Fat?
by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of best-sellers:  The Truth About Six Pack Abs & The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT Aging

Today I have a little rant on energy drinks...
I receive a ton of questions about all of these new "energy" drinks that have hit the market over the last few years. They seem to be all the rage, and they promise you the world with outrageous claims of all of the super energy that you are going to have, and how you'll become the best athlete in the world, start lifting cars over your head, and get a perfect body.
So a couple questions arise:
Are these "energy" drinks really any good for you?
Do they actually increase your energy?
Do they really have some sort of magical energy formula?
Will they help you lose weight?
First of all, let's look at what most of these energy drinks are usually made of. Most of them are simply carbonated water loaded with gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup (or other added sugars), caffeine, the amino acid taurine, and some crappy artificially-derived vitamins added for show to trick you into thinking there's something healthy about these concoctions.
Let's start with the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or other syrups and sugars.  Well, here we've got empty calories that will go straight to your belly fat, and that are possibly even WORSE for you than plain old refined sugar (although that's up for debate, but semantics in the big picture).  Some energy drinks use other added sugars instead of HFCS, but it doesn't really matter, because they are all gut-fattening empty calories with no nutritional benefit.
Ok, so you say that they also have low-sugar or sugar-free varieties as an alternative to the sugar-laden energy drinks. Yes, but now you have the problem of the harmful chemicals in the artificial sweeteners which have their own set of health dangers.
Another problem with artificial sweeteners is that there are some research studies that indicate artificial sweetener use leads people to inadvertently consume more calories and gain more weight in the long run... in addition to having a negative hormonal effect in the body.  I won't go into all of the details on that topic because that would fill up an entire discussion by itself.
Just trust me that artificial sweeteners and artificial chemicals in food in general, are ALL bad news for your body!  It's never a good idea to try to "trick" your body with artificial tastes.
What about the caffeine?
Well, first of all, caffeine doesn't in itself provide "energy". Technically, the only substance that actually provides energy is calories.
However, caffeine can be an aid for livening or waking some people up, by means of stimulating the central nervous system.
Instead of caffeine artificially added to some carbonated "energy" drink, I'd rather get my caffeine from a natural source like green, white, or oolong teas (or my new favorite - yerba mate teas), or even a good organic coffee, all of which actually provide very powerful healthy antioxidants too!
Keep in mind though, if you're a regular daily coffee drinker, and drink more than 1 cup of coffee per day, you probably have some level of addiction to caffeine and probably wouldn't receive too much benefit from the caffeine in an energy drink anyway.
Tip:  try to drink more tea and reduce your coffee intake to only ONE cup of coffee per day max to reduce your dependency on caffeine. Keeping total caffeine intake to around 100-150 mg/day max is helpful to prevent adrenal issues and addiction to caffeine.  Most teas contain much less caffeine than coffee, and some teas (such as green, white, and oolong) contain synergistic phytochemicals that work to slow the response of the caffeine that they do contain.  This means you get a milder response from the caffeine in green, oolong, or white teas compared to the harsher jittery response that some people get from too much coffee, or from coffee on an empty stomach.
Now what about that so called magical blend of taurine and B-vitamins that they load into these energy drinks?
Well, big deal...you get taurine in almost any protein source. And the vast majority of those artificially added B-vitamins are simply coming right out into the toilet in your pee. Vitamins are best obtained naturally from a REAL food source, not artificially added to some carbonated drink. Your body just doesn't use fake sources of vitamins as readily as natural sources from real food.
So as you can see, in my opinion, I give all of these energy drinks a big time THUMBS DOWN!  Don't fall for the ridiculous marketing of all of these so-called "energy drinks".
Instead, here's my recipe for my own home-made 
energy drink:
1.  Make a big iced tea mixture using green tea, white tea, and yerba mate tea.  I like to add a little fruit flavor, so I'll use 1 tea bag of a raspberry or blueberry hibiscus tea, and then use 2-3 green and/or white tea bags, and 2-3 yerba mate tea bags, and make a gallon container of iced tea.  I just use a small amount of stevia to lightly sweeten the batch of tea.
2. I buy a container of organic coconut water from a health food store, or buy fresh coconuts to obtain the coconut water from the inside.
3.  For my healthy energy drink, I mix a half of a glass of the white/green/yerba mate iced tea mixture and fill the rest of the glass with the coconut water.
This is actually a delicious and truly healthy energy drink instead of the chemical-laden crappy energy drinks that everybody is getting suckered into buying these days.
The green, white, and yerba mate teas contain a small dose of caffeine along with a diverse mixture of powerful antioxidants and synergistic phytochemicals.  Plus, the coconut water is a rich source of electrolytes and a diversity of vitamins and minerals, including as much potassium as a banana, but with only 1/3 the amount of carbs and calories as a banana.  Coconut water is known to provide a good instant energy source.
So enjoy this natural healthy energy drink, knowing that you're doing your body good instead of filling it with chemicals with normal store-bought energy drinks.


