Friday, March 13, 2015

Healthy Alternative Sugars
I don’t think I need to explain why sugar isn’t good for you so I’ll just hop into telling you your other options.

Stevia: According to the Global Stevia Institute stevia is a plant indigenous to South America and known for its sweetness. Each plant contains many different steviol glycosides. These glycosides are anywhere from 200 to 350 times sweeter than sugar. Though this sweetness comes without all the calories.


Whey Low: Whey low is another sugar substitute consisting of fructose, sucrose, and lactose. It comes in many different varieties and it proven to be healthier for diabetics. According to the sellers of whey low it only contains 4 calories per tablespoon, compare to sugars 9.

Xylitol: Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol in many vegetables. It has 1/3 as many calories as table sugar. It also has a lower glycemic index.

Honey:  Honey is also a natural sugar substitute. It’s composed of fructose, glucose, sucrose, and maltose similar to whey low. Honey is considerably more caloric than table sugar, but honey is sweeter so you have to use less to get the same effect as sugar. Another benefit to honey is that is less likely to become fat compared to table sugar.


Friday, March 6, 2015

 When it comes to caffeine it’s safe to say I’m an addict…
So aside from the obvious side effects of long term caffeine (headaches, the craving, etc.) I was wondering what was going on inside by body and what else was being effected that I didn’t know about.
I did some research and what I found was very interesting.
According to Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database there are many different side effects of caffeine that vary based on age, weight, and the time period that one’s been consuming caffeine regularly.
Here are the effects on an average sized 17 year old who’s been regularly drinking coffee since they were in sixth grade.
1.      Insomnia (Caffeine can cause sleep disorders in people with AIDS)
2.      Nervousness
3.      Restlessness
4.      Stomach Irritation
5.      Nausea
6.      Vomiting
7.      Raised Heart Rate
8.      Irritation of Heart Disorders
Though I did find some good side effects
1.      Caffeine can help with asthma because it’s shown to open airways for four hours after consumption.
2.      Caffeine can result in mild weight loss because it causes temporary metabolism boost.
3.      200mg of caffeine a day is shown to increase memory.
4.      Caffeine is also used in an IV to help with post-surgery patients.