The discussion was spawned by an article written by Ornstein and the rest of the folks over at ProPublica.  In Dollars for Doctors, ProPublica pulled back the covers on the financial relationship between doctors and pharmaceutical companies.  The article includes a nifty database that allows you to look up your doctor to see how much  he or she has been paid by the pharmaceutical companies.  Nice.

Adding fuel to the fire was Angie Maher, a former pharmaceutical rep who left the ranks and became a whistle blower.  According to Ms. Maher, reps are paid bonuses if they get doctors to sign up as “thought leaders” for a particular drug for which they are paid handsomely.  She contends that often times the doctors do it just for the money as opposed to the advancement of medicine.

The discussion wouldn’t have been complete without Dr. Thomas Stessler, a Professor at Harvard Medical School who basically accused the media of blowing isolated incidents out of proportion.  Mr. Stessler contends that medicine is further than it used to be due to physicians working with industry. No surprise here.

In my opinion (hey, it’s my blog so my opinion counts….you can leave a comment and give your opinion), ProPublica was dead on in shining light on this practice.  Consumers have been duped many times before by financial arrangements that didn’t have their best interests at heart . Think about the mortgage industry.  The top guys who got us into this mess made a ton of money. Sidenote:  If you haven’t seen the movie Inside Job go see it to get the skinny on that scam before it leaves theaters.

The best point was made by Ornstein when he said the information should be used to spark conversation between the doctor and the patient.  I agree.  Let’s face it, you can’t stop your doctor from making a little money on the side.  But, if he or she is on the list, you may want to ask a few questions.  Hopefully your doctor is in your corner and it won’t matter if he’s getting money from the pharmaceutical companies.

So what do you think?

Do you think it matters if your doctor is getting paid by the pharmaceutical industry?  Do you think your care suffers from this financial relationship?

Being health conscious (especially when I travel), I took what I thought was enough time to ensure that I’d be able to maintain my health while on the road.  I packed my vitamins, protein powders, water bottle and everything else I could think of.

But, I did forget what turned out to be a major detail.  I normally go online to check the area for veggie friendly restaurants.  I guess I thought since I was visiting family and going to a business function (I paid a nice price to make sure my meals would be to my liking) that everything would work out.  It didn’t.

My family doesn’t eat the same way I do, which means I often had to eat on the run.  I could feel my mind becoming more and more unfocused as my trip progressed.  Not to mention I ended up with a stopped up nose and watery eyes, both of which indicate that I’d eaten multiple meals that were less than desirable for my body.

The brain fog led to my inability to have a conversation without adding the empty “uhs” and “ahs.”  Basically I felt as if I were getting dumber and dumber.

Now that I’m home, I’ve taken the time to prepare great meals that work for me.  My mind and my ability to carry my own in a conversation have both returned to normal.

It’s good to be home.

What challenges, if any, do you have when traveling?  How do you ensure the very best for your health while on the road?

Crystal Light is one of the more popular water imposters around.  Personally, I have a few friends that swear by it and they drink it by the gallons.  They actually believe Crystal Light’s statement, “Because helping you drink more water is at the heart of Crystal Light…”  Hmmmm.  Of course, I had to investigate not only for my friends, but for everyone else out there who believes they’re doing something good for their body when they drink Crystal Light or any of the other so-called hydrating drinks out there.

As your Good Health Coach, I hate to break it to you, but drinking flavored water shouldn’t be considered part of your daily water intake.  Why?  High sugar content for one.   And, these drinks consist of simple sugars which cause your blood sugar to spike and that leads to other problems.  The sugar content is especially problematic for anyone that has any type of chronic health problem.

Let’s take a look at one of the labels for their Pure Fitness line.  I chose the lemon lime flavor. According to the label, a serving size is 4 grams and each serving contains 3 grams of sugar.   Doesn’t sound too bad on the surface, but let’s take a closer look.

So, let’s say you weigh 150 pounds.  Your optimum water intake is half your body weight in ounces so you’d need at least 75 ounces of water.  According to the handy table at metrics-org.com, 75 ounces is equal to 2126.214 g.

