Wilderness Skills - Olympia Mountaineers

Legal Aid ( as opposed to illegal sports aid)
Lab Rat. By Nick Heil
On the label of 5-Hour Energy—a fatigue-fighting drink that claims to be a healthy alternative to sugar bombs
like Red Bull, Monster, and venti Frappuccinos—a silhouetted runner bounds up a mountain at sunset. I
received the sample, which comes in a two-ounce plastic bottle, after spending a deskbound summer under a
brutal book-project deadline. I looked wistfully at the image of the runner. When was the last time I'd felt like
that? I read the label. FOR MODERATE ENERGY: DRINK A HALF BOTTLE OR LESS ... FOR MAXIMUM
ENERGY: DRINK ENTIRE BOTTLE AT ONE TIME.
I tend to be skeptical of such products, but suddenly I found myself tearing off the cap and gulping the
contents, the ultra-tart liquid making a little glick-glick-glick sound as it emptied into my mouth. It was around 2
p.m., and that afternoon I finished writing a book chapter, did three loads of laundry, cleaned and organized my
office, and took my dog out for an hour-long trail run. Shazam—I was that guy on the bottle!
The boost behind the juice comes from large doses of B vitamins and a proprietary energy blend that includes,
among other things, caffeine, taurine, and phenylalanine. I tried 5-Hour again the next day, with similar results;
I even scored the winning goal in my weekly soccer game.
I was so amazed by the jolt that I called up sports dietitian Dave Ellis, who works with pros from the NFL and
NBA. He hadn't tried 5-Hour, but he wasn't impressed. "You build a tolerance to these stimulants, and when
you can't feel one, you go to two; when you can't feel two, you go to three," he said. "That creates a cycle of
codependence."
Living Essentials, the maker of 5-Hour, claims it's not just the caffeine but the large hit of B vitamins that
provides the punch. Each shot contains 40 milligrams of vitamin B6 and 500 micrograms of B12—respectively,
2,000 and 8,333 percent of the recommended daily allowances. It's long been known that B vitamins aid the
metabolism and sharpen mental acuity; my grandfather, a physician, used to give my grandmother B12 shots
to crank up her energy. "The problem is, we don't know what happens over time when you isolate nutrients,"
Ellis said. "The combination of nutrients in real food offers benefits that we're just beginning to discover."
This Just In
News from the nutrition frontier
COFFEE: Stop feeling guilty about your java cravings. First, it's a myth that a moderate amount of caffeine
causes dehydration during exercise. Coffee contains heart-healthy soluble fiber—known to reduce cholesterol
levels—according to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Another study, in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggests that drinking two to three cups of coffee daily lowers the risk of
developing cardiovascular disease. Coffee is also a good source of antioxidants, including cancer-fighting
polyphenols.
VITAMIN D: Don't go light on this critical vitamin. Not only is D essential to bone health; it may also help
prevent certain cancers and autoimmune diseases. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health
found that higher vitamin D levels are associated with a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis. Most people
naturally get 200 to 400 IU daily, but experts now recommend 800 IU each day from food and supplements
combined. Get yours from a daily multivitamin. We like Centrum Silver Tablets, which have 500 IU of vitamin D
(ignore the marketing message for "older" adults).
SNACKS: Munching small portions evenly throughout the day—rather than overeating at meal times—is good
for your waistline and your job. A study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that
firefighters who split their usual meals into regular snacks had significant increases in productivity, especially
during the latter hours of the day.
Wilderness Skills Module Page 55 of 73
Olympia Mountaineers - Hiking, Alpine Scrambling and Basic Climbing