Caffiene Is Evil

[Pizzaguy]

I've been off the stuff for two weeks now - and I have GOT to say that I should have done this years ago.

I ramped down for about a week from: Two to four cups of coffee each day, plus 4 to 6 Cokes/Dr Peppers/Pibb Extras as well.

I am now sleeping better, waking naturally, and no longer have that "oh, crap, where is the coffee..." dragging feeling anymore! :shades My emotions and nerves have evened out as well. Also, the afternoon "Coke and a Snickers Bar" habit is gone! By not drinking so many sugary-caffiene drinks, I no longer crave chocolate and other junk like I did.

While I DID start Yoga classes a week ago, I attribute most of my improvements to stopping caffiene. (Yoga has helped my back IMMENSELY).

I don't see myself EVER going back to caffeine.


http://www.livestrong.com/article/518058-the-disadvantages-of-caffeine/

 

[faeriecat]

I totally need to break the caffeine habit and that is one of my goals for 2013.

 

[Paul1965]

Well done Pizzaguy, terrible habit, did you get withdrawal headaches? Last time I tried quitting coffee they were terrible (I'm 10-12 cups per day)
Did you substitute something for the coffee or cold turkey?

 

[Grazer]

I've tried giving up caffeine but now I just drink caffeine in moderation

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

 

[Christ_empowered]

I gotta cut back. I'm prone to agitation and anxiety anyway. Why, on earth, do I add fuel to the fire with strong cups of coffee every single day? Ugh.

Anyway...is cold turkey advisable? Or is gradual best, like a taper?

 

[elijah23]

I've been off the stuff for two weeks now - and I have GOT to say that I should have done this years ago.

I ramped down for about a week from: Two to four cups of coffee each day, plus 4 to 6 Cokes/Dr Peppers/Pibb Extras as well.

I am now sleeping better, waking naturally, and no longer have that "oh, crap, where is the coffee..." dragging feeling anymore! :shades My emotions and nerves have evened out as well. Also, the afternoon "Coke and a Snickers Bar" habit is gone! By not drinking so many sugary-caffiene drinks, I no longer crave chocolate and other junk like I did.

While I DID start Yoga classes a week ago, I attribute most of my improvements to stopping caffiene. (Yoga has helped my back IMMENSELY).

I don't see myself EVER going back to caffeine.


http://www.livestrong.com/article/518058-the-disadvantages-of-caffeine/

I avoid caffeine. I won't even eat chocolate.

 

[Agape]

I love coffee, drink it without sugar or milk, its wonderful aroma perks me up and its taste is so delicious, yummy!

Why ya say that coffee is evil?

 

[AirDancer]

While caffeine wasn't your friend, PizzaGuy, it is mine. Thankfully, I'm able to get adequate amounts of it via coffee (unadulterated) and tea.

Without caffeine, I would be sleepy all the time. Because of very low blood pressure, I've been advised to have a pot of coffee before driving the car in the morning. Of course, that isn't practical for me - not enough time in the morning! There are no sleep issues, other than the night seems to fly by all too quickly. Anyway, I'm older than you are, and I don't plan to give up my caffeine. In my case, caffeine is my friend!

 

[farouk]

While caffeine wasn't your friend, PizzaGuy, it is mine. Thankfully, I'm able to get adequate amounts of it via coffee (unadulterated) and tea.

Without caffeine, I would be sleepy all the time. Because of very low blood pressure, I've been advised to have a pot of coffee before driving the car in the morning. Of course, that isn't practical for me - not enough time in the morning! There are no sleep issues, other than the night seems to fly by all too quickly. Anyway, I'm older than you are, and I don't plan to give up my caffeine. In my case, caffeine is my friend!

Oh well, you're more blessed regarding blood pressure than some of us!

I suppose in the final analysis, caffeine is a milder version of nicotine; I don't know.

Blessings.

 

[Pizzaguy]

Well, first of all, I don't think caffeine is really evil - but for me, well, it may as well be. I wrote an entirely-too-short opening post, here is a better explanation...

Things seem to bother me more than I want them to. I can't seem to help it. Also, my sleep was disturbed and (since I am over 50) I've had some prostate symptoms that are not TOO bad, but still - I hate all of these problems.

Enter my friend Verney - our international sales manager. I'd gone to him for advice on how to go into sales (since I HATE my boss and am tired of the technical side of this industry, anyway). His advice was many-fold, but essentially he told me I had what it takes to sell - but I'd be more successful if I was happy BEFORE I entered sales and did not look at sales as a WAY to 'get happy' but as a way to 'live happy'.

First, he said to move to as much of an all-raw-food diet as possible. Second, he suggested Yoga as a way to "anti-age".

To move to an all-raw (or even vegetarian diet), I KNEW I had to get off caffeine. I am "controlled" well in the area of coffee, only two cups a day. But Coke/Dr. Pepper/Pibb Extra? No, no control whatsoever. And, the Coke habit breeds (in me, anyway) a snickers bar / chips habit. You cannot eat veggies if you also consume all these sweets - the taste comparison will ruin it for you.

