Ceasing Caffeine Consumption
 

So caffeine is probably the most widely consumed and accepted drug in society today. How many of you "need" coffee to wake up in the morning? Or throughout the day? It's not just coffee either. I don't like coffee, but I tend to drink a lot of pop to get my caffeine. The good news for me is that pop tends not to have as much caffeine as coffee, but the bad news is that it's even less healthy for you.

Using caffeine is like any other drug: the more you use it, the more you need to get the same effect. It's self-perpetuating too. You use caffeine to wake up, then you crash, so you need more caffeine to stay active. In my case, caffeine also makes it easier for me to stay up late wasting time on the internet instead of getting to sleep at a reasonable time, getting a good night's sleep, and being ready for the next day. If I'm not being careful about it, I can easily drink 24-48oz of pop a day.

Well I recently decided to give up caffeine and, by extension, pop. Thankfully, I don't really get withdrawal symptoms, but the compulsion is definitely there. When I start feeling tired, I want pop. I have a bit of an oral fixation too, so I'm often drinking, and the fizz from pop is a great feeling. I can't stand the taste of diet or caffeine-free pop, which is good since even without the caffeine that stuff is bad for you.

I've given up caffeine in the past, typically for a week or two. One time about 5 years ago, I managed to give it up for 3 months, but I haven't managed to stay caffeine free for that long since. I want to see how long I can make it this time. My goal for now is to make it to Jan 31, 2010 which would beat my previous record of being caffeine free.

I'm finishing up day 4 of being caffeine free now, and Baraka_Guru is on day 2. Will you join us?

How much do you rely on caffeinated drinks throughout the day? Have you ever tried giving up caffeine? What is your favorite source of caffeine? Coffee? Pop? Tea? Something else?

I'm not a coffee drinker at all, ever. I just despise the taste. Red diagnosed me as a "Supertaster", one who can be extremely sensitive to bitterness in products such as coffee, beer, grapefruit juice, and some others. Coffee and grapefruit juice make me gag, and I can only drink a little, very light beer. I have strayed so far from the topic. Sorry. I just hate that I can't drink coffee. Anyway, no coffee. I only buy diet caffeine free softdrinks, which I am addicted to. When I do drink a caffeinated beverage I can't tell the difference. Caffeine does nothing for me.

How ironic. I just started regularly drinking coffee this last month for the first time in my life. I have about a cup (8 oz.) every other day. It does supply a bit of a jolt, but not enough to make me crash.

Otherwise, I only occasionally drink tea and I don't drink sodas anymore.

Smeth, you may want to give sparkling juice a shot. Things like Izze that have no processed sugars, no preservatives, no artificial flavors and no caffeine could supply you with your fizz experience without such ill effects. I like the blackberry flavor, but my pseudo-gf swears by the pomegranate.

Caffeine is definitely a staple in my diet, but it's not like heroin or anything. I never get a buzz nor do I 'crash' per say. I do drink a considerable amount in a day. Coffee, sodas, an energy drink or 2, Zip Fizz (health drink powder,) etc. If I'm running low on caffeine, it's then that I actually get jittery. I also become very frustrated and irritable. So I'll make a little coffee or mix up a Zip Fizz and then I'm fine. I guess I'm not as sensitive to the drug as others maybe? I rarely get headaches and as mentioned, I don't crash. I'm sure I could go a day without it but it's just in too many products I regularly enjoy. I'm not really sure how it's harming me so I don't really have any desire to exclude it from my diet for the time being.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Whenever I've ditched caffeine and pop, I always get things like Izze and sparkling water so that I still have interesting drinks to consume! Unfortunately, they're just a lot more expensive than pop is.

NO CAFFEINE!!!


I'll kill you all. No joke.

I am not willing to give up my coffee. I'd rather give up masturbation than give up my coffee.

I'm not sure that caffeine itself has any long term negative effects, other than physical addiction. I'm also less affected by caffeine than most people - I've never experienced a withdrawal headache or anything like that - but the idea of a crash sounds more dramatic than it actually is. What I'll typically experience is I'll wake up, not feel entirely energetic in the morning, eventually have a caffeinated beverage and get a boost of energy. After awhile, if I'm not keeping up the consumption, I'll eventually start feeling tired again, at which point I'll seek out some more caffeine to wake me up. Studies have shown that caffeine is much less likely to impede sleep during the nighttime, so I don't have problems getting to sleep at night when I try, but I often resist sleeping until I feel I'm tired, which can be rather late when I'm full of caffeine. Pretty much everyone I've come across who has quit caffeine says they feel more awake and energetic throughout the day than they used to, and that's the experience I had as well when I was off caffeine for three months. There are certainly worse drugs to be addicted to though :p

---------- Post added at 02:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:03 AM ----------

I seem to recall we've already done that for a period of time on TFP ;) :p

I know, rite??? *chews another percocet* lol

I think everything you said is similar to how caffeine affects me. I don't know about that 'boost of energy' though. I just kinda feel better when I get a dose in me. But Zip Fizz, man, that stuff's the bomb. I've posted about it before. It is very healthy and I do get a boost off of that, especially if I chug it down.

Zipfizz Healthy Energy Drink Mix

Kinda pointless if you're trying to ditch the caffeine tho huh? lol

I quit coffee when I quit cigarettes, back in 2001. There was just no way I could have a cup of coffee without smoking, so I quit it all at once. Alcohol too. Once I had some solidity to my nicotine quit, I could gradually put the contributing vices back in place. ;-)

I'm a two-cup-a-morning guy. The mornings when I somehow fail to, though, I do okay, so I'm not too worried about the addiction element. I just love it. I love coffee very very much.

