i quit energy drinks
Nobody my age should be drinking this stuff.
My energy drink of choice was Monster Lo-Carb. I liked the taste, and it is truly low on Calories at under 50 per can.
I started drinking Lo-Carb years ago in my 30s and didn't stop until recently because I finally found a substitute that actually works for me.
This is not going to be one of those stories where an energy drink messed me up or anything like that, although I will say three things:
- I purposely limited myself to two cans a day because I learned the hard way that drinking more than that would make me dizzy.
- Sometimes it would taste great and other times just plain bad. This happened for the entire time I drank Lo-Carb. It was a total crapshoot whether I'd get a "good one" or not whenever I cracked open a can.
- Lo-Carb ruined the taste of other things. If I drank a Lo-Carb and chased that with a sandwich, I'd barely taste the sandwich. I'd have to wait a bit after drinking a can before eating or drinking anything else.
Did I experience any withdrawals quitting energy drinks?
No. None whatsoever.
I thought for sure I would feel some kind of withdrawal, depression or some other not-so good feelings. Nothing of the sort happened.
What happened instead is that my head cleared up. Whenever I drank a Lo-Carb, my mind would feel "busy". That's the best way I can describe it. That busy-mind feeling would sometimes make it difficult to concentrate.
And why didn't I notice this before? I was used to it. It was only after I quit energy drinks did I realize hey, my mind isn't periodically racing around for no reason.
What am I drinking now?
Three things for the most part:
I tried this stuff and found it really agrees with me. Some people hate the taste of this stuff, but I like it.
Powerade is leagues better than energy drinks because it has no carbonation and no caffeine.
I can count quitting energy drinks as also quitting soda, since Lo-Carb was carbonated. Nothing I drink has any carbonation in it now.
Coffee
I take my coffee weak and limit myself to two cups daily. And most of the time I just drink one cup a day.
Ice water
Generally speaking, I don't like the taste of straight water unless it's really cold. For example, I'll take a Powerade bottle, fill that all the way to the top with ice, then fill with water, and I'm good with that.
A Powerade bottle is nice to use for this since it has a wide-mouth top. Yeah, I know it's not as good as a proper water bottle, but it works for me.
What do I mean by "Nobody my age..."?
I'm a Gen X, and there's not a single one of us that's under 44 at the time I write this.
Nobody over 40 should be drinking energy drinks. Some would probably argue that it should be nobody over 30.
I was the idiot still knocking back energy drinks. Yeah. Me. This guy.
Again, energy drinks didn't mess me up while I was drinking them, but it's absolutely a good thing that I quit consuming that stuff.
I'm not saying everybody should go drink Powerade instead. I just happen to like it. Maybe you would like G Zero, who knows.
I however will say that nobody over 40 should be piling in massive amounts of caffeine and energy blends into their system. That's what I was doing, and that was dumb. I now know better.
Published 2024 May 21
