Has anyone experienced any benefits by drastically reducing, or quitting your consumption of caffeine?
Has anyone experienced any benefits by drastically reducing, or quitting your consumption of caffeine?
"If you're going through hell, keep going."-Winston Churchill
Blasphemy! hehe, I love coffee.![]()
Promote yourself and earn more money! This is a business that is owned by strippers for strippers. Let's make that money!
Lol so do I. I'm just trying to find a way to have more steady energy, instead of highs and lows. Plus, it makes me piss all the time![]()
"If you're going through hell, keep going."-Winston Churchill


I used to be a professional Pepsi drinker, and now I have no desire to EVER have another. I don't know what happened, or what changed, I just stopped craving Pepsi, and moved on to clear or fruit flavored sodas, and never looked back.
I can say that I don't have caffeine stains on my teeth, and it's not as hard for me to fall asleep at night now that I don't have all that caffeine rushing through my system. My joints don't ache for no reason anymore either. I also believe that drinking Pepsi irritated the lining of my stomach or something on that order - and since I've eliminated Pepsi from my choice of beverages, I don't feel icky like the lining in my stomach is irritated anymore..
My husband drinks Mountain Dew and energy drinks like they're going out of style. When he runs out, he sometimes gets really irritable and then he'll get a terrible headache. He calls it a "caffeine headache." From what he's told me, it's a headache like no other, and all you can do is sleep it off.
Apparently the withdrawal from caffeine is harder on some than it is on others. This probably has a lot to do with your tolerance for caffeine. Mine wasn't ridiculously high. I don't personally recall having many noteworthy side effects after eliminating caffeine from my daily diet, other than missing the caffeine buzz, the occasional headache (when I'd been off caffeine for a while, these went away for me completely), and being somewhat irritable.
If you are planning to reduce your caffeine intake, I'd recommend you do it slowly, just in case you do get wicked awful headaches (they're like migraines, from what I understand), or any other incapacitating side effect.
I will never give up my coffee. Never. My BF and I budget coffee before food.
If I go a day without it for some terrible tragic reason (or have only one cup), I get an awful headache and just fall asleep while people are talking to me. I'm also very irritable. It's like PMS only 10 times worse.
My BF and I barely talk to each other before coffee time in the morning. He also brings me a cup before I rise from bed to ensure I love him for another day. See my siggy.
I gave up caffeine and within a few days my skin started to look better than it has in years! I never had "bad" acne but I would get reddish bumps and the occasional zit. I no longer need a facial once a month and don't even need to wear foundation.
Giving up caffeine can help out with a ton of your biosystems, if they are out of whack, or if your body chemistry is not caffeine friendly. Caffeine can overexcite your adrenal system, which can then lead to a ton of digestive disorders, fat retention, and skin conditions. Some people can handle caffeine, and some people really shouldn't be getting any caffeine at all. Best thing is to give it up for 6 weeks and see what happens. I found I am somewhat tolerant, so I limit my intake to 2 cups of tea per day, before 1 pm.



I agree with the previous poster about my stomach feeling a lot better when I don't drink caffeine.




I used to take in so much caffiene its not even funny. I tried to stop completely. Cold turkey. Holy migraine hell and teeth grinding galore. I have now been on the last three weeks on only one cup of coffee a day, a smaller one at that. It is starting to kick in like hey I need more but I am making myself drink ten glasses of water a day instead. I sleep so much better now with less in my system. Not too much else is different I guess.
Caffeine is my only vice and I love it.. I love teas and coffee.
I have been trying to drink tea instead of coffee.. but I love the taste of coffee, not just the affects.
However, I recently learned that decaf tea isn't great b/c they put chemicals in it to make it decaf.. I also learned that with one cup of coffee your body won't burn calories for 4 HOURS!! That has helped me to cut down my coffee drastically.. I always thought I was helping to maintain/lose weight by drinking coffee, b/c I'm not hungry for a while after. Now I know the truth..But still, even this post is making me crave coffee!




My caffeine addiction got worse with college and working late and I was drinking at least two cups of coffee per day and often some espresso on top of it earlier this year. I got swine flu a few months ago and didnt need coffee to get up because I had to rest for two weeks.
When I got better I didn't feel like I needed it anymore and I noticed that my skin looked waaaaay better in terms of brightness, wrinkles/undereye circles, and blemishes. I feel alert upon waking up now and I need less sleep. Major reduction in brain fog, but I also have been eating better as well.
Once I've stopped the benefits have been so great that I can't believe I didn't stop before. It's a really subtle shift but at the same time has made my productivity and connection to the tasks at hand so much better.
I've never been a soda drinker, but I have converted many a friend to Pellegrino with lime to help them quit. I also highly reccommend yerba mate tea. It has caffeine in it, but it doesn't get you jacked up at all and provides a really nice, mellow alertness. It also helps your digestion rather than hurting it.
Now and then, maybe every two weeks I do indulge in some really nice espresso in SF because I am a major coffee lover and just the taste of it is a huge treat to me. I guess I treat coffee like a dessert now.
Anyways, this has been really long, but I think you should try it cold turkey for at least a week and see how you feel. Caffeine is a hardcore drug! I didn't realize how much it affected me until I stopped drinking it daily.





