Food bars and energy drinks are now sold just about everywhere. Whether you are shopping online, at convenience stores, or supermarkets, you can find various drinks or food bars that make many different promises to you. They are most commonly used to enhance athletic performance, but some people also use them as meal replacements. To give you some help finding the best energy bars and drinks, we are giving you the following tips.
These products typically have caffeine, which is what makes them work for you. Many other drinks have caffeine in them, such as soda and coffee. People react differently to caffeine, and you should be aware of how much you’re consuming. Some can only have as much caffeine as found in a cup of coffee. Other people can have much more. Many other ingredients, such as vitamins, minerals and herbs, are added to the mix along with a lot of sugar. When all of this is combined, it is not well documented exactly how it will affect most people. You may be better off drinking a naturally caffeinated beverage like coffee or tea instead. Make sure you know what your body likes before you start drinking a lot of something! If you’re not good with caffeine and you don’t figure that out until you’re 10 cups in, you’re in a pickle!
There’s a very simple way you can find out just how healthy an energy bar is. The longer the list of ingredients, the higher the chances that it’s full of unhealthy and artificial ingredients. You should be especially alert for trans fats, hydrogenated oils and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. In some instances, a plain chocolate bar would be much healthier to eat than these energy bars. Remember that any company can call its product a food bar or energy bar. It’s up to you to check out what’s really inside. If you see a foreign sounding ingredient on the list, find out what it is. A good rule of thumb i heard years ago was, if you can’t pronounce it, you shouldn’t eat it. Never just assume it’s a healthy ingredient. On the other hand, those energy bars whose ingredients list is short and are made from natural ingredients are often healthier. If you’re even in a healthy store, look at a package and you’re likely to see only a few ingredients listed.
Energy drinks and sports drinks are not the same thing, even though most people think they are. For a long time, people have been drinking sports drinks, like Gatorade, and some of what they contain include carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. They do not, however, contain caffeine, which is usually the main stimulant of energy drinks. Sports drinks often contain potassium and other electrolytes to replace those that are lost when we exercise.
Energy drinks do not have this quality, and may even contribute to dehydration due to the high caffeine content. The problem with both energy and sport drinks is the amount of sugar they both contain. You should use either sports drinks or energy drinks in moderation, and be aware of the differences between them.
It is a good idea to know each of the ingredients contained in the food bar or energy drink, when you are thinking about purchasing one. There are times when it is the combination of ingredients that are used that are the problem. To find any information the company doesn’t want to tell you, probably will take some researching on your own. If you are looking for energy drinks and food bars that are good for you, find ones that don’t use much sugar and also are made from ingredients that are natural.
