On Energy Drinks

I like the odd energy drink. My favourite energy drink is a brand imported from various places in Europe. Even here in little Cyprus, we actually have a bunch of different brands on the shelves, which rotate in the shops. There are plenty of better and healthier drinks available, but for a treat, I like to get an energy drink.

A different source of caffeine

Funnily enough, I don’t drink coffee. Coffee is the national drink that most people drink. Not just normal coffee either. Coffee shops are where Cypriots regularly congregate, and they’ll have everything from fancy lattes to traditional Cypriot cafe, as well as things like frappe and cold brew.

I don’t like any of that stuff, but sometimes I still want some sort of caffeine hit. After all, we all occasionslly need a ‘pick me up’, a drink to wake me up a little bit. And lately, I’ve been pretty damn tired. So a bit of sweet energy goes a long way.

Very bad for you

Unfortunately, energy drinks are very bad for you. They are full of various additives and things, particularly taurine and other ingredients to push further than caffeine normally does.

But what really pushes the limit is just how much sugar you get in energy drinks, and, frankly, drinks in general. These things are LOADED with sugar of different types. So not only do you have additives, but you are also consuming a ton of sugar at the same time.

Of course, that sugar can give extra energy as well but it’s still bad.

The Diet Option

However, when it comes to sugary drinks, there’s sometimes a diet version. Dieg versions use artificial sweeteners like Aspartame to replace the sweetness of sugar.

What annoys me though is that I can’t get a lot of diet drinks. It’s normally diet cola, diet yellow fanta and that’s about it. Going to a restaurant or cafe is always a bit of a pain because they don’t normally have diet drinks in stock. Most people have the full sugar variant anyway.

For me though, it’s diet cola or water. And I kinda dislike being the sort of person who only drinks water when out with friends. The alternative is to drink normal drinks and have a massive sugar spike, which a diabetic like me only needs when we go hypo.

Out and about

When out and about, either shopping, playing Pokemon GO or whatever, my choices are still pretty limited. At the very least, any drinks in fridges will have diet or zero colas and MAYBE a sugar free fanta. Fridges are still limited.

But in all honestly, this is where the energy drinks come in. There are multiple sugar free energy drink brands for me to choose from. Heck, Monster energy drinks alone have plenty of sugar free options. I can’t tell you what the flavours are called, but there are two blue flavours, a green flavour and the white flavour. The white one is by far the best tasting one. And the local imported brand Hell has a few sugar free flavours too.

My point is, energy drinks have more sugar free variants than most normal drinks.

Sure, all these drinks are bad for me. But I’d much rather have something sugar free rather than full of sugar. After all, my blood sugar really doesn’t want to be so high…