With all the marketing campaigns out there touting the benefits of each new energy drink, you might think that there’s no way to get energized without buying some expensive energy drink.

But pry your eyes away from the hype for a second and think about the target market of most energy drinks… it’s usually overworked adults who eat junk food and don’t get enough sleep, or teenagers who stay out all night and then need a big rush to keep them going the next day.

If that describes you, you could keep downing the energy drinks like there’s no tomorrow, or you could make a few little lifestyle changes that result in an abundance of energy, naturally!

Follow these simple steps and you’ll be getting energized for free:

1) Get enough sleep, whether it’s 4 hours, 8 hours, or more.

Why:

Have you heard that recovery is the most important part of your training? Well, sleep is the most important part of your recovery.

There are certain bodily processes that only occur during sleep, and there are just so many health benefits from getting enough sleep. For example, your body repairs damaged cells while you sleep, and being asleep naturally reduces stress.

Add that up and you have the recipe for more energy!

How:

First, figure out how much sleep you need.

Most nights I need eight hours of sleep, although on easy days I do fine with seven, while crazy circumstances (like numerous six hour training rides) call for twelve hours of sleep or more.

On the other hand, I know some people who sleep about four hours per night and wouldn’t dare sleep any more than that! It just seems that some people are wired to be fully rested by sleeping for four hours per night.

Now, block out that much time every night.

Let’s say you’re like most people and need eight hours of sleep per night. So, if you have to get up by 7:00 AM to get to work on time, be absolutely certain to be in bed at 11:00 PM.

Yeah, that’s easier said than done, but it’s your health that’s at stake, so make the wise decision.

2) Exercise regularly… as in, 6 days per week.

Why:

To paraphrase Newton’s first law of motion, “An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion…”

So by actually exercising, you’re getting into motion. Once in motion, it will be much easier to stay in motion. And if you think about it, staying in motion is a lot like having a constant supply of energy.

With regular exercise (from 30 minutes to 8 hours per day, six days per week, depending on your goals,) you keep your body ready to go and feeling great all the time.

Plus, exercise releases endorphins, which will keep your spirits elevated, creating a constant mental energy boost!

How:

You don’t have to do a lot, but do it regularly.

So schedule exercise like you would with any other important activity. You could schedule it on your appointment calendar or just pick a certain time of the day when you will exercise no matter what. (This is when it pays to have a coach or training plan to guide you.)

And don’t make excuses to get out of exercising. I’ve read numerous articles (here’s one about CEOs and one about the president) about busy people, usually CEOs or other businessmen that fit in their exercise despite 12-16 hour days in the office, global travel, and/or families.

They make it a priority and stick with it, instead of saying “oh I’m busy today” or “I have too many projects going on” or “I’m at work all day, there’s just no time for exercise.”

3) Eat healthy foods… you know, like green, leafy vegetables.

Why:

The last saying for today is “you are what you eat.” While that shouldn’t be taken literally, I have found that “if you eat crap, you’ll feel like crap.”

By that I mean, when I eat junk food like French fries or chips and snacks all day, I feel great for a very short period of time, but the next day I feel lethargic and run down.

However, if I eat natural, unprocessed foods (especially fruits and vegetables full of nutrients like antioxidants,) I just plain feel good.

That’s because your body needs those nutrients to function properly. You usually don’t get those nutrients with fast food, so instead of feeling energetic, your body shuts down until you feed it what it needs.

Also, if you binge eat or fill your body with sugar, you’re going to deal with blood sugar and insulin spikes, which will eventually result in a sugar crash. So… a complete lack of energy!

How:

To get a variety of healthy foods in your diet, the plan is pretty straight-forward: buy healthy foods.

Make a list of healthy foods, and when you go shopping (at the supermarket and local farmer’s markets,) buy the health food instead of the junk food. Or at least make the junk food a small portion of the overall amount.

If you have the healthy food in your house, you’ll eat it. If you don’t have junk food in your house, you won’t eat it.

Once that becomes routine, it’s not all that hard to eat healthy. Really.

It’s illustrated by Newton’s first law of healthy eating - “If you get used to eating healthy foods, you will continue to choose healthy foods over junk food.”

And once you realize how much more energy you have, you’ll be eating healthy, exercising, and sleeping sound, and you’ll wonder how you ever lived differently!

Photo credits: Sleeping by Annie Mole | Push-up by Joe Shlabotnik | Vegetables by mckaysavage

Healthy energy drinks aren’t going away anytime soon! The latest healthy drink I have found amongst the thousands of terrible drinks is called Fiva. It’s pronounced “five-ah” which originates from the phrase “five a day.”

That’s because you’re supposed to get “five a day” when it comes to servings of fruits and vegetables, but the majority of people don’t get enough. It’s just not convenient to make sure we get all our recommended servings when we have other things on our plates (pun intended.)

So we turn to energy drinks and energy bars, hoping that they provide us with valuable vitamins, minerals, and all the essential nutrients. Some people may think they are getting real food, but really, there is no comparison between an energy bar and a real plate of vegetables.