I stopped drinking caffeine 2 weeks ago. I also stopped eating sugar. I am getting a very tiny amount of sugar in yogurt and a small amount of cream I occasionally use to make omlettes and a few berries. I feel absolutely amazing! The first 2 days were hard...now I feel amazing! I am seriously NEVER tired. I actually am having a hard time sleeping more than 6-7 hours (I used to need 10 hours!). I never feel tired at work and I still have energy for the gym. My skin is already amazing! Seriously a 70% improvement...in 2 weeks! I feel like I am glowing and I have been earning more at work too. It's the combination of things though...not just the caffeine.
Caffeine is not that bad but really most people drink way too much of it. Can cause dehydration, and false since of alertness when drunk.




Would love to hear a bit more of a breakdown of what you are eating ... I've playing with the no sugar thing on and off a bit but admit I get bored plus I do love some daily fruit! Be awesome to hear what the inspiration was a what a day in the life of looks like ;-)
As a side note, glad to hear you're in such a positive space! xx


Can you reference that?
I used to work at starbucks and drank probably 4-5 cups per day. Quit cold turkey for 2 years and now i'm drinking a cup a day again, probably just because of the weather- it's nice to drink a hot cup of coffee on a cold day
everything in moderation I think![]()



^^ I second that. I will never give up my hot coffee. Even the smell gets me excited.




Unfortunately I cant. I was having a ph test by a personal trainer/nutritionist with a degree but other than that I dont know how accurate it was. It was the first time I'd ever heard that, and Ive been in the fitness field as well. I dont know if its true, I love my coffee as well so I dont want to give it up!




^^ as a PT and nutrition enthusiast I've never heard that. If anything Caffeine gives you more energy to move more hence burning more calories. Thing is though when you crash at the other end, if you don't reach for another coffee, tendency can be to reach for carby stuff to replace, replenish and 'perk' up. I find if I drink coffee for several days in a row and then stop for a day or so I end up going for higher carb foods or Chocolate to get the stimulation my body has been used to. In the end its a stimulant and some people are more sensitive to it than others. I agree with what AngelKing says ... and in the end if you can't go without a coffee to get you going, its something your system is now relying on and not an optimal way to be running the body. I try to err on the side of coffee by desire and not by need. But that's just me .. :-)
I had a 4 day migraine after giving up caffeine, and I never drank coffee, just tea. But the caffeine was giving me migraines anyways.




I'm addicted to caffeine. Like... terribly. I mean, withdrawl that would leave me unable to function if I couldn't get to my coffee. I don't like it. Trying to cut down. I normally have a pot of coffee to myself every morning + 1-2 more pots of coffee (yes POTS, not cups) throughout the day. This morning I just had one cup of green tea. So we'll see. But I love the high coffee gives me. I'm a writer and I need that mental focus to get into "the zone".![]()





uh, mate has caffeine in it as well, more than sodas but less than coffee.
i find ginger tea is a good alternative or fresh raw milk.
also intermittent fasting and eating a large meal when you feel hungry rather than a jillion little meals every other hour does a lot to increase energy without caffeine. there's a lot of wisdom in the old three squares a day or one morning meal and one evening meal.
Yes I should have clarified, mate has caffeine in it, but the chemical composition surrounding the caffeine xanthines cause the caffeine in it to behave essentially as a different chemical compound.
"The mate xanthine cocktail is different from other plants containing caffeine most significantly in its effects on muscle tissue, as opposed to those on the central nervous system, which are similar to those of other natural stimulants. The three xanthines present in mate have been shown to have a relaxing effect on smooth muscle tissue, and a stimulating effect on myocardial (heart) tissue"
and
"Some users report that drinking yerba mate does not prevent them from being able to fall asleep, as is often the case with some more common stimulating beverages, while still enhancing their energy and ability to remain awake at will."





i notice a strong lack of citation and emphasis on anecdata in those quotes from the wiki article.
better to give up caffeine entirely if concerned about its effects than gamble that you might possibly have a different reaction to caffeine from a slightly different plant than you are used to.
Bookmarks