A Healthier Alternative to Energy Drinks
5 comments so farI wrote an earlier blog about the health risks involved with consuming energy drinks, and since then I’ve discovered a healthy (and tasty) alternative. It’s called Cranergy and it offers an all-natural energy boost in both invididual portion-controlled bottles and a large bottle for storage in the fridge.
Cranergy is made by Ocean Spray and contains cranberry juice, grape juice, green tea extracts, and a healthy dose of B vitamins (not 150% of suggested daily intake like most energy drinks). From what I’ve seen it comes in two flavors: cranberry and raspberry. It’s a mere 50 calories per 12 fl. oz. bottled serving. Cranergy has a very low amount of sugar because it’s made with Splenda and is jam-packed with vitamin C.
I really think this is the way energy drinks should be. It doesn’t give you a jittery burst of energy that’s way over the top like other caffeinated drinks. It delivers a subtle and natural boost to help you along.
A lot of people use energy drinks as a suppliment (or substitute) for sleep. Cranergy will by no means support this unrealistic and unhealthy lifestyle because it’s subtle. I think if we had more products like this on store shelves, people might make the healthy choice to stop overworking themselves and foregoing sleep.
I had a bottle of this one morning before I went to the National Zoo and I have to say it really boosted my energy, especially after having been sick for a week from getting my wisdom teeth pulled. I was more energetic than the other two people I went with, which I found pretty surprising. I went into the day thinking I would be dragging the rest of them down! I didn’t have any sort of crash, but ask expected I was pretty exhausted at the end of our 7 hour trip to the zoo.
Keep in mind, a good energy drink shouldn’t perform miracles! If it does, chances are there will be an equal and opposite reaction: a crippling crash.
Image Credit: MuchMoreThanAMom.com
Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 12:28 am and is filed under Food & Beverages, Product Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I tried one of these just a day or two ago. The raspberry flavor tastes very good, but I didn’t get any perceptible energy boost from the drink. It only contains 23% fruit juice and even though these Ocean Spray drinks do have less sugar, they still pack in 11 carbs - which is pretty significant if you’re doing Adkins or some other low-carb diet variation.
An alternative that I use is Emergen-C vitamin C & glucosamine powder packets. You mix these with cold water and it fizzes up slightly. I use this once a day, so I get boatloads of vitamin C and don’t pay the carb penalty.
Good for Health and againt UTI
That it is! I’m very prone to urinary tract infections, so the fact that it’s a cranberry juice only adds one more pro to the list!
Rob, there is always the possibility that because I was so optimistic about using the product that it had a sort of placebo effect; because I believed it would work, it had the desired effect. I’ll definitely go out and look for some Emergen-C and try it! Maybe it will even be featured in the blog…
What is so “healthy” about this drink. Caffeine and artificial sweeteners. Has some juice too (23 percent?). Rock Star juiced has 50 percent juice. I watch my caffeine intake and drink Rock Star 2 to 4 ounces at a time.
John, this drink does not contain caffeine. I also wrote that it was “healthier” than energy drinks. This means it contains less sugar, less calories, and more natural ingredients such as cranberry juice (although it is a juice, it promotes urinary health) and green tea extracts that give less of a sugar/caffeine induced coma than energy drinks.