How to kick the coffee-drinking habit

[Angus McGyver]

For the sake of anomaly, I need to ask you fellows for some advice here. This time, it's about coffee. This feels like one the last vices I still have left in my life and something I would like keeping at a minimum if possible since I know it is a drug, although most people don't want to admit it.

Not that I have ever been a huge consumer of it during my lifetime since I didn't start drinking it until age 25 and since then, it hasn't been more than 1-2 cups/day, six days a week. But, what I have noticed is the mental clarity, increased awareness, and much less irritability when I have abstained from it for at least 24+ hours. After 2-3 days, I also notice brighter teeth, a better breath and gut-health.

Is there anyone here who have been drinking it previously, then stopped drinking it and noticed significant improvement in any (or more) of the above mentioned reasons?
How did you do to kick this habit for good or at least only limit it to an occasional treat only (just like only eating cake on birthdays)?

Not that I experience huge cravings but during the afternoons (when I usually drink it), I can feel it coming a bit and that only one cup will make it go away.

 

[palindromo]

I 'm quitting coffe due to Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease , i used coffe to take extra energy to study and work, now i've replaced it with hot tea ( but they have some caffeine , but they mantain acidity in stomach under control) , infusions with rosemary ( strong similar effect ).

20-25% of people has GERD , and it is a pathology not to be underestimated because in many cases it is associate to hiatal hernia, Barrett's esophagus ...

much less irritability when I have abstained from it for at least 24+ hours. After 2-3 days, I also notice brighter teeth, a better breath and gut-health.

I feel less irritability of course , because to study ,I took too many doses
Italian coffe are really short and strong. I knew my irritability was due to coffee
I can take a teaspoon of coffe when i need , it is okay

 

[jaybelgium]

I swapped my coffee for a decaf version and I limit it to drinking only one cup a day.

In general I feel more calm and my energy levels are stable across the day. I also noticed that my sleep is better and as a result I feel more rested in the morning

 

[Awedouble]

I'm experimenting with a nootropic that had caffeine and even at 60% or about 56mg it is making my HRV coherence lower, as measured in real time, unfortunate since other ingredients in there are good. I have a sensitivity though and probably much lower tolerance than many others.

 

[Angus McGyver]

I 'm quitting coffe due to Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease , i used coffe to take extra energy to study and work, now i've replaced it with hot tea ( but they have some caffeine , but they mantain acidity in stomach under control) , infusions with rosemary ( strong similar effect ).

20-25% of people has GERD , and it is a pathology not to be underestimated because in many cases it is associate to hiatal hernia, Barrett's esophagus ...


I feel less irritability of course , because to study ,I took too many doses
Italian coffe are really short and strong. I knew my irritability was due to coffee
I can take a teaspoon of coffe when i need , it is okay

I am probably going to substitute it for tea as it doesn't seem to have nearly the bad effect as coffee have had on my health.
Today and yesterday, I was probably experiencing withdrawal symptoms as I had these lethargic headaches and fatigue-symptoms that didn't feel like a normal illness at all. Plus the craving for a cup of coffee as I was walking through the city. I felt it a miracle I could abstain from it all for another day.
This is going to be one of my hardest battles since the NoFap streak began 2 1/2 years ago.

 

[Playmaker97]

When I would drink a cup of coffee I would feel as if I have more energy, I'm more alert and my thinking and actions feel accelerated.

However in a few hours when the effects would wear off I would become very irritable, my anxiety would increase, I would feel fatigued/exhausted, I would also feel more sleepy and these effects don't seem to really go away unless I have another cup of coffee.

I also found it more difficult to fall asleep on days when I've drank coffee.

I have replaced coffee with herbal tea and my productivity, mood, and energy are a lot more consistent throughout the day.

 

[Deleted Account]

I have been drinking it almost all my life. Mostly since the start of middle school. There were a few weeks where I would have stopped drinking it. Only to acquire some headaches along the way. I didn't really see a difference to when I was a kid with mental clarity and effects like that. I have felt some effects as you though especially crashing near the end of my school day. Or after a long morning. I even took some adrenaline type caffeine substances at a time from a shop called GNC like No Explode to get threw my work.

I've realized they are not good for your body and the guy at the shop was always trying to sell me something that I didn't need. Coffee isn't the best.. I know I keep drinking it but I really only have one cup a day and I myself have a sensitivity to coffee I believe. My brother somehow drinks it like crack threw out the day and I can't believe how much he drinks rather then water. He is a fan of this band called Death Wish. I see no intention of trying in the future.

What I would probably do to get out of the habit is go outside right away in the morning. I remember I did this in the past and the cool wind or morning air wakes up your internal rhythm alarm clock. The human body just initializes that you need to wake up.

