Tips on how to break the coffee caffeine habit.

dee74

Well I have conquered a few of my vices in life but I am addicted to coffee. To describe this addiction I drink 2/3 or so of a pot a day, and all before 9 am. If I go a day without coffee I get an extremely painful headache and I get so sick I want to vomit, definitely not a pleasant experience. I am really thinking this is the year I break that hold. If you have been a caffeine addict and you conquered it let me know some tips on how you did it.

Jo2926

Personally for me cold turkey was the only way. I did it at the weekend so I could feel sorry for myself and drank lots of water.

I kept off caffeine for over a year and then reintroduced slowly. Still love it, but happy to have decaff 50% of the time so I'm happy with the balance.

rebecca_d35

As a happy coffee addict, I recommend keeping this vice. There have been several studies recently that show some health benefits to daily coffee. And they all seem to find that you need to drink a LOT of coffee to have those results. I only drink 1-2 cups a day, but I see nothing wrong with drinking more. Unless, of course, you are putting a lot of calories into those cups through sugar and cream. (I do, which is why I keep it to 1-2 cups a day.)

smatsatt

I too am a java junkie! I went to the doctor last month and he did not fuss about me loosing weight or smoking but the amount of coffee I consume ( around 16 cups a day!) He recommended cutting it down slowly a cup a week. He said even to mix decaf and regular to help ease out the caffeine. Its been a month and I can proudly say I am down to 5 cups a day. He recommended 3-5 cups at most. I had the headaches at first but would take two advil every morning the first week and now can say it does not bother me. Good luck its not easy being addicted to something so simple as coffee!

Dtho5159

Never!!!!!!

becoming_a_new_me

^^ this! I will never give it up. I just cut down on how much creamer I use. I refuse to give up my coffee

NewVonnie

That will never, ever, ever, ever happen for me. I love it too much and it's yummy. I see no reason to deny myself something I love so much if it fits in with my goals. As long as I exercise, eat well, and keep a deficit I will always have coffee.

jlnk

Give up coffee?? Never!

Helloitsdan

Caffein is a powerful supplement.
Did your doctor say you had to quit?
Unless mine says too I wont!
=D

bigtone34

Coffee is the only vice I will not give up. 6 years ago I quit chewing tobacco after 15 years by quitting cold turkey. Coffee would be a lot harder for me to give up. I drink about a pot in the morning and then another large cup in the afternoon.

addisondisease

As a happy coffee addict, I recommend keeping this vice. There have been several studies recently that show some health benefits to daily coffee. And they all seem to find that you need to drink a LOT of coffee to have those results. I only drink 1-2 cups a day, but I see nothing wrong with drinking more. Unless, of course, you are putting a lot of calories into those cups through sugar and cream. (I do, which is why I keep it to 1-2 cups a day.)

Oh the bro-science in this post... If OP if having withdrawal symptoms it means her body is addicted. I am 100% that any addiction is unhealthy. If you don't believe me ask your doctor. Please stop encouraging addictive behaviors.

PrairieRoseNE

Funny, how I just started to drink MORE coffee, in an effort to NOT drink as much Diet Pepsi. I only drink 1-3 cups a day, so I guess I'm not a "java junkie" yet. I do have to put a tsp of creamer in it - but can do without extra sweetener. At least it isn't as much sodium as was in my 20oz bottle of Dt. Pepsi

soccermom004

Why do you feel the need to break the habit completely? do you use a lot of cream and sugar. Coffee actually has some health benefits. Maybe try to cut back a bit, make yourself drink a glass of h2o before you can drink another cup or something. I don't drink it all day but I do have my 2-3 cups each morning with a touch of truvia and some sugerfree vanilla almond milk-YUM!

tageekly

I just work my coffee into my day and ALWAYS will - it might be good to cut back but there's no reason you have to give it up unless instructed by your doc.

Are you trying to quit because you want to or because you think you SHOULD?

angraham2

went cold turkey, on a long weekend, be prepared for detox, cold sweats, jitters, head aches etc. It sucked, but I feel so much better! Now I just drink caffeen free.

MelHoneyRocks

My best advice is dont give it up...life would be far less interesting without it..

norma67

Ok I am a major coffee person
I drink it all day every day

however, one of the ways to slowly get off of it is:

buy the decaff. and mix it with the real stuff
this way you are still getting that caff.

once you have started this after the first week
start using less coffee when making the coffee
cut back a little at a time over the next couple of weeks
until it gets to be just colored water

then you should be good to be off the coffee without all of the major withdrawals

Hope this helped.

but for me....keeping my coffee

Dave198lbs

As a happy coffee addict, I recommend keeping this vice. There have been several studies recently that show some health benefits to daily coffee. And they all seem to find that you need to drink a LOT of coffee to have those results. I only drink 1-2 cups a day, but I see nothing wrong with drinking more. Unless, of course, you are putting a lot of calories into those cups through sugar and cream. (I do, which is why I keep it to 1-2 cups a day.)