Now, back to Crystal Light.  If you need 2126.214 grams of water then you would need to drink 531.55 servings of Crystal Light because 1 serving equals 4 grams.  At 3 grams of sugar per serving, you’d end up with 1,594.66 grams of sugar in your body.  Going back to metrics-org.com, 1,594.66 grams is equal to 56.2499 oz, which is 7 eight ounce glasses of pure sugar….wow!

Even if you decide to drink just one carton of Crystal Light ( 14 servings), which I know some of you have done, say hello to a whopping 42 grams of sugar!

Oh, and let’s not forget to look at the label.

Ingredients: EVAPORATED CANE JUICE, CITRIC ACID, CALCIUM LACTATE, SUGAR, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF NATURAL FLAVOR, REBIANA (TRUVIA BRAND SWEETENER), POTASSIUM CITRATE, MAGNESIUM OXIDE, SODIUM CITRATE, SALT, OLEORESIN TURMERIC (FOR COLOR).

Notice anything?

What’s the first? The sun. The sun gives you vitamin D, which is known to be linked to energy and mood. This is because vitamin D is a major part of our serotonin production. I won’t go into what serotonin is exactly, but trust me, it’s what keeps your pep and your emotions in check. The best thing about the sun is that it’s free. You can go outside and enjoy it during any non-rainy day and feel great.

Of course, too much sun can be bad. Don’t worry! There’s other places to find vitamin D. Seafood and leafy greens are great sources of vitamin D. Vegetables are cheap too… much cheaper than those silly energy bars and energy drinks. Leafy greens also contain iron, which is another energizer. Iron delivers oxygen throughout your body, and oxygen is definitely a key factor to energy.

Carbohydrates are a tricky way to get energy, because there’s good carbs and bad carbs. Carbohydrate overload is not a good idea, but there are some good carbohydrates that can feed your body good energy. Those carbs come from whole grains. I’ll say it again – the good carbohydrates are from whole grains. There’s a lot of carbs out there that are from non-wheat flour and sugar. Those carbs create peaks of energy. As you know, where there’s a peak, there’s a valley (a crash), and that’s what we want to avoid. Whole grains will give you a sustained energy as opposed to the up and down effect of those other carbohydrates.

Now let’s talk about the mother of all energy sources….water. Water is the second cheapest source of energy out there. Let’s face it, the sun will always be free, but water is super-cheap too. Just turn on your tap and there it is. Even a bottle of water is $0.80 to $1.25, depending on where you live. The average energy drink is $2.35 each! Water will give you sustained energy and alertness. If you drink water throughout your workday it’s got other benefits. You will get up and walk around more because you’ll urinate more frequently. You’ll stay fuller throughout the day causing you to eat a little less at lunch and snack less the rest of the day. Plus, staying hydrated is one of the most important things you can do for your body. We’ve mentioned several times in this blog how you lose performance when you’re low on water. How great is it that you can gain it back just with a glass of water? Pretty awesome!

So next time you’re at the store looking at a Red Bull or a Zone Perfect Bar, turn and walk away! Pick up some water, a vegetable, go walk in the sun…there are smarter and cheaper ways to get your energy back.

Since I’ve been talking about how energy drinks, energy patches, and energy bars are not good because of all the sugar and caffeine. This made me think I should take a time out to let you know why I think sugar and caffeine are bad for the body. Here are my top three reasons for avoiding caffeine and sugar:

1. Drinking caffeine is a major assault on your heart. It raises your heart-rate, that’s why you feel like you have more energy. You don’t really, you’re heart is just beating faster. The strange part is that caffeine actually reduces blood flow to the brain. So your heart pumps faster, but the blood flow slows down. That’s not the way your body was meant to operate.

1. Insulin surges from sugar and caffeine cause major crashes. Your insulin levels are raised by both sugar and caffeine. When the sugar runs out, your insulin remains high, and you crash down into a feeling of being more tired than you were before the rush. I used to do this to myself every day. Around 2:30 in the afternoon I would get tired and go to my car for a nap and/or a snack. The snack usually consisted of a candy bar or a muffin, not healthy at all. I would feel better for about a half an hour or so, but then it would start all over again. I would crash, need to eat more, etc. Basically, I was using unhealthy food to energize myself, but I wasn’t really gaining energy at all.

