Juicing For Health | Juicing To Lose Weight | Juice Lady Cherie

Monster Drinks—Beware!

Yesterday morning the stepdaughter of my Schnauzer Annie Mae’s groomer died at the age of 38 leaving behind a 3-year old daughter.  She had been drinking Monster drinks and taking diet pills. As we mourn with the family, I also want to send a warning to you.  Before downing such drinks or popping diet pills, it’s very important to know what you’re getting and what it can do to you.

Monster drinks are loaded with caffeine— energy drinks yield approximately 160 mg of caffeine for a 16 oz can. The packaging usually contains a warning label advising consumers against drinking more than 48 oz per day (16 oz per day in Australia). The drinks are not recommended for pregnant women or people sensitive to caffeine.  They also have more sugar (sucrose and glucose) than caffeine. The full list of ingredients include carbonated water, sucrose, glucose, citric acid, natural flavors, taurine, sodium citrate, color added, panax ginseng root extract, L-carnitine, caffeine, sorbic acid, benzoic acid, niacinamide, sodium chloride, glucuronolactone, inositol, guarana seed extract, pyridoxine hydrochloride, sucralose, riboflavin, maltodextrin, and cyanocobalamin.

These drinks are fattening on top of everything else.  A 16 ounce can of Monster Energy has 27 grams of sugar – that’s 7 teaspoons. And if that’s not sweet enough, it also contains the artificial sweetener sucralose. But that’s mild in comparison to the truly frightening side effects.

Fourteen-year-old Anais Fournier died December, 2011 of cardiac arrhythmia and caffeine toxicity from consuming Monster Energy drinks.  According to her parents, Fournier had purchased and consumed two Monster Energy drinks over a 24-hour period. Within hours of finishing the second Monster, she collapsed and died in the hospital six days later, after being placed in an induced coma. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began an investigation of Monster Energy drink to research the amount of caffeine these drinks contain and their effects on health. According to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, emergency room visits involving energy drinks increased to approximately 13,000 in 2009. The FDA found that Monster Energy drink has been linked to six deaths, a non-fatal heart attack, and 37 reports of adverse events. Some of these cases date as far back as 2004, making this an ongoing issue for the last decade. Nevertheless, this bad-boy drink is still on the market, and only with a warning not to drink too much.

Couple caffeine-loaded energy drinks with diet pills, and you’ve just spelled disaster.  The caffeine in diet pills is equal to 2 or 3 cups of coffee, which when added to a caffeine enriched diet, can increase heart rate, blood pressure, and induce insomnia and anxiety.

Lose Weight, Not Your Life!

If you want to lose weight, rather than your life, do vegetable juice fasting.  It’s almost guaranteed that you’ll lose weight—like a pound or two a day, without harming your body.  In fact, you’ll be helping your body with a gentle cleansing while feeding your vital organs super nutrition.  Summer is a great time to juice fast while the weather is warm.  This is the time to eat light and drink more fluids.  And if you want my help and group support along with weekly lessons, and teleconference calls with me, you can still join Jumpstart Summer.  Two more people joined this week so you will not be alone as a newcomer.

James Lost 13 Pounds Juicing

I started juicing seven days a week on May 1st of this year and have used only the recipes in your book, “The Big Book of Juices & Green Smoothies” since May 1.  My energy level began to improve noticeably after two weeks of juicing.  I lost a lot of weight. The majority of my weight loss (13 pounds) occurred between June 6th and July 6th when I began using your “The Fast Track One-Day Juice Diet” from your Turbo Diet book two times every week.  I perhaps would have lost an additional four pounds during this period had my solid food meal plan been low glycemic and/or low carb.  I’m slowly transitioning to a low glycemic and low carb nutrition program.  I anticipate losing at least another 13 pounds in the next four weeks, if not more, by supplementing my daily juicing with a healthier diet  Also, I’ve had metatarsalgia  in the bottom of my right foot for about the last two years.  Before I started  juicing I could only go out for 20 to 30 minute walks two or three days in a row and then I’d begin limping from soreness in the right foot.  Now I can walk an hour every day without developing pain in my foot. When I do experience mild aching in the bottom of my right foot on occasion, I roll the bottom of my right foot on a frozen 17 ounce bottle of water for about 20 minutes every two or three days or so and continue to walk an hour almost every day.

4 comments

  1. Peggy Roberts

    I see so much of this here in my small community! Makes me crazy, but all I can do be an advocate of better ways to get the energy they seem to be looking for. Problem is, there is also and “addiction” that goes along with it! Not good!

    • We need to talk about these issues as much as possible. Many young people are completely unaware of the dangers connected with these drinks.

  2. I’m glad you’re talking about this. Young women who want to lose weight are especially vulnerable. There are much healthier ways!

  3. People need to read the contents of these drinks before consuming them.