How To Quit Drinking Coffee in Just a Few Days
Have you ever felt jittery and stressed, all because you drink too much coffee? Ever noticed how many calories are in coffee? Maybe you've tried to cut down but it's too hard.
I've been there.
And I've also managed to stop drinking coffee whenever I wanted to. Here is how it is done:
1. Substituting with Green Tea
Start substituting one of your daily coffees with a cup of green tea. Continue substituting little by little.
If you drink 4 coffees a day, begin by drinking 3 coffees and one green tea, a day later (or a few days - depending on how tough going it is) move that down to two coffees and two green teas.
Green tea still contains caffeine but in far less amounts - and is also an all-round healthy drink.
2. Addressing the Social Experience
Part of coffee drinking is the experience of sitting at a cafe in good company and savoring the drink. Somehow paying $4 for someone to bring out a cup of hot water with a tea bag dangling out of it just doesn't measure up.
Find cafés that offer tea infusions or herb tea in plungers.
I'm talking about the ones that bring out little pots of real herb tea (not tea bags). The experience is completely different to staring at a cup with a tea bag in it. Most herb teas are caffeine-free.
3. Use Other Milky Drinks
For many people, coffee means a big milky latte. There's something about clutching that hot milky drink that is therapy in the morning.
Try substituting with Hot Chocolate (may contain small amounts of caffeine) or a Chai Latte (be warned - many chai latte's are made with a syrup and are caffeine-free. Those that are made with real tea however - can be high in caffeine - ask first).
Be wary that both of these drinks will be sugary. Try to limit to an occasional drink.
4. Take Care With Carbs
Do you struggle with afternoon fatigue? That awful period after lunch where you cannot concentrate or struggle to stay awake and alert?
It would be wonderful if we could all hunker down under the desk and take a nap - but most bosses would not be impressed.
Here's a clue: Do not eat a carbohydrate heavy lunch.
Make sure your lunch has a strong protein component in it. Something like a tin of tuna, some fruit, plus some nuts. I used to think I was doing my body a favor by eating a huge low-fat sweet bun (along with a large bread roll). An hour later I was struggling to stay awake.
5. The Power Nap
As stated above - napping at work is not going to make your boss happy - but if you are in an environment where it is possible - try it.
Researchers have shown that a power nap is more helpful than a cup of coffee. The optimal power nap is a 20 minute siesta taken at about 2.30pm.
Results: What You Can Expect
I was able to completely stop drinking caffeine for a month or so while I sorted out my sleep patterns and addressed the stressful situation.
Once I was completely healthy again I would begin enjoying a single daily espresso. That may seem counter-productive - but under normal circumstances I have no problem with moderate caffeine intake and enjoy the bitter taste of coffee.
Note: These tips could also help those who feel they have an allergy to caffeine.
Read More
- The Do's and Don'ts for Healthier Coffee (Diet Blog)
- MiO: The New, Healthier Crystal Light? (Diet Blog)
- Meet Greg, 155 Pounds Down! (DailySpark)
- Brad Pitt Gives His Kids Coke for Breakfast! (Diets in Review)
60 Comments
Add Your Comment
Created / Updated: December 31, 2011
but... but...
Maintaing my chemical dependency is delicious and immediately gratifying!
ReplyIsn't there caffeine in chai lattes? Or is that only if they make it with real tea instead of that boxed, sugary crap? :)
ReplyCheck out my comment below to see some numbers — it's not even close to being caffeine-free.
ReplyAs Sascha has kindly identified - certain chai's are high in caffeine. However I notice that MANY cafe's use a syrup - such as Monin.
ReplyMy dad was super caffeine-dependant for many years. He was drinking ~3 full pots of regular coffee per day. His doctor told him that he needed to cut back, so my mom started buying decaf without telling my dad. He started nodding off in the middle of the day and he really couldn't stay awake. He started buying regular coffee again and decided to mix it with the decaf until he could function on about 2-3 cups' worth of caffeine per day. I switched to decaf a while ago when I realized that I was drinking coffee only for the taste of it and not for the caffeine. So I switched to decaf because I figured I really didn't need it, but now if I have to "wake up", I'll drink a cup of regular joe.
