The caffeine appreciation thread.

[Variable]

So anyone who hangs out with me for more than two hours will tell you that I have a true love ( some people say addiction ) for caffeine.  Stateside ill probably drink about 8-10 15oz energy drinks a day.  When i'm deployed I have to cut it down to about 3-5 and supplement the rest with coffee due to limited supply.  Even though my friends and family have been amazing about mailing me the drinks.  I swear I have more energy drinks-shooters than a 7 11 under my bed in Afghanistan. 

So in 2009 my self proclaimed invention of the year was the "armor block" from underarmor.  A feature they added to their products to prevent them from smelling like the old fabric used to.  But when I went home on R&R I discovered Rockstar energy gum.....then the greatest energy drink ever.  The Rockstar Recovery.  I only drink sugar free energy drinks ( I dont like the crash, plus I gota stay sexy, and I dont want diabetes ) so, This drink has almost no calories, carbs, or sugars.  Its non carbonated, lemonade flavored, and its got electrolytes ( Has an idiocracy flash back)  Its pretty much sugar free gatorade with a shit ton of caffeine and b vitamines.  I love the shit out of this drink. So fuck the iPad or healthcare reform.  Rockstar steals the show with its invention of this drink.     And I just thought I would share this with the rest of you.

[chick de la lynch]

I remember back in my communications class we had to do speeches on why people should or shouldn't do something. Anyway this one kid did a speech on energy drinks and why people shouldn't drink them. He mentioned some horrible symptoms such as heart palpitations, insomnia, diabetes (The drinks that are loaded with sugar) and death in some cases.The kid who did the speech used to drink 5 of those a day (He worked the overnight shift at some store). He stopped once his health began to go downhill. I didn't drink energy drinks before then and that definitely didn't make me want to drink them after that speech.

However, I do enjoy coffee. I worked at a coffee shop some time ago and I used to drink the free samples A LOT. I am a lightweight when it comes to caffeine. Anything above one shot of espresso and I either get the shakes or I get sick to my stomach.

I used to be a big soda drinker, too. As of lately I've been drinking less soda and more water. I still love caffeine even though my body can't handle it.

[Variable]

That kid obviously doesn't like to party.  His opinion has no bearing. 

But in all seriousness.  You can consume 600mg of caffeine a day before it is supposed to be bad for you.  Each one of those drinks has on average 160MG ( rockstars on average have the most. But the monster hitman shooters have something like 200-250mg).  The rest is just a big liquid multivitamin.  Unless you drink the sugary ones.  I have gotten into many debates with Doctors and Physicians Assistants on the subject.  In the end, they have all conceded to me that their is actually no proof that these drinks are bad for you.

However it is a scientific fact that black coffee is extremely healthy to drink.  It helps prevent diabetes and sclerosis of the liver.  Plus its packed full of antioxidants.  Coffee is actually America's #1 source of antioxidants. 

[alvarezbassist17]

I have a thing for pretty much all flavors of mountain dew, I only use energy drinks on extremely needed occasions.  I dunno, it might just be me, I'm really not into uppers, maybe I'm just naturally high strung so I prefer downers to keep me in check, but maybe I'm just a downer kind of guy.  I drink water like it's nobody's business though \m/

What kind of sugar intake would make someone up and turn diabetic?  I've always wondered that while i pound dew and eat grips of cookies.

[Variable]

well there is no known empirical cause of diabetes.  The medical community has a pretty dam good educated guess, but it has never been proven.  The first biggest disposition would be genetic.  Native Americans are especially at risk, but if you have any family history you're at risk.  But the more relevant answer would be that any kind of sugar spikes seem to contribute.  For example, drinking sodas.  You have a sudden, and big, spike in your sugar.  Which seems to put extra strain on your pancreas, ultimately leading to the inability of your pancreas to function properly. 
Also I highly suspect artificial sugars are a huge culprit.  I was actually being ironic when I said I drink sugar free drinks to avoid diabetes, because I truly believe that the artificial sugars are worse.  Its kind of like the butter VS margarine thing.  We thought this stuff was great at first.  Then we realized that our bodies have no idea how to process it and it is actually worse for us.  I highly suspect that your pancreas and insulin have no idea what to do with these artificial sugars and it eventually can lead to diabetes.  Especially because your body is going to react like it just had a sugar spike, when in reality it did not.  None of this can be proven, but it makes sense right?
But its not always this obvious either.  Carrots have actually been proven to be the worst thing you can eat for sugar spikes.  So just think about everything else that could cause the same, including alcohol. 
So I don't know.  Ill probably end up really cutting back on the energy drinks and sticking to good old black coffee here soon, if for no other reason other than saving money.  I was kind of on the fence about if I was even going to be alive in a year, so I said fuck it and just did what I wanted.  But truly that amount of sugar or artificial sugar is not good for you.  So seeing as how I am now pretty confident ill be around for a bit while longer, ill take some of the health risk into consideration.  But I'm still having a dam rockstar recovery from time to time.  Things are amazing. 