If you want to watch this you can but its a good tv show and cool experiment in the process as well. Two guys are competing to see who can stay awake the longest. One guy does it naturally and the other guy does it with coffee/caffeine pills. It shows the side effects of both sides kind of.

 

[Angus McGyver]

When I would drink a cup of coffee I would feel as if I have more energy, I'm more alert and my thinking and actions feel accelerated.

However in a few hours when the effects would wear off I would become very irritable, my anxiety would increase, I would feel fatigued/exhausted, I would also feel more sleepy and these effects don't seem to really go away unless I have another cup of coffee.

I also found it more difficult to fall asleep on days when I've drank coffee.

I have replaced coffee with herbal tea and my productivity, mood, and energy are a lot more consistent throughout the day.

That's exactly what I have felt as well. It would give me that happy, enjoyable dopamine and energy boost within the first hour or so upon drinking it but as soon as that starts to wear off, I become irritable, anxious/nervous and a much worse and less enjoyable human being overall.
Then, upon waking up the next day, I have felt that slight gloominess and fatigue that has been almost like gone for the last day or two when the withdrawal starts to fade away.

When drinking a cup of tea, I don't feel any of the bad effects I feel after drinking a cup of coffee. I now start to figure out why the worst coffee-addicts out there (who gulp down 5-6 cups per day or more) have such a hard time abstaining. They have been doing it for so long they don't believe or feel they can't live without it, plus all the fake news and propaganda out there, claiming the many benefits of moderate coffee-drinking.
It is all bull in my opinion. If people obviously feel much more focused, sharp, calm and resilient upon abstaining it, how on earth can coffee in any way, shape or form be good for you then?

 

[Awedouble]

From the book Stealing Fire:

consider three substances that sit squarely inside the state’s pale: caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. The coffee break, smoke break, and happy hour are the most culturally enshrined drug rituals of the modern era, even though two of the three are top-ten offenders in Nutt’s rankings.*

Consider this Abbott and Costello–like “Who’s on first” exchange21 between Nutt and the home secretary:
Home Secretary: You can’t compare harms from an illegal activity with a legal one.
Nutt: Why not?
Home Secretary: Because one’s illegal.
Nutt: Why is it illegal?
Home Secretary: Because it’s harmful.
Nutt: Don’t we need to compare harms to determine if it should be illegal?
Home Secretary: You can’t compare harms from an illegal activity with a legal one.​

Me: These go to 11.#

* David Nutt was former chair of the British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, assessed and ranked harms of various substances
# Spinal Tap reference. See:

 

[Playmaker97]

That's exactly what I have felt as well. It would give me that happy, enjoyable dopamine and energy boost within the first hour or so upon drinking it but as soon as that starts to wear off, I become irritable, anxious/nervous and a much worse and less enjoyable human being overall.
Then, upon waking up the next day, I have felt that slight gloominess and fatigue that has been almost like gone for the last day or two when the withdrawal starts to fade away.

When drinking a cup of tea, I don't feel any of the bad effects I feel after drinking a cup of coffee. I now start to figure out why the worst coffee-addicts out there (who gulp down 5-6 cups per day or more) have such a hard time abstaining. They have been doing it for so long they don't believe or feel they can't live without it, plus all the fake news and propaganda out there, claiming the many benefits of moderate coffee-drinking.
It is all bull in my opinion. If people obviously feel much more focused, sharp, calm and resilient upon abstaining it, how on earth can coffee in any way, shape or form be good for you then?

Glad to hear that the effects you get from coffee are very similar to my experience. You are right those 'die-hard coffee fans' (addicts) need more and more coffee to get through their day, and they are convinced they can't function without it, and they make it clear through posts /memes such as "My day doesn't start until I've had my cup of coffee" or "Don't talk to me before I've had my coffee" etc. This wasn't the case for them initially, but as their brain became used to the stimulus it received from having a cup of coffee every morning, it now no longer functions normally when they don't have their cup of coffee, so in their mind they could never function properly without coffee, it's like they forget all the years they spent doing perfectly fine without it.

Coffee is definitely just another drug normalised by society, and it is annoying that you will rarely hear about any negative effects from it, you basically won't unless you experience them yourself and are able to notice that you feel that way because of the coffee, or do some research.

Similar to PMO, which I find shocking that in school during sex education we are not taught about the negative effects and how addictive PMO is, that really needs to change if it hasn't, and it needs to change asap. I don't want people to be in the same position as I'm, having to not only overcome the suffering /regret of the past, but also to break the chains of this poisonous addiction.

