Pros: Ephedra free formula, less jitters, no emotional crash after it wears off.
Cons: Just doesn’t provide enough of a kick-start before a work out.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for an ephedra free energy enhancer, Stacker 2 Ephedra Free will give you a little energy – but not enough for this freak.
Freak369's Full Review: Nve Stacker 2 Ephedra Free
Ephedra and Ephedrine based products are slowly but surely being yanked off of the shelves. After several unfortunate deaths, the lawmakers have decided that ephedrine [not heroin, crack, methamphetamine or cocaine] deserves their undivided attention. While I will not say that the deaths were insignificant in any way, shape or form – they could have been prevented had the people taken them educated themselves. When taking any supplement – be it a vitamin or sports enhancer – it is your responsibility to research it before you take it. It never ceases to amaze me the gross ignorance there is surrounding sport supplements; people seem to fall under some magic spell when a commercial comes on the television or an email arrives claiming that they can lose weight without exercise. It’s this type of marketing that is hurting the fitness business, not helping it. You can’t pop a magic pill – with or without ephedrine – and expect it to make you in to a muscle bound giant or sexy vixen. If that were the case – if some magic pill really did exist - don’t you think every person in the free world would be fat free?
Ephedra Free Stacker 2
One thing that must be said first is that this product is not free of stimulants. Most people will see the “ephedra free” label and assume that it is 100% safe to take and there won’t be any side effects. Remember the golden rule anything taken in excess can kill you - that goes for water, Oreo cookies and even oxygen. When NVE Pharmaceuticals started to push the Stacker series of weight loss pills they knew that ephedrine was on its last leg. They started working on the formulation for the ephedra free version around the time that Stacker 3 started hitting the market. For some reason Stacker 3 never got the media push it needed to be a success. Now there are several new Stacker 2 variations on the shelves; Stacker 2 Ephedra Free and Stacker 2 Lite. Please do not confuse these two products or let someone tell you that they are the same. The Stacker 2 Lite is a modified version of Stacker 3 so instead of the full 25 milligrams of ephedra extract, you are only getting 12.5 milligrams. The Ephedra Free version contains no ephedrine or ephedra products but it is still a stimulant since it contains kola nut extract and a natural form of synephrine derived from citrus aurantium.
Ingredients
Citrus aurantium, cassia nomane extract, kola nut extract, white willow bark and chromium picolinate. Other inert ingredients include: calcium phosphate, stearic acid, gelatin, yellow #5 and #6, blue #1, red #3. Please note, this product contains gelatin so vegans should avoid this.
Citrus Aurantium
This has been used as a bronchodilator for many years in natural therapy but it has also been applied to sports nutrition as a weight loss catalyst. One of the things that people don’t know about this herb is that it can also act as a diuretic or laxative. It is sold as a powder, in a concentrated liquid or as a tea in some countries and has long since been used by the Chinese to treat upset stomachs, nausea and congestion.
Kola Nut Extract also known as cola nitida
The driving force of most energy enhancers, this is what provides the caffeine in most of the ephedra free products today. It can be readily purchased as a stand alone product to be used as a stimulant or weight loss facilitator but is much more effected when combined with other herbs and products that compliment it and make it work to your benefit.
Chromium Picolinate
This is sort of the bastard child of the sport supplement world; it is built up to be an essential in products with claims that it helps facilitate weight loss, leveling off sugar / insulin levels and suppressing appetites. This is only true in certain people and since nutritional supplements are note regulated by the FDA [Food & Drug Administration] the manufacturers push the limit when primping their products. That isn’t to say that there aren’t benefits to using chromium picolinate but as I said earlier, anything taken in excess will kill you.
Dosage
Just like most products, the dosage doesn’t really suit the product. It’s suggested that you take one capsule after a meal with no more than three capsules being consumed in a day. If you are taking this to get energy before a work out then it makes sense to exercise on an empty stomach. This is where the real quandary comes into play – do you take this on an empty stomach or after a meal? To get the most of out this I take it on an empty stomach – or at least three hours after a meal – then exercise, lift weights or do cardio. This is the way I choose to take this product, please use your own judgment when taking this supplement and make sure that you are not taking any other products that contain caffeine, ephedra or thermogenic compounds in it.
Warnings
Anyone with any type of heart condition, hypersensitivity, liver or kidney problems, hypertension, enlarged prostate, thyroid disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or are currently taking any type of a medication for depression or any of the above listed conditions should not take this product. If you are starting an exercise program, please consult a qualified medical care provider to assess your overall health. Ask is this product would have any type of effect on you [other than the desired weight loss that is]. If your doctor refuses to answer questions regarding this product or flatly states that it is “garbage”, I suggest that you contact someone else with a more open frame of mind. It is better to spend twenty minutes getting a physical than the possibility that this product you harm you.