I drink about two cups of coffee every morning. They are both delicious and pleasurable. I see no reason to give them up. Fuck that.
But best of luck to you quitters - seriously. :)

Don't drink as much coffee for me to notice a "need" for it. My drug of choice is breakfast. When I wake up in the AM and find no eggs, bread and margarine, I get very very angry. And no, not just cranky, VERY FUCKIN' ANGRY!!!

To give up coffee you simply need to wake up earlier and take a walk outside if you don't run.

I will not be joining you on this one secretmethod. My last attempt to cease caffeine consumption lasted five hours with a severe migraine, so I to purchased a venti cafe americano from Starbucks and the coffee aroma drastically reduced my headache even without drinking it.

Freshman year in college I got way addicted to caffeine.... couple cups of soda or coffee with each meal, then a couple cups between each meal and after dinner. I would get headaches if I didnt get my fix.
Over a period of a month and a half I gradually reduced my caffeine intake to nothing. Stayed caffeine free for a few months, and now I'll occasionally have a cup or 2, not usually more then 4 or 5 cups a week.

When I start to have trouble getting to sleep, I give up caffeine. This is more difficult now that I am living at home, where my mother and SO both enjoy tea (and yes, with the minimal caffeine intake I have, tea DOES affect me) and the woman I am temporarily working for offers me coffee every morning. I finally picked up an enjoyment for the taste of coffee about 6 months ago (after despising it for years), and now it makes me a little sad that it affects me so strongly that I can't drink much without absolutely destroying my sleep schedule. :(

If I drink a caffeinated beverage, it has to be well before 11 am if I have a bedtime of 10 or 11 pm, otherwise it will be difficult to fall asleep and I fail to sleep well.

I gave up coffee several years ago, for food sensitivity issues, (too hard on my stomach) not to give up caffeine. I still drink tea, usually three cups a day, so there's still a fair amount of caffeine entering my system on a regular basis. When I do skip a day or two of tea drinking, I don't experience any noticeable withdrawal symptoms. My sister gets a headache after skipping her morning coffee just once.

Yeah a lot of people are like that with caffeine, including my parents - can't have it after a certain time of the day. But I often enjoy a couple cups before bed without issue. I'd glad about that as I just love the whole 'warm cup of something' feeling overall. It's a comfort thing I guess.

Yeah, so it's my Day 3.

The only caffeine I've had since Wednesday would be the trace amounts in the decaf green tea I've been drinking, in addition to the trace amounts in the cocoa I use in my cereal and the bit that would be in the dark chocolate almonds I ate last night (the latter would total less than 30 mg, which is lower than a cup of regular tea).

As mentioned in my linked blog in the OP, my habit brought me upwards to 300 to 400 mg of caffeine daily, and sometimes double that.

I've read about this extensively. One book I read was a collection of scientific evidence of the effects of coffee consumption on various parts of the body, even decaf's effect on cholesterol levels.

It goes a little something like this: caffeine spurs the creation of certain chemical reactions in your body. Generally speaking, it influences your adrenal system, which is responsible for producing hormones in response to physical and mental stress. We're very familiar with this: increased blood pressure, metabolic rate, and glucose usage---in a word: adrenaline.

Basically, caffeine produces an adrenaline response: it "fabricates" what would otherwise be a defense or coping mechanism that would be used in response to stressors in our environment. But without necessarily experiencing these stressors, this can feel good. At first. Pumping out an adrenaline response without actually using the materials and conditions produced by it can create another response: residual cortisol. Cortisol is known as the "stress hormone." As one of the "main ingredients" of the adrenaline response, cortisol has its uses, but quite often it is created for the wrong reasons: unmanaged stress and high caffeine consumption, or both.

When cortisol is created and not dealt with (i.e. through the removal of a stressor or intense exercise...vitamin C can help too), it taxes the system: it reduces immunity (possibly leading to infection or other sickness) and is generally responsible for feelings of anxiety. It is often considered a factor for weight gain too. People who drink lots of coffee, who are stressed out a lot, and don't sleep enough tend to produce a lot of cortisone. Some people lose a bit of weight simply by quitting coffee: they sleep better and are less stressed just by cutting out that part of the puzzle.

Anyway, the bottom line is this: the use of caffeine even in modest amounts kicks your adrenal system in gear even if it doesn't "need to." It also prevents the production of a hormone that is excreted as a part of the sleep process, which could delay the onset of sleepiness, even if you drink coffee early in the day (btw, caffeine half life is 6 whole hours: that morning Starbucks is still in your system by sleepytime).

Some of you stated that you don't "crash." Well, I think it's more accurate to say you don't feel a crash, or you don't mind the effect of it. Because you necessarily do feel the adrenaline wear off eventually, and that's when some people go back for another hit, whether they've consciously felt it or not.

If you don't think you're addicted to caffeine and could stop anytime, just go one day without it. Caffeine withdrawal kicks in within 24 to 48 hours of cessation.

Caffeine tolerance and addiction varies person to person. Some can handle it better than others, but generally, daily consumption rates between 200 to 400 mg can easily cause problems in both the consumption itself and the cessation. The Canadian government's upper limit for caffeine intake for an unpregnant adult is 400 mg. A typical drip brew coffee of 8 oz. is between 100 to 150 mg. A Starbucks "Grande" I think is 400 mg. A tea is between 15 to 40, depending on the colour. So do the math.

Sorry for this being so long, but I wanted to share with you what I know. It will help get your head around why I want to quit this stuff. Day 2 was the worst for me: fuzzy head, low motivation, generally sleepiness. Last time, Day 3 marked the end of the worst of it, so today I should be fine. A real catalyst for me was that there is now evidence that caffeine can exacerbate existing problems of anxiety and depression. This was something else added to my list of strikes against caffeine and it ultimately was the catalyst for my current goal.

