Coffee

[Apech]

I have just decided to cut out coffee - been coffee free for last four days. I have had a permanent migraine type headache which is just easing off today as I did some deep relaxation exercises (I had become strangely tense). I was amazed at how much this affected me as I have always liked coffee. It was almost like giving up smoking (not quite as bad).

 

One weird thing is that I found I was unable to sit in meditation for more than 24 mins (precisely!) - today got back to my usual hour. No idea why 24 mins - but each time I felt the urge to stop it was that time that had elapsed.

 

I am still drinking black tea but intend to phase this out with green and jasmine.

 

Anyone got any good tips for keeping off coffee.

[Capital]

Throw away anything you have for making it in your house...

[Pax]

I quit daily coffee a couple of months ago and it was rough for the first month, the ritual of grinding beans and setting up the french press was such a part of my mornings that the gap in time was almost as rough as the missing caffeine.

 

Best advice I can give, don't keep coffee in the house for a while.

[Yoda]

Throw away anything you have for making it in your house...

 

that sounds so final... at least find the brewing gear a nice home... sigh... can you have a cheat day? Decaf?

 

Your pal,

Yoda

[Birch Tree]

apepch7:

 

I applaud your will-power. Best of luck to you.

 

Birch Tree

[King Kabalabhati]

I quit coffee for months with no problems but then I found it most fun and challenging to give myself the pleasure of coffee but to cut down on the amounts. 1/2 - 1 cup per day maximum, with cardamom to reduce the adrenalin stress (ayurvedic info). I try to keep a couple of coffee-free days a week. The way I see it it can be ok to keep in strict moderation, this way you may even benefit from it. I hardly ever drink it in the morning, though, feels a bit too aggressive. Since I drink modest amounts I can always afford the best organic quality arabica..

 

I think this could be the Taoist "middle way"

 

If you really want to quit, you could have a spoonful or two of coffee with warm water whenever you get the headache. The pleasure is much harder to beat than the physical symptoms though.

Edited September 29, 2009 by King Kabalabhati

[Encephalon]

The headaches are a very common symptom of caffeine withdrawal, due to its vasodilator effect on the brain. For some reason that I don't recall it acts like a vasoconstrictor on the other body's vessels.

 

Every health-conscious person should be drinking green tea for reasons that seem to grow in number the more it is studied. It has 6 - 15 mgs of caffeine per cup, and since the recommended daily consumption is four to six cups a day, you will only get a mild dose of caffeine, but spread out over the day. Afternoon caffeine crashes become a thing of the past, and you get all the health benefits, including just s smidgen of the perky properties.

 

If you're doing any chi kung, coffee will increase your heat. Green tea clears heat. It is the second most consumed fluid in the world, behind water. Go for it.

 

Congrats on your stoic acceptance of headaches. I refused to endure it.

[Pax]

 

...I think this could be the Taoist "middle way"

That's what I'm aiming for, not drinking five cups a day OR giving it up entirely, but having an occasional cup of good coffee.

 

Before it was feeling like medicine, if I didn't have two cups in the morning I got a headache and felt lethargic...it came to a head when it was 90 degrees out and I was having my two morning cups and sweating like crazy, I thought "well, this is dumb as hell", so I weaned off and like you, enjoy a cup of the good stuff now and then.

[thelerner]

ARE YOU CRAZYY???!?

LIFFE WIFOUT COFFEEE

WOULD IT BE WORTH LIVIGNG??

Taking up smoking helps take the edge off caffeine withdrawal.

 

Kidding kidding.

 

 

 

 

Actually you may want to try Chai style teas. Celestial makes a nice Thai Coconut one. If you make it strong and add some milk its thick spicy and satisfying.

 

 

Michael

[karen]

Hey there apepch7.

 

You can make a dynamized remedy ("homeopathic") out of coffee, and at a very low potency it will help the weaning process. The same can be done for weaning off a drug.

 

Put one drop of coffee or a tiny bit of ground coffee into a dropper bottle or jar. Fill up the bottle half way, ratio of water to substance roughtly 100:1. Succuss it at least 50 times or more (rap it against your palm or an upholstered chair). Now you have a 1C potency. One drop of that is one dose, and you can take many doses throughout the day or as needed.

 

Coffee craving can be a need for phosphorus, sulphur, salt (living salt not dead table salt), or iron, so you might consider foods that contain those.

 

Also you could just sit with the feeling you get when you crave coffee, and explore what that emotion is really about .

 

Take care,

Karen

 

P.S. EFT can also be helpful.

Edited September 29, 2009 by karen

[Apech]

apepch7:

 

I applaud your will-power. Best of luck to you.

 

Birch Tree

 

 

Actually its far easier for me to simply give things up and suffer than to moderate - I don't know why, maybe I'm some kind of masochist. I haven't thrown any of the coffee paraphenalia I just ignore it. In a couple of weeks I might try just one cup a day - or to have it some days only.

 

Thanks for the helpful suggestions. I am on jasmine tea now which I really enjoy. Slow release caffeine from tea sounds great. I think though its more than caffeine. I am sure coffee has a lot more in it that affects you - I feel much calmer - but I still feel a bit as if my nerves are jangling sometimes.

 

I more or less cut out chocolate this year too - but that was to loose weight more than anything.

 

Soon I will live like a monk! Ha!

 

 

 

Hey there apepch7.

 

...

 

Also you could just sit with the feeling you get when you crave coffee, and explore what that emotion is really about .

