Giving up caffeine

I've never had much of a problem with getting off coffee, some days coffee was my only liquid intake and I would go through a silly amount of mugs.

I'm down to a coffee in the morning and maybe 1-2 during the day now.

that was proper coffee though from an espresso machine or cafetiere, maybe instant coffee is more addictive

Depends where you live. Tap water here is nice, theres a few other places I've been to in this country it tasted awfull (in and around Oxford was the worst tasting water I've had)
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Yea I remember the water from school tasted disgusting no matter how long you let the tap run.

up north water seems to have a much more natural taste
 
Flibster said:
So you're giving up aspartame, not caffeine then?

Just don't drink soft drinks. Go with tea and (proper, decent) coffee instead. :D
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lol aspartame is a womans mixer, keeps there brains retarded, and causes brain tumors.

lol add that caramel coloring from coke aswell, the carcinogenic one thats addictive

then add caffeine the drug of retards.

Try going cold turkey with just water, you may get psychological and physiological addiction symptoms (stay strong brother), remove all those toxins and become once again like Einstein.
 
stuartw_b said:
Depends where you live. Tap water here is nice, theres a few other places I've been to in this country it tasted awfull (in and around Oxford was the worst tasting water I've had)
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The further north you go the better it tastes.

Water up my neck of the woods is incredible. Much better than bottled water and free.
 
How strange that this topic has sprung up, I have been ill for a few days, barely able to eat or drink anything.
And now I'm feeling better, I have decided to drastically reduce the amount of coffee I drink - usually drink anywhere between 5-10 cups of unsweetened instant white.

But I was just thinking - is there actually anything wrong with drinking coffee anyway? Have never been a fan of soft drinks - so just water, a cup of filter coffee in the morning and green tea now I think.

And working for a water company, I agree with putting a clean jug in the fridge to get rid of chlorine - and remember kids, chlorine is in water for a reason, take it out and you allow bacteria to grow! Or just man up and drink it straight from the tap - you will get used to it.

Anyway..... back to my point, what's wrong with drinking lots of coffee?
 
I cut down in caffeine about 8 months ago and find that in general my health is a little better, I didn't cut it out as I didn't see that as realistic and didn't want to be paranoid about what I drank.

Previously I'd drink around 5 cups of coffee a day, 1 would be shop bought. In addition I'd drink 2 or 3 cups of normal tea.

These days I drink 3 or 4 cups of Chai tea (twinnings) which I've found I enjoy far more than either coffee or ordinary tea. It has less caffeine than tea and far less than coffee but tastes far better. I did find the first week or so after deciding to cut back very difficult - actually felt ill (flu like symptoms) for the first 48 hours or so but since then I've been sleeping far better than before and don't feel an afternoon slump in energy as I use to. Probably due to sleeping better, rather than some mysitcal Chai property though!

I'd suggest going for it, these days it's Chai tea, fruit juice or just water. I do sometimes have a coffee but it's few and far between. I would like to point out I don't drink Chai tea lattes from coffee shops as it's rather sweet and sickly, the twinning stuff is far better.
 
Flibster said:
I'll have a think and see if I can remember any from the 2 hours of summer we had last year. :D

Waterloo tea's Meghalaya Autumn, LaKyrsiew is probably the best tea I've ever drank. It's quite sweet on it's own. I tend not to have milk with tea, and it's best not to with this one.

Try following the brew guide *Waterloo tea's provide brew guides on all their teas - 1g tea per 100g water @ 95°C for 3 minutes for this one* into a glass, and then once the time is up, dunk the entire glass into iced water to cool it rapidly.

The different methods of producing a cold brew do produce distinctly different flavours. A long brew in cold water produces imo, the better drink, but is significantly harder to actually get right.
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Ouch that was expensive. 50g £10 :eek: well if I don't like it, might mate will love the free tea. Looking at recipes, that'll be good for two gallons. At that price I think small trial runs.
 
Sorry for the lack of reply, however I've been weighing up my options. I've decided to go completely cold turkey... it's really hard to measure my caffeine intake because there doesn't seem to be any measurements on the bottle or the web. Starting today, water from now on.
 
A girl in my office stopped drinking coffee in January and it was one of the most ridiculous things ive witnessed. It was quite genuinely akin to watching a drunk stopping drinking or a drug addict trying to kick their habit (which essentially is what it is i guess!). She was drinking a cup first thing in the morning, one on the way to work and the first thing she did when she got into the office was make a coffee. Its quite incredible the hold it can have over you given how socially acceptable it is compared to other addictions!
 
CREATIVE!11 said:
Water + willpower and discpline

No secret formula really.
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Its so similar to any other addiction (not on the same scale but in principle) its frightening. To hear someone in a work environment banging on about how they "need" a coffee and how they dont feel well and they are tired and "really want one" etc etc is hilarious. If i walked into work tomorrow morning and announced "I really need a vodka" i suspect i wouldn't get the sympathetic whimperings and the "you're doing so well, stick at it" that this girl is getting!
 
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I agree placeholder, an addiction is an addiction - regardless of severity. The headaches from caffeine withdrawal are crippling but it differs and it's still early days for me yet.
 
i used to have a 1 litre of coke a day (sugar version) then i gave up for 6 months felt sooo much better for it.
i slowly went back to 1 a day. now giving up and again.
been 3 weeks now with only 1 coke.
found a solid drink that will keep me a away.
made up ribena (no sugar version) i put a tiny amount in a vodka bottle (empty) then fill the rest with water.
this way you get a slightly fruity taste that's cheap to!
so 20ml of ribena the 980ml of water

i had headaches when i come off but they go fast.

for me coke was a instant reaction to playing games. if i didnt play games i didnt have coke.

so i retrainned my mind to think ribena when i play games ^_^
 
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smogsy said:
i used to have a 1 litre of coke a day (sugar version) then i gave up for 6 months felt sooo much better for it.
i slowly went back to 1 a day. now giving up and again.
been 3 weeks now with only 1 coke.
found a solid drink that will keep me a away.
made up ribena (no sugar version) i put a tiny amount in a vodka bottle (empty) then fill the rest with water.
this way you get a slightly fruity taste that's cheap to!
so 20ml of ribena the 980ml of water

i had headaches when i come off but they go fast.

for me coke was a instant reaction to playing games. if i didnt play games i didnt have coke.

so i retrainned my mind to think ribena when i play games ^_^
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My drink of choice, not to replace anything but just as a drink, is a nice orange or apple juice topped up with fizzy water. I find it really refreshing.
 
placeholder said:
Its so similar to any other addiction (not on the same scale but in principle) its frightening. To hear someone in a work environment banging on about how they "need" a coffee and how they dont feel well and they are tired and "really want one" etc etc is hilarious. If i walked into work tomorrow morning and announced "I really need a vodka" i suspect i wouldn't get the sympathetic whimperings and the "you're doing so well, stick at it" that this girl is getting!
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Yep caffeine is a drug, and you eventually become dependant on it to feel normal. Many people don't realise this while downing 5 coffees a day, I cut caffeine out roughly a year ago. I have odd cup of coffee or tea now n again but not on a consistent basis.
 
diamount said:
Any tips? Caffeine itself isn't something I'm concerned with but aspartame which is found in most if not all soft drinks.
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As has been said before aspartame is completely safe and has never been proven to cause any health problems.
So why do you want to give it up?

And it's a funny way of phrasing it! I'm giving up x because i want to give up y and x usually contains y.
 
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