For those who have consumed caffeine regularly since adulthood, know this: you may not realize just how much of a boost to your sleep quality quitting caffeine will give you. You will likely feel more energized throughout the day, and this is without that "hit" you need to "kick-start your day." When you're off caffeine, you do other things to kick-start the day, such as listen to AC/DC or something.

Being off caffeine gives an odd feeling of freedom. But beware: it's easy to be drawn back by the lure of this widely available and worshiped drug.

Now wish us luck on our journey! :thumbsup:

I can't give up caffeine... it keeps me moving during the day. I would be suckin' without it, that's for sure.

Dunkin Donuts coffee? Tons of caffeine. I avoid it. It gives my scrawny frame really bad shakes. All bad.

Diet Mountain Dew? Useful amount of caffeine. I use it in the morning, at lunch, and before my class at 1900.

Without it? I become a head-nodding zombie while I'm trying to absorb useless trivia and boring anecdotes.

The head-nodding part is most likely due to a lack of regular exercise this particular slam-slam-slam semester.

I did not need as much caffeine in 2008 because I was hitting the gym and karate X times a week.

Drinking caffeine is not part of my daily routine.

Though the study outlined in this BBC article convinced me to drink a little occasionally:
BBC NEWS | Health | Coffee 'may reverse Alzheimer's'

GG, that study suggests you'd need 500 mg daily for the effect. While that may be fine if you want to reverse existing Alzheimer's, I don't think I'd want to do that without having it in the first place.

There's this as well: BBC NEWS | Health | Green tea compound Alzheimer hope

The difference here is prevention. The problem though, is drinking the tea isn't enough. You'd need a concentrated amount of the tea's EGCG, which could be obtained with supplementation.

My point here is that drinking coffee does have benefits. It can even prevent Parkinson's apparently. But so can green tea. Green tea doesn't have the same problem of caffeine that coffee does.

The caffeine in green tea is more tolerable due to its makeup, and the caffeine level is much lower to begin with. Also, the carbon dioxide decaf process of green tea is ideal to remove most of the caffeine while maintaining the same levels of antioxidants and other goodness.

I've been off of daily caffeine for about 3 years. I was a 2 mugs of coffee in the morning drinker, plus often a 20 oz caffeine soda for lunch. It took about 3 days for me to eliminate the cranky headache; a lot of water helped me through that time. I went from coffee to decaf coffee to decaf black tea to decaf green tea, which is now my usual morning drink. Depending on the breakfast, I'll have decaf coffee (for instance, the sweetness of french toast and syrup requires the bitterness of coffee). After a year away, I allowed myself to have an occasional real coffee or caffeinated soda, but never when I was feeling tired.

B_G, you mentioned decaf coffee and cholesterol, but didn't explain further. I'm interested to hear more. Also, does decaffeinating green tea remove too much of the "good stuff"?

I think the jury is still out, but here's some stuff to read:
Decaf may raise bad cholesterol levels - Heart health- msnbc.com
Decaf can raise your bad cholesterol levels by up to 10%
Decaffeinated Coffee Tied to Cholesterol Rise - The New York Times

It's not necessarily the process of decaffeination so much as it is the type of beans they use to make it. (Cheaper robusta vs. arabica.)

As for decaffeinated green tea, opt for the tea processed with the carbon dioxide extraction method. It maintains the integrity of the antioxidants and especially the coveted EGCG.

Avoid "naturally decaffeinated" if it doesn't state a carbon dioxide process specifically. Otherwise they might be using a solvent such as ethyl acetate (which is common in wine actually). The problem with that is it may destroy much of the EGCG and polyphenols in the tea, thus removing much of the health benefits. So always choose decaf tea that was processed using the carbon dioxide method.

Thanks for the info -- I see the decaf coffee study was based on "3 to 6 cups a day", so I'm not going to concern myself with a mug a week. Also, I'll check for the CO2 next time I buy green tea; I'm pretty sure that the cheap grocery brand green tea doesn't use the CO2 method.

See if you can find the Stash brand of tea. They make both green tea and black chai tea using this method, and many more. It says so right on the box. It's also decent quality for its low price.

Stash Tea: Tea FAQ

Decaf Tea Bags

I've been buying caffeine free soft drinks for a few months now. I don't avoid it but I figure what the hell, if I can choose the caffeine-free version of a soft drink, I might as well. At restaurants I get tea all the time though. I'll also buy caffeinated soft drinks if the caffeine-frees aren't on sale.

For me, coffee is more about the routine and the enjoyment of the delicious hot beverage.

If I'm not in the mood for coffee, i don't even think twice about having juice or water instead.

In the morning, I do not notice significant differences in my thought processes and work functions on days with or without. I typically drink 16-20 oz of coffee in the mornings.

However, if I have more than 1 cup of coffee after 7pm at night, most of the time I do find it harder to fall asleep.

I first started drinking coffee working the graveyard shift, where my coworker would make the pot before I got to work, and pour me a cup when he got his. So I had coffee waiting for me when I got in, and it became our routine. Now, I work normal hours but love coffee for the coffee.

I love coffee, including the taste. I also consume my caffeine from tea, soda, the very rare red bull and tablet forms. I dunno how I'd ever get through a day of work without it. (Okay, I could, but I'd suffer.) Like every drug, it causes tolerance and withdrawal which may be unpleasant. My average intake is one cup a day 5 days a week to keep that to a minimum. Anymore than one in a day and the side-effects kick in. Take the weekend off to kill tolerance (though all this talk about coffee is certainly tempting me to make a cup right now).

