Tips on how to break the coffee caffeine habit.

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  • athensguy
    athensguy Posts: 550
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    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
    coxybum Posts: 9
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    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
    Justjoshin Posts: 999 Member
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    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
    rebeccae00 Posts: 2
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    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
    becoming_a_new_me Posts: 1,860 Member
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    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
    akjmart2002 Posts: 263 Member
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    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
    fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
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    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
    jcpmoore Posts: 796 Member
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    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
    jcpmoore Posts: 796 Member
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    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
    frazzle29 Posts: 123 Member
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    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.
  • DorisR184
    DorisR184 Posts: 471 Member
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    While I don't drink nearly as much as you do (I drink about 1 1/2 Cups in the a.m) I could NEVER give it up... Maybe u could taper off alittle at a time?
  • nz_deevaa
    nz_deevaa Posts: 12,209 Member
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    I didn't give up, but I did cut back.

    I started out by alternating a cup of coffee with a glass of water. (So for each cup of coffee I drank, I drank a glass of water. I started out with hot water with lemon/ginger in it, but now I drink plain cold water).

    I was drinking 6-8 cups a day, so that cut out half of the coffee, and from there I dropped it down until now I just have one in the morning.

    I now have one Latte in the morning at work, and drink water the rest of the day. Sometimes I'll have another in the afternoon, but that's all. Just the two a day.

    My trainer tried to get me to stop even the one a day, but I refused. I count it in my calorie limit.
  • ALH1981
    ALH1981 Posts: 538 Member
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    am wondering why you need to give it up? its not the coffee thats bad, but what you put in it... stay away from sugar, flavors and fatty milks you will be FINE!
  • rebecca_d35
    rebecca_d35 Posts: 131
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    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.
    Never quoted before, so hope I'm not screwing it up entirely. But this isn't "bro-science." It's science.
    http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/coffee-new-health-food

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