[Variable]

I only use energy drinks on extremely needed occasions.

When I was home on R&R a couple months ago I would start each night with two extra strength 5 hour energies and 1 sugar free rockstar.  My friends were appalled.  I got so much shit from them about it.  When on the flip side, I could drink this shit all day and my military friends wouldn't think twice about it.  I guess its just a norm in that community. 

[Necrocetaceanbeastiality]

High fructose corn syrup =/= sugar.

Sall about the red bull cola, which is basically caffeine ridden mexican coke. It also contains coca leaf. Delicious. They're a rare treat for me though.

I cut back on my caffeine intake recently because of insomnia issues. I only have about 1 cup of coffee a week when before, I was drinking 3-4 cups a day. And I make my coffee mega strong. I have an espresso machine, bro.

[Variable]

You really should try the rockstar recovery.  It gives me a warm feeling inside just thinking about it. 

[devilinside]

That's why ur ass was having seizures!!

Oh snap...you can't respond. :/

[Variable]

lol I CAN NOW!

and yeah, thats what everyone tries to blame them on too.  Until I go see the no shit neurologist and she just laughs about how unlikely that is.  But she did say maybe I should take it down to like 5 instead of 10.  Just because its so hot where I work and dehydration is a factor. 

[alvarezbassist17]

well there is no known empirical cause of diabetes.  The medical community has a pretty dam good educated guess, but it has never been proven.  The first biggest disposition would be genetic.  Native Americans are especially at risk, but if you have any family history you're at risk.  But the more relevant answer would be that any kind of sugar spikes seem to contribute.  For example, drinking sodas.  You have a sudden, and big, spike in your sugar.  Which seems to put extra strain on your pancreas, ultimately leading to the inability of your pancreas to function properly. 
Also I highly suspect artificial sugars are a huge culprit.  I was actually being ironic when I said I drink sugar free drinks to avoid diabetes, because I truly believe that the artificial sugars are worse.  Its kind of like the butter VS margarine thing.  We thought this stuff was great at first.  Then we realized that our bodies have no idea how to process it and it is actually worse for us.  I highly suspect that your pancreas and insulin have no idea what to do with these artificial sugars and it eventually can lead to diabetes.  Especially because your body is going to react like it just had a sugar spike, when in reality it did not.  None of this can be proven, but it makes sense right?
But its not always this obvious either.  Carrots have actually been proven to be the worst thing you can eat for sugar spikes.  So just think about everything else that could cause the same, including alcohol. 
So I don't know.  Ill probably end up really cutting back on the energy drinks and sticking to good old black coffee here soon, if for no other reason other than saving money.  I was kind of on the fence about if I was even going to be alive in a year, so I said fuck it and just did what I wanted.  But truly that amount of sugar or artificial sugar is not good for you.  So seeing as how I am now pretty confident ill be around for a bit while longer, ill take some of the health risk into consideration.  But I'm still having a dam rockstar recovery from time to time.  Things are amazing. 

Ok, I think I get what you're saying.  I really have the same opinion on artificial sugars and fats and shit, I really don't think they help anything.  Maybe if they find out it's like that with diabetes, they could make the connection between that and cancer.  I don't really feel like looking up stats or whatever, but do you know off the top of your head if there's been an increase in the cancer rate since back in the day?  I mean I'm guessing there has from all the more publicity about it, but I don't really know for sure.  I think about that, and I wonder if it'd be more likely to be caused by all of the crap we eat, or a combination of that and constantly being dehydrated, or if there's just more radiation and waves floating around that our bodies aren't used to, you know, just things that have changed in the last 100 years or whatever.  Or maybe we're just better at diagnosing it now or something.

[Variable]

I don't have and literature to back it up.  But I know cancer is on the rise.  Of course that could be for hundreds of reasons.  I'm sure a ton of it has to do with the chemical lifestyles we have inhabited.  If you think biologically as to what causes cancer, cell death and then regeneration with you DNA having a small chance of replicating with an error, you could see how adding chemicals be it through food or cosmetics or just the air, would cause a rise in cancer.  Also just from the small reading I have done on physics, the human body really amazes me.  We are constantly living in all kinds of different waves emitted from the universe, and we seem to have adapted to that just fine.  But I still can't help but think that the waves we add to the atmosphere through microwaves, cell phones, radios ect ect , don't have an affect on our bodies.  And as sad as it is to say, cancer diagnosis and treatment is a huge industry worldwide.  There are a lot of people out there with a lot of money that have big incentives to make sure nothing is really done about this.  So sure, they would love for us to continue to drink our splenda without any warning labels or research on its affects on our bodies ( be it cancer or diabetes ) So, I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet that there is a lot more research money going into cancer treatment rather than cause,prevention,or cure......