I drink anywhere between 2 liters to a case a day of diet soda, usually Dr. Pepper or Mt Dew sometimes Pepsi Max. I do the NOS shots every now and then, I expect a boost of energy but usually they just make me more tired.

I have been off and on caffeine for years and I will say after about 2 weeks caffeine free I am less agitated, able to sleep better and more energetic. Caffeine also dehydrates you as does the carbonation, which may explain why I get more energetic away from it.

I just love soda tho. If the stores carried caffeine free Dew or Dr. Pepper on a regular basis, I'd switch permanently to them in heartbeat. Hell, if Propel was the same price I'd rink it. Instead a 4 pack costs more than a six pack of soda and Propel goes down a hell of a lot faster.

On a side note, yesterday I quit smoking... well I had 4 all day (couldn't waste the ones I had). I"ve journaled about it on Facebook how I prepared and identified the addiction. It's not too bad right now just psychological more than anything. I'm sure the physical will kick in soon enough.

I wish you luck on your journey to caffeine-freedom!

I'm completely addicted, and I'm completely ok with that. I worked in a local coffeeshop off and on for about five years, with all the free coffee I could drink during that time. Having to be at work, awake and cheerfully awaiting the masses at 5:30 am each morning you can damn well bet I took advantage of the espresso machine.

Now I usually get a coffee drink worth 2 shots of espresso and then drink maybe 3 cans of Diet Coke throughout the day. And honestly if I don't have an espresso drink every couple of days I get a killer headache. But as was stated before, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's that bad. This is my one addiction. (Well that and really bad VH1 reality shows, but that's more like a secret guilty pleasure.)

In High school on long weekends of original warcraft and X-com a friend of mine and I would often split a cube of Mt Dew a night. On two occasions I had a serious heart palpitation and blacked out. So I am a bit leery of Caffeine. Over the past 10 yrs I have gone through my cycles of caffeine and not. During withdrawls I go through serious migraines and waves of down right nasty behavior. Currently I have been off the stuff for about 2 weeks, and I sleep 20x better and have more energy throughout the day. But I am sure I will have a day of working a swing shift then a 7am shift and get sucked back in. So good luck Secret and BG!

I have never been a coffee fan, but GOD I loved soft drinks. I was up to at least 2 2lts of Dr. Pepper/Cheerwine a day. I would often drink 2 cans of soda at breakfast just to wake up and drink them non-stop during the day. I never had trouble sleeping, but that could be the rum i was putting into my sodas after the sun went down.

I did this for years, til my stomach started telling me I was drinking to much soda. I started getting intense heartburn, that would drop my knees in pain. I realized that when I didn't drink soda, it helped. I quit cold turkey and I think I wasn't truly "awake" for about 2 weeks. I felt like a walking zombie. Since this was not a give-up-caffeine thing, I did drink a cup or two a coffee during that time when I just couldn't shake the sleep off. After about 2 weeks, my body got used to the lack of caffeine that it wasn't getting and I began to really feel awake. I've quit drinking/pot/cigs at various times in my life and I will say that quitting soda was the hardest thing I've ever quit.

Now, I drink a cup of coffee every morning or have a large glass of iced tea. I have iced tea if I sit down at a restaurant, but that's about all the caffeine I take in a day. Sometimes I get a wild hair up my ass and drink a Dr. Pepper/Sun-Drop/Cheerwine, but that is rare. If I don't leave my house on a weekend, I hardly drink caffeine at all. I could do without it, but I would rather not, seeing as it's not a big health/sleep issue with me.

A huge congratulations and good luck! I've been battling this for years. If you don't mind, I may pm you from time to time to see how you're doing and to get inspiration!
I finally tried Cheerwine not too long ago after seeing in on the shelf forever. Never knew what it was. I like it! Like a cherry soda or something. Good stuff - got some Diet in the fridge right now...
I love sweet tea. Occasionally I'll make a gallon of it and suck it down, forgetting I get severe heartburn from the stuff. I immediately thought it was due to caffeine but it can't be - I drink lots of other things with caffeine and I never get heartburn. But for some reason, sweet tea kills me.

I digressed a bit - sry lol.

I tried to quit caffeine once. Never again. Now I just try to limit my intake. Everything in moderation. I start the day with a travel mug of coffee. I can't seem to leave the house without it. I think the act of drinking in the car is what keeps me awake more than the coffee itself. But I enjoy the taste and the aroma so I am sticking with it. I sometimes have another cup at 10am, it depends on how work is going, if I need to escape my office and if I have change for the coffee machine. I always have another cup at 2pm, that never fails. It is a good reason to get off my butt and walk around the office.

After my husband left me, I saw an article that suggested caffeine may decrease your libido. I thought that was to blame for him leaving. That was when I tried to stop. I have since realized he would have left anyway and started drinking coffee again. I feel more like myself now.

and any soda (or pop) that I drink is always caffeine free. and diet.

Since I am just returning from a trip to my local coffee depot (Tim Hortons) I think I can contribute....

I think for me it is more the ritual than the caffeine. I did not start to drink coffee until I was 29, previously only drinking juice or water in the morning. My co-workers would make fun of me as I was the grown adult drinking a juice box....anyway I slowly started to have a coffee here and there and now I have one everyday, sometimes twice a day.

I think I enjoy the taste more than the effect. I won't drink any caffeine after 8pm and rarely have any in the afternoon. I find it upsets my stomach and makes me sluggish. My girlfriend and I stop every morning before work at Tim Hortons and I get a coffee (she does not drink any) but notice that more times than not by mid-morning I've only drank half of it and toss the rest out.

I know it would be a significant savings if I gave up the habit but I enjoy it too much. The little I do consume.

