5
Jul
07
Going Caffeine Free?
Posted in
Thoughts,
Stress
I’ve been reading up on caffeine recently (rather enjoyed Top Reasons to be Caffeine-Free and How Much Caffeine is Too Much? recently), and am currently umming and ahhing about going caffeine free. Apparently caffeine can interfere with weight loss (increases your appetite) and certainly isn’t any good for stress levels and sleep patterns. On the other hand, tea is awesome.
Since I decided to do something about my health, I’ve tried to ensure that any changes I made were sustainable. No crash diets, no avoiding things I liked because they had a few too many calories. I wanted to eat better and at better times. I wanted to do exercise I could enjoy and keep up. I wanted to eat pizza and ice cream and drink beer once in a while, but be more conscious of the effects of doing so.
Cutting out all caffeine doesn’t fit into that pattern. Some things are easy to cut out … for example, I only drink coke with Jack Daniel’s, on the rare occasions I do drink it at all, and that’s easy to change in a sustainable way - there are plenty of other great mixers out there. So coke is no problem (and I should really cut it out completely anyway - it’s full of sugar). The problem is tea and coffee.
I like coffee best after meals, and used to rarely drink it otherwise (pretty much only drank it in restaurants). Over the last few months, I’ve been drinking more coffee instead of tea (black coffee with no sugar was better, I figured, than tea with milk and 1 sugar). At work, I’ll go through anything up to 5 to 8 cups of tea and coffee a day, all the way through to 5:30pm. I still enjoy a decent cup of tea, and the idea of cutting tea out completely is not an idea I’m completely happy with.
Has anyone else had any similar experiences dealing with these issues? I’d love to hear what other people decided. Is it even worth trying to cut down on, or cut out entirely, caffeine? Personally, my current favoured option, and what I’m going to try for the next few weeks, is just drinking less coffee and tea, and not drinking anything caffeinated at all after midday.
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July 9th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Try getting decaffinated Yorkshire Tea.
I switched to it purely because there was nothing else in the shop left, you can’t tell the difference.
P.S. Don’t pack in the JD & Coke, It’ll be a loss to our family.
July 12th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Try going to 1 cup in the morning and 1 mid-afternoon. I’ve been able to manage that with minimal problems(the occasional after dinner cup) after drinking coffee non-stop from morning to after dinner.
July 13th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I’ve found just not drinking caffeine after midday fine so far, except that I’m tired in the afternoons. That’s more likely a diet issue than a caffeine one though.
September 25th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Cutting caffeine completely isn’t really necessary to be in good health. The worst thing about caffeine and caffeinated drinks is usually the thinsg that come with it.
Pop has a ton of empty calories. Black coffee is ok, but people usually add all kinds of cream and sugar, and that’s empty calories again.
A lot of sport supplements for the serious athlete contain large amounts of caffeine. In my experience, caffeine has always acted as an appetite supressant, anyways.
By the way, way to get healthy. Geeks get a bad rap as far as health goes, and it’s oftentimes completely deserved. Keep up the good work.
October 16th, 2007 at 4:28 am
As a fellow geek I applaud your efforts to get fit.
I’m glad I found this blog, it might just be the motivation I need to do something similar.
Sean
October 24th, 2007 at 6:20 am
I draw the line at caffeine. If caffeine gets catagorized as a controlled substance, I will likely become a smugglar.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Nick: Thanks. I decided not to ditch the caffeine completely - I like it too much. I drink more plain black coffee now though, and am still avoiding drinking caffeine most afternoons. All positive, I think.
Sean: I hope that’s the case. Good luck!
Rudd: And I bet in that case you’d make a tonne of money!
