Well, I’ve been caffeine free for about four and a half days. I had Diet Coke at Chick-fil-A when Chris and I went there before seeing Clerks II on Friday. To get off topic for a second, that movie was great. Go see it ASAP, unless you’re easily offended that is.
I’ve been wanting to quit drinking caffeine for quite a while now, but never quite had the impetus to go ahead and commit to really having it again. It’s a huge thing, when you’re used to drinking lots of Diet Coke every single day. My laziness has finally become my friend in battle. I was out of Diet Cokes when I got home after midnight on Saturday morning, and I was way too tired to go to Walgreen’s or CVS to get some more. I figured I’d just get some on Saturday, but I never got around to doing that because I stayed home all weekend. I just was too lazy to get ready and get dressed and drive somewhere to get my addictive drinks.
People say they get headaches and stuff when they quit. I don’t know what’s up with that. I am drinking a lot of water though. I mean like a LOT of water. I drink a lot of water at work during the day. It’s pretty much a habit at this point, and maybe that helps stave off the headaches. I think I have more willpower than a lot of people. As you know if you know me, I just decided to stop eating less about 1.5 years ago and I went from 270 lbs (122.5 kg) to 180lbs (81.6 kg). I’m willing myself to make this work.
I don’t even really know why I’m quitting. I’m not advocating the stance that moderate consumption of caffeine is a health risk if you are an otherwise healthy individual. I think it’s really a combination of things. I really don’t like having a metal can subconsciously dictate to me what and when I will drink from it. Also, I spend a LOT of money carbonated beverages, so perhaps I’ll save money, but probably not because I spent it all on Kool-Aid last night (more on that later). Perhaps it’s just a sense of accomplishment I’m seeking. If I can stay off caffeine, I’ve gotten the monkey of physical, chemical dependency off of my back.
I’ve been drinking a lot of water like I said, but water is bland. That’s more than likely a good thing and an indicator that there are no potent pollutants in the Shreveport water supply, at least none that I can taste. However, that’s pretty boring when that’s all you drink, so I went to Wal*Mart and bought a pitcher, a few little portable drinking containers, Kool-Aid (Fruit Punch Flavor), Crystal Light (Pink Lemonade), and some other Crystal Light type brand that had some other flavor; I don’t care enough to go and see what it was.
If you have any good fruity type flavors to recommend to me, please leave it in the comments. I’m willing to try any number of things to stay off caffeine.
Also, yes I know other things, like tea and chocolate, contain caffeine. I don’t drink Tea (yet), and I damn sure am not giving up my chocolate, so I’m not saying I can avoid all caffeine in my life, but I am saying I’ve quit drinking the comparatively massive amounts of it cold turkey since Friday night, and I plan to keep it that way. Wish me luck!… as if that could do any good.
Good job Chris!
I quit caffeine almost a month ago and I must say I’m just fine. I did have headaches for about a week (nothing crippling, but they were definitely not pleasant). Upon a friend’s recommendation I started taking B12 in addition to my usual multivitamin and the headaches went away.
My motivation to give up caffeine is because of its effect on my blood sugar. Read up on it, it’s a good reason to stay clean. In addition, I’ve been aspartame-free for several months. I’d be more concerned about all the aspartame you’ve been consuming by guzzling Diet Coke. That stuff rots your brain…
Don’t get me started on Wal*Mart…
My favorite kool-aid flavors have always been black cherry and strawberry.
Chris,
you really did a great favor to your health by giving up the caffeine and switching to water, but you have to be careful about the right dosage of the water intake. More water than you body needs can harm your health. You need to figure our how much of daily water intake you need and that goes along with the sea salt. This is very easy, so instead of repeating a lot of information here, go the site I reposted recently: http://healthnerd.blogspot.com . You will find needed information there and will be surprised on how right you were regarding you action on quitting the caffeine and even more on switching to plain water.
Good luck
Mela
Quit caffiene? But…that’s blasphemy!
Speaking of blasphemy, we went to see Clerks 2 last night, and when the credits started rolling, the people behind us stood up and began ranting loudly about how the movie was the most blasphemous thing they had ever seen. It was kind of humorous and unbelievable. I mean, it was the sequel to Clerks. What did they expect?
I quit drinking Coke & Coke-type products for a few months. I felt a lot, lot better. Felt more alert, more energy, etc. And I didn’t get headaches after I quit, either.
Then I gave in and started drinking it again. I’m such a loser