My favourite soda is caffeine free coke which is next to impossible to find locally. I do know that caffeine does effect me as about a year ago I had my first Red Bull energy drink at work and I went nuts! So much energy but man they taste like ass. Have not had an energy drink since really.


Water is natures fruit juice.

I recall reading that a ritual is an important part of creating an addiction.

Im not a coffee drinker either, but I do like my pop. I'm no where near as addicted to it as u sed to be but i just love the taste. I'd like to give it up one day, seeing as it's terrible for you, but when that will be... who knows...

What about meth? Rumor has it... once you pop, the fun don't stop.

I just posted this in Pointless Announcments in the wake of a sleeping binge:
I admit it: I've been on and off the wagon over the past couple of months. But it wasn't entirely bad. However, last week I had a good binge. I was attempting to drink the coffee we had lying around the house from Christmas gifts. I figured I would drink it up over a short period so that I didn't draw it out into a habit. Um....why?

I was up to 3 cups a day, but decided to stop last week and bought some good-quality teas and switched to that immediately. That signified a spike and then a withdrawal of caffeine over a short period.

These are my observations:

• The initial punch of caffeine from coffee in the mornings weren't necessarily more rewarding than having a cup of tea. I would say that the tea is actually more rewarding in terms of mood, energy, and overall satisfaction, especially green.
  
• The afternoon brought crashes. I would get moody, lethargic, and regretful for having drank 2 to 3 cups of coffee instead of having just tea.
  
• I couldn't tell if my sleep was affected, but getting up in the morning really sucked before having a beverage of either kind.
  
• I only tend to remember my dreams when not consuming high levels of caffeine during the day.
  
• The sleep binge above is unusual. I blame the spike in caffeine and the subsequent withdrawal from it. I seldom feel so tired by 10:00 p.m. Other factors are likely. It was the end of the week, I am weight training still, and I had a nice big pizza meal followed by some chocolate-covered almonds. But still, it was unusual. It was as though my body said, "Dude, we're going to pay off our sleep debt. Now."

Although paying off a sleep debt of a fair size is impossible to do in one night, it feels as though my body wanted to make the attempt anyway. I just hope I can sleep tonight. :)

I also hope something else isn't going on. I don't feel sick or anything. The only real change in my life was the caffeine, so I'm looking at that as the leading cause of this.

I prefer to keep my daily caffeine level below 100 mg (less than a regular cup of coffee). I want to stay away from its adverse effects. This was an interesting occurrence, and I want to take something valuable away from it. I want to stay off caffeine long enough to see how energy levels are naturally attained through other means, and that the "energy" from caffeine is a false positive. Caffeine doesn't give you energy. It puts you into an adrenaline rush....usually when you don't need it...and it goes unused...to an adverse effect. That I want to stop.

I've just naturally become caffeine free. I don't always stick with it because it's not something I see as a problem, but quite a while back I started buying juice instead of soda for no other reason than I prefer it. I don't get to share mornings with Deena so I don't have coffee.

At work we have a Flavia machine that I mostly use to make herbal tea.

Yesterday however, I had a large cafe au lait. After covering about 7 miles for my job, I thought I would sleep like a rock. I did, if that rock were wide eyed and restless.

Baraka: Interesting. I managed to avoid caffeine until around the holidays (with a couple minor exceptions, like the time I was in the Mexican restaurant and they had bottled Coke with real sugar), but with the election so close (10 days from today) I've needed the caffeine to make up for staying up late. Until Feb 2, I'll be killing myself with fast food and caffeinated drinks, but afterward I can try to be healthy again.

I had an evil caffeine addiction at one point, to the extent i was getting violent and aggressive without a fix. Weaned myself off it over a couple of weeks and felt so much better.

I'm not totally caffeine free, it is useful for the pep, and i like lots of things with it in. However whenever i do find myself taking in a fair bit there is the urge to go find more, which can be a struggle.

I had a bad experience once. I was playing Magic the Gathering at a friend's place, and we thought it would be cool to have a couple of espressos each to ramp up our game. This, of course, was after 9 p.m. By the time I got home by 12 or so, I sat in the chair for a good 30 min. to an hour trying to fend of an anxiety attack from the caffeine...fatigue set in eventually. I don't remember how much coffee I had earlier that day. There's a good chance I had one or two cups at least. So... who knows how much caffeine I had in my system by midnight. The half life is 6 hours or so.

Hang in there, champ. You might see what I mean if you drop off on the caffeine suddenly and not be so stressed out from work as much. Your body is likely going to switch into cocoon mode. :thumbsup:

This is a big thing for me. I hate the thought of needing to have coffee before going to do something...sometimes to the point of not wanting to do it at all without it...sometimes being a moody brat if required to suffer without it. Who wants that? I don't.

* * * * *

In the meantime, I'm going to be experimenting with the documented content of L-theanine in sencha.

I love coffe, though not caffeine :). I gave it up once for a week, just to see if I could. It was a long week.

I drink a double shot of espresso in the morning, and have a utilitarian half calf - half decaf cup (maybe 10 oz) in the afternoon from the coffee machine at work.
But my first coffee in the morning is more than just about the caffeine; it's about the ritual of making it: grinding, tamping, brewing. I just love coffee, and if it naturally came uncaffeinated I would have many more shots a day :). Unofortunately decaf genereally doesn't taste as good, and has less variety.

I do notice when I don't have my coffee, so I would say I am slightly addicted. I probably get 150 mg of caffeine a day from caffeinated drinks (I don't drink soft drinks or tea or eat much chocolate, so I don't think I get a lot of caffeine otherwise). But I figure it's worth it for the ritual. I remember being a kid in Lebanon and always wanting to be old enough to have Turkish coffee after Sunday's lunch on my Grandma's balcony :). I started by dipping sugar cubes in the coffee, to drinking sweet coffee, though now I can't stand any sugar (or milk!) in it.

