Cutting back/quitting--Coffee

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I am trying to gradually cutback on my daily coffee intake until I don't drink it anymore. But you know what? When I don't drink it it feels like something is seriously missing from my life, like clarity.* I'm more mellow, but life seems sort of drab...

Anyone care to contribute their experiences with trying to quit coffee or something else?

*It's taken me twice the amount of time to scan through this post looking for typos...

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I feel the same way.

I stopped drinking coffee for almost a year and I hated it.
I . love. coffee.

I started drinking de-caf just so I could have that warm cup of something in the morning.
But I could not find a flavor that I enjoyed as much as my normal coffee so I finally just caved in and bought my normal brand.

To supplement the lack of energy, I would drink emergen-c vitamin packages with a glass of orange juice. Then i would have a cup of hot green , loose herb tea in the early morning as well.

That gave me the boost I was missing.. but.. wow.. I missed my coffee..

( sipping coffee right now.. ) Smile

If you have never stopped drinking coffee before, please be ready for a bad headache..

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Why stop?

Drink half-caf if that's what's bothering you.

Coffee actually has benefits.

Benefits of Coffee

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I had stopped drinking coffee about five years ago, but now I feel there are real health benefits if you don't overdue it. I also only buy organic now. It is difficult to get the feeling of "hardiness" from other drinks, even if they have caffeine. When I did stop, I substituted with things like roasted barley and black tea with milk. I liked the ritual as much as the beverage, so that part was easy to replace.

Is there a reason you want to give it up?

Here's what WebMD has to say about the benefits:

Reasons to drink Coffee

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I drank LOTS of coffee up until about 7 or 8 years ago.
I had a huge cup and would fill it four or five times a day at work (that would be over 2 litres of coffee).
Then sometimes I would drink even more in the evening.

One day I just decided that it was too much.
I switched to tea and never regretted it.

I drink about five (small) cups of coffee a week now.
Mainly when I visit friends or have visitors who drink coffee.

I really cannot say, that I had a problem with that.

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I did stop drinking coffee when I was showing physical symptoms of high stress - my heart would race, I'd get panicky, shaky and my heart would feel like it missed a beat. I read up on stress and changed a few things I could like cutting back on coffee and alcohol. It helped and now I am back to one cup a day, but I guess mentally I am handling the stress better so no physical symptoms (at least on a regular basis like I had before).

The only other thing that I gave up was soda. I used to drink a 20oz bottle of coke a day. I always thought that would be the hardest thing ever for me to give up. It wasn't. I actually do not miss it at all. Now the only time I have soda is when I go to Johnny Rockets and treat myself to a cherry coke.

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A few years back, I had the flu. I replaced my morning coffee with herbal teas, and fresh juices. When I recovered, I took that opportunity, to moderate my caffeine consumption. Now, I drink coffee only on the weekends, for the most part. One side effect I did experience was a mild headache for a couple of days. Like any addiction, the longer you sustain, the easier it will become.

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shewolfnm wrote:

( sipping coffee right now.. )

Well said.

Bella Dea wrote:

Why stop?

Drink half-caf if that's what's bothering you.

Coffee actually has benefits.

Benefits of Coffee

The benefit I am especially fond of is the mood enhancing part...

I heard a story once about a suicidal man standing on a ledge was able to be gently coaxed down because his family informed the rescue people how much he loved MaCdonald's coffee.

Green Witch wrote:

I had stopped drinking coffee about five years ago, but now I feel there are real health benefits if you don't overdue it. I also only buy organic now. It is difficult to get the feeling of "hardiness" from other drinks, even if they have caffeine. When I did stop, I substituted with things like roasted barley and black tea with milk. I liked the ritual as much as the beverage, so that part was easy to replace.

Is there a reason you want to give it up?

Here's what WebMD has to say about the benefits:

Reasons to drink Coffee

See below, my explanation for wanting to give it up...but I have gone off coffee in the past and just drank tea. For what ever reason this time it's so much more difficult. And I love tea...

Okay, so here's why I am trying to wean myself of coffee:

I signed up for this hardcore Yoga retreat at the end of the month and in the literature they said..."We do not serve coffee. Perhaps this would be a good time to stop drinking it."

So I thought, okay, I'll do it gradually. And so far, I have cut back by making it less strong and reducing how much, as some of you have mentioned. But after the fuzziness in my head this morning...

I've decided, instead, I am going to sneak some organic instant into the Ashram like a common criminal and drink it secretly in my room before going out.

I really do not associate giving up coffee to be associated with Virtue in any way shape or form. However, I believe there will be some contrary opinions at the ol' Ashram... sometimes I associate the followers of whatever to be much like the reformed criminal who has found Christ, or the alcoholic who has stopped drinking.

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Forbidden coffee (or anything else} tastes best. Sneak away. They probably just don't want to deal with a bunch of cranky people having withdrawal headaches and are giving fair warning. Enjoy and relax.

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i stopped last week. I throw an orange and apple and a quarter of a large lemon in the juicer and then brew a cup of echinacea tea. I'll drink coffee again when i feel like it but right now I'm cleansing my system and building my immune system.

