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Every morning I start my day with at least one to two cups of coffee. Caffeine is an important part of my day; it gets me going and offers health benefits like antioxidants and improved cognitive function antioxidants to cognitive function. Unfortunately, some days 2 cups can turn into 3 or 4 depending on how I slept the night before or if I know I have a hard workout planned later in the day. Coffee is a natural andin excess can cause anxiousness, trouble sleeping, and sometimes in large quantities panic attacks. I wanted to try something new with my routine and see if I could have a different outcome without all the coffee. Queue Fuel-5 and Fuel-5+.
On the first day of my experiment, I drank my usual 1-2 cups of coffee before 1pm, this way I was sure the caffeine was out of my system before it was time to hit the gym. I won’t lie, I worried about feeling sluggish because it took all my power to not drive right home and hop into bed. Right before my workout I filled my shaker with one scoop of Fuel-5+ and immediately following my workout I drank one scoop of Fuel-5. My workouts last 1.5-2 hours and they are high intensity weight training through olympic-style Weightlifting.
The first day I tried this I admit, I prayed I wouldn’t crash and the weights would not feel too heavy. To my surprise, I felt better than I did in past trainings. Was it a placebo effect? Was I just tricking myself? Was it really working? One day is not going to change my mind, but a full week might prove it was not all in my head. As the week went on I did my best to change nothing in my daily routine, the only thing that changed was that I could sleep better at night. So something is different from the norm… must be the replacement of my early evening coffee with the Fuel-5+.
I determined that this could not be a placebo effect, and I put my Google Search hat on and took my research online. Here is what I found out about the ingredients.
Organic Sweet Potatoes (not fries unfortunately) are low on the glycemic index. Meaning that while they contain sugar, it releases slowly into the body for a sustained, natural energy source. Other potatoes and stimulants, like coffee, tend to spike a response and leave you feeling high then really low. Sweet potatoes are a great source of manganese, which helps break down nutrients in the body providing sustained energy. Okay Mr. Sweet Potato, I see you and how wonderful you are. On to the next!
Green Tea Extract: There is an enormous amount of research on green tea and I may need to write another blog on green tea to cover it all. For now, I will make it brief.Green tea contains caffeine like my friend coffee BUT not as much, which means it gives me the boost I need and not that restless, jitters at night when I am trying to sleep. Green tea has powerful antioxidants, amino acids and is loaded with other nutrients that are great for the body, including weight loss properties. Alright, Green Tea you get a big thumbs up from me.
Sucrose, Dextrose and Maltodextrin are all carbohydrates that affect cells in similar ways and are used for similar things by the body. So why all three? Well, there are differences in how they are broken down in the body and what they are used for!
Sucrose is basically table sugar. It is 50% fructose, or fruit sugar and 50% glucose, one of the most common molecules found in nature. Sucrose is broken down quickly by the body and it is an immediate, fast energy source. Sucrose is absorbed during the digestion process.
Dextrose is another name for glucose, which I am aware I just told you is 50% of sucrose, but dextrose, unlike sucrose, requires no digestion to be absorbed in the body. Another fast, immediate source of fuel not going through the digestive tract.
Maltodextrin is a slow release sugar that comes from starch. Here is our sustained energy buddy that goes along with sweet potato! This sugar is absorbed during the digestion process.
Fuel-5 and Fuel-5+ both include these 4 main sources giving the body both immediate and sustained energy. So, what does the 5 stand for? Our 5th fuel source friend is probably one of the coolest. It is Lactate.
Lactate is not lactose. I cannot count how many times I have heard, “I can’t take this product because I'm allergic to milk”. Lactose comes from milk derived products (milk, cheese, yogurt, you get it, you know what milk is).
Lactate is an ion that is in Every. Single. Cell. in the body; skin, hair, sweat, if it’s got a cell it has lactate. It is the most natural fuel source your body relies on to survive. Wow, I sound dramatic but it's true. If we did not have lactate we would not survive. So, why not give our body the energy it needs to function the best it can! Sounds good to me.
Now that I have completely exhausted my science knowledge, I am going to close out by saying I am really happy that I have made the switch. The combination of these two products have helped me stay energized during my workout and help me feel better the next day because I am able to have a better night’s sleep. I would love to hear your story or experience when you try this!
