Ever quit Caffeine? The stopping Caffeine thread.

[northcrunk]

I like coffee way too much to ever quit. I did quit putting sugar in my coffee though. I put on 50lb when my daughter was born and I would drink double doubles. Now I only have a bit of cream and like a dark roast. My favorite though is straight espresso.

[bizaro86]

Speaking of the physical symptoms, I'd probably try to quit cold turkey at the start of a long weekend or vacation, since I wouldn't have been much good at work those first few days. Also, I found doing fun stuff to take my mind off it helped. (I did it on vacation touring around, which was great). I definitely found the headaches pretty severe.

[AMG_G]

Originally Posted by Bagor

Within the last couple of years or so my caffeine intake has literally gone through the roof where I drink it simply out of habit. i.e. If it is there, I drink it. Fair to say I am addicted to it. I don't even know much about it, just a double double sort of fella. Lately, and what has stimulated this desire to quit is that I have found myself drinking more and more coke. Whereby I was a very rare pop drinker now it is a stable resident in my fridge. On top of maybe a pot of coffee I now have 3-4 cans of pop a day. Where I used to have milk/water with meals I now HAVE to have a can of coke.

I honestly can't say I've noticed any side effects (that I am aware of ) but having said that I'm aware that I drink way too much of it and it's something I want to eliminate totally from my daily life.

So, I'm basically looking for advice from any experts in the field or anyone that has done anything similar. I'm going to go cold turkey to just get er done. Any recommendations for substitutions (I'm just thinking water) and are the withdrawal effects as bad as they say?

http://www.caffeineinformer.com/my-caffeine-detox
I'm #2. Want to stop before #3 and 4.

Thanks.

If you are having multiple double doubles and a 3/4 cans of coke you should be more worried about what the sugar is doing to your body over a bit of caffeine.

[Azure]

Why is coffee so bad? Sure if you drink more than 6 cups per day I can see how it can become a problem, but 1-2 shouldn't be a problem. Certainly shouldn't be creating headaches.

I would say the sugar is a bigger problem.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Azure

Why is coffee so bad? Sure if you drink more than 6 cups per day I can see how it can become a problem, but 1-2 shouldn't be a problem. Certainly shouldn't be creating headaches.

I would say the sugar is a bigger problem.

I posted earlier, and I hope you would agree, that moderation is the key.

At the end of the day I don't believe there are any foods that are bad for you if you eat them in an appropraite manner:

ie: pop, I like pop. I have one maybe once a month.

[polak]

There are habits I just have no desire to quit. Coffee is one of those things.

It's not even bad for you unless you go crazy. Then again I really have no desire to have more than 3 cups of coffee a day.

Your problem is definitely sugar intake though. 3-4 cokes a day? That's a lot.

[cDnStealth]

That amount of pop is definitely not good for you. Don't switch to juice either because that stuff is loaded with just as much sugar.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Quit? I have a baby, this is all that's keeping me going.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by Handsome B. Wonderful

Quit? I have a baby, this is all that's keeping me going.

same here some days i think i'm crazy for cutting out coffee

[Erick Estrada]

I enjoy coffee so I don't see a reason to quit although I don't like the fact that if I don't have one by mid-day I start getting a headache. I don't drink pop unless it's mix so I don't feel it's an issue as long as I am drinking one or two cups a day.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by AMG_G

If you are having multiple double doubles and a 3/4 cans of coke you should be more worried about what the sugar is doing to your body over a bit of caffeine.

Yeah, that is one of the concerns.

So far I've been lucky in regards to weight and health issues. But reaching that stage now where I think things need a lot more management.

It's weird, I was never a big pop drinker until the last couple of years. And coffee? I never started drinking it until about 10 years ago.

[nixon45]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

I like coffee way too much to ever quit. I did quit putting sugar in my coffee though. I put on 50lb when my daughter was born and I would drink double doubles. Now I only have a bit of cream and like a dark roast. My favorite though is straight espresso.

This is what I did as well. I didn't think I could ever live without my large double double 2x a day but one day I decided to cut out 90% of the sugar I was ingesting. It was pretty crazy how easy I found the transition to no sugar and half the cream.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by nixon45

This is what I did as well. I didn't think I could ever live without my large double double 2x a day but one day I decided to cut out 90% of the sugar I was ingesting. It was pretty crazy how easy I found the transition to no sugar and half the cream.