ReplyChai lattes aren't anywhere near caffeine free, as you say in your post, since they're generally made with black tea. Here are some numbers for Starbucks drinks — a 16 oz. chai latte has more caffeine in it than a shot of espresso.
Hot chocolate is a little better if you're trying to limit caffeine intake, but still can have as much caffeine as green tea. It certainly isn't caffeine-free, and while it doesn't really have enough caffeine to create dependency issues, it can still keep you up at night if you're sensitive to caffeine.
ReplyThe way I see it - some of these drinks are "stepping stones" to becoming caffeine free. There are very few individuals that can do it cold turkey.
Thanks for that. I'm shocked at how much caffeine is in a Starbucks Chai Latte (100mg) and I will amend my post accordingly!
ReplyI quit drinking coffee once and endured three days of headaches before I got over it. I'm back to 2 -3 cups a day and I ain't quitting again!!
ReplyYou just can't quit, you junkie.
ReplyDave - that's why going "cold turkey" usually doesn't work - you need to gradually reduce your intake.
ReplyYou drug addicts!
ReplyLol, drug addicts.
ReplyI KNOW I LOVE DRUGS=)
ReplyWhen I was home when my kids were babies, I used to drink coffee all morning. It killed my appetite, made me shaky and sent me running to pee every half an hour. I just got sick of it and quit one day. I had a headache for a few days but it passes. I still like the taste of coffee (love the smell even more) but i'm more than content to have an occasional decaf topped up with a couple of ounces of the real stuff. Just one. It's no longer a dependency, just a drink I enjoy. Every once and a while someone brings me one of those horrid starbucks coffees as a "treat", and I forget that I shouldn't drink it and get all jittery and crazed for an hour or two.
Now that I don't drink coffee, I eat breakfast.
A good coffee replacement - Uncle Lee's chai, orange and ginger flavor, made with organic rooibos and spices - naturally caffeine free. Totally yummy, and in my books ginger is a cure for nearly everything.
ReplyWhy not take a hot chocolate drink minus the sugar if you can. I add some soya powder to the drink and it is nutritiously good too.
ReplyOne of my early coffee substitutions was decaf coffee mixed with a scoop of mocha flavored protein drink powder. Because I had a hard time eating breakfast I decided I could at least drink it! After a while, I started eating oatmeal and drinking decaf, now I can take or leave the decaf, but still have the oatmeal.
ReplyCaffeine Nation
Ah yes, caffeine caffeine caffeine...whatever are we to do?
The first notable thing about caffeine is that it affects each person differently. Some people can drink cups and cups a day, and feel nothing. Other people can have only one a day and get jittery, develop heart palpitations, and lose sleep at night.
One of the greatest dangers caused by caffiene is the slow, insidious manifestation of catabolic breakdown in the body. Catabolic breakdown is the systemic breakdown of your body as it produces more stress hormones than anabolic hormones. In catabolic breakdown your body is unable to defend itself against free radicals and begins to oxidize. In other words, you physiologically age more quickly.
This is created in two ways: First, is the simple release of cortisol into your system. It is a stress hormone designed to help you focus in a fight or flight scenario. However, we like to release cortisol into our system to help us focus on all manner of things. Cortisol is secreted into the system from the adrenal glands located on the tips of the kidneys. The problem is that the adrenal gland can only either produce catabolic or anabolic hormones at one time. If you are pumping coffee or another source of caffeine into your system then you are telling your adrenal glands to secrete cortisol into your system. This stress hormone floods into your system, and overtime begins to create catabolic breakdown.
