what is the Nawgan drink?

You have probably seen the item on drink shelves and were a bit curious.  The large Red Bull sized cans have a drawing of a brain on the can and then in bold letters it says "nawgan".  It says it has caffeine and is not carbonated.  So, in the illustrious words of Cat from Red Dwarf: "Yeah, but what is it?"

It is touted as a brain drink.  The theory is that there is a certain chemical that stimulates brain function and basically causes the receptors in your brain to work better.  They, the medical people of the world, think that this makes people able to think more clearly and more efficiently.  The problem of course is that this is just a theory and they are still not 100% sure what it does.

What this drink has, unlike many other energy drinks that I am used to, is different chemicals and vitamins.  It has Citicoline (which is this chemical that increase nerve activity in the brain), Alpha-Glyceryl Phosphoryl Choline (which is a form of that neurotransmitter chemical that helps increase brain function), Lycopene (which is the antioxidant found in red foods which has been shown to fight against some cancers) and d-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (which is a form of Vitamin E).  Unlike the other energy drinks, which mostly have B vitamins that help the body pull more energy out of the foods you eat, this one is mostly filled with things that increase brain activity; including caffeine.

So, it says that it works, yet when the caffeine free one was ingested at about 10pm, it didn't help my wife nor I stay awake or stay alert longer.  I am trying the "Tarocco Orange" flavor which is supposed to taste like Blood Orange.  The problem is that it doesn't taste very orangy.  The drink tastes like someone left a diet orange soda out for a few days, allowing it to get completely flat and then watered that drink down.  The orange flavor in it is so mild and shallow that it doesn't register as being orange or tasty to me.

I'd give the drink a 2 out of 5.  The issue is that it is impossible to tell whether it works best or not at what it does.  Every morning changes things for me, whether it was a the amount of sleep I acquired the night before or how sound or deep I slept at night and so forth.  All of those factors are in the equation of whether or how active my brain is the next morning or the next day.  So far though, it looks as if I'd rather take my general energy drink than this one.

Holistic what?

In this world of new-fangled miracle pills, juices and diets many people think when they hear or see the word "holistic" they are given the idea that it doesn't work.  Much like when people hear about "alternative medicine".  They may wonder that if normal medicine is good enough for everyone else, why do they need anything alternative to it?  Good question.

Well, do you think that traditional medicine is working for you?  Let's remember that the current medical world, used to think that rubbing mercury on a part of your body that had an infection was a good idea.  They also used to think that if you had an injury on your finger, that making a cut and letting it bleed for some time was also a good idea.  What science is just now discovering, is that certain plants around the world, contain the same building blocks that our body needs to do its own thing.  So, doctors all over the world are suggesting that you eat a healthy selection of fruits and vegetables as well as certain other things.  Such as drinking more milk or eating more eggs or eating more bananas and things like that.

Furthermore, people who follow or practice holistic healing or nutrition, believe that the source is better than the pill.  For example, as yourself this question: "Would you rather take a pill to get your Vitamin C for the day or drink a glass of orange juice?"  If you would rather drink the orange juice, then that is the main idea being holistic healing: healing through food.  So, what are you missing? Do you need more Omega 3 fatty acids in your body?  You can take a pill or have some fish, olive or macadamia nut oil.  Is your skin losing its elasticity? You could take some Vitamin E pills or eat more green leafy vegetables.  Are your bones becoming brittle?  You could take some calcium pills or drink some dairy milk or eat some broccoli.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't listen to your doctor as they still have some medical information that may help and more and more doctors are looking into holistic ways to help heal. When it comes to cancer though, as my friend Astelia is finding out, things get a little more complicated.  I don't want to say much more on here as cancer hits a very fine line as if I do say that I believe that cancer can be beat by eating and having a healthy lifestyle, and someone tries it and it doesn't work for them, it comes back to me.  I will only say that people and research has shown that eating healthy and eating the right foods while having cancer has shown to be able to fight it back for good.  My suggestion, eat the foods as they are, not the pills and supplements