Living Caffeine Free?

[Masked Bandit]

I've been trying to go caffeine free since Christmas. The first couple of weeks were tough but once I got past the headaches it was fine. I get heartburn a lot and my doctor suggested reducing caffeine so that was the motivation (it's worked to some degree). I'm finding though that I miss my double double once in a while. Does anyone else actively avoid caffeine and if so, for what reason?

[Unknown303]

I've done it in the past but really don't see the point. I just try to limit my caffeine intake. For heartburn which I've even started to develop from time to time I pick up the heavy duty zantac and usually take it every morning for a week or less and then I don't develop heartburn for weeks or months to follow even.

[Kardon]

I stopped drinking coffee because it made me feel on edge, dehydrated, and loss of appetite. You should try decaff, its actually not bad.

[Sugarphreak]

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[iceburns288]

There are a few reasons to not drink caffeine but I don't see anything life-altering in it for you.
For one, caffeinated drinks like coffee and soda just add on calories in your day that you could avoid by drinking water. It's relatively minor, but if you're interested in being healthy that 250 calories a day will add up over time.
Second, I heard it's not good for your blood pressure over time but that's just hearsay on my part.

I don't drink caffeine very often but there can be a very practical reason in doing so, at least for my lifestyle, which is that of a college student. When you don't drink caffeine every day, you have a much lower tolerance, so when you want a caffeinated drink to give you more energy, it will actually work instead of just bringing you up to a 'normal' energy level.
What I mean is that if you drink two coffees a day and need to stay up all night working on a project, for example, a Mountain Dew or whatever won't take you as far into the night as it would for me, because I have a lower tolerance. I'm essentially saving my caffeine consumption for when I need it, and it actually works pretty well.

[Unknown303]

Are you guys drinking litres of coffee? Or how about having a glass of water from time to time for the dehydration? I just mean people have been drinking coffee for a long ass time with no issues and now our generation comes along and we can't handle shit for some reason.

Do absolutely everything in your life in moderation and I'm sure you will be just fine.

[Ven]

I tried to quit coffee but it was harder than I expected. I made it 3 months before I folded and started up again. There were times I'd see an old crushed Timmies in the gutter and swear I could smell coffee. If people drank coffee on TV I'd smell it too. It's not like I'm a major drinker either, 2 a day MAX. But when I want one I REALLY want one.

[zipdoa]

I've completely changed my diet as of 2-months ago, including completely eliminating caffiene from my diet. I was a guy drinking 2x XL Double Doubles per day.

I find my change in diet makes the biggest difference to my energy levels. My daily routine has changed significantly as well. Consider changing everything, not just the elimination of caffiene.

A proper breakfast shake will give you lasting energy throughout the day. You won't even miss Coffee.

This is what I make every morning:

2TBSP Chia seeds
4TBSP Hemp Seeds
2TBSP Flax Seeds
2TBSP Raw Honey
1TBSP Spirulina
1TSP Chlorella
1TSP Maca Root Powder
1/2TSP Tumeric
30 Oxy-E drops
1 dropper Fulvic Minerals
1TBSP Udo's Oil
2 Eggs
2 Bananas
1 Cup Mixed Berries
500ML Filtered Water
1TBSP Glutamine
1/2TSP Bee Pollen
6 Raw Apricot Seeds

I've also moved away from eating processed foods completey, and minimized the amount of gluten and pasteurized dairy in my diet.

Try to be asleep by 10PM, and make sure there's no light or electronics on in your room. Get a Chlorine filter for your shower head. Make sure you excersize 5 days a week.

You can take from it what you will, but every little bit helps! Good luck kicking the Caffiene!

[BigMass]

i drink a cup of strong black coffee every morning and that's it. It would suck to quit but don't see a reason to. Yes, some people drink coffee all day cup after cup. That might lead to irritability, dehydration, stained teeth and bad breath. Those people might need to moderate. But having a cup every morning i don't see the need to

[Eleanor]

Cup of coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon & about 4-5L of water a day.

