Creating your own energy drink

I've spent far too much money in the last year on energy drinks. I gave up drinking coca cola two years ago. High fructose corn syrup is now something I avoid like poison (since i consider it an addictive poison). Shortly after quitting soda I wrote tips on how to quit drinking soda (my most popular blog ever) and even started searching out natural sodas like Hansen's soda and healthy root beer options. I found myself drawn like a kid to a candy store, to energy drinks. Filled with organic cane sugar, sucrose, and crystalline fructose (which should be an illegal substance). The taste, energy rush and sugar rush was hard to ignore, Red Bull had me hypnotized.

Red Bull Risks
Quickly I knew Red Bull had a number of health risks, and downfalls such as price, energy crash, and high sugar ingredients. While I was consuming great amounts of tea to supplement my cycle of caffeine, the rush of sugar was still something I craved. I began trying many energy drinks looking for a healthy alternative to Red Bull and its siblings like Full Throttle, Syzmo, Monster and the list goes on. In fact, if you want to see hundreds of energy drink reviews you've got to see this website: Screaming Energy

Guilt
My guilt was growing, and after spending a few hours on screaming energy's website I found that a majority of those drinks were simply soda with a fancy name and a larger price tag. The only drink I found that tasted good and was relatively healthy (at least compared to other high sugar drinks) was Blue Sky's Blue Energy. It became my favorite drink, and since it is sold at health stores like the Wedge in Minneapolis, my favorite place to shop in the world (also only a block from my apartment), I felt like it was too good to be true. As I made the switch from Red Bull to Blue Energy, I still found myself guilty...knowing that the drink still was a mixture of high sugar and injected ingredients, most of which I did not know.

The Solution
"Create your own energy drink" popped into my head. I had dreams of starting my own product, all natural juices and natural caffeine from tea, I even designed a label. I purchased a load of ingredients like blue agave, fresh lemons, limes, oranges, apple juice, vinegar, soda water, I brewed a big jug of dense black tea and cleaned out some old olive jars. The idea was that I was going to create my own drink that was superior in health to blue energy or red bull, while being far more healthy, and have ingredients that I can control. My first try was decent tasting, not sweet enough. The second was too vinegary but really gave me a boost of energy, and the third was the worst of both attempts. I was hoping to have a drink finished for Christmas and be able to give them out to relatives... my dreams were quite unrealistic. Meanwhile, I am determined to create a drink that really works for me. I cannot continue to spend money on energy drinks and feel guilty about craving them, if I can give up cocacola, the one thing I could not live without, then energy drinks should be easy.

Pure Cane Sugar
I had to break done today and buy some cane sugar, since none of my drinks no matter how much agave and honey I add, seem very sugary. I am trying to ween myself off sugar, but I need to have some or else I end up craving sweets all day long. Cocacola used to my only constant intake of sweets, as I did not eat desserts or other sugary foods. After giving up coke and switching to tea, my craving for sweets has increased. I need to find a healthy balance with my own drink that will satisfy all my needs, and the future is bright.

If you are hooked on energy drinks or soda, I suggest reading some of my past blogs and thinking about making the switch yourself. If you have created an energy drink yourself I'd love to hear your recipe, and stories of success or failure. Subscribe to my blog to hear more of my ongoing struggle with creating the perfect energy drink and learning about a slew of other great things. Thanks for reading.

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