Buzz Off: Breaking Free of Caffeine

The Buzz portion of the Discretionary Eating Challenge asks you to recognize that caffeine is not a necessary nutrient in your daily diet.

Health news about coffee comes out frequently, with one study showing the negative effects of drinking it and the next showing the positive benefits of it. While tea is touted for its health benefits, it may still contain caffeine which does have negative effects on the body. It is not my goal to persuade you that you should or should not drink coffee or tea for your health. You can read the research yourself, observe how it affects your body and mind, and make your own decision in that regard. (Note, however, that for a valid comparison, you would also need to be caffeine-free for some time to see how that affects your body and mind.)

Despite research that has shown positive benefits of coffee or tea, it is pretty clear that caffeine is not a nutrient required by the human body. People don’t die from caffeine deficiency. Coffee and tea were both rationed during WW II. You may have to ration it yourself, voluntarily or not, if economic times get bad enough. If you are a locavore and do not live close to coffee or tea-producing regions, then it is probably on your hit list as well, although you may be able to grow your own tea plant.

If you decided to reduce or eliminate your caffeine consumption, you may be having a tough time of it. Your body, accustomed to its daily jolt of caffeine to wake you up in the morning and perk you up in the afternoon, is probably rebelling to this change. Whether you get your caffeine through coffee, tea, soda, or chocolate, it perks you up by inhibiting the hormone adenosine. Unfortunately, blocking this hormone can also result in a lack of deep restful sleep. During such sleep, the hormone allows a greater flow of blood, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the brain. When you give up the caffeine, this increased blood flow can cause vascular headaches as the adenosine is no longer inhibited.

Caffeine also activates the dopamine hormone, responsible for stimulating the pleasure center in the brain. Addictive drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine do the same thing to a much higher degree. Without your usual hit of caffeine, dopamine levels may drop below normal for a short time. This may bring on some depression and urges to overeat since fatty and sugary foods also stimulate dopamine production.

Coffee can be quite addictive due to the caffeine and alkaloids it contains. Tea usually has about half as much caffeine as coffee. Chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine, an alkaloid with similar but lesser effects as caffeine as well as other possibly addictive components. Soda has added caffeine and may also contain a host of other added chemicals in a high fructose corn syrup base.


QUIT COLD TURKEY OR REDUCE GRADUALLY?

As you might guess and may have already experienced, giving up caffeine is likely to be a rocky ride. If you consume caffeine regularly, your body and mind are accustomed to the effects. It will take some time for it to recover when the caffeine is removed. Although some may advocate the cold turkey approach to quitting, I think this is actually more difficult. You are likely to be in for at least two days and up to a week or more of withdrawal symptoms. These vary from person to person, but most people experience tiredness and headaches. If you want to grit your way through these, and think you can resist the temptation to have just a sip of something caffeinated to help you make it through the day (especially at work where your boss may not be particularly understanding) go for it.

I personally think that a gradual reduction is easier on all levels. It gives you a chance to emotionally accept the removal of something enjoyable from your daily routine. It also lets you mentally and physically adjust to reduced stimulants in your bloodstream. When you take the final step to eliminate the last bit of caffeine, there will still be a withdrawal period, but it will not be as rough as the cold turkey method. I’ve done both and much prefer the gradual approach.


EASING WITHDRAWALS

Drink water
Regardless of which method you choose, be sure to drink more water. If you are a caffeine addict, there's a possibility you are chronically dehydrated due to its diuretic effects.

Eat healthy
Eating healthy foods, too, will improve your overall well-being during the transition. Despite the temptation, do your best to avoid eating more fatty and sugary foods.

Exercise
Exercise is a good way to get your blood pumping during the day and pick up some energy. Because you may be less alert and attentive, however, choose your form of exercise carefully. This may not be the best time to take up learning to ride a unicycle or walk the balance beam!

Breathe
Deep breathing pumps more oxygen through your system which can help clear your mind throughout the day.

Rest
To combat the tiredness, make sure to schedule plenty of rest time.


THE GRADUAL APPROACH

Gradually reducing the amount of caffeine you consume can be done several ways.

Reduce the number of drinks
If you are drinking a large quantity of coffee, tea, soda, or chocolate each day, then simply reducing the amount gradually is one approach. Since you need to drink more water as you quit anyway, replace some drinks with water. Add some lemon for flavor, if desired. You can even drink hot lemon water if you prefer warm drinks.

Switch to decaf
Another approach is to switch to decaffeinated varieties. To minimize difficult withdrawals, do this on a gradual schedule. For instance, if coffee is your demon, mix your regular coffee grounds with decaffeinated coffee grounds. For the first week, use 75% regular and 25% decaf. For the second week, go to 50-50. In the third week, switch to 25% regular and 75% decaf.

