Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Cutting Back

On caffeine that is.

For a few personal reasons I am trying to cut way way back on my caffeine intake. The main one just being that I don't like being that dependent on anything. I let the coffee/diet coke/fat free triple shot latte/chai tea intake explode and so I am bringing it way back down. I am working on just one cup of coffee in the morning when I wake up and that's it. Unfortunately I am not adapting well to the detox. I have severe headaches and I am kind of in a fog. I remember my freshman year of high school my dad stopped drinking coffee (this from a man that drank several pots of coffee a day) and he couldn't do it. He got such bad headaches that it didn't last more than a few days.

I think people take for granted that caffeine is in fact a drug and like most drugs easy to get addicted to and hard to not use. It's amazing how a human body responds after you take something away from it that it has gotten accustomed to.

Tomorrow morning we are going to the gym for running and weight lifting.

6 comments:

Colleen said...

Ohhh good luck on the caffeine detox. I know exactly what you're going through. I try giving up coffee a few times a year b/c I too hate being dependent on caffeine. I go through the whole withdrawl and headaches, and then somewhere down the road I end up back on my coffee addiction again. It's a vicious cycle. Good Luck to you, and I hope the headaches aren't too bad and don't last too long!

Iron Jayhawk said...

I gave it up about 2 and a half years ago and it was the greatest thing I did. I rarely drink soda now and have an occasional cup of coffee. You'll find that you have more energy in the long run. The headaches are only temporary.

Jamie said...

Ooh, caffeine withdrawal is the worst. Good luck. About the best I can ever manage is to cut back to more or less insane levels.

Russ said...

good luck on your cutback. i have gone from 96+ oz of diet pepsi a day to 24 on the way to work and am trying to drop that one....the first couple weeks are hell..my 1st attempt was at cold turkey, 2nd was cutting 1 back/week which was successful. as an added benefit, i now fill up my empty pop bottle with water throughout the day...

Garou said...

Oh, withdrawal stinks on ice. I've gone the whole "cold turkey on caffeine" routine before, and never again. I have tried cutting down on the soda, but it really just meant more coffee.

Good luck on cutting back.

lifestudent said...

oooohhhh. I love caffeine. I go through periods where I consume more or less, but as a full-time student and teacher its one of my favorite things ;)