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I used to do about four to six large mugs of coffee a day. I decided to quit, but found it impossible. I would get blinding headaches if i didn't have my coffee. Eventually, though, i was able to cut back, but it sure took a long time. Now, i drink one mug of coffee day, occasionally two, and i also go some days with no coffee at all. If i go two days with no caffeine in any form, though, i still get headaches, although not as bad as they used to be.

I would say that cutting down gradually is the way to go. Also try blending equal parts of compatible varieties of "regular" coffee with decaf so that you are also gradually reducing your caffeine addiction. That worked for me for a while, but there seems to be a core addiction with a minimum limit--i was never able to cut out the caffeine altogether. After all, you get caffeine in most forms of soda pop, and in chocolate.

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Linkat wrote:

The only other thing that I gave up was soda. I used to drink a 20oz bottle of coke a day. I always thought that would be the hardest thing ever for me to give up. It wasn't. I actually do not miss it at all. Now the only time I have soda is when I go to Johnny Rockets and treat myself to a cherry coke.

I remember when I was living in the Midwest, people would drink soda with breakfast. Mountain Dew to be specific, because it had so much caffeine.

Bohne wrote:

I drank LOTS of coffee up until about 7 or 8 years ago.
I had a huge cup and would fill it four or five times a day at work (that would be over 2 litres of coffee).
Then sometimes I would drink even more in the evening.

One day I just decided that it was too much.
I switched to tea and never regretted it.

I drink about five (small) cups of coffee a week now.
Mainly when I visit friends or have visitors who drink coffee.

I really cannot say, that I had a problem with that.

That's a lot of coffee. Did you get jittery? Trouble sleeping at night? What made you decide to cut back?

alex240101 wrote:

A few years back, I had the flu. I replaced my morning coffee with herbal teas, and fresh juices. When I recovered, I took that opportunity, to moderate my caffeine consumption. Now, I drink coffee only on the weekends, for the most part. One side effect I did experience was a mild headache for a couple of days. Like any addiction, the longer you sustain, the easier it will become.

Life would be a grey place with just Gerbil teas...I drink a lot of tea as well, but it's black tea. The coffee is more like a chaser.

Green Witch wrote:

Forbidden coffee (or anything else} tastes best. Sneak away. They probably just don't want to deal with a bunch of cranky people having withdrawal headaches and are giving fair warning. Enjoy and relax.

According to a friend who attended something similar-- she told me about how she missed the part of the retreat where they told the participants to not drink coffee. On the first daty she had no time for coffee and had tea before going into meditation. The next day, she made time to have coffee and went into the meditation and found everything was just a little off. She couldn't get comfortable on the pillow, she couldn't calm down, etc...so I do think it has something to do with how agitated you can become.

I'll only drink a little of the forbidden beverage while I'm there.

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

i stopped last week. I throw an orange and apple and a quarter of a large lemon in the juicer and then brew a cup of echinacea tea. I'll drink coffee again when i feel like it but right now I'm cleansing my system and building my immune system.

Better you than me...I would not be a good participant in the cleansing of my system.

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Gala wrote:

I would not be a good participant in the cleansing of my system.

That's going in the sigline thread Laughing

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Linkat wrote:

I read up on stress and changed a few things I could like cutting back on coffee and alcohol. It helped and now I am back to one cup a day...

Yeah, but how much alcohol are you consuming? Very Happy

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Mame wrote:

Linkat wrote:
I read up on stress and changed a few things I could like cutting back on coffee and alcohol. It helped and now I am back to one cup a day...

Yeah, but how much alcohol are you consuming?

One cup of coffee or less a day; and wine with dinner a few times a week.

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That explains why you're gaining so much weight, Linkat :wink:

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JPB wrote:

That explains why you're gaining so much weight, Linkat :wink:

My Lord - you are next - watch out for the flying coconut!

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JPB wrote:

That explains why you're gaining so much weight, Linkat :wink:

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Gala wrote:

I've decided, instead, I am going to sneak some organic instant into the Ashram like a common criminal and drink it secretly in my room before going out.

I wonder what they'll do to you if they find you out... make you do a downward facing dog? Say ommmmm ten times?

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dagmaraka wrote:

I wonder what they'll do to you if they find you out... make you do a downward facing dog? Say ommmmm ten times?

Good question. Hopefully they don't see drinking coffee as their moral territory.

My friend who missed the "don't drink coffee session" later brought up in the sharing part of the meditation that she'd skipped coffee the first day and the meditation went well. But, on the second day she'd had a cup and she simply couldn't get it right during meditation.

Well, don't you know, the guy leading the meditation who encouraged the sharing used her as an example before the group.

So, what have I learned from her story? Possibly, it's to get what I can from these retreats, such as, a chance to get away, to relax, time to myself, some Yoga, hopefully to meet some interesting people. Oh, and to pass on the experience of sharing, a practice I've always found to be over-the-top in its sincerity and generally, a time eater-upper.

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Cutting back/quitting--Coffee

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