Biggest thing I see at work are people drinking coffee all day, but never have water to counteract the dehydration and then complain about headaches

[Kobe]

I drink 1 XL double double coffee a day..

I used to be a huge Red Bull addict when I was working construction and I'd drink prob 2-3 of those a day...

I stopped drinking them after feeling like shit every time after them.

I never do drink more than 1 coffee even if I want to, but I feel I'm addicted to Tim Hortons. :\

[K3RMiTdot]

i have never ever drank coffee in the morning or made it a routine to.

[project240]

We bought a keurig like 2 years ago and pretty sure we still have a few of the pods it originally came with.

I like drinking coffee every now and then, but don't ever find I have an urge to drink it.

[Trinzler]

I've always been curious about people who drink a lot of coffee - since the body builds an intolerance to it do you have to double or triple up the amount you drink to get the same effects in the morning ?

Personally I usually try not drinking anything with caffeine unless I really need it (like the last leg of a long ass road trip).

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by Kardon
I stopped drinking coffee because it made me feel on edge, dehydrated, and loss of appetite. You should try decaff, its actually not bad.

I don't drink the coffee for the flavour, it's for the caffeine.

My thoughts on the caffeine in general are health related but not in the manor one would think. Studies have shown that lifetime consumption of moderate amounts of caffeine are not harmful at all. Just the opposite, they appear to actually benefit with delaying of some types of disease (mostly neurological). My specific issue is the aggrevation of my heartburn. To combat it my doctor put me on a low dose of Nexium years ago. Clears it right up. But do I want to be on Nexium for the next 50 years??? That can't be good. So once I cut caffeine out I quite taking my Nexium and I've been almost 100% heartburn free. Once every couple of weeks I take an OTC treatment (Rolaids / Tums) but that's it.

[Kardon]

Originally posted by Unknown303
Are you guys drinking litres of coffee? Or how about having a glass of water from time to time for the dehydration? I just mean people have been drinking coffee for a long ass time with no issues and now our generation comes along and we can't handle shit for some reason.

Do absolutely everything in your life in moderation and I'm sure you will be just fine.

Its not that I'd replace water with coffee, but I find when drinking coffee the caffeine suppresses the urge to drink water, and I wouldn't even realize how little water I'd been drinking until I'm pissing a dark brew.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by iceburns288
It's relatively minor, but if you're interested in being healthy that 250 calories a day will add up over time.

That's the 2nd best reason to avoid Timmies... the first being it's horrible coffee, lol. IMO, you shouldn't need any cream cream or sugar in a decently flavoured variety.

Masked Bandit, have you tried just drinking normal coffee, and avoiding Tim's? I find their coffee really upsets my stomach.

[CanmoreOrLess]

I have six ounces of coffee, black in the morning. For the rest of the day, tea (normally green, jasmine, bancha twig tea and yerba mate) all from Community. Water 8-10 glasses beyond the other drinks. In the evening I will often have some sort of "good sleep" tea.

I tried a Red Bull and another like brand a few weeks ago, left me rattled and with the shakes. Garbage those drinks in my case.

I had a bout of heartburn, dropped coffee and processed bread as my doctor instructed, all was fine in a week. My doctor said regarding bread "if it's white, it ain't right", whole grain bread is almost as bad in my experience. Try Manna (sprouted) bread from Community, Safeway, etc, only bread I eat now, look for it in the freezer area, something like eight different flavours.

http://www.mannaorganicbakery.com/

http://guayaki.com/mate/130/Yerba-Mate.html

[max_boost]

All that cream and sugary goodness to mask that average coffee haha

Recently I've been addicted to the espresso mocha's from McDonald's.

[msommers]

CanmoreOrLess, are you constantly peeing?!

I enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning but I don't bother adding sugar and I'm mildly lactose intolerant so cream/milk is out. Green tea in the afternoon if I need a pick up but I try to limit it at that or I have a hard time sleeping at night.

I remember my buddy was mentioning something to me about coffee and it affecting your lungs. I should try to actually look into that more to see if there is any merit.