However, some drink manufacturers are catching on, and giving us healthy energy drinks - like Fiva! A glass of Fiva gives you the antioxidant equivalent of 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, and it is a good source of fiber.

It’s convenient and healthy. Let’s look at the details…

Fiva Ingredients and Nutrition Facts

You may be wondering, “how can Fiva give you 5 servings of fruit and vegetables in one little packet?” The answer is in the ingredients:

Ingredients: apple powder, strawberry powder, pomegranate extract, raspberry powder, blackberry powder extract, blueberry powder, cranberry, broccoli powder, carrot powder, cauliflower powder, grape extract, bilberry fruit extract, and acerola cherry powder.

As you can see, Fiva is chock full of real fruits and vegetables! Even better is what it does NOT contain - artificial sweeteners, caffeine, etc. Fiva is all natural and something I don’t hesitate to put in my body.

The nutrition facts are nice too… Just 25 calories per serving, and 5g carbohydrates, 3g of which are fiber! The small amount of sugar is naturally occurring and Fiva is sweetened with stevia extract, which is a natural low-calorie sweetener (and way better than aspartame and sucralose!)

The Fiva Taste Test

Let’s open up some packets and get started with the taste test and complete review…

Smell. Fiva smells amazing! As soon as I opened it I could smell the powder, which reminded me of Sweet Tarts candy. Oh the childhood memories!

Taste and Texture. Fiva tastes good, but it didn’t match the scent. It’s kind of hard to describe, but the flavor is called “tart berry” and that is probably the most accurate word for it. It’s not sweet and powerful like Gatorade, and it’s not juicy like FRS.

The texture is real light and has that slight tartness to it. It’s definitely not thick, and it’s not chalky or powdery. The texture is fine (similar to a water-based drink like Gatorade) but I kind of like stronger flavors so I mixed mine to be a little more powerful than recommended.

I also tried other mixes, as the packet suggests mixing in water, yogurt, juice, or smoothies. First I mixed it in some plain yogurt and it turned out pretty good - Fiva neutralized the sour flavor of the yogurt and added the light berry flavor.

Next I mixed it in orange juice and that was an eye-opener! It was odd for the first sip but then I really got to liking it. Afterwards I added it to an orange julius (oj + milk) and it was good in that, too. So I’m sure it would go great in other juices and smoothies.

Mixing Fiva + Welch’s white grape peach juice (a combo of apple, white grape, and peach juice concentrates) was simply out of this world. All I can say is WOW! Juice like that is super high in sugar and calories though, so although it’s from natural sugar, it might not be the best ‘everyday mix’ especially if you are on a diet.

Who knows, you could even skip the ‘Red Bull and vodka’ and make a “Fiva and vodka” if you are a fan of those mixed drinks (and are 21 or older.) I’ll stick with Fiva and yogurt though, that was my all-around favorite.

Packaging. The Fiva packets are extremely easy to open, which is great news. Sometimes even “easy open” or “on the go” packets require scissors! (Or worse, some packages rip down the side and spill powder everywhere!)

My only complaint here is that the opening for the powder is tiny, so it takes a while to get all the powder dumped out. (Although if you are pouring Fiva into a water bottle with a small opening, this is actually a blessing.)

Ease of Mixing. Fiva is a very fine powder and mixes easily, but not perfectly. It will form a few clumps when mixed with a spoon in cold water.

But at least the instructions say “stir or shake until well mixed” - anyone who has used powdered drink mixes know it takes some effort to get them mixed well, and all the drinks that say “pour powder into water and it will dissolve easily” are a little too optimistic.

(If you want to get it real well mixed, try mixing it in warm water and letting it sit until it dissolves, then refrigerate until it is chilled. That will let you experience the full flavor of Fiva.)

Color. As you can see, it’s a dark purple or maroon color.

Energy Boost. This isn’t a typical energy drink, but there’s a possibility you’ll get an energy boost from it, especially if your body isn’t used to getting so many healthy antioxidants. With something like this, the less healthy your diet is currently, the bigger the boost you’ll notice when you drink Fiva.

I felt pretty good and slightly uplifted after drinking Fiva, although I wouldn’t call it an energy boost. (I’d rather drink it for its health benefits anyway, so that’s no biggie.)

REMEMBER: Just remember, this is a healthy drink, and it’s great to use it in place of unhealthy drinks like diet soda. But don’t use it to replace your fruits and vegetables! You should still at least try to get your five a day!

My final verdict is…

Fiva smells good, tastes pretty good, is healthy, and is easy to use. Overall it’s a good drink and one of the few I can recommend.

It gets a very high recommendation based on its health benefits, and the price (around $1 per serving) isn’t too steep, at least in comparison to other healthy energy drinks. I’m not falling head over heels for the taste, but the taste is neat, different and not too strong, so chances are you will enjoy it.

But no matter what you think of it alone, you can mix it in some juice or a smoothie and it will taste great, and you still get all the health benefits. And you have to give Fiva credit, because I never imagined a plate of vegetables tasting this good!

Official website: www.fivaday.com

P.S. Don’t forget to see what may be in the future for Fiva!