This is gonna sound silly but: are there "energy drinks" without the energy?
Alright, hear me out. I've been on a diet for several years now, and I've lost over 150 lbs. Part of the key to my success is having a variety of low / zero calorie things that I drink, perhaps most importantly including one sugarless energy drink per day. What makes them work within the context of my diet is that they're very flavorful, and take a very long time to drink relative to stuff like water, tea, soda, etc., and drinking them over that long period suppresses my appetite for the duration.
But I don't want, or need the "energy." And I sure don't need the heart palpitations, either. So basically, I am looking for "energy" drinks in terms of intensity of flavor, but without all the stuff that makes them "energy" drinks.
While looking I've seen some that are caffeine free, but they're still "energy" drinks. Do you guys think being caffeine free alone is enough to lessen the strain on my body?
And before anyone mentions drinking water: I DO drink water. I drink at least two liters every day. But just sitting here chugging water all day doesn't quiet the unceasing scream in my brain that tells me to eat an entire family's worth of food in one sitting.
Take a caffeine free soda and add one of those "water enhancer" things like a propel or mio in a similar flavour. All the overabundance of flavour without the caffeine.
Kombucha is tea that ferments kind of like vinegar does; it has lots of live probiotic cultures, plus lactic acid and acetic acid and a couple other things, that give it a strong taste and make it hard to chug. It has a small amount of caffeine in it, but nowhere even close to what an energy drink has. It may help with satiety; I also had a friend who used it to help overcome a dependency on alcohol.
Many store-bought brands have a considerable amount of sugar in them, plus they're kinda pricey. If you brew it yourself, you can control the tea/caffeine strength, as well as the sweetness and tartness (as time goes on, the sugar in the batch turns into acids and carbon dioxide), and eventually you can even mix other stuff like green tea, white tea, herbal teas, or other flavorings in with it.
All it takes to make your own is a couple black tea bags, a little vinegar, some sugar, a large enough jar, some starter, and a bit of patience. You brew the tea, you sweeten it to southern sweet tea levels, you drop its pH below 4, and then you wait. In 8-12 days, the sweetness should diminish to only a faint level.
I recommend at least a quart-size jar to brew it in. If you're interested, I can mail you a starter, I need to start my next big batch anyway.
You can try water kefir too. Made in a similar way but doesn't have the vinegar taste. Its pretty good and you can make it with whatever flavor you like.
I don't know and I've asked myself the same question, but I think you should try kombucha if you haven't. It doesn't taste the exact same but it's the closest thing I know of to what you're looking for
When I worked at a gas station, my daily diet was two full throttle blues, a bag of all dressed chips, and a BBQ sandwich from behind the counter (I was the one who put it on everyday so I got that good fresh BBQ)
Hibiscus is awesome. It's zero calories, tastes like juice, and cheap. You can add it to your own homemade low calorie kombucha and you're in flavor town.
That's what I was thinking of. I forget the brand, but there's one that's pretty high in niacin and the ingredients read like a Red Bull without the caffeine.
I like powerbar electrolyte Tablets. They've got sucralose in them which many know as Splenda. They are cheap though and sugar free. I find the blackcurrant ones to taste the best. Raspberry -pomegranate is also good.
There is a juice brand called Fruit Shoot that I love and has surprisingly low sugar and added ingredients (relatively speaking, for the category, still be mindful of the nutrition), yet has very intense flavor.
The green apple one for example tastes like green apple candy, on the level of energy drinks IMO. Maybe you can give it a shot if you can get your hands on a Fruit Shoot
Like what is this 'intense flavor' that you're looking for? Because otherwise what you're describing is the worst seltzer flavor imaginable. Guarana flavored La Croix
Did you have a different flavor in mind? Otherwise I'm going to default to whatever monster and redbull tastes like. Or maybe you mean like celcius and the juice flavored monsters. Then your looking for like a fizzy zero-calorie juice. I just need something to describe it other than energyless-energy-drink. Thats just a word that deletes itself.
they still have caffeine but i like ghost energy drinks, they only have 100% daily value of a lot of ingredients that other energy drinks have 200% or 400%. i think the caffeine is still at 200% but idk for sure i don't have a can right now.