However I wouldn't be surprised if the P industry worth 97 billion dollars or so is paying good money to spread misinformation, and keep people addicted, and also is working against the information about all the negative effects being taught in schools etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if they also played a key role in to why Sex / P addiction isn't in the DSM-V (Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Psychiatric Disorders). With the amount of power and money they have I'm afraid of what they are potentially able to do, they could probably take down websites such as this any other similar ones if they wanted to, or knowing how evil they are they could easily pay a bunch of hackers to release materials on these websites making thousands relapse and making these websites lose any sort of credibility / reliability.

The only reason they probably haven't done such a thing is because of the increasing amounts of profit they are making each year, websites such as these where people are trying to get the right information out, where people are battling their addiction and are trying to help and support eachother, have probably not affected them the slightest.

Although I guess they have started to retaliate with propoganda against NoFap, but I don't know I guess I'm going off topic.

 

[PerseveranceToday]

Caffeine can be good if used occasionally - in the literal sense of the word: only use it on the occasions where you need an extra mental kick. Coffee to a "coffee virgin" brain will 100% increase alertness focus and productivity for a few hours. However habitual coffee drinkers (see: me) get to the point where their brain is completely used to the presence of caffeine and down-regulates natural production of dopamine as well as increasing production of the "tiredness" neurochemicals caffeine subdues. The result is a person who "needs" coffee to function at baseline. Studies have shown habitual coffee drinkers perform exactly averagely on mental functioning tests after their usual dose whereas they perform under average without it. But again, someone who doesn't usually drink coffee who takes a hit will genuinely perform better. So I would say the healthy option is to do just that.

Personally, daily coffee consumption is either the next bad habit or bad-habit-after-next I'm going to kick.

 

[Aléxandros]

I swapped coffee for a cup of green tea: I feel healthier and my teeth are whiter.

 

[Angus McGyver]

Caffeine can be good if used occasionally - in the literal sense of the word: only use it on the occasions where you need an extra mental kick. Coffee to a "coffee virgin" brain will 100% increase alertness focus and productivity for a few hours. However habitual coffee drinkers (see: me) get to the point where their brain is completely used to the presence of caffeine and down-regulates natural production of dopamine as well as increasing production of the "tiredness" neurochemicals caffeine subdues. The result is a person who "needs" coffee to function at baseline. Studies have shown habitual coffee drinkers perform exactly averagely on mental functioning tests after their usual dose whereas they perform under average without it. But again, someone who doesn't usually drink coffee who takes a hit will genuinely perform better. So I would say the healthy option is to do just that.

Personally, daily coffee consumption is either the next bad habit or bad-habit-after-next I'm going to kick.

Coffee is a drug and poison that way too many people consume without realizing or knowing about its several side-effects. Not only will the caffeine cause a lot of damage, coffee contains lots of other chemicals as well that will not only make you more irritated, shaky and glassy-eyed, it will also destroy much of your gut-flora, metabolism and digestive system as well.
I have almost made it to two weeks now and do feel calmer, more balanced and better than ever. I never want to go back after getting a glimpse of what life can be and feel like without it. After attending a dinner or two last weekend, it was sad to see that literally everyone there was a coffee-addict to some regard. They simply can't resist the taste and smell of it, plus the social pressure that comes with it in a coffee-holic nation like mine.

 

[CodeTalker]

I quit coffee years ago because of my heart. I don’t crave for it, but I miss the focus it gave me for work.
i drank maybe 2 coffee per day for years before that. I didn’t notice any improvement. If I could drink coffee I would do it again. Maybe not everyday, but every time I’m doing something productive.

I don’t think it’s a nasty addiction that you NEED to quit.

 

[Angus McGyver]

Today, I have been without it for almost seven weeks and I keep on feeling greater for every week actually. Simultaneously, I have stopped eating peanuts and wheat-products as well which have improved my digestive system and metabolism a whole lot. Kale and ruccola, I only eat once per week (max) due to the high levels of oxalic-acid.
Peanuts (if not heated, boiled or broiled during cooking) are actually amongst the most gut-destroying foods out there there is which is why I never eat them as a snack nowadays.

 

[Angus McGyver]

I quit coffee years ago because of my heart. I don’t crave for it, but I miss the focus it gave me for work.
i drank maybe 2 coffee per day for years before that. I didn’t notice any improvement. If I could drink coffee I would do it again. Maybe not everyday, but every time I’m doing something productive.

I don’t think it’s a nasty addiction that you NEED to quit.

I also got heart-palpitations from coffee (only a cup or two) which is one of the reasons as to why I don't drink it anymore. If I tried to drink it today, I would probably spit it out since I have weaned myself off it for almost two months now and the taste-buds will have changed a bit during that period.