Beverages of All Kinds

Talk about just about anything else that is non-gaming here, but keep it clean
User avatar
Ziggy
Moderator
Posts: 14913
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:12 pm
Location: NY

Re: Beverages of All Kinds

Post by Ziggy »

marurun wrote: Sun Oct 20, 2024 12:34 pm I keep thinking vitamins might be a way to go and then I keep googling up studies that repeatedly and reliably show that taking vitamins has absolutely no positive effect except when you have a distinct deficit. Especially multivitamins may actually have detrimental effects. But man it’s a booming industry and they do a good job selling us on those phantom health benefits. Oof. So since I’ve seen the studies, why do I continue to occasionally buy them to give them a chance?

I do drink a lot of diet soda, approximately one a day. And my wife has finally got me into flavored carbonated water. It helps break up the monotony of drinking fluids at work.
Yes, there is a lot of crap to sort out regarding vitamins. Particularly when talking about the kind of vitamins commonly found in supermarkets or Wal Mart type stores. Those are mostly shit, and some could be doing you more harm than good.

But everyone can benefit from supplements, and here's why. It's no secret that a lot of the food available to us today is processed, or ultra processed, and is stripped of many nutrients. Even if you eat the best quality food you can, natural and organic, it would still be really hard (near impossible) to eat the quantity and diversity of foods to match the level you can get with (quality) supplements. However good you might be eating, there are always some nutrients that your body could benefit from having more of. What kind and how much will be different for everyone. And yeah, you gotta figure out which or your just guessing. The daily multi vitamin is like throwing a bunch of shit at the wall to see what sticks. But even a multi vitamin (let's assume perfect quality) lacks many nutrients that your body needs.

I don't want to sound like a vitamin snob, but I take a lot of high quality supplements sold through a health care professional. The type and quantity of supplements I take are determined by tests. Of course, they can be expensive, so sometimes I substitute this or that with something cheaper (supposed less quality). But with some knowledge, I feel like you could back seat doctor and add/subtract supplements depending on how you feel. To a degree, at least.
REPO Man wrote: Sun Oct 20, 2024 1:15 pm Also, @Ziggy, I may have mentioned this but Reign has zero sugar and only ten calories, which may help cutting down on sugar since Red Bull has sugar in it. I don't know how much caffeine Red Bull has, but Reign has 300mg (with 400mg being the maximum amount of caffeine daily).
Often "zero sugar" means that there's something in it worse than sugar so I tend to stay away from those things. Granted, I know there are alternative sweeteners that are supposedly not bad for you, but I'm much too lazy to research products on an individual basis. But I don't drink Red Bull purely because I'm an energy drink addict. I really do like the way it tastes.

HOLY SHIT, 300mg of caffeine? The 8.4oz Red Bull has like 80mg, which is equivalent to a cup of coffee. That would be like having nearly 4 Red Bulls. No, thanks!
User avatar
marurun
Moderator
Posts: 12405
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 am
Location: Cleveland, OH
Contact:

Re: Beverages of All Kinds

Post by marurun »

Repo is not known for making good decisions, so enough caffeine to stop his heart seems par for the course.
User avatar
marurun
Moderator
Posts: 12405
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 am
Location: Cleveland, OH
Contact:

Re: Beverages of All Kinds

Post by marurun »

@ziggy If your vitamins are Dr prescribed and supervised I gots no beefs. Keep up the keepin’ healthy.
User avatar
Ziggy
Moderator
Posts: 14913
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:12 pm
Location: NY

Re: Beverages of All Kinds

Post by Ziggy »

marurun wrote: Sun Oct 20, 2024 4:05 pm Repo is not known for making good decisions, so enough caffeine to stop his heart seems par for the course.
I've always enjoyed coffee. Even from a young age, and had to suffer people telling me it'll stunt my growth (since I turned out to be average male height I guess I would have been a giant). Into my 20's, we had an endless supply of coffee at work. So I got into the habit of drinking coffee constantly throughout the day. And then someone introduced me to Red Bull, and I loved the way it tastes, so I was having Red Bulls, and coffee, and soda every day all day. Turns out you can't fall asleep at night if you have too much caffeine past a certain time in the day. And it also turns out that if I have too mu ch caffeine and constantly like that, I get heart palpitations. The heart palpitations got bad enough that I went to see a doctor. And after discussing my diet, I was told to cut out the caffeine. So I stopped the Red Bulls cold turkey, and I switched to decaf only for many years.