1. Sugar can make you sick. Researchers are starting to discover a lot of things about sugar and how it reacts with harmful bacteria. It turns out that yeast and bacteria feed on sugar in your body. So if you feed yourself a lot of sugar, you’re feeding the harmful bacteria and yeast in your body as well. It’s like the signs at the campgrounds that say, “Don’t feed the bears.” Why would you feed something that you don’t want around? If you take away the sugar, if you don’t feed the bear, then there’s nothing there to feed on. Without food, the bacteria have a much harder time living and taking over.

Something else to think about is the fact that when you’re body is craving sugar, it’s usually a sign that it needs something else. Most people assume that when you’re having a sugar craving you should feed it with sugar. That’s not true at all. In fact, low adrenal function is usually the reason that you crave a lot of sugar. This disruption in adrenal function can be caused by stress, allergens that cause adrenal inflammation, or just a plain poor diet. If your body is not being nourished properly the adrenal glands cannot transition hormones later in life, which is important for women close to their menopausal years.

So is there such a thing as an “addiction to sugar” or “addiction to caffeine”? You bet there is. Many people will experience withdrawal symptoms if they decide to go cold-turkey with caffeine or sugar. These symptoms can be severe headaches, nausea, and irritability. Make sure, if you’re deciding to cut out caffeine and sugar, that you wean yourself down gently so you don’t make yourself sick.

I know I’ve cut caffeine and sugar out of my diet and I’ve never felt better. I have more energy than ever before, without the use of energy drinks, energy bars or energy patches. I just found the right foods and balanced lifestyle that allowed for my natural energy to come bubbling to the surface. Next time I’ll let you in on some of the diet choices I’ve made and how it’s actually been more cost-effective, as well. See you then!

So we’ve discussed energy drinks. We’ve dug into the energy patches. Now, we’re going to look at those energy bars that claim to give us that boost we need. I looked at three major brands of energy bars for this post; Power Bars, Luna Bars, and Zone Perfect bars. I was amazed at what I found. These bars were so full of sugar I found it hard to believe they were allowed to market it as health food. Those pesky marketing people have really done it with these babies.

First I grabbed a box of Power Bars. These are used by many athletes and other people that are constantly on the go. They claim to give you energy and protein to keep your muscles going, what they don’t tell you is that energy is sugar-based. To be fair, I avoided the chocolate flavors because I knew those would be packed with sugar. I grabbed a box of Power Bar Fruit and Nut. The top ingredient was nuts, which was fine, but then it went to brown rice syrup.

Psst….brown rice syrup is just another type of sugar. Three cheers for those marketing guys again…yeah, right!

I kept reading the label and, sure enough, there was evaporated cane juice. In case you weren’t aware, that’s sugar. This bar also contains milk, which makes it even more undesirable.

I thought, “Luna Bars! They’re made for women, they’ve got to be good.” I could not have been more wrong. They’re mostly made of toasted oats that are made with cane juice, more sugar. You know the toasted oat and rice cereals that kids eat, it’s the same thing. There’s nothing healthy about kids’ cereals. If you keep reading the Luna label there’s more cane juice and brown rice syrup. So Luna depends on sugar for their energy, too.

The last one I took a look at was Zone Perfect. This was so bad I wanted to scream in the grocery store aisle. Corn syrup was the number two ingredient. We all know that just means sugar. Then, to make matters worse, that actual word “sugar” was listed 4 times on the list of ingredients, followed by glucose syrup and fructose. Can we say sugar overload?

So, now we know. Energy bars are just a fancy word for sugar bar. What’s the point of having all these healthy and organic ingredients if you’re just going to wrap them up in sugar? You would almost be better off eating a candy bar.

Just one more artificial energy inducer to go (you probably use this one!) and then we’ll talk about how you can boost your energy the natural and safe way!