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Can Timing Your Food The Right Way REALLY Help You BOOST Your Metabolism and Lose More Weight?

3 VERY Unusual Food Timing Tricks That STOP Fat Storage & KILL Belly Fat…

By Shaun and Karen Hadsall
Best Selling Nutrition Authors & Stubborn Fat Experts

Did you know that when you eat food at the wrong times, it can literally make
ALL the difference between losing fat or gaining fat?

In fact, if you don't understand proper meal timing, it can SLOW down your metabolism, destroy your energy levels, and STOP your body from using fat as fuel, which means the majority of calories you eat TODAY could easily be stored as belly fat making you fatter and fatter with every bite.
 
Simply put, if you eat food at the wrong times, you'll STORE fat, but if you eat food at the right times, you'll keep your body BURNING fat.

Did you also know that traditional food timing recommendations, like "don't skip breakfast"… or "don't eat late at night"…or "make sure to eat before exercise" are ALL complete myths?

Contrary to popular belief, you should intentionally BREAK all 3 of these traditional "diet rules" if your goals are to look younger, increase your fat loss, and boost energy levels.

As with most weight loss topics, the contradicting information is everywhere when it comes to the subject of food timing and losing unsightly belly fat.

However, if you understand these 3 VERY unusual food timing tricks below, you'll NEVER have to worry about storing the calories you eat as fat on your body.

All you have to do is follow these 3 simple steps to ensure that EVERY time you eat your favorite foods you'll speed up calorie burning, STOP your metabolism from slowing down, and keep your body's fat burning hormones at optimal levels day in and day out.
 
But please proceed with caution: these 3 tricks are NEVER talked about or recommended by dieticians or personal trainers, so they go completely against the grain and are often considered HIGHLY controversial.

The 3 controversial food timing tricks below reveal exactly how you can STOP FAT STORAGE and
REPROGRAM your body to STAY in
"fat burning mode" every time you eat or exercise…

Below, you'll find all 3 tricks, and you'll also discover how easy it can be to time your food intake to help BOOST your metabolism, increase your anti-aging hormones, while keeping your body in a fat burning environment 24/7.

Food Timing Trick #1:
SKIP Breakfast (it INCREASES your fat storing hormones)

Breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day - right?

Our culture has bought into the fact that if we don't eat breakfast our metabolism will slow down, we'll get intense cravings, lose energy, and it will be harder to lose weight and burn fat

But published scientific research is now proving otherwise. Here are 3 myths we've all been programmed to believe about eating breakfast for long term health and weight loss.

MYTH #1: Breakfast Increases Your Metabolism

The whole idea that not eating a big breakfast will somehow slow down your metabolism is simply not true.
In a recent paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [1], researchers delved into dozens of studies to uncover the relationship between eating breakfast and increased metabolic rate.

The researchers divided 309 overweight and obese (but otherwise healthy adults) into two groups to specifically find out whether eating or not eating breakfast had any impact on weight loss. After 16 weeks, the researchers found absolutely NO difference in weight loss between the groups.

The researchers concluded that breakfast being the most important meal of the day is merely nothing but a shared belief. That's it. In other words, there is ZERO long term research indicating or proving that eating breakfast leads to lower body fat or increased metabolism.

MYTH #2: Eating Breakfast Helps Control Your Hunger

In fact, the exact opposite happens.