Oh the bro-science in this post... If OP if having withdrawal symptoms it means her body is addicted. I am 100% that any addiction is unhealthy. If you don't believe me ask your doctor. Please stop encouraging addictive behaviors.

apparently it depends on the doctor you ask. one poster above said her doctor didnt tell her to stop smoking or lose weight. so...to me...a doctor not telling his patient to stop smoking is whack

JamesonsMommy

I quit smoking in may.. No way i'm giving up my coffee... NEVER!!!!

beckylawrence70

Not a habit I wanna break.......love, love, love my coffee!

judybrim

Hi, Dee! This sounds like a decision that is very important to you personally...and I applaud you for your goal! One recommended method I have read which you could try is to gradually begin mixing in some Caf-Lib (a barley based, hot drink alternative) in with your coffee. You gradually increase the amount added as you feel your body can handle it and can go to the point of totally eliminating coffee if you want! You can find information on the Caf-Lib site. Good luck to you! I was introduce to Caf-Lib a year ago and love it! Perhaps you will, too!

athensguy

As a happy coffee addict, I recommend keeping this vice. There have been several studies recently that show some health benefits to daily coffee. And they all seem to find that you need to drink a LOT of coffee to have those results. I only drink 1-2 cups a day, but I see nothing wrong with drinking more. Unless, of course, you are putting a lot of calories into those cups through sugar and cream. (I do, which is why I keep it to 1-2 cups a day.)

Oh the bro-science in this post... If OP if having withdrawal symptoms it means her body is addicted. I am 100% that any addiction is unhealthy. If you don't believe me ask your doctor. Please stop encouraging addictive behaviors.

And how are you 100% that any addiction is unhealthy?

coxybum

Personally for me cold turkey was the only way. I did it at the weekend so I could feel sorry for myself and drank lots of water.

I kept off caffeine for over a year and then reintroduced slowly. Still love it, but happy to have decaff 50% of the time so I'm happy with the balance.

this was the only way for me too im afraid, a few days of lethargy and headaches and yes lots of water helps too, then its all ok i hated the idea of being reliant on something, only realised when id ran out and didnt have it one morning and ended up sleeping the whole day so getting no uni work done! but yeah it's worth doing good luck

Justjoshin

I quit coffee/caffeine cold Turkey last year.

After about 6 months, I realized there was no need for me to NOT drink coffee. So I started drinking coffee again, just nothing else.

rebeccae00

I gave up drinking coffee daily as I didn't like the idea that I was addicted to any substance. I went cold turkey using medicine to counter the headache. Now I use caffeine as a drug on an as needed basis. I like knowing that I am not required to have it everyday but I can drink it when I want to.

becoming_a_new_me

As a happy coffee addict, I recommend keeping this vice. There have been several studies recently that show some health benefits to daily coffee. And they all seem to find that you need to drink a LOT of coffee to have those results. I only drink 1-2 cups a day, but I see nothing wrong with drinking more. Unless, of course, you are putting a lot of calories into those cups through sugar and cream. (I do, which is why I keep it to 1-2 cups a day.)

Oh the bro-science in this post... If OP if having withdrawal symptoms it means her body is addicted. I am 100% that any addiction is unhealthy. If you don't believe me ask your doctor. Please stop encouraging addictive behaviors.

I get shaky and weak and develop horrible headaches when I don't eat food. Does that mean that I am addicted to food too and should stop it?

I understand coffee is a stimulant and some people are affected by it more than others, but I have not seen any difinitive studies that prove beyond a reasonable doubt that drinking caffiene will kill me.

akjmart2002

I cut out coffee altogether many years ago (but am fully on the caffeine train again!) by reducing my intake by a bit every few weeks. I was drinking 4 cups a day, then 3, then 2, then it was nothing to just quit completely.

Similar process to quitting smoking and other undesirable habits.

fiberartist219

Oh, I am a junkie too. Green tea can help ease you off of coffee, because it has some caffeine, and it's a hot relaxing drink to have without any sugar or cream. However, if you really love coffee, you might want to switch to half caf and then wean down to decaf.

Whatever you do, don't quit cold turkey. You will feel like crap if you do.

jcpmoore

Why you're doing it is your business.

I did this back when I was consuming one pot per day of coffee and it was causing me chest pain. Here's how I did it. I didn't cut down on the coffee-I cut down on the coffee. I started by mixing my coffee beans. I mixed 1/4 decaf with 3/4 regular in my canister. I then made coffee from that canister until it ran out. Next canister I cut down some more-1/2 and 1/2. next time it was 1/4 reg and 3/4 decaf. You get the picture. If you need a more gradual decrease you can do it by 8ths instead. It's slow and it took about 6 months, but there were no withdrawal headaches and at the end I was easily able to cut down to a cup or two with no pain b/c I was then on purely decaf.

HTH

jcpmoore

Oh, I am a junkie too. Green tea can help ease you off of coffee, because it has some caffeine, and it's a hot relaxing drink to have without any sugar or cream. However, if you really love coffee, you might want to switch to half caf and then wean down to decaf.

Whatever you do, don't quit cold turkey. You will feel like crap if you do.

Am I the only one that thinks green tea tastes like dirty water? Probably. It never did much for the caffeine fix for me, though, or the withdrawal headaches. Sorry, I'm not meaning to insult your drink of choice. I'm apparently just real picky about tea. I like black and red, though.

frazzle29

I quit cold turkey at first but I wasn't as addicted as you must be. Now I'm to maybe one Starbucks coffee a week.