Kung Fu Star Lends Name To Green Tea Product

Jackie Chan say drink green tea good for you when low-carb

I love introducing you to new products that can fit well within your low-carb lifestyle because there is so much garbage out there to go through. That's why I am always scoping out the latest and the greatest as they are introduced to the marketplace and reporting back to you what I find. Some are good, others are not so good.

What I found today is an excellent product for people living healthy. It's a highly-concentrated vitamin-packed green tea product called InstaGreen Tea Beverage Mix. We have all heard the benefits of drinking more green tea for the antioxidant properties it provides our bodies. This particular product has EIGHT TIMES the antioxidants of regular green tea. WHOA! That's a LOT!

It's all because of the full 100mg of EGCG that is contained within each serving. Plus, you also get 300mg of polyphenols in each glass of InstaGreen. In fact, drinking just one cup of this instant green tea product is equivalent to drinking EIGHT cups of regular green tea. See what I mean--this green tea product really packs a powerful punch!

Each package of InstaGreen Tea Beverage Mix contains 15 individual servings that you can mix with 8-16 ounces of hot or cold water, depending on your personal preference (I LOVE it hot, baby!). The best part of the InstaGreen product is it is NATURALLY SUGAR-FREE and contains ZERO CALORIES.

What about the caffeine content, you ask? Good question--it's less than 45mg.

InstaGreen Tea Beverage Mix comes in the original unsweetened Green Tea flavor as well as Natural Lemon with Stevia and Natural Raspberry with Stevia. For those of you who are new to livin' la vida low-carb, stevia is a plant-based supplement that adds sweetness to foods and drinks. It provides just enough of that to allow you to enjoy the vibrant flavor of the green tea.

So, what's all of this have to do with Jackie Chan? Yes, THAT Jackie Chan from all the kung fu movies and Hollywood star of such movie hits as "Rush Hour." If anyone can tell you what's good green tea, then I suppose Jackie Chan is very well qualified since he comes from China where green tea has been a mainstay for centuries.

But not only does Jackie Chan simply LIKE InstaGreen Tea Beverage Mix, but he is now their spokesperson and his smiling image appears right there on the packaging. With an endorsement like that, you KNOW this has got to be good. So, go ahead and give it a try. Let me know what YOU think about it if you decide to try it.

What's The Real Deal On 'Calorie Burner' Enviga?

Coca-Cola wanted me to be one of the first to try Enviga

Earlier this month, I blogged about the very peculiar secrecy about the new energy drink called Enviga. This brand new beverage expected to be released nationwide in January 2007 as a joint venture between Nestle and The Coca-Cola Company has generated quite a bit of speculation about what the real contents of this product they are nicknaming "The Calorie Burner."

Because of the confusion about the product just two months from being released in the United States, a marketing representative from Coke contacted me last week to see if I would like to sample Enviga for myself. I agreed, but was cautious about the contents of what they were sending to me. What would be in this energy soda? Would it have the sugar I was concerned about? If not, what would it be sweetened with? These were just a few of the questions going through my head as I waited on the arrival of the package.

When it arrived this week in a bubbly, bright-green box, I was greeted by those three tall skinny cans you see in that picture at the top of this post. My wife Christine said they looked like beer cans, but I explained to her that shape of the 12-ounce can is typical for the "energy" drinks these days. "Oh," she said.

Before I dared to try one of these Enviga drinks, I read the label like a hawk and went immediately to the nutritional information. Guess what I looked for first? Yep, it was sugar. How much sugar does Enviga have? Would you believe there was ZERO sugar? As in zilch, zippo, not a bit! WOO HOO! I'm likin' the sound of that!

So then I went to the ingredients list to see what kind of artificial sweeteners that were used--once you get past all the healthy ingredients they put in this stuff (which I'll talk about in a moment), you see what they use to sweeten it. Aspartame is the third from the last ingredient and acesulfame potassium (ACE-K) is the very last ingredient. While most people who are livin' la vida low-carb don't care much for aspartame (at least I don't!), it doesn't look like they use a large amount of it in this product. I still wish they could have sweetened it with Splenda, but we already know about Coke's position on using that sugar substitute. But that's another story.

What about those "healthy" ingredients that supposedly help burn calories in this zero carb, 5-calorie per can drink? They include the following for each can of Enviga:

90mg of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) from concentrated natural green tea extracts. EGCG is a powerful antioxidant that combines well with caffeine to work wonders with your metabolism.