Typical breakfast foods like orange juice and wheat toast will spike insulin levels, sending your fat storage hormones soaring SKY high, making you go on a hunger binge—all while putting your body directly into a fat STORING environment.

MYTH #3: Breakfast Helps You Control Weight And Lose Fat

There are tons of studies out there that claim eating a big, well balanced breakfast helps promote weight loss. But in reality there are NO long term studies that show a direct correlation between eating breakfast and weight loss.
In fact, according to Time Magazine [3]….
 
"...contrary to popular belief, having breakfast every day was NOT tied to an improvement in metabolism. Prior thought—supported by research—has shown that eating early in the day can prevent people from overeating later out of hunger, and it boosts their metabolism early. The new study which examined causal links between breakfast habits and energy balance did NOT prove that."

Bottom Line: Eating Breakfast Does NOT Aid Weight Loss Efforts

In fact, SKIPPING breakfast altogether (a form of intermittent fasting) and eating your calories later in the day, say between 11am to 7pm or 12pm to 8pm, has been shown to increase anti-aging Growth Hormone [4], while BOOSTING your immune system [5] and regulating your hunger hormone (Ghrelin).

It also normalizes insulin sensitivity, balances leptin levels (i.e. your #1 fat burning hormone), and even reduces oxidative stress by decreasing free radicals, helping you LOOK younger.

Mounting evidence also confirms that when you skip breakfast and use some form of intermittent fasting, your body becomes adapted to burning FAT (instead of sugar) as its primary fuel, which can make you LEANER, while dramatically reducing your risk of chronic disease.

And for all you breakfast lovers out there? Feel free to have a "light" breakfast, but make sure you AVOID traditional high carb breakfast foods that spike your insulin like bagels, toast, and orange juice.
 
Stick with light protein sources, like farm fresh whole eggs, along with some low glycemic fruits (like berries or cherries). This will help keep your body in "fat burning mode" for the rest of the day.

Food Timing Trick #2:
NEVER Eat Food BEFORE You Exercise (it STOPS your body from burning fat)

Eating a balanced meal before exercise is often HIGHLY recommended and considered a "healthy" choice to help you lose weight, but in reality it can actually STOP your body from burning fat

Even when you eat healthy food before exercise you'll still raise insulin (your body's #1 STORAGE hormone), which BLOCKS your body's ability to burn fat.

Additionally, if you eat before exercise your body will be so busy digesting and burning off the food you just ate, which is great if you're a bodybuilder looking to gain muscle—but it makes it impossible for you use fat as a fuel source.

Instead, the BEST time to eat food is at LEAST 3 to 4 hours before you exercise. This will ensure there is enough time after you eat to allow insulin levels to stabilize, which will KEEP your body in a fat BURNING environment before, during, and after your workouts.

In fact, recent research suggests "fasting" before exercise may help you shed fat, which is exactly what my wife Karen and I do to stay lean and younger looking. This happens because your body's fat burning processes are controlled by your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which is "activated" by two things: exercise and lack of food. The combination of fasting and exercising together increases the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.

Food Timing Trick #3:
Eat Late At Night (even BEFORE bed if you want!)

Are you paranoid or afraid of eating late at night from the fear of gaining unwanted weight?

Well, there is really only ONE reason not eating after 6pm will help you lose more weight. You automatically end up eating LESS, which creates more of a calorie deficit. It's really that simple. It has NOTHING to do with eating late at night.

As long as you fast for a few hours before bed to let blood sugar levels return to normal levels before going to bed, which helps you release more Growth Hormone while you sleep… you can feel free to eat your biggest meal of the day well after 6pm if you want.

Believe it or not, Karen and I intentionally eat our LARGEST meal of the day between 7pm and 9pm for a variety of reasons that contribute to our health and fat loss goals.

But unfortunately, most people have been misled so they'll continue to consume their food and meals at the WRONG times, wreaking havoc on their metabolisms, suppressing their fat-burning hormones, and STOPPING their body from using fat as fuel – WITHOUT even knowing it.

It's backed by scientific research, and it's one of the easiest and safest ways to visually SEE your belly get flatter in as little as 7 short days WITHOUT strict, complicated diets or the pain and suffering of traditional crash dieting.