So, I knew I had to ditch caffeine. Two cups of coffee a day, and between 40 and 60 ounces of cokes/etc. a day would be hard to stop! Ten days before I quit, I limited myself to coffee and coke with lunch. A week before, I limited myself to coffee. By the time I got down to 3-4 days, I was drinking two cups of 50% coffee/50% hot water. The last day, I had 1/2 cup of decaf coffee.

The first two days, I had mild headaches, days 3 and 4 (said to be the worst days) I had a SLIGHT headache. Tylenol worked fairly well all four days. Since then, no caffeine at all, and now headaches!

I sleep very well now. I wake naturally wtth no "morning fog" or "where is the coffee" problems! I'm actually a real person - living normally - and most of us don't need a stimulant like caffeine to get thru the day! My prostate symptoms are virtually GONE!

We don't need drugs.

Mode improvement has been wonderful, simply WONDERFUL. I now no longer hate my boss - just dislike him enough to pray he be fired, go on medical leave, etc. (Seriously)

Two days after quitting caffeine, I started Yoga. I've been at THAT for a week (3 classes), my 25 year struggle with my back has turned a corner, I'm not fighting it, I'm healing it !



I have more changes to make: going mostly or all raw food is one. Changing from technical work to sales is another.

And Verney was right: I'm feeling better and smiling more. This is good, as Verney said, "No one wants to buy anything from a grump, from someone who is unhappy."



I should mention that I work out on my elliptical trainer 5 or more days a week - but Yoga's stretching and flexing does SO much more good than "simple exercise" or "cardio".



Hope this helps everyone to understand.

 

[Claudya]

No way I'll ever stop drinking coffee. That withdrawal headache is evil.

 

[Pizzaguy]

I never got the headache I was waiting for! I think the secret was taking about 8 days to "ramp down" from caffeine!

But, I'm on a business trip to Tulsa again and just HAD to have a Dr. Pepper with dinner. First one since November.

 

[Mike S]

Don't think I'll be giving up coffee, nope. I loves it too much.

Seriously, I got used to drinking coffe practically nonstop when I was in the navy, and still drink 10 to 12 cups a day...and none of that sissy decaf stuff. My usual drink is Kona coffee, but I like all the Hawaiian coffees. The best I've every had is Molokai Peaberry.


View attachment 2923


Good thing I have my connection. My daughter lives in Kona.

 

[Mike S]

I just did a quick calculation. I started serious coffee driking when I loined the navy in 1966, 46 years ago. If I drank 5 cups a day (and I usual do about 10) since then, I've drunk more than 83,000 cups. Whew, that's a lot of coffee!

 

[Agape]

[video=youtube;xCYbvrPbt5Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCYbvrPbt5Q[/video]

 

[Vanguard]

I went through this a while back. I was having anxious, "on edge" types of feelings. I have never been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, manic depressive, or any other disorder. I knew something had to be triggering those feelings, so I started charting what I was eating/drinking each day. Since I had ALWAYS had 2-4 cups of coffee a day, 2-4 canned soft drinks, 1-2 glasses of sweet tea, chocolate, Excedrin Migraine to knock out any hint of a headache, and a fast food diet (and have yet to be overweight...yea for a high metabolism), I never guessed that turning 30 (some 8 years ago) would change my body chemistry.

The common link: caffeine and sugars.
The effect: increased heart rate, irritability, insomnia.

I quit cold turkey. Yes I had the withdrawal headache for the better part of a week.

I changed my beverage consumption to ~64 ounces of water a day, plus milk, natural fruit juices, Sprite and Sierra Mist. I also tried to cut out a lot of the fast food eating, opting to cook stuff at home. I added a multivitamin/mineral, and within weeks I felt better than I ever had. I could sleep soundly, I did not have heartburn, my heart rate decreased, I no longer had that edgy feeling, etc.

Exercise, drinking water and getting 7-8 hours of sleep will put your body back to a natural cycle, and waking up was no problem. The alarm would go off, I'd pop out of bed and get going. It is literally linked to what we eat and drink.

Garbage in = garbage out.

 

[Pizzaguy]

^^^ THIS ! ^^^

 

[reba]

This thread is just mean and ugly!

 

[farouk]

Well, I guess I don't see it as inherently different from nicotine.

(I realize that some Fundamentalists would immediately want to seek out supposed theological reasons why nicotine is totally different from caffeine, though.)

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

No way I'll ever stop drinking coffee. That withdrawal headache is evil.

It only lasts a couple days, Claudya. Then you can sleep good and wake refreshed. I decaffeinated myself about ten months ago and my results are identical to Pizza's. Feel more energetic, I've lost weight, I sleep better and I don't have the afternoon "blahs." I turned to decaffeinated coffee and I drink a couple iced teas during the day. I buy Quik Trip's iced tea, which still supplies some caffeine, but tea is about a third the caffeine as coffee. I was drinking a pot of coffee by myself, and four or five teas a day. No wonder I thought I didn't need more than five hour sleep a night -- with all that caffeine in my system, I couldn't sleep longer than that!