You can use this same approach with tea, soda, and chocolate. See the next section down for suggested alternatives to drink.

During this transition, be careful that you don’t start drinking more than you used to, resulting in the same total quantity of caffeinated coffee as you are accustomed to drinking!

Tapering off completely
After the third week, consider how you will continue. Are you still consuming multiple drinks during the day? If so, reducing the number gradually will help reduce your total caffeine intake. Using the coffee example again, once you are down to a cup of mostly decaf per day, you can keep increasing the ratio of decaf in your cup a few days at a time until you are drinking strictly decaf.

I’ve known of a couple people with such severe withdrawals that they were down to a tablespoon per day before quitting. The main thing to remember is to never just blow your commitment off for a day. You will set a precedent in your mind to do it again, and if you have a particularly addictive personality, this will set you up for a far more difficult journey. An alcoholic cannot have just one drink and a serious caffeine addict may find it difficult to have just one caffeinated drink, socially or not. Take it from me. I’ve gone from just one cup to a full pot daily more times than I’m willing to admit.

Find a substitute
An alternative to decaf, either in the initial transition off caffeine or after you've gone to decaf only, is a substitute. Coffee addicts should be aware that decaf coffee still contains some caffeine, so if your goal is to completely eliminate caffeine, you will need to cut out the decaf brew as well.


SUBSTITUTES

If, like me, you really enjoy the taste of your daily caffeinated beverage, you will probably find eliminating it challenging simply because you’ll miss it. In that case, finding an acceptable substitute may be your best approach. These can be used in the gradual reduction phase as well, to help you get off the hard stuff.


Coffee Substitutes

There are quite a few coffee substitutes, ranging from instant to brewable. I’ve tried some of them but not all of them. In the interest of presenting you, my dear readers, the best information, I blew my beverage budget today by buying a wide range to sample. I will be posting the results of my taste testing later.

In the meantime, you could try making your own coffee substitute. I have not tried this yet and probably won’t include homemade options in my review. Here are two links to a number of recipes you can try: Confederate coffee and substitutes from other plants. If you make any of these, please let me know how easy or hard it was to make, and whether the taste was satisfactory. Thanks!


Caffeinated Tea Substitutes

Reduced caffeine
If you are just reducing, but not eliminating, your caffeine intake, this cocoa spice tea is very tasty. It contains just 5 mg caffeine per cup as opposed to the usual 80 mg per cup o’ joe.

Decaf
As with coffee, decaffeinated tea is one way to minimize the amount of caffeine you are ingesting. There are so many varieties of teas available, it is impractical for me to review all of the options. Anyway, as you may remember, I’m much more into drinking coffee and cooca than I am into actually drinking tea.

I am partial to decaf chai blends because sugar and soymilk are natural additions, and those ingredients are part of what I miss when I quit coffee. After all, black coffee sucks; it is simply the carrier for the sweet and creamy stuff.

Herbal
There are many varieties of herbal tea available or you can grow your own.


Cocoa Substitutes

Wonder Cocoa
Check your natural food stores for Wonder Cocoa, made by WonderSlim. This is the only cocoa powder I’ve seen that is virtually caffeine-free. Those who are super-sensitive to caffeine should note that no process can remove all of the naturally-occurring caffeine in cocoa (or coffee beans). Wonder Cocoa claims it is 99.7% caffeine free. If your store doesn’t carry it and can’t order it, you can order it online. A Different Daisy has it, but cautions that the new packaging is prone to coming open during shipping.

See the results of my cocoa powder taste test here.

Carob
Carob is reputed to be a chocolate substitute, but it really doesn’t taste much like chocolate at all. It tastes fine on its own but if you are really craving chocolate, carob is not going to do the trick. Perhaps if you go chocolate free for a year, like Daharja, you would learn to love carob. For me, though, I’d rather just do without chocolate altogether (if I really had to).


Soda Substitutes

Decaf
A number of mainstream colas have decaffeinated versions. However, they are still filled with chemical ingredients.

Non-caffeinated
Many mainstream sodas are free of caffeine, but a better choice would be the natural sodas available in natural food stores. These are still filled with empty sugar calories but not chemicals.
Sparkling water
When I quit a long-running Diet Dr. Pepper addiction years ago, sparkling water was what got me through the worst of it. I started out with a no-sugar-added very berry flavor and eventually went to plain sparkling water. Over time, I dropped that as well in favor of plain ol’ water without the bubbles. Of course, the bottle waste associated with sparkling water is a definite drawback to consuming them at all.


YOUR EXPERIENCES

So, what are your past or current experiences with giving up, or reducing, your caffeine dependence? Share what has worked for you, as well as what has been the most difficult.