It's safe for ANY man or woman of ANY age, it works incredibly FAST, and it's one of the quickest ways to get a flat, attractive belly  WITHOUT long, boring exercise sessions or worrying about WHEN you eat your food.

Want to find out what foods you should have in your kitchen cupboards, and what foods you should avoid at all costs if you want to lose body fat? CLICK HERE




1. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 4, 2014 [Epub ahead of print]
2. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 5, 2014 [Epub ahead of print] (PDF)
3. Time Magazine June 6, 2014
4. Eurekalert April 3, 2011
5. Daily Life June 6, 2014

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Drink THIS First Thing in the Morning:

This daily trick can help you detoxify, improve your digestion and boost your metabolism & energy levels

by Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of the best seller: The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT Aging

You're bombarded with toxins in today's modern world... everywhere from the polluted air you breathe, the water you drink, the shampoos and other cosmetics that lather your body with chemicals, and of course, all of the chemical additives, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and other harmful compounds in the food that you eat.

All of these TOXINS can have harmful effects on your body, harming your metabolism and hormones, impairing your digestive system, and zapping your energy levels.

If I could tell you ONE thing that you could do each morning right as you wake up to help your body eliminate some of these toxins, improve your digestion, stimulate your metabolism, and BOOST your energy, would you do it?
Of course you would... and it takes less than 1 minute!
Here's the trick...
Immediately upon waking each day, squeeze about 1/2 to 1 full lemon (depending on size of the lemon) into an 8 oz glass of warm or room temperature purified water.  This is gentler on your body first thing in the morning compared to ice cold water.  I've found that slicing the lemon into quarters before squeezing by hand is easier than squeezing halves.
Drink this at least 10 minutes before eating any food for the day.
Make sure to use fresh organic lemons to make this drink, and not bottled lemon juice.  You want to use organic lemons to avoid the pesticides that can accumulate.

3 Major benefits of this morning drink to your body, health, and energy:

According to a leading health publication, TheAlternativeDaily.com:

"The health promoting benefits of lemons are powerful. For centuries, it has been known that lemons contain powerful antibacterial, antiviral and immune boosting components. We know that lemons are a great digestive aid and liver cleanser. 
Lemons contain citric acid, magnesium, bioflavonoids, vitamin C, pectin, calcium and limonene, which supercharge our immunity so that the body can fight infection.

Lemons are considered one of the most alkalizing foods you can eat. This may seem untrue as they are acidic on their own. However, in the body, lemons are alkaline; the citric acid does not create acidity once it has been metabolized. The minerals in lemons are actually what helps to alkalize the blood.  Most people are too acidic (from eating too much sugar and grains), and drinking warm lemon water helps reduce overall acidity, drawing uric acid from the joints.
This reduces the pain and inflammation which many people feel. And the American Cancer Society recommends warm lemon water to encourage regular bowel movements."

Benefits that you can enjoy:
1. Improves your digestion:
Lemon juice helps your body improve digestion and stimulates bile production. Lemon juice can even be an aid for heartburn and indigestion.

2. Boosts your energy for the day:
Even just the scent of lemon juice has been shown to improve your mood and energy levels, and reduce anxiety.  Plus the detoxifying effect and alkalizing effect of fresh organic lemon juice can improve your energy through the removal of toxins from your body.

3. Helps you to lose fat:
Since lemon juice helps to improve your digestive system, aids in removal of toxins, and increases your energy levels, this all combines together to help you to lose body fat as well through improving your hormonal balance... Yet another reason to add warm lemon water to your daily morning routine!
That's a pretty simple trick, right?
Now for the great news...
Here's what you should do next...
I want to share with you how to find plenty of delicious foods, spices, herbs, and nutrients that:

• Naturally boost your energy, 
• KILL joint pain,
• Lower your blood pressure,
• Fight diabetes & control blood sugar,
• Boost your brain health,
• HEAL your digestion problems,
• and Boost your metabolism on the NEXT PAGE!

You will also discover over a dozen surprising tricks you can use daily to FIGHT aging, helping you to look 5-10 years YOUNGER... click the button below to go to the next page to discover unique and delicious anti-aging foods, spices, herbs, teas, and other potent youth-enhancing nutrients:

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