New Coke

“New Coke” is the unofficial name of the reformulation introduced in 1985 by The Coca-Cola Company to replace the original formula of its flagship soft drink, Coca-Cola (a.k.a. Coke). Properly speaking, New Coke had no separate name of its own, but was simply known as “the new taste of Coca-Cola” until 1992 when it was renamed Coca-Cola II.

The American public’s reaction to the change was poor, and the new cola was a major marketing failure. The subsequent reintroduction of Coke’s original formula, re-branded as “Coca-Cola Classic”, resulted in a significant gain in sales, leading to speculation that the introduction of the New Coke formula was just a marketing ploy.

The Coca Cola Company claims it was “arguably the biggest risk in consumer goods history”. Read more about “Coke Lore” here.

Slow Cow takes on Red Bull

Slow Cow is a relaxation beverage produced by Canadian company Slow Cow Drink Inc.  Dubbed an “anti-energy” drink, it was created to “help people slow down” and parodied Red Bull by using packaging similar to that of the popular energy drink (two cows relaxing to contrast the two bulls fighting in the Red Bull logo).  Slow Cow was launched in Quebec in December 2008. The company plans to sell the product in the rest of Canada, and in France, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, the United States, Russia, Italy, and China.

Slow Cow was developed by Lino Fleury in Quebec. He noted that while there were plenty of energy drinks available, there were no beverages to “help people slow down when they are stressed.”

Slow Cow’s principal ingredient is L-Theanine, an amino acid found in tea plants that increase levels of GABA in the brain, which is said to produce a “feeling of relaxation and well-being” “without causing sleepiness”. L-Theanine is also said to increase mental awareness, cognition, and concentration. (Read more)

How did cocktails originate?

When was the first cocktail made? Why a cocktail is called a cocktail? Well, there are quite a few plausible theories as to its origin according to Wikipedia. Here are a few of them:

• Barrel taps are known as cocks and the term tails usually referred to the dregs of distillate left at the end of a run in a distillery or at the bottom of a cask. Colonial taverns kept their in casks, and as the liquid in the casks lowered the tavern keeper would combine the tails into an additional cask kept for that purpose, to be sold at a reduced price. The patrons would request the “cock tailings” or the tailings from the stop cock of the cask.
• Fighting cocks were given a mixture of spirits by their trainers before a fight. This mixture was known as a cocks-ale.
• In Campeche, Mexico, local bartenders used wooden spoons carved from a native root known as cola de-gallo (cock’s tail) to stir the local spirits and punches before serving.
• Cocktails were originally a morning beverage, and the cocktail was the name given as metaphor for the rooster (cocktail) heralding morning light of day. This was first posited in 2004 by Ted Haigh in “Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails”.
• A cock’s tail has feathers in many varied colours as a cocktail has varied alcoholic drinks mixed together.
• Some say that it was customary to put a feather, presumably from a cock’s tail, in the drink to serve both as decoration and to signal to teetotalers that the drink contained alcohol.

How does alcohol result in a belly?

People say a paunch is a direct result of consuming alcohol, hence the infamous “beer belly”. But my question here is, if I do enough exercise to compensate for the calories in the alcohol, will I be fit and fine… Lets find out.

After a lot of research, I stumbled upon this article

The article suggests that drinking would have far more effects than the ones that can be thought of

• It reduces the number of fat calories you burn (i’ll tell you how)

According to conventional wisdom, the infamous “beer belly” is caused by excess alcohol calories being stored as fat. Yet, less than five percent of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy.

Rather than getting stored as fat, the main fate of alcohol is conversion into a substance called acetate. In fact, blood levels of acetate after drinking the vodka were 2.5 times higher than normal. And it appears this sharp rise in acetate puts the brakes on fat loss.

• It increases your appetite and lower your testosterone for upto 24 hours

So all the greasy starters that you have with alcohol, they do not get burnt in metabolic activities and hence start accumalating. This is because alcohol acts as an appetizer.

So now you know who exactly is the culprit.

How unhealthy is carbonated water?

It is common knowledge that aerated drinks have very high calorie content. But recently I came across an article that told me high calories is not the only harm that you are doing to your body when you consume aerated drinks. Here’s why.

Excessive use of carbonated water will strip the body of phosphorous, a mineral that is vital to the integrity of bones and teeth, metabolism of nutrients, and the formation of genetic material, cell membranes, and many enzymes. Hence, carbonated water, he says, should be considered a luxury and used sparingly.

Distilled water, by the way, should not be used regularly either. It is devoid of all mineral content and, although the science is scanty, many long-term users have encountered health problems such as hair thinning or falling out. 

So for all my ‘spirited’ friends…on-the-rocks it is!

How many calories in a bottle of beer?

Heard of the term Beer Belly?

Was curious to know how much does beer really contribute to the belly.

Was looking at the number of calories in a bottle of beer. A fosters 12oz has abt 150 calories and budweiser is about 140ish. 12oz is about a pint (330 ml).

Was looking at the kind of diet I should have… (24 years, 5’6″, 62kgs)… I need to take in about 22oo calories to maintain myself in this state. Which means a couple of beer pints each day does not really hurt.

The question that strikes me next is whether all the fat/carbohydrate is digestible? Which means fat/carbos from Milk are equivalent to that from beer and are treated in the same manner. Will find that out in the next few posts.