 

Take care,

Karen

 

P.S. EFT can also be helpful.

 

Yes - what is that craving all about eh?

[Gerard]

Coffee is vastly overrated. Replace that junk with quality mountain tea from Taiwan or teas from beneficial plants like dandelion root, milk thistle or any liver detox teas that are sold in health food stores. A good one contains the following: milk thistle (liver detoxifier); licorice root (kidney detoxifier); fenugreek (lung cleanser); yellow dock root (liver detoxifier, primarily heavy metals); burdock root (blood cleanser); turmeric (ground) (helps liver with its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions).

[King Kabalabhati]

One important thing in coffee is its bitterness. You might lack the bitter taste if you crave for the taste of coffee a lot. There's not much bitter in the ordinary Western diet. So try Corilla (bitter melon plant) tea or some other bitter tea, at first they may taste a bit heavy but once you get enough bitter taste in your body it may start to taste sweeter and you may start to get into it, that's my experience with corilla tea.

 

Chocolate I find even more difficult to handle than coffee. I used to eat a lot of chocolate and it upset my balance badly. According to Ayurveda it disturbs all the elements and causes hyperactivity and congestion. So I dropped my consumption down to 1% of what it used to be. I have been more balanced since. Especially the thing it does to libido is tricky, it can make you crave more sex but if you don't get it (or even if you do) it can badly depress you.

Edited September 30, 2009 by King Kabalabhati

[Aetherous]

http://www.itmonline.org/arts/chlorogenic.htm

[DalTheJigsaw123]

Never was a fan of coffee! But I do drink a lot of tea. I would say 3 or 4 cups daily. Usually, green tea.

[Martial Development]

Tea is a good substitute. The right qigong is even better.

[NeiChuan]

Yeah I switch to Chai tea.. When I was young parents use to always make so I knew of it.

 

You just need like.. 3 cups a day XD

[hagar]

..

Edited October 4, 2009 by hagar

[King Kabalabhati]

Weeell, one reason I don't like to drink coffee through the day is that it makes me more agitable towards children. I try not to drink it to stay alert/awake, rather for the sheer pleasure of it. Oh there's one ecxeption, and that's late night driving. If your not too used to coffee then it really clears the sleepiness on a nocturnal ride through the dark.

 

 

 

I'm all for cutting back on addictions.

 

Yet dropping coffee...

 

That's downright cruel.

 

Having small children will make you appreciate whatever stimulant you can get a hold of to get through the day. I'm even running on the occasional Red Bull these days.

 

We all need at least one vice.

 

h

[Marblehead]

 

Anyone got any good tips for keeping off coffee.

 

Well, Ihave been smoking and drinking coffee for fifty-seven years now and it is my contention that it is these two that have kept me alive for so long.

 

Needles to say I would never recommend anyone give up anything that makes them feel nice.

 

Happy Trails!

[Apech]

Well, Ihave been smoking and drinking coffee for fifty-seven years now and it is my contention that it is these two that have kept me alive for so long.

 

Needles to say I would never recommend anyone give up anything that makes them feel nice.

 

Happy Trails!

 

 

Marblehead,

 

You are not helping I'm trying to be saintly and pure!

 

I smoked when younger and gave up for maybe 15 years before starting again. Then I gave up in 2004 at 11 a.m. 11/11 (Armistice Day) - I have only smoked a couple of cigars since (because some friends went to Cuba for hols).

 

Why are things that feel nice always supposed to be bad for you?

 

A.

[Marblehead]

Marblehead,

 

You are not helping I'm trying to be saintly and pure!

 

I smoked when younger and gave up for maybe 15 years before starting again. Then I gave up in 2004 at 11 a.m. 11/11 (Armistice Day) - I have only smoked a couple of cigars since (because some friends went to Cuba for hols).

 

Why are things that feel nice always supposed to be bad for you?

 

A.

 

Hehehe. I guess I wasn't trying very hard to help, Huh?

 

Your question is one of the most important question I think every person should ask. And then we should ask who it is that is telling us that pleasure is bad.

 

I do agree about the smoking. There is enough evidence to show that it is not good for us regardless of the momentary pleasure we gain while doing it.

 

But something like dancing? Who would ever come up with the idea that dancing is bad? Shame on that person!

 

It is my opinion that life is to be enjoyed. How could something that feels nice (and does no unnecessary harm to others) be bad? It just doesn't fit logically in my brain. I guess that's why I am a Taoist.

 

Happy Trails!

[Pax]

 

 

Why are things that feel nice always supposed to be bad for you?

 

I think if we look at the way it makes us feel the very first time we try it we'd see it really doesn't feel all that great...first cigarette = choking burning sensation...first drink = shudder and slight gagging...first cup of coffee = shudder and wicked bitter taste in our mouths...etc. We seem to push past the nastiness in order to be cool, get a buzz, and get pumped up to stay awake.

[Marblehead]

I think if we look at the way it makes us feel the very first time we try it we'd see it really doesn't feel all that great...first cigarette = choking burning sensation...first drink = shudder and slight gagging...first cup of coffee = shudder and wicked bitter taste in our mouths...etc. We seem to push past the nastiness in order to be cool, get a buzz, and get pumped up to stay awake.

 

Valuable consideration, I think.

 

Happy Trails!

[Apech]

 

 

But something like dancing? Who would ever come up with the idea that dancing is bad? Shame on that person!

 

 

 

 

Obviously you have not seen me dance! Its a bad, bad thing ... and should be banned.