That’s right, a handful of companies making energy patches have recently started gaining momentum.  Once again, not being a fan of artificially induced energy, I had to pull back the covers to take a peak.

Spot On Energy Patch ~ What’s In It?

I selected Spot On Energy patches because they came up at the top of  my google search.   And, their site stated that it contains “many of the ingredients people rely on for energy and clarity, but none of the preservatives, sugars or calories you find in energy drinks.”  That tells me what it doesn’t contain, so what does it contain?

Upon further investigation, I found it contains caffeine (no surprise there), B vitamins (okay as long as it’s not a toxic dose), green tea extract (natural caffeine), glucuronolactone, and taurine….hold it right there.   There have been discussions indicating it may be the ingredient in many drinks and patches that actually leads to the after crash that often follows.  Use a patch, crash, use a patch, crash…hmmm…..  Sounds like it’s more beneficial to the makers of Spot On Energy Patch than to anyone else.  More patch use means more sales…cha ching!

So don’t be fooled when these companies tell you they’re the “healthy alternative.” They’re really not. The fact is fatigue is not going to be really fixed by energy drinks or patches. You’ll always be tired and you’ll always need them. The key is to find out what’s really causing your lack of energy and fix it with something other than an energy patch, which is just another “band-aid.”

Monday we’ll talk about those sweet little energy bars! And, in a few days, we’ll talk about ways you can boost your energy without caffeine, fancy drinks or sticking energy patches all over the place.

Have a great weekend!

I have to admit marketing professionals at Living Essentials, makers of 5 Hour Energy Drink, are pretty savvy.  A key point of the commercial highlighted the fact that the drink only contains 4 calories and no sugar. Energy without the calories and sugar?  Hmmm.  That alone is enough to make most folks give it a shot.  And, they did a good job of pointing out the problems with drinking coffee, all the while saying their drink contains the caffeine of only one cup of coffee.  Pretty smooth.

Not being a big fan of artificially induced energy, I did a bit of research.  First stop, 5 Hour Energy Drink website of course.  The ingredients page lists mega doses of B vitamins and an energy blend that contains amino acids along with caffeine.

Are High Doses of B Vitamins safe?

More isn’t always better, even when it comes to vitamin B.  Forseeing that question, Living Essentials further explains B vitamins are water soluble meaning your body expels anything it can’t use without toxic side effects.  True, but what they don’t tell you is that you have to drink lots of water in order for that to happen.  In other words, there has to be something to help your body expel the extra vitamins.  It won’t just happen on its own.  And, if your body retains those vitamins, it could become a situation of toxic overload.

How Much Caffeine does 5 Hour Energy Drink Have Anyway?

The caffeine claim should also be of concern.  The folks that make 5 Hour Energy Drink claim it “contains caffeine comparable to a cup of the leading premium coffee”  Exactly how much caffeine is that?  Well, they don’t define “leading premium,” but we’d have to be nuts not to think of the leader in coffee…Starbucks.  Energyfiend.com has an extensive chart on the amount of caffeine in various beverages and they have a separate chart just for Starbucks.

A regular cup of coffee as touted in the 5 Hour commercial has about 108 mg of caffeine (assuming it’s 8 oz).  Starbucks, on the other hand, has anywhere from 108 mg to 415 mg depending on the size.  Of course, our friends at Living Essentials never state what size cup they’re comparing 5 Hour Energy Drink to.  Is it 8oz, 12 oz, 16 oz or 24 oz?  There’s a big difference in the amount of caffeine.  Now, did they forget or simply choose to omit this important piece of information?

How Much Caffeine is Too Much?

So what’s the problem with caffeine?  According to the Mayo Clinic, 200-300 mg of caffeine per day is harmless to most people.  Following this train of thought, 5 Hour Energy Drink is fine as long as you don’t consume more than 1 per day AND you don’t have any other caffeine throughout the day, including foods/candy that contain caffeine.  Overdoing it can cause:

• Insomnia
• Nervousness
• Restlessness
• Irritability
• Fast or irregular heartbeat
• Muscle tremors
• Headaches
• Anxiety

5 Hour Energy Drink is marketed as a pick me up when you feel tired or out of it during the day.  However, information from the Mayo Clinic states that it’s not a good idea to use caffeine to mask sleep deprivation.  In fact, doing so causes a vicious cycle of lack of sleep, caffeine, inability to sleep, lack of sleep, caffeine, inability to sleep and so on.