But then I guess my avatar might have already shown my preference :)

See, I love coffee too. This is the challenge for me. It's a delicious drink. I don't drink it just for the caffeine. I don't like bad coffee.

I keep telling myself that I could have just a single shot of espresso in the morning and would still be able to drink decaf green tea and be below my 100 mg threshold for daily caffeine intake. But the issue is stopping at one instead of having another or a cup of coffee later on. I know what you mean about the decaf. If I search around more, I'm might find something I like, but the decaf I've purchased hasn't been very good. I read that most decaf is made from a different bean. It's not the arabica bean you get with good coffee; it's often the inferior robusta bean.

If I can find a decaf arabica coffee that uses the water method for decaffeination, I might be fine....might..... I haven't tried decaf espresso though. Maybe I should consider half-decaf espresso at home, which would leave me with room to have one or two regular teas during the day. It's like Weight Watchers...but with caffeine instead of calories. As long as it adds up to under 100 mg., I'm fine.

I know what you mean about the ritual of making espresso. And then, of course, there's the ritual of drinking it. It is to be savoured. Ugh...I'm going to be buying espresso beans soon, aren't I?

Strength, Baraka, strength....

Oh I plan on it. It'll be necessary after barely sleeping and working ~40 hours in three days!

I hope I haven't tempted you too much with the espresso stuff Baraka :)

In the meantime, I decided to switch my utilitarian afternoon coffee (which I drink mostly because I want a break in the afternoon, not because I want crappy office coffee) from half-caf to full decaf. I don't sense any energy difference, so that's good...

I dunno....I think I'm tempted to pick up some decaf espresso. It'd be a waste not to use my espresso machine for anything.

There truly is something to be said for morning rituals. I have to start my day off with a coffee from the office espresso machine. I make and consume it in the same way each morning.

Weekends, I make it at home using my stove top espresso maker.

I'd like to know how that goes, i know somewhere that sells L-Theanine powder, but i don't want to fork out if it's bunk.

It will be a while before I can experiment. From what I've read, high-grade Japanese teas have the highest content, and even then, the content in a cup of tea is below the threshold used in studies...so the consumption through tea must be high.

I'm drinking both green tea and oolong at the moment, but I'm switching to sencha exclusively after I run out.

I drink one or two cups of organic coffee in the morning. That is the only caffeine I get. Been this way for years....

So how's the caffeine kick going, gentlemen? Just curious if you decided to keep it going.

Been through all levels of caffeine from none to probably something insane like 20 cups a day. I'm comfortable with my morning double espresso and an occasional evening American coffee (or a Jamaican coffee on the rare occasion!). When I work a 2nd or third shift, I usually an extra cup.

When I was heavily into caffeine, I wasn't able to fall asleep unless I had a cup before bed. :hmm:

Hah, I had little-to-none for a couple months, but I've been back to heavy caffeine consumption for awhile now. Maybe it's time to take another hiatus.

Still off of it, for about 4 years now - the only times I have a cup of regular coffee is for medicinal purposes if I'm feeling a bit backed up.

Has anyone noticed how time goes faster when drinking large amounts of coffee? Perhaps, if we cease the caffeine consumption again, time will slow down?

Same.

I have the usual on-again/off-again love/hate relationship with coffee and caffeine.

I want to switch to decaff espresso beans and drink mainly tea (both decaf black and regular sencha).

If I could keep my daily caffeine intake below 75 mg or so, then I'd be happy. (In most cases, that's the least that's in 1/2 cup of coffee.)

A lot of this is psychological tied into the physiological. You don't need caffeine to function---for the most part, you need caffeine to alleviate the withdrawal from it so that you can function normally.

If you can get over the "but I need it" trap, you can go far.

I made an effort to stop daily caffeine about ten years ago. I drink green tea and water nearly all day these days.

When I need to stay awake for a long drive I will drink a lot of Mountain Dew for a dose of caffeine. It works great when your body has not adapted to it over time.

I treat it like a drug similar to aspirin; I only use it when I need it.

Regular green tea does contain caffeine, you know, so I hope you meant decaf.

I've cut back a LOT in recent weeks. I drink herbal tea most days instead of Diet Pepsi. I have about 1-2 cups of coffee on a given morning, but that's about it. Sometimes I don't even have coffee at all (weird, I know). For me, that's a pretty considerable improvement.

I'll be honest--I didn't even really notice when I cut back. There were a few days a couple weeks ago when I had a cold where I drank herbal tea all day instead of coffee or Diet Pepsi, and I didn't really go through any kind of withdrawal. There weren't any headaches or anything. It was weird! I also don't feel like I feel any better consuming less, nor do I feel like I sleep better consuming less. I feel like I sleep about the same.

Yes, good point. Yes, it is a decaf. green tea (by Bigelow).

They say the caffeine in green tea doesn't have the same effect on you because of the counteraction of theanine. This is why you can drink green tea all day and not feel the same way if you were drinking coffee. Green tea has an odd sort of "calm stimulation" because of this. Think of it as the effect meditation/breathing or exercise has on you. It reduces your stress and can refresh you at the same time.

The other thing too is that green tea (sencha especially, by my own practice) can be double brewed. The second brewing will have many of the good compounds still but nearly none of the caffeine will be left. So if you double brew your green tea all day, you only get (about) half the overall caffeine. For example, 10 cups of double brewed green tea is like drinking 5 or 6 cups of single brewed green tea. At about 20 to 40 mg or so of caffeine per cup, we're talking about 100 to 200 mg vs. 200 to 400 mg in a day.