100mg of caffeine, the same amount found in a cup of coffee, to further enhance the calorie-burning process.

200mg of calcium to help people meet their daily need for strong, healthy bones.

According to the verbage on the can, not everyone will benefit from drinking Enviga.

"Three cans per day of Enviga have been shown to increase calorie burning by 60-100 calories in HEALTHY NORMAL WEIGHT 18-35 YEAR OLDS. Individual results may vary. Drinking more than three cans per day will not have an additional effect." (bold and capitalized are MY emphasis)

So, basically children, middle-aged and older adults, overweight and obese as well as people with any health problem don't need to drink Enviga to experience the "calorie burning" phenomena because it won't work in them. That's what Coke is saying right there on their packaging! They may not say it that explicitly, but it can certainly be inferred from that strange disclaimer on the can. And don't even think about trying to drink MORE than three cans in a day to burn more calories. It doesn't work that way, according to Coke. Okeydokey!

Coke says the ingredients in Enviga are recognized as "safe" by the FDA. What are those ingredients? I'm glad you asked. In the order from top to bottom on the can, they are:

Carbonated Water, Calcium Lactate, Concentrated Green Tea From Tea Leaves, Citric Acid, Natural Flavors, Phosphoric Acid, Potassium Sorbate and Potassium Benzoate (to protect taste), Aspartame, Caffeine, and Acesulfame Potassium

I like the heavy emphasis on the calcium and green tea and less on the sweeteners and caffeine. That is better than most of the energy drinks out on the market today which are loaded with caffeine and sugar that are decidedly unhealthy for you.

You probably want to know the answer to the $100,000 question--HOW DOES IT TASTE? They were kind enough to send me one of each of the flavors, including Berry, Peach and Green Tea. I drank all three of them for myself over several hours to give you my honest evaluation of each one.

So I took a big swig of the GREEN TEA flavor...



I really didn't know what to expect, so I was bracing myself. After an intial reaction to the less-than-sweet taste of the product (which is a good thing since most diet drinks these days are WAY too sweet), I liked it. The more I drank it, the better it tasted. I could feel a slight build-up of something on my tongue while drinking it, but the taste was pleasant enough to drink to the bottom of the can.

The same could be said about the PEACH flavor, although I am not a fan. Not bad, though, but my wife turned her nose up after one sip. She wasn't impressed, but she's used to drinking sugary sodas anyway.

Then I saved what I thought would be the best one for last, the BERRY flavor. Little did I know...



Puck-a-roo, what is that bittersweet wang in this flavor that made my eyeballs feel like popping out of their sockets?! It plumb made my face turn into Popeye the Sailor Man! Yuck-yuck-yuck! I think putting some spinach in this can would have made it taste better than this. But I will admit, it slowly (VERY SLOWLY!) got more tolerable as I drank it to the very bottom of the can. But watch out for that first swallow, it's a doozy! 8-O

When Coke rolls this product out in full force in January 2007, look for the distinctive sleek cans in individual, 6-packs and 12-packs. Each can of Enviga will have a suggested retail price of $1.29-1.49.

Obviously, there are very high hopes for Enviga and it should sell well thanks to the marketing muscle that both The Coca-Cola Company and Nestle will provide for it. If people don't expect too much out of the product and the alleged "calorie burning" hype that has surrounded it so far, then it may have a shot at reaching that target audience of people desiring a drink for their healthy lifestyle. People wanting to lose weight shouldn't put their hope in this drink.

I certainly don't see anything wrong with people on a healthy low-carb lifestyle drinking this product as part of their ongoing health and exercise plan since we all need to be consuming more green tea in our diets. This unique product may be exactly what you need to get more EGCG in your body to do the incredible thermogenesis process to invigorate your metabolism. And that would be a GREAT thing, don't ya think?!

A special THANK YOU to Coca-Cola for allowing me to try their Enviga product before it hits the shelves and share what the real deal is on this new product. I think most people will appreciate their attempts to provide a healthier alternative to the HFCS-laden garbage that has become the staple of the soft drink industry. Creating Enviga is a step in the right direction and I applaud Coke and Nestle for their efforts.

For more information on Enviga, visit Enviga.com.

Buzz Around 'Enviga' Energy Drink From Coke, Nestle Omits High Sugar Content

Coke says drinking their new Enviga is as healthy as "taking the stairs"

"This is the biggest thing to hit the health market in a decade!"
"Nothing is as unique as this new product!"
"A healthy revolution has begun with the release of this product!"