What Are The Health Risks of Caffeine?

Those with health problems should also beware.   Caffeine exacerbates heart arrhythmias, as well as other ailments.  Ask, 27-year-old Antonio Hassell’s widower.  She’s currently suing Living Essentials for the wrongful death of her husband who she claims suffered a heart attack after drinking the 5 Hour Energy Drink.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss energy patches and whether they offer a viable alternative to always being tired.

Being tired all the time is probably the most common complaint I hear from my clients.  For some, the answer is very simple.  Occasional lack of sleep, jetlag and other more surface problems are easily corrected.  However, always feeling tired, as in every day, isn’t as easily corrected.  True, there are quick fixes that’ll get you through the day, but at what cost?  Aside from being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (a useless diagnosis in my opinion), what does it mean when you’re tired all the time and what can you do?  That’s the real question you should be asking yourself.

Energy drinks, energy patches, coffee and sales of other artificial energy inducers are on the rise.  Women everyday are looking to something to give them that energy boost throughout the day.  If you’ve taken any of these things, then you know what I’m talking about.  It may make sense to grab your energy inducer of choice in the afternoon, but what about later on when you run out of steam?  And what about the next day…should you turn to these energy sources on a daily basis?  Clearly not.  Most energy drinks and energy bars, even candy, are what I like to call “band-aids” for what’s really wrong.  And, if you don’t watch out, you’ll find yourself addicted to them in order to get through the day.

For the next few weeks, I’ll discuss energy drinks, bars, patches and a host of other artificial energy inducers.  Read for yourself and decide if these choices are right for you.  I’m sure you’ll learn a bit about some of the things you feel are safe to use on a regular basis.

At the end of this series, I’ll give you a few ideas of what you can do that will  increase your energy without sacrificing your long term health or becoming addicted to an unhealthy source of energy.

Great source of calcium and other vital nutrients

Okay, so we’ve established that you may not need dairy, but you do need calcium. So, without milk, how do we get calcium in our diet?

Let’s answer the question about the non-dairy food that provide more calcium than a glass of milk…..drum roll please……blackstrap molasses?!? What the heck is that? Well, when they refine sugar they basically boil all of the nutrients out of it. The darkest grade of syrup that remains is called blackstrap molasses. The darkest and thickest varieties are full of minerals like calcium, iron and potassium. Basically, it’s all of the stuff they boil out of sugar cane during the sugar refinement process. Two tablespoons of this molasses contains 400mg of calcium. That’s pretty good considering one cup of milk contains 306mg of calcium.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that you drink blackstrap molasses to fulfill your recommended daily allowance of calcium. No, mix it up a bit. So, what are other sources of calcium?

Collard greens are a great source of calcium.

Dark green vegetables are also full of calcium. Most notably is collard greens. One cup of collard greens has been tested and shown to have anywhere from 266mg to 357mg of calcium. Bok choy, kale and dandelion greens are other great sources of calcium. Of course dark green vegetables are also great for iron, especially when eaten with a light starch, which helps iron absorption.

Figs and raisins are other great sources of calcium. These fruits as well as nuts, such as almonds, make great snacks that are filled with calcium. Almond butter is one of my favorites and 2 tablespoons has 86mg of calcium. You can get almond milk, as well. Eight ounces of almond milk packs 200-300mg of calcium, making it a great alternative for milk. Personally, I make my own almond milk and it takes less than a minute and costs a lot less than buying it at the grocery store.

With so many choices available in nature, you can see that getting your recommended 1000-1200mg of calcium a day is not that difficult. There are many great places to find recipes, so my advice is pick a few things that you like that are rich in calcium and find some good recipes to use them. Let’s push that number of people that get their calcium up from 21% to 100%. We just need to eat our fruits and vegetables. Until next time, enjoy good health and dairy-free wellness!