It's interesting to note how much different that is compared to coffee consumption. Most cups of coffee have over 100 mg of caffeine (and we're talking cups cups; many people drink grandes* and mugs of it). So this means that a couple of cups of coffee will blow past up to ten cups of green tea, depending on how you brew it. And this isn't even accounting for the counteraction of theanine I mentioned.

This is why I want to switch.


*According to the Starbucks website, the "Bold Pick of the Day" has 260 mg of caffeine in a tall and 330 mg of caffeine in a grande. So even if you fully single brewed your green tea and drank 10 cups of it, you'd still be fairly equal to a single coffee from Starbucks.

I don't drink coffee, so I'm always surprised when I see the amount of caffeine in most cups. Soda has its own issues (sugar, etc), but I think it's amazing that I've had two cans of Mountain Dew so far today - 110mg of caffeine - and that's still less than half what someone would have if they ordered a tall "Bold Pick of the Day" from Starbuck's.

I like coffee, I'm fine with my addiction.

I have switched to 50/50 decaf, however.

Every couple of months I'll give up caffeine. Just so my dependency goes down and I can enjoy it again. It's really not all that hard usually for me.

Funny this thread was revived. I'm on my second week sans caffeine now. I'm not addicted to coffee, but having 5-8 large cups of coffee at work wasn't good for my stress level or mood when I came home.

I usually take a couple of "white weeks" each year, but this is the first time I've suspected the caffeine to affect my mood.

It could be a coincident, but I feel much calmer during the evenings now and my "fuse" isn't that short. A welcome change as I was beginning to fell like "Angry dad" the moment I came home from work.

My goal is to go without caffeine until Christmas- It's (almost) impossible to stay away from coffee during all the visits, cakes and good food :)

i dont need coffee anymore but i remember the happy jittery days of finals that are once again looming. i would use redbull but the b12 give me massive headaches.

At home I usually prepare a few cups in the morning, drink them before noon. On rare occasions I forget, skipping one day usually gives me headache the next day.

At work I drink many cups during the evening. I drink not more than a liter per day. Is that a lot?

I'm now on another round of scaling back.

• Coffee: all stop. Though I may have an espresso in the morning on weekends.

• Tea: green mainly—double-brewed, so half of what I drink is virtually caffeine free. One oolong or Darjeeling here or there.

I've been drinking up to 3 or 4 cups of coffee per day lately, and it's been taking its toll on me. I figure my caffeine intake has been up past 400 or 500 mg/day. It's likely now around 100 mg/day, which is less than a cup of coffee.

My last full caffeine day was Sunday.

It feels like someone punched me in the forehead.

I've gone from two to four coke zeros and plenty of hot tea almost cold turkey to a cup of green tea in the morning and maybe one diet coke in the afternoon for two days, since arriving at my conference. It sucks major balls. I'm already sicker than I was before leaving, but the caffeine withdrawal really stinks, when added to the sinus headache and sore throat. It's the $2 price tag on the 20oz diet coke that is enforcing my withdrawal. We get a few sodas in the afternoon for free and all the tea we can drink, but I'm trying to do more herbal... I just pee like every hour or two :lol:

I am up to 5 cups of coffee per day, so If I cease caffeine consumption, I am going to take a 2 week vacation so I don't flip out and kill someone. So, I suppose a vacation should be in order, huh?

I find that even a 1 month absence from coffee does not free me from Caffeine's grasp. I'm a lost cause.

I've never been able to handle caffeine very well, but I've been craving it a lot lately. Working long hours definitely makes me feel like I need it more!

caffeinated kid
 

When I was around 11 years old, my parents both left for work in the morning and left me with around half a pot of coffee of which I usually drank a few cups. I didn't care about the caffeine, to me, it was a sweet drink that was somethin hot to drink on a cold morning. And of course I loaded it up with sugar and creamer.

But the habit didnt stick, I dont drink coffee now nor caffeinated sodas either, but I dont mind caffeine in my soda, its just that I cant stand carbonation in any soft drink. If you hand me a pepsi, I will shake it up until all carbonation is gone, then drink it. So since I never buy carbonated drinks, I avoid the caffeine by accident, because the sprorts drinks and juice drinks I buy, just dont happen to have caffeine.

I have never drunk coffee/tea but I found myself drinking more and more normal coke every day over a few months recently, ended up drinking a 1.5/2L a day...

Yea, that's great for the health and teeth.

Got real pissed off when I couldn't have some and had headaches, first time in my life I have been physically addicted to something and it sucked.

14 days now, just stopped it completely and drank water instead. It would become stupidly hot and leave me dieing for a nice cold glass of it.

Still wish for the fizzy feeling but don't miss the taste of coke.

Nope, won't join ya on this one. I have my coffee ritual...I get up an hour early just to drink coffee, get focused and plan my day. I drink two mugs of steaming hot 'half-caf' coffee. I haven't found that I need more over time to get the same effect - I've been drinking the exact same amount for years. It's really the warmth and the texture I enjoy more than anything.

If I do drink any coffee after breakfast, it's decaf though. And I don't drink pop with caffeine or tea. Too much caffeine will make me jittery. Only water the rest of the day, maybe a diet Sprite once or twice a week.

What's in the carbonated drinks, you don't like? We have recently bought a sodamachine and it's very handy. I like carbonated waters, it doesn't have to be coke or any other flavor, but if you add the flavor, it has less sugar than in sodas you buy from store.

I never drink energy drinks, but I can't quit coffee. I've tried drinking more decaf rooibus tea in the evenings. I don't put any sugar in tea or coffee anymore - it takes a while to get used to the taste without the sugar.

bubbles
 

carbonation - I just dont like to drink liquids that have little bubbles in them.