The second way that catabolic breakdown occurs as a result of caffeine is from lack of sleep. Research indicates that a severe lack of good, quality sleep over a period of years can even result in glucose intolerance. This means you cannot process sugar, which is bad. This means that you are prone to water retention and fat storage. This also means the onset of aches and pains in the body, poor digestion, and increased circles under the eyes. Another huge detriment from lack of sleep is a decrease in the release of one of your primary anabolic hormones, HGH or Human Growth Hormone. This is one of your greatest anti-aging hormones in the body. But you greatly decrease your chances of releasing this natural fountain of youth into your body when you do not get adequate sleep.
My suggestion?
ReplyDecrease your caffeine, follow the suggestions on this website. Pick one or two days of the week where you will not need caffeine to survive and go without. This will at least begin to decrease your caffeine dependency. Also, drink more water. Caffeine dehydrates you.
Interesting post Christopher... I'm curious as I often hear about the adrenal stress associated with caffeine. Do you have any studies that support this? What dosages impair the glands in these studies? It sounds like a perfectly plausible theory, but my pubmed searches have come up empty (which doesn't mean a whole lot).
I think you bring up a very important point that caffeine affects everybody differently.
I think in your second paragraph, you may be stretching things a bit. The effects you've mentioned are due to lack of sleep. Caffeine can cause sleep disturbances but this is not always the case. It would then, however be a leap of faith to say caffeine is a causitive factor. If you spread out the consumption and have a good cutoff time, caffeine should not affect sleep. Again, this comes down to individual differences.
Research I've seen has shown that caffeine has little if no effect on hydration.
Know yourself and moderate accordingly. I know for me, 1.5 is my cutoff. 2 is too much but some days I need a little bit extra.
ReplyCaffeine's a drug, just like any other drug. Your liver has enzymes that break down drugs and some people have more of those enzymes than others. "Fast" metabolizers have more enzymes and tend to have higher drug tolerances (including caffeine) and "slow" metabolizers have fewer of them and drugs tend to affect them more strongly. I know for sure I'm a "fast" metabolizer, but my husband is a "slow" metabolizer...one can of Mountain Dew makes him bounce off the walls for the whole day.
ReplyGreat tips. I'm not a big caffeine drinker (usually 2-3 cups of tea a day) but I do deliberately try not to get hooked! When I was a student I very rarely drank tea or coffee, but I had afternoon "power-naps" then ;-)
A few months ago I came across this article http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-give-up-coffee/ which doesn't have so many suggestions as Jim's, but goes into a bit more detail about how to cut down gradually on caffeine.
Ali
ReplyGreat tips. I'm not a big caffeine drinker (usually 2-3 cups of tea a day) but I do deliberately try not to get hooked! When I was a student I very rarely drank tea or coffee, but I had afternoon "power-naps" then ;-)
A few months ago I came across this article: www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-give-up-coffee/ which doesn't have so many suggestions as Jim's, but goes into a bit more detail about how to cut down gradually on caffeine.
Ali
Replyi switched to 1/2 caf or lite ground coffee. most major brands of ground coffee have some version that contains less and taste the same as regular coffee. when i go out i get my coffee half decaf too. makes a big difference in my caffeine intake without having the nods halfway thru the day.
ReplyThere have been many studies examining coffee comsumption and medical conditions, and whether the effects of coffee are positive or negative is still disputed.
For those people trying to avoid caffeine, the best way to do so is read labels, know ‘other’ names for caffeine (like guaranine and mateine), and carefully choose desserts.(chocolates, ice cream, frozen yogurts, etc)
Also, OTC medications-Anacin, Excedrin, diet products.
ReplyModeration seems to be the answer, the principle of life.
For those who choose to go cold turkey, extreme hydration works wonders to curbs those withdrawal headaches. Sure, you'll be running to the loo every twenty minutes, but that's way better than suffering for three days until you get over the dependency.
ReplyDon't listen to the studies - drink 3 pots a day.
ReplyMaybe some people like coffee for it's taste. I love it black and make my own. I don't need Starbucks.
Check some studies on certain brands of decaffeinated coffee. Rumor has it that Starbucks decaffeinated has 60% caffein.
ReplyStarbucks decaf makes me more shaky than a lot of other coffees at full strength.
Reply