I stopped drinking coffee 20 years ago. Mainly because I suffered a lot from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). After I stopped drinking coffee that quickly improved. And an added benefit was that I finally understood what sleeping and waking up properly really meant. What a difference! Later I worked hard to learn how to deal with stress. That further improved my IBS. My health has improved enormously. And still, after all these years, small amounts of caffeine, think chocolate, black of non-herbal tea, cola, etc., have an immediate effect.
I quit caffeine
161–170 of 304 posts
Re: I quit caffeine
#162I’ve tried quitting caffeine in the past, but the problem I run into is that I’m actually not a coffee drinker, but a Diet Coke drinker. I don’t enjoy the taste of plain water. So at a restaurant/drive thru/etc, my options are diet soda (with 0 calories) or something caffeine-free with hundreds of calories. When you’re trying to budget calories, that hurts a lot. At least I’ve been able to reduce my overall consumpti…
Zero-sugar, zero-caffeine sodas seem to be slowly rising in popularity recently. I'm hopeful that we'll start to see them more often as options in restaurants, because like you said, it's frustrating when I go to a restaurant and must choose between drinking massive amounts of sugar, or drinking caffeine. Usually, even though I'd like to order soda, I end up ordering water because I struggle to justify either stimula…
I would love for more places to serve things like Bubly/La Croix/etc or Fresca, both of which I enjoy at home but rarely out and about.
Re: I quit caffeine
#163Well there is L-theanine[0] which I always found was the opposite of caffeine, and when you combine it with caffeine (500mg theanine & 200mg caffeine), you get a sort of flow state without the jitters of caffeine. L-theanine takes the edge off caffeine. You could also just try L-theanine on its own. This person needs to experiment with other nootropics besides caffeine. I've tried various stacks over the years like A…
Green tea will give you L-theanine and caffeine in a natural way.
But at an unknown dose that varies depending on where you buy the tea from, the batch they currently use, etc.
Re: I quit caffeine
#164I was never really into coffee, but I think it's probably good if you keep it around a cup per day. A small enough amount that you can skip a day without a problem, or have an extra cup when you need it and it will be effective without jittering.
If you are able to sleep well consistently (less than 10% bad sleeps) then zero coffee is fine. You just don't need it. But not everyone is so fortunate.
Re: I quit caffeine
#165I quit caffeine about 8 weeks ago for mental health reasons. It has been TREMENDOUS so far. I'm still hesitant on writing about it because it's such a new experiment. When I was on caffeine I was on a lot of it. Probably around 400-600mg a day combining my pre workout with my daily coffees. It is one of my favorite drugs and I loved taking it. This was the last 15 years of my life. I became quite irritable over the p…
Do you sleep better now, is that the explanation? I quit coffee for a few years, to fix my sleep, and it really did (now I'm back on caffeine and managing ok-ish). I would suggest to anyone curious to try. And if you quit coffee make it two weeks or so to really see the difference.
I dream more, but I didn't ever really have a problem sleeping.
Re: I quit caffeine
#166I catch a lot of flak for all the money I waste by buying coffees at coffeeshops, but it's my way of rate limiting. If I want a cup of coffee, I first have to make myself presentable, go for a walk, and pay a cost. I also feel a bit weird about going back to the same place twice in one day, so that usually dissuades a follow-up trip, or at least makes me go on an even longer walk. Caffeine plays with everyone differe…
I have a similar habit getting similar flak, but with another added reason. As a remote worker, going to a place every day (often leading to small interactions with others) helps replace replace some elements of working from an office (commute, small chats with other frequenters, the getting presentable ritual you mentioned, etc).
I'll append a gripe to this and say that employers should allow "work-from-home budgets" to be put towards credit at local coffee shops.
Re: I quit caffeine
#167I'm one of those people who stopped taking 5-6 Espressos a day (an average amount for a Portuguese person, given that we imported Cimbalino machines from Italy a few decades ago and just couldn't kick the habit nationally). I did that for around 20 years (with occasional breaks), then progressively petered out to 2-3 cups a day and, last year, I finally removed the last Espresso (the breakfast one) from my diet. I sw…
I would think diet Coke to be much worse than coffee, am I wrong?
Re: I quit caffeine
#168I'm curious if there are a lot of people like this that really feel some extreme effect from caffeine like this. I've read articles about people drinking too much, too little, being addicted, or having withdrawal symptoms, but I never really experienced any of that during my coffee-life so far. I also don't often meet people that do, but sometimes when I do meet someone that has a really intense relationship with caf…
Actually we already know that people metabolize caffeine differently. https://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/content/70/2/384 - but caffeine is also very transparent drug. You can use it for years without realizing the negative/positive impact it has on you. How long have you even quit caffeine for? Withdrawal effects tend to show up in 2 weeks or so for me. The anxiety that it causes for me isn't very acute either. It's more like just background anxiety.
I used and abused coffee for most of my twenties without ever realizing it had such an impact. Nowadays I just drink small cups of tea.
Also would like to point out: https://www.audible.com/pd/Caffeine-Audiobook/B083MVZ91Y is a pretty fun read. Not super scientific but interesting nonetheless.
Re: I quit caffeine
#169I catch a lot of flak for all the money I waste by buying coffees at coffeeshops, but it's my way of rate limiting. If I want a cup of coffee, I first have to make myself presentable, go for a walk, and pay a cost. I also feel a bit weird about going back to the same place twice in one day, so that usually dissuades a follow-up trip, or at least makes me go on an even longer walk. Caffeine plays with everyone differe…
I like to rate limit with my own coffee snobbery. Free pots of coffee at work? No thank you, I don't want any of that swill. I'm going to use my mini hand-pumped espresso maker for a single shot of espresso. I did used to drink the coffee at work and ended up drinking a lot of it. Crappy coffee, better drink it fast cause I just need the caffeine. Or my cup is not warm anymore so better chug the rest of it, or add mo…
I'm similar, except I'm not even that much of a snob any more. The only thing I really insist on is I grind the beans myself and make it in a cafetière.
When I was a student I drank coffee fairly randomly. Any time of day really, whenever I felt like it, but it was never too much. Then I started at a workplace that had a bean-to-cup espresso machine. It got a bit out of control. Coffee was not only nice but also an excuse to spark up a conversation. I was drinking something like 6-8 cups a day.
Interestingly, I don't recall having any kind of withdrawal on the weekends when I would drink much less.
At some point several years ago I decided 6-8 cups is too much, and I also read about the bad effects caffeine has on sleep. So I decided to have two cups per day: one in the morning and one at lunch time. It has become so normal now that the thought of drinking coffee at any other time seems absurd.
Re: I quit caffeine
#170For me, I didn't like being physically addicted to something. I've switched to decaf coffee, because I still like coffee and the morning ritual. But I limit myself to 2 cups, and I have herbal tea later in the day if I still want something to sip on. The same goes for (added) sugar - it's amazing how you feel when you stop eating candy/ice cream/sweetened drinks/etc. And it's surprising how bad you feel when do you h…
Have you found good decaf anywhere? I drink only espresso and haven't found any decaf that isn't miserably bland.
I've been buying decaf from Happy Mug. Price is reasonable, comes as beans or ground, is fresh, and I think it tastes good: https://happymugcoffee.com/