Thanks for this. I've been thinking the same thing. I usually have two large double-doubles a day. It's not the size of the coffee that's the issue with me, it's the sugar content. I've been thinking about ordering that same large, but with just one or two cream instead and no sugar.

Since you say it was a pretty easy transition, I might give it a try today. Thanks.

As for the OP, cut back on your pop intake man. That's A LOT of pop. Without being an expert on the subject, don't worry about your caffeine problem just yet. Just stop the pop and continue with the coffee.

[troutman]

A double-double must be comparable to a Molson Candian? And some people are drinking two per day.

https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-n...le-%28large%29

135 calories, 7g fat, sugars 15 g

McDonalds medium vanilla milkshake:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/cal...hake-117848168

385 calories, 20 g fat, 81 g sugar

Yikes, a McCafe vanilla shake has 660 calories:

http://www.calorieking.com/foods/cal...TE4MjAyNg.html

A Molson Canadian has 144 calories:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/calories-...olson+canadian

[Locke]

Quit caffeine?

NSFW!

Mildly offensive language.

[chubeyr1]

Originally Posted by troutman

A double-double must be comparable to a Molson Candian? And some people are drinking two per day.

https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-n...le-%28large%29

135 calories, 7g fat, sugars 15 g

McDonalds medium vanilla milkshake:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/cal...hake-117848168

385 calories, 20 g fat, 81 g sugar

Yikes, a McCafe vanilla shake has 660 calories:

http://www.calorieking.com/foods/cal...TE4MjAyNg.html

A Molson Canadian has 144 calories:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/calories-...olson+canadian

Thanks for this! Past two summers I really noticed after having a McDonalds milkshake I felt just blah. Tastes great, but I lose all energy. I now have a smoothy and feel much better. You are probably gonna come back and say a smoothy has more calories lol!

As for caffine? Coffee is a laxative for me, so at best I have one cup a day. I like it but if I drink it I must plan for the inevitable. Yet I do drink a lot of coke. That's not a good thing. Coffee is way easier on peoples stomachs in general than Coke.

Never the less no expert here. What I do know is when I drink water, even if its lots of water I never feel bad.

For me drink more water, also agree with other posters about heating it up, cause sometimes we just want something warm.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by troutman

I read that article too, and it describes me quite well. Why do you think you have to be more outgoing? Should we be taking stimulants to be something we are not?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10472512

Results do not support the hypothesis that caffeine differentially affects extraverts and introverts, particularly at different times of the day.

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/10...id-coffee.html

After ingesting about two cups of coffee, extraverts carry out tasks more efficiently, whereas introverts perform less well. This deficit is magnified if the task they are engaging in is quantitative and if it is done under time pressure.

For an introvert, an innocent couple cups of coffee before a meeting may prove challenging, particularly if the purpose of the meeting is a rapid-fire discussion of budget projections, data analysis, or similar quantitative concerns. In the same meeting, an extraverted colleague is likely to benefit from a caffeine kick.

I don't think it's a personality change but being more alert, increased blood flow and warmth makes me happier/puts me in a better mood.

So not personality but mood.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I posted earlier, and I hope you would agree, that moderation is the key.

At the end of the day I don't believe there are any foods that are bad for you if you eat them in an appropraite manner:

ie: pop, I like pop. I have one maybe once a month.

Absolutely.

There is nothing wrong with caffeine. 3-4 cups of day have been shown to have certain health benefits. Obviously everyone doesn't react the same way, but I think for the most part it shouldn't create a problem.

Although one has to think that if you sit all day, coffee probably isn't the best stimulant out there. Maybe go out for a walk or something instead.

[troutman]

http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=668690

: Regular coffee consumption was not associated with an increased mortality rate in either men or women. The possibility of a modest benefit of coffee consumption on all-cause and CVD mortality needs to be further investigated

http://www.uptodate.com/contents/ben...ated-beverages

Most of the data on the health benefits and risks of caffeine are from observational studies in which self-reported consumption of beverages and foods are associated with health outcomes. Such studies make it difficult to identify caffeine itself as the causative agent and to exclude residual confounding. Based on current data, there is insufficient evidence for promoting or discouraging regular coffee and/or tea consumption.

[To Be Quite Honest]

I drink a pot a day, but the last year has been mostly De-caffinated or 4 scoops of dark roast and 6 scoops of decaf per pot. After 2pm it's only decaf. One pot of decaf (12 cups) is about one cup of regular coffee.