Is Caffeine Messing Me Up?

I work midnights and staying alert is sometimes a challenge. I think I am for sure addicted to caffeine. I drink approx. 3 20 oz. diet mountain dews per shift. I know that caffeine is not a great choice.

My question is: does caffeine really hender muscle building progress a great deal? I guess I’m looking for some motivation to give up my only addiction. Feel free to hammer me as I probably need it.

Thanks.

[quote]roberds wrote:
I work midnights and staying alert is sometimes a challenge. I think I am for sure addicted to caffeine. I drink approx. 3 20 oz. diet mountain dews per shift. I know that caffeine is not a great choice. My question is; does caffeine really hender muscle building progress a great deal? I guess I’m looking for some motivation to give up my only addiction. Feel free to hammer me as I probably need it.

Thanks [/quote]

I read that it can interfere with shuttling nutrients into the muscles.

And why the hell would you be downing soft drinks? Drink tea and coffee if you must have your caffeine kick.

Caffeine has a profound effect on cortisol production show should be avoided around the time you wake. Upping your vitamin C intake will help stunt cortisol production to a degree.

It certainly would be better for you to rely less on caffeine, as lixy said, nutrient shuttling can be affected.

Slam a protein shake instead of a caffinated beverage, id even avoid coffee and just go for tea as well.

Aside from caffeine, sugar depletes the body’s stock of vitamins and minerals. Not to mention it packs on the fat and rots your teeth. Screw pop, especially 3 times a day. I have it maybe once or twice a week when I go out to eat, but moderation is okay. Excessive consumption is counter productive on many levels.

Thanks

I drink soft drinks because the gas stations in the area I work gives them to me for free, and their coffee sucks.

I do feel stressed after the second soda, which Im sure elevates cortisol as well.

Hell with it, Im gonna get off it.

If you ever get a chance to work mids…pass

Diet soda gets a bad rap. It does not rot your teeth. That’s silly. I’m not saying it’s a good option, there are better, but it’s not that horrible.

I would suggest upping your B Vitamin intake. All of them. All of those fancy energy drinks are basically B Vitamins in disguise.

[quote]eengrms76 wrote:
Diet soda gets a bad rap. It does not rot your teeth. That’s silly. I’m not saying it’s a good option, there are better, but it’s not that horrible.

I would suggest upping your B Vitamin intake. All of them. All of those fancy energy drinks are basically B Vitamins in disguise.[/quote]

I missed that it was diet pop. But still, the acids in pop are more tooth decaying than sugars. Plus aspartame has been proven to signifigantly slow metabolism among many other terrible things.

And B vitamins are great, but I’ve noticed nothing profound from using them daily for a long time now. Energy drinks are usually mostly B12 in high doses along with caffeine, taurine, yohimbine hcl, etc.

The most effective stimulant I’ve used out of many is definately ginseng. You usually have to take it for a few days before you notice it, but it is very pronounced and usually promotes a euphoric mood without the jitters and anxiety of most other stimulants. It also has proven itself to be tremendously healthy in a variety of ways. You should get Panax ginseng standardized at 5-7% and take two 100mg caps twice a day. You can get around two months worth at Walmart for less than $10.

[quote]Bujutsuka wrote:
I missed that it was diet pop. But still, the acids in pop are more tooth decaying than sugars. Plus aspartame has been proven to signifigantly slow metabolism among many other terrible things.[/quote]

That’s why you should avoid aspartame and drink the ones sweetened with splenda only. They’re better anyway.

I’ve never read that aspartame affects metabolism. Can you post a link?

[quote]eengrms76 wrote:
Bujutsuka wrote:
I missed that it was diet pop. But still, the acids in pop are more tooth decaying than sugars. Plus aspartame has been proven to signifigantly slow metabolism among many other terrible things.

That’s why you should avoid aspartame and drink the ones sweetened with splenda only. They’re better anyway.

I’ve never read that aspartame affects metabolism. Can you post a link?[/quote]

Do they make diet pop with splenda? I consider diet pop my enemy so I don’t really know too much about it, but I’m pretty sure diet mt. dew is aspartame all the way.

As for how it affects metabolism…
www.rense.com/general3/asper.htm

[quote]Bujutsuka wrote:
eengrms76 wrote:
Bujutsuka wrote:
I missed that it was diet pop. But still, the acids in pop are more tooth decaying than sugars. Plus aspartame has been proven to signifigantly slow metabolism among many other terrible things.

That’s why you should avoid aspartame and drink the ones sweetened with splenda only. They’re better anyway.

I’ve never read that aspartame affects metabolism. Can you post a link?

Do they make diet pop with splenda? I consider diet pop my enemy so I don’t really know too much about it, but I’m pretty sure diet mt. dew is aspartame all the way.

As for how it affects metabolism…
www.rense.com/general3/asper.htm

[/quote]

You can get Diet Pepsi, 7-up, and a few others with Splenda. You have to look for it. I’ve only ever seen it in certain grocery stores and I’ve never seen Diet Mountain Dew with it. Obviously diet pop at a restaurant isn’t going to have splenda.

I agree Diet pop isn’t the best option. But it’s better than any sugary pop or even gatorade/powerade. I always laugh at the guys I work with that won’t touch pop because it’s bad for you but they down gatorade all day (while sitting at their desk) and wonder why they are fat.

I was a rather heavy diet soda drinker untill I stopped 1 month ago. I had no problems with metabolism during my years long diet sonda binge, but I wanted to abstain for a while to see if I noticed any effects, because of the bad stuff I’ve been reading about aspartame, and because I believe addictions to non-healthy stuff are just that, non-healthy.

[quote]roberds wrote:
I work midnights and staying alert is sometimes a challenge. I think I am for sure addicted to caffeine. I drink approx. 3 20 oz. diet mountain dews per shift. I know that caffeine is not a great choice.

My question is: does caffeine really hender muscle building progress a great deal? I guess I’m looking for some motivation to give up my only addiction. Feel free to hammer me as I probably need it.

Thanks. [/quote]

I work nights as well, the best thing that has worked that is healthy to help me stay awake… WATER I easily drink over 3 liters in my shift.

One of the side effect that keeps you alert… constantly going to the bathroom.

Sounds silly but drink water continuously and you will understand.

I’ve switched from diet sodas to Spike Shooters…

300mg caffeine and some yohimbe usually do the trick. I also work nights.

I’d never heard the aspartame-metabolism thing before, but I checked the link and it makes sense.

And just in case that’s not enough to get everyone here off aspartame: it was rejected by the FDA eight times before it was grudgingly approved. Once it was, they wanted to continue testing because they weren’t even fully convinced, and apparently the method they used was one of the most inaccurate and biased systems the FDA had ever seen. The filed a lawsuit, but the company offered the FDA’s lawyer a shitload of money so he dropped the case and started working for them… and the case was dropped.

Oh, America.