I'm one of the lucky ones who have been blessed
with good genetics and can eat pretty much anything I want without
exercising. In fact, I was famously guilty for such phrases as
"Why are you running? Is there not a cab available?"
But age and the stress of a 12 hour work day started to take its
toll as I rounded a quarter century. Hey, I know 25 years old
is still young, but when your ass starts to sag, you tend to be
pretty quick to change your tune.
In my city, the "it" thing to do is run along the lakefront.
Everyone and their dog is out, enjoying the beauty of the lake
and excitement of half nudity in a city that is fully covered
and freezing in snow for most of the year. I started running with
one of my long- legged, gorgeously athletic, genetically blessed
girl friends (she's single by-the-way). We had only run about
a half a mile, when huffing and puffing, I had to stop and do
the walk of shame, as I let her run ahead of me so that she could
"at least try to get a workout." Sad - I know - but
I'd really never ran at all in my life. Two weeks passed before
I tried again with similarly pathetic results.
A friend of mine suggested an herbal coffee called Enerdisia that
was enriched with Tongkat Ali. About a week and a half after my
last pathetic attempt, I drank a cup at 1pm to get energy for
the later part of my work day. Then I started out on an afternoon
run with my friend. We did a mile and half. It wasn't easy, but
it was twice as far as I had run before.
I continued drinking it everyday. I liked it better than coffee,
because it's less acidic. After about 3 weeks, I was running 3
miles a day two to three times a week. My stomach looked good
enough to be acceptable for the Britney Spears outfits that were
coming out. And my ass sag-gage had gone down.
Though it is probably preferable to do your research first before
drinking a new energy beverage, my three weeks of success sparked
a curiosity in the ingredient responsible for my atheleticism.
Tongkat ali, latin name Eurycoma longifolia, is a root that grows
in the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Similar to Tribulus, the
herb works by affecting the lutenizing hormones in the body, which
signal testosterone production. From the articles I read, I learned
that Tongkat Ali boosts testosterone in lab mice by 440%. I had the opportunity to speak with a representative at the company
that makes the coffee I now drink regularly. They mentioned tongkat
ali has 17 different medicinal benefits that have been studied
and tested. As to safety, the representative told me that acute
and chronic tests had been done on mice. Luckily for them, there
were no side effects. The acute test consisted of a large amount,
equivalent to 300 doses, given to the mice in a short period of
time. The chronic test watched the subjects for 90 days giving
the test subjects a daily 200mg dose (they suggest 100mg for a
daily dosage). Again, no side effects were witnessed.
There were a number of other interesting benefits to the product,
above and beyond the increase in energy, stamina, and endurance
I was already experiencing. Tongkat Ali is diuretic, meaning that
it gets rid of water retention in the body. The herb, apparently,
was traditionally used as a potent aphrodisiac for men. For women
after pregnancy, the herb can specifically help to tighten the
abdomen and bring the body back toward "sensual wellness".
My best friend who just had a baby and the "romanitic issues
asociated with it" dittoed this last attribute, with a big
smile on her face.
I'm not a body builder and I don't regularly use a bunch of different
products to be able to compare them with confidence. I'm just
a regular person who tried something that worked better than I
expected.
The above article was written by M. Lai.
If you have any questions, please email the author:
tradereng@hotmail.com