I just know someone, who didn't want to drink soda, because it makes him burp and he thought that if he burps he will puke. No matter how much pain he had in stomach, he refused to burp.

Well, I find fizzy drinks fine just for that reason: burping often helps in stomach problems.

Day 3: my withdrawal headache is gone, but I think my adrenal system is correcting itself. I feel sluggish, but I'm not really craving caffeine. I think I'm just floating through the day without the usual chemical reactions brought on by high caffeine intake: adrenaline, adenosine, cortisol, etc....

I've gone through this before. By the weekend, there's a good chance I'll have a sleep marathon to move beyond this stage.

I'm still many years off of caffeine. It is amazing how fast the grip returns, however. A couple of weeks ago I stopped into an office, had a cup of coffee. Had a glass of iced tea with lunch. The next morning, I had a lack-of-caffeine headache.

Hmm, I don't get these "withdrawal headaches" you jokers are referring to nearly as often as mentioned in this here thread.

I go from ~300mg a day to ~100mg a day to several days without and have no issues. I drink a ton of water and exercise.

I won't be giving up caffeine. I don't see the point. It doesn't hinder me, I don't need it to function and it's cheaper than meth.

Just out of curiosity, 9er, when was the last time you went down to 0 mg/day for a few days?

Some days while I've been on vacation. I think the first week I was back I didn't have any because I hadn't gone grocery shopping.

Granted, it's hard to gauge how I really feel because other factors such as "blowjobs" and "sleeping eight hours" were also involved.

Yeah, I think there's some "displacement" going on. I think sleep and blowjobs are cures for withdrawal headaches.

The reason why I ask is that withdrawal symptoms show differently in people. There are some who go from over 1,000mg/day and have no withdrawal symptoms at all going to 0. While, there are some who go from 1 or 2 cups of coffee a day to screaming at their children.

You might be fine at 100 mg, but at 0, you might feel something....being on vacation...and stuff...might have hidden it. Though it would probably have been mild.

There's also this I 've heard, one should drink more water when drinking coffee as well.

Quite often drinking water enough would help feel better in general. I only tend to remember this better in summer, when it's hot.

Back when I was anorexic, I used to drink about 6 to 8 cups of coffee a day to suppress my appetite. I could go about 4 days without eating so long as I had my coffee-mate and some Folgers. Now that I'm in recovery, I don't drink coffee because it's such a huge trigger for me.

The internet says that a cup of drip coffee has about 175 mg per 7 fl oz. I'm pretty sure my coffee cups are about 7 oz because they only hold about half of my 16 oz tea kettle if I leave about an inch for the lip. So... 1050 to 1400 a day in caffeine down to almost cold turkey.

I don't think I've had any sort of withdrawal symptoms, but I still drink the occasional diet drink so I might be getting my caffeine from there. The back of my coke says it has 76 mg per 20 fl oz and the internet says diet mountain dew has 55 mg. I only drink those every now and again if I'm having a shit day at work and need some pep.

Most of my headaches and crankiness I blame on my carb-deficiency, never thought it could have been from the caffeine. Something to consider.

Oh, man, here I go again.

I'm such a junkie.

I was back on the bean for a while, back up to my usual habits, but now I'm on a tea kick. I'm currently drinking lots of black and green tea, with some oolong thrown in, and maybe one cup of coffee on the weekend (which I hope to eliminate). I'm currently drinking as much as 200 mg to 250 mg or more, depending on the day.

So this means I've scaled back to about half by stopping the coffee again. My goal is to scale back once again to below 100 mg/day. I hope that this time it will stick. I've had some more hands on experience with what coffee does vs. tea, and I notice that coffee is brutal on my system. I notice distinctly how it causes anxiety, among other things.

I also notice the difference when I drink herbal tea instead of caffeinated tea. I want to keep my caffeine to the morning, and drink herbal tea for the rest of the day. This will give my system plenty of time to process the caffeine before the evening.

I've recently been trying out various rooibos blends, and I'm finding them rather tasty. I hope to keep things interesting by trying various herbals. The shop I go to has such a wide variety and they're always coming up with new products every month or so.

I don't get the withdrawal issues either.

I've gone caffeine free for over a week a couple of times so far this year, either due to other things getting in the way of my morning coffee, norovirus, a cold, whatever. I generally don't drink coffee when my stomach doesn't feel good, and so when I had noro, I didn't drink any for a week, nor did I drink any Diet Pepsi. To bring my electrolytes back into balance, I went for a week drinking water, 7Up/Sprite, and Pedialyte (blech).

It also doesn't seem to affect my sleep in the same way it does for other people. I can drink a Diet Pepsi at 8pm and go to bed at 10 without a problem.

I blame my dad. He can have a cup of coffee and then go take a nap. It's bizarre.

Good luck with your latest attempt, Baraka. I am certainly grateful that caffeine doesn't bug me the way it seems to bug you :)

I went from a cup of coffee in the morning and four to five coke zeros throughout the day to no caffeine, period. This is day eight. My headache hasn't changed. I'm drinking 140oz of water a day and starting yoga. My headache still hasn't changed. I'm a little tired at times, and when our good coffee gets here from Stumptown, I'll go back to one cup of coffee in the morning for the reasons Redlemon mentioned and because it's the best tasting coffee I've ever had, but not for the caffeine factor.
The only time caffeine really causes me a problem is when I mix it with alcohol. The alcohol seems to amplify its effect... a tipsy, hyper Noodle is not fun. I become a drunk insomniac.

I quit caffeine about six years ago and it now my new normal. I love coffee however, so I drink a ton of it, but all decaf. My problem is that if a barista or the person at DD gives me regular, I shake like a leaf.

the problem is when you quit...be ready for at least a few days of headaches, bad mood, and lethargy.