My Take
I picked up a bottle of this at my local sport store and paid $19.99 with my gym membership card 10% discount and frequent shopper card discount. I was pretty curious to see how this would work when held up against the other products in the Stacker family. I took a few days off from any sport related stimulants so I could test this out with a clean slate. I took one of them before a morning workout and got a little bit of a boost, but nothing even close to Stacker 2. It’s pointless to even mention Stacker 3 in regard to the ephedra free version since its like comparing apples and oranges – yes they are both fruits but they totally different. You can expect a small boost from this but you won’t get the jitters, anxiousness or possible tremors however if you experience any sudden rise in body temperature that does not return to normal after stopping your work out, heart palpitations, shortness of breath or dizziness you should immediately stop taking this and contact your physician.
The next morning I packed up for the gym and took another of the Stacker 2 Ephedra Free about 30 minutes before my work out started. I didn’t really feel much the second day and about 20 minutes into my workout I decided to take another pill. I got a small boost, almost like what I had gotten the first day, only I’d taken two pills in a short amount of time and knew that eventually, if I kept taking this, I’d need to take a lot more than the recommended dosage to get any type of energy from it. This certainly isn’t something that I recommend people doing unless you are 100% sure that you can handle the side effects or repercussions. If you have ever had any sensitivity to caffeine products such as soda, iced tea or coffee, chances are this will be a product that you will want to avoid.
Company & Contact Information
NVE Pharmaceuticals
33 Newton-Sparta Road
Newton, New Jersey 07860
[800] 526 - 4387
[800] Lite-Line
www.nveusa.com
weborders@nveusa.com
The website is still under construction however they keep saying to check back “often” for when it reopens. When the site is back in operation you’ll be able to read about all the different products in they offer, purchase items from their online store and read about how others have used NVE products with success.
Price
I got my Stacker 2 Ephedra Free at a local sports nutrition store. The suggested retail price was $26.90 for 100 pills and with my gym membership discount as well as my frequent buyer card I ended up paying $19.99 plus tax. Prices for the 100 count bottle range from the $19.99 that I paid to around $40.00. To get the best deal make sure you check stores like Wal-Mart and Target as well as some of the reputable online sports nutrition vendors. When ordering this online please make sure that you are getting the ephedra free version not the lite version. I think that this product is worth the $20.00 and change that I paid for it but I wouldn’t spend much more than that on it consider that I needed to double up on the dosage most of the time to get any type of noticeable reaction from it.
The Bottom Line
I tried Stacker 2 Ephedra Free for about a week and a half and didn’t really care for it. Usually in that period of time I can tell if a product is going to work for me or not and sadly, this one just doesn’t have the bang that I need from time to time. Since I am tall and have a good bit of muscle, I knew that one pill probably wouldn’t be enough to do anything for me – I was right. I’d suggest this for anyone that doesn’t want to take an ephedra based product for energy or weight loss but still wants the ability to have a little extra boost when at the gym, doing aerobic activities or exercising.
Since this is a newer product you can expect it to come under fire from people who will say that it is still a dangerous product. I’ve said it twice in this review so I will reiterate it and say it one more time – anything taken in excess will kill you. I exceeded the recommended dosage amount because I have been suing these products for years and I know – for the most part – how my body will react to them. If you are new to these types of products you should start slow and find out what works best for you. Just like putting ketchup on french fries – you can always add more but its hard as hell to try and the excess off the fries when you over do it. Same thing with Stacker 2 Ephedra Free, you can always add another pill to your stack if you need it but if you jump right in and start popping them like Pez, there’s a good chance you’ll end up with some very unpleasant side effects.
While this didn’t work for me, I feel confident recommending it to people who didn’t care for NVE Stacker 2 or felt that it was too strong of left them jittery for the rest of the day. I will say this, when taking in the evening I didn’t have any trouble falling asleep or resting on the couch a few hours later. If you have had bad experiences from any of the Stacker products, you might want to give this a try and see if it is better for you than those that contain ephedra or ephedra based products. Even though this doesn’t contain ephedra or any ephedra compounds it should still be taken with care. Please read the instruction carefully, have a physical before starting an exercise program and stop using this immediately if you have any of the side effects that I mentioned in this review.
Tired of fat burning supplements that never seem to work? Stacker 2 Ephedra Free manufactured by NVE might just be the one that you need.Stacker 2 Eph...More at America's Nutrition
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