How about a double shot?

So here I was, patting myself on the back for kicking the Diet Pepsi addiction for over a year, when it occurred to me that I had never checked out the amount of caffeine found in my drink substitute.  Because, although I 'gave up' getting my 32-ounce, fountain Diet Pepsi every morning from the gas station, what I really did was just put something else in place of it...and patted myself on the back.  But hey, I kicked the addiction from that particular drink, so what?

A couple of weeks ago, the subject of caffeine came up and I did a little Internet search comparing the amounts of caffeine contained in various drinks.  What I came up with was, personally, very shocking.  I certainly did a little number on myself with this one.  Here is what I discovered:

The Crystal Lite Energy packet that I mix with my 16.9 bottle of water contains 120 mg of caffeine.  The packet, although very small, is actually considered two servings; each serving containing 60 mg of caffeine.  In a 12-ounce serving of Diet Pepsi, there are 36 mg of caffeine.  I usually had 32 ounces a day.  Let's do the math.

On an average day back when I was drinking Diet Pepsi daily, I was consuming approximately 96 mg of caffeine.  Because water is so much healthier than pop, I drink at least two bottles of water every morning before noon with my Crystal Lite Energy packet, one wild strawberry and one grape flavored.  Those two bottles of water with the energy packet mixed in equal 240 mg of caffeine.

Effectively, what I have done in being so strong-willed and healthy has more than doubled my caffeine intake for an average day.  Well done, Sarah.  You sure put the fix on this one.

And if that wasn't good enough, a few months ago, I gave the Diet Swiss Miss Cocoa a toss and replaced it with hot tea or iced tea.  Bravo, again, girl...you have successfully added approximately another 150 mg of caffeine to your day that you weren't previously consuming.  The hot chocolate was caffeine-free.

A 16-ounce can of Rockstar or Monster is 160 mg.  I have been anti-energy drinks since they came out (ignoring the word "energy" on the Crystal Lite packet, of course) going on about how they couldn't be good for you, why would anyone need that much caffeine at once, these are so harmful to our bodies, etc.  Looks like the joke is on me.

But before all you coffee-drinking hounds get on my case (Quackdaddy) about this, let's consider the amount of caffeine in an 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee:  108 mg.  Again, doing the math, that's not even as much as the Rockstar or the Monster energy drink (although I certainly have no idea of what else is in them).  I know that coffee does have some health benefits so I'm not bashing it necessarily, I'm just throwing out the numbers there to defend myself from my father readers.

No wonder I never noticed any major change in how I felt after giving up the Diet Pepsi.  Oh, why can't water just have a sweeter taste?