Just when you think you've heard every marketing and sales pitch possible, along comes buzz about some new product that has everyone talking. This time, it's a new joint venture from two of the big boys--Coca-Cola Company and Nestle--and the product is called Enviga, a carbonated green tea beverage that purports to burn as many as 100 calories a day just from drinking three 12-ounce cans.

Expected to hit the U.S. market in Jauary 2007 with a ton of marketing dollars behind it, Enviga is the latest in an ever-growing line of new beverage products that are on store shelves today. With high hopes from both Coke and Nestle (who has already dipped their toes in the diet and health market by purchasing Jenny Craig for $600 million this year), corporate executives at both companies are very interested in tapping into the market's apparent need for drinks loaded with green tea and caffeine--widely known as an "energy drink."

The negative calorie effect, often referred to as thermogenesis, of Enviga happens when the green tea extract called epigallocatechin gallate speeds up the metabolism and increases energy expenditure when combined with caffeine. Coke scientist Dr. Rhona Applebaum said this new creation is the "perfect partnership of science and nature."

"Enviga contains the optimum blend of green tea extracts (EGCG), caffeine and naturally active plant micronutrients designed to work with your body to increase calorie burning, thus creating a negative calorie effect," Dr. Applebaum explained. "It makes this product stand out as unique. Enviga brings the benefits of green tea to the forefront in a convenient and accessible, great tasting beverage."

Researchers at Nestle say EGCG is a naturally occurring antioxidant in green tea and this new product provides 90 mg of EGCG in each serving. Guzzling down just three cans of Enviga sets off a chain reaction inside the body of "healthy subjects in the lean to normal weight range" that results in 60-100 calories burned.

So what about overweight and obese people? What kind of calories can they be expected to burn drinking this so-called healthy energy drink, Dr. Applebaum? Is Enviga truly "healthy" for people who are trying to lose weight and get healthy or is it meant to consumed only by those who are already in the healthy range? These are important questions that need to be asked before you go start spending your money on this product.

Coke does say they believe Enviga should be promoted to those who are following a physically active and nutritionally healthy lifestyle, according to Coca-Cola senior vice-president of marketing John Hackett.

"We've seen a shift in consumers' attitudes toward diet and health and wellness, with more consumers seeking product choices that support active lifestyles, rather than just eliminating things from their diet," he exclaimed. "Enviga is a great tasting beverage that invigorates your metabolism to gently burn calories, and it's a positive step people can take as part of a balanced lifestyle--like taking the stairs."

Oh please, Mr. Hackett! Drinking Enviga is as good for you as "taking the stairs?!" Not hardly, my friend, but nice hyperbole to get your point across. Again, I am concerned that people will erroneously think this new health beverage will be good for them because of the aggressive marketing that will be used to convince them of that. As someone who has struggled with being morbidly obese weighing in at over 400 pounds in my life, it saddens me to think that millions of people will be fooled into believing the hype about Enviga and shell out their hard-earned money to try it.

This new Nestea energy drink from Coke will come in green tea, berry and peach flavors and sold in tall skinny 12-ounce cans at around $1.50 a piece.

Enviga isn't the first beverage product to lay claim to the calorie-burning effects of mixing EGCG with caffeine. Jana Skinny Water was released to the active lifestyle market as well. But there is a clear difference between the Jana product and this new Enviga--Jana is WATER and Enviga is NOT!

There is absolutely no claims by Coke or Nestle that their much-balleyhooed new product will help with weight loss since it is so packed with sugar and or high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), both of which are detrimental to any healthy lifestyle like livin' la vida low-carb. So what's the point in drinking something like this, hmmmm? If you wanted to drink sugar, then just have a Coke. Are they really thinking people are too stupid to know that all that sugar they will get in Enviga is not good for them? I guess they are!

Here's a thought: why not just brew up your own fresh green tea yourself? It's a whole lot cheaper and you get the same benefits that you would out of this Johnny-come-lately product from Coca-Cola and Nestle.

Just a little something for you to think about when you start seeing the advertisements about Enviga in 2007. While it will be pushed as the next great product for your healthy lifestyle, you'll know better now, won't you?!

10-15-06 UPDATE: Blogging friend and sugar foe Connie Bennett also discusses this subject of Enviga at her popular SUGAR SHOCK! blog today.