Drinking only decaf is annoying. First, it doesn't go on sale nearly as often as regular coffee, and it's generally more expensive to boot. So there's that. If you ask for decaf past breakfast time in a diner, you're likely to get burnt coffee unless the waitress cares enough to brew a fresh pot for you. And then you have to endure constant, never ending berating comments like "what's the point?" and stuff like that. Judging from these comments, it seems like most people only drink coffee for the caffeine. But I digress.

I slowly started to reintroduce caffeinated coffee back into my life. I would often make 1/2 caf coffee. Or I request decaf at the diner, but then when they come around to top off I end up getting regular. Lately I've been having one cup of regular coffee in the morning. But it wasn't until just a few years ago, post-pandemic, that I started drinking Red Bull again. I blame my co-workers. Now I'm hooked on them again. It's mostly because I really do like how they taste. Not only do I get an energy boost, which can help honestly, but I like taking a short 5 minute break and enjoying a tasty beverage. I gauged how long it takes before I start crashing, and how late in the day before it could possibly affect my sleep. So there's a window that I like to have a Red Bull, where if I crash it'll be at the end of the work day.

But cutting out excess sugar and caffeine, I'm not sure that I even crash from Red Bull anymore. It's not enough sugar or caffeine to super crash from. When I Googled it, 80mg is about a cup of coffee. And I bet some people put way more sugar in their coffee, where as I drink my without sugar. So in my mind (or at least how I justified it LOL) having the one 8.4oz Red Bull is OK, and no different than instead having a cup of coffee in place of it.

But yeah, a 300mg dose of caffeine, I'm sure I'd be having heart palpitations.
marurun wrote: Sun Oct 20, 2024 4:06 pm @ziggy If your vitamins are Dr prescribed and supervised I gots no beefs. Keep up the keepin’ healthy.
The trick is to eat good, or at least as good as you can. If you're having fast food every day, there isn't a combination or amount of supplements that'll get you where you should be. But this line of talk would probably better fit in the health thread that we have. At least, I think we had a thread like that. Right?
User avatar
REPO Man
Next-Gen
Posts: 5093
Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:05 pm
Location: Outer Banks, NC

Re: Beverages of All Kinds

Post by REPO Man »

I start my day with a can of Reign with very few issues, but then again most mornings I get up after 6-7 hours of Advil PM induced sleep. If I don't take Advil PM, I'm up to 3 in the morning. And before you say anything, when I'm at work, I only drink (mostly) water. And I always cut out caffeine at 5pm.
User avatar
Ack
Moderator
Posts: 22573
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 4:26 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Beverages of All Kinds

Post by Ack »

Yeah, my doctor has also told me to take vitamin D supplements, though admittedly I spend a lot of time indoors, so it makes sense. Otherwise, my levels are usually good.

I also drink water and black coffee. I like the taste of coffee, and even if decaf doesn't have the caffeine , it still has the flavor, so I see no problems there. I have a few beers occasionally, and I do enjoy Scotch, though I drink that only rarely. I keep Gatorade and drink it after working in the yard or going to the gym.

Soda is a very rare occurrence for me, but I will sometimes get ginger ale or 7Up or something if I have an upset stomach. Even after cutting back massively on sodas after college, I treat myself every now and again to a root beer, but they're getting to be too sweet for me. I was never into energy drinks.
Image
User avatar
marurun
Moderator
Posts: 12405
Joined: Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 am
Location: Cleveland, OH
Contact:

Re: Beverages of All Kinds

Post by marurun »

My morning caffeine routine is a 12 oz can of diet cola or similar and then a 16 oz mug of tea. The rest of my hydration for the day is either water, flavored seltzer, or decaf tea in the evening. I did have vitamin D deficiency several years ago but I've been OK for a while, but I'm also a pale king so stick me in the sun for 5 minutes and I'm set for the week.

I have some lovely Chattanooga whisky that I barely touch because I just haven't been drinking much alcohol at all the past year or so.
Post Reply