Fuck, now I don't want to drink my sugar free rockstars anymore.  Boo for this topic

[sing blue silver]

i have a heart condition and an EXTREME caffeine sensitivity so the shit can actually give me a heart attack and kill me....sooo.....yeah....not a fan. unless it's the song by faith no more.

[Variable]

Yeah we're getting a lot of negative press considering this was supposed to be a caffeine appreciation thread. 

[Necrocetaceanbeastiality]

Had a Rockstar yesterday.

Gave me heartburn.

But I played CS for two hours and totally fucking rocked it.

[Variable]

Well obviously.  Rockstars make you better at everything.  That's why I'm so awesome

[alvarezbassist17]

I don't have and literature to back it up.  But I know cancer is on the rise.  Of course that could be for hundreds of reasons.  I'm sure a ton of it has to do with the chemical lifestyles we have inhabited.  If you think biologically as to what causes cancer, cell death and then regeneration with you DNA having a small chance of replicating with an error, you could see how adding chemicals be it through food or cosmetics or just the air, would cause a rise in cancer.  Also just from the small reading I have done on physics, the human body really amazes me.  We are constantly living in all kinds of different waves emitted from the universe, and we seem to have adapted to that just fine.  But I still can't help but think that the waves we add to the atmosphere through microwaves, cell phones, radios ect ect , don't have an affect on our bodies.  And as sad as it is to say, cancer diagnosis and treatment is a huge industry worldwide.  There are a lot of people out there with a lot of money that have big incentives to make sure nothing is really done about this.  So sure, they would love for us to continue to drink our splenda without any warning labels or research on its affects on our bodies ( be it cancer or diabetes ) So, I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet that there is a lot more research money going into cancer treatment rather than cause,prevention,or cure......

Fuck, now I don't want to drink my sugar free rockstars anymore.  Boo for this topic

Yeah, I didn't even think about the cancer industry thing, but that totally makes sense.  But I've said for a looong time that we rely far too much on treating rather than preventing disease.  And that the fact that we ingest chemicals that our bodies really haven't evolved to digest day in and day out and are exposed to all of these different things that have only come about in the last couple centuries doesn't really seem to be anywhere close to the focus, it IS all about the cure. 

I think this may be kind of a stretch, but I actually think monetary policy might have something to do with it... bear with me here.  I was talking with my girlfriend about this the other day, and she was talking about this one tribe somewhere where the average age is like 90-something because they all eat the "rainbow diet" or whatever and aren't exposed to pollution and all of that shit.  And I just think to myself, wtf, in terms of capital, there are more countries that you couldn't measure how many times more wealthy they are than this tribe, but even in America, everybody, businesses and consumers, are just trying to cut costs so hard because of taxes, especially the inflation tax, that now we have to rely on all of these cheap to produce chemicals in order to afford to eat what we want, i.e. dollar menu, what have you.  I kind of touched on this in a couple arguments I had with blixa, if you're bored and you look back in the "kfc wtf" and "don't like..." topics, but I really think that's the problem, when so many people, because our dollar buys so little, have to buy shit filled with chemicals because it's cheaper to buy something that was manufactured with a bunch of preservatives halfway across the country than it is to get something that's a little less foreign to our digestive systems.  Who knows, maybe I'm just goin off like a hippie, but I try to think about problems like an Austrian.

But yeah, haha sorry to bring up cancer in your topic, I know it's a real mood-killer.  Caffeine totally rulz though \m/

[downtownpony]

drinkin a cappacino now, and got a full pot of coffee on the burner waiting....

[Variable]

drinkin a cappacino now, and got a full pot of coffee on the burner waiting....

My man.  Except cappacinos are gay.  But other than that, I'm proud of you.

I just chugged a tipple sized blue monster about 20 min ago.  I think it gave me enough of a boost to walk my lazy ass over to the chow hall. 

[Variable]

Coffee, chocolate, and tobacco are all great things.  Maybe I should change the name of this thread to that. 

It's an acquired taste though.  I doubt you liked beer the first time you tried it either?  I sure as shit didn't.  But if you give it a chance, you will warm up to it and it becomes amazing.