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Quitting Caffeine

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Re: Quitting Caffeine

#341

I find it hard to take articles around this seriously when they don't take into consideration the huge variability humans show in metabolising coffee and it's related health effects. A light introduction can be found here: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/for-coffee-drinker... A more in depth can be found: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242593/ It's all about CYP1A2

You make a good point. I've had my genome sampled by 23andMe, so I went back and looked at my report. I updated my post to point out that my results might not be the same as those for others.

Re: Quitting Caffeine

#342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed that life is running extremely fast lately and I am having a hard time being "in the moment" ... and I drink a lot of coffee. I drink a lot of coffee. I'm a very in the moment person, meditate regularly, enjoy and live in the moment, etc. This is an approach to life thing that is quite orthogonal to whether you drink coffee or not.

I was saying that it worked for me to stop. Not that you should all stop drinking coffee. If it helps you then why stop. I was just sharing how stopping helped me and that if you want to you can. Nor was I promoting a quick fix. It's not a quick fix and was initially quite a difficult experience for me. And I disagree that they're orthogonal. There's definitely some correlation between what you consume and your state…

"I was saying that it worked for me to stop."

Great. I was replying to someone else who took your statement to mean that stopping coffee == enlightenment.

I'm not looking for an argument, but far too often on here people look for, or push, an easy fix for larger problems. "I started working at a standing desk and now I'm a 10x programmer", "I stopped watching TV and now I'm a great artist", etc. But in reality the causation was "I realized I needed to make change, and for now at least things are different but here's some proxy symbolic thing". I realized that I needed to live healthier, and in doing so wore gym shorts more often, so gym shorts make you healthier.

Regarding the Buddhist monks, be wary clutching onto something they did given the mysticism, but it's notable that monks drink tea (and, in many cases, coffee), and their precepts are against intoxicants like alcohol. And some of the things they avoided were things like onions and garlic, which were believed to make them aroused.

Re: Quitting Caffeine

#343
post #58

Has anyone tried the Caffeine + L-Theanine pills?

No, but certain teas have rather high amount or caffeine in addition to L-Theanine. Especially mate. Sadly the only place I knew of near me to get that was Teavana, and they're all closing...

I wonder how much caffeine one is really consuming with argentinian-style mate (https://thony.com.br/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/chimarr...) since one is only pouring more water on the same amount of leaves.

(When you make coffee you get new coffee beans and drink all of it. Tea is different, mechanically.. ?

Re: Quitting Caffeine

#344
post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where you are, is the tap water any good? I often wonder if that is a major contributing factor.

It's weird water. It's very hard and there's a lot of copper in it. You get buildup on bathroom fixtures and it looks gross. When I first tried it I didn't like it... but I got used to it after like a month and now it just tastes like water. Doesn't everyone get used to it eventually?

The build up would be such a hassle. I've been to a few cities around the US where people go through bottled water like crazy. Delicious, balanced tap water is such a luxury. :)

Re: Quitting Caffeine

#345
post #23

One of the more interesting comments in the article is in regards to the social stigma of only consuming water during meals - people who have quit alcohol for various reasons have faced the same stigma when going out with friends. I've found that ordering something that has little to no calories or substance goes a long way to alleviate these fears (like tonic or sparkling water). Because something like this still co…

Pro tip: Club soda with a lime looks just like a vodka soda. Works great when you're trying to keep a clear head at a party full of heavy drinkers too. Just make sure to take slow sips so that people don't catch you with an empty glass.

Something similar has helped me in not drinking pop/soda. I just get soda water and add lemons/limes. It has the flavor and fizziness of Sprite, just not the sweetness. And it's pretty widely available.

Re: Quitting Caffeine

#346

What the author didn't mention, and I haven't seen mentioned in these comments, are the extremely beneficial health effects of coffee (not caffeine, decaf has shown the same benefits). Most significantly, studies have shown that coffee reduces overall mortality rates significantly, with the reduced chance of dying from any cause increasing with coffee consumption (up to a point). >Compared with nonconsumers, particip…

Regardless. My morning coffee may not make my life longer but it makes it more enjoyable.

Re: Quitting Caffeine

#347

I find it hard to take articles around this seriously when they don't take into consideration the huge variability humans show in metabolising coffee and it's related health effects. A light introduction can be found here: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/for-coffee-drinker... A more in depth can be found: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242593/ It's all about CYP1A2

You make a good point. I've had my genome sampled by 23andMe, so I went back and looked at my report. I updated my post to point out that my results might not be the same as those for others.

Interesting, thanks for the comment, actually I started reading on this because of 23andMe as well and I'm on the opposite spectrum, which means coffee doesn't affect me much, the same can't be said of my partner who has like you also quit btw.

Re: Quitting Caffeine

#348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Black and green tea do contain caffeine, but quite a bit less: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-he... It depends a bit on the specific preparation but black tea contains at most half as much caffeine as brewed coffee (per liter) and green tea is again half as much. Thus an easy way to reduce your caffeine intake is to replace a cup coffee by a cup of the same size of black tea and maybe later…

Sure, OP was saying "lots and lots of tea", though :-)

Of course. Switching to lots of it and working down from there.

Re: Quitting Caffeine

#349
post #49
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many medical organizations require a licensed psychologist to write the prescription for ADHD medications, rather than the attending PCP, and many insurance plans don't cover psychologist visits.

It would be a psychiatrist, not a psychologist. And all insurance plans do cover mental health per the ACA... It is one of the ten benefits that must be covered on all plans under the law.

They cover prescriptions, but not the ongoing meetings to get the type II drug prescriptions.
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