I promised you guys a follow-up on this post from a few weeks ago. Here’s a spoiler: one of these is going well and the other isn’t. Can you guess which is which?
Coffee
The coffee change is actually not going as planned, and I’m back on one mug of regular a day for the time being. Let’s rewind. The reason I wanted to make this change in the first place was because I was waking up feeling really foggy, dehydrated, and not-so-great in general, so I gradually reduced the size of my cups and then switched to decaf for a few days. No headaches, no problems.
But then I decided to have a mug of regular on a Sunday morning before soccer. I was totally jittery and buzzed and felt like a cartoon running around the house! Cutting back for a week or two definitely reset my tolerance for regular coffee to zero again.
So here’s where the problem began: I thought I could go right back to decaf the next day since I thought I was no longer dependent, but I got a raging headache! And had head and shoulder aches on and off for the next two days. I chugged some cold coffee at 3pm in the afternoon that to try to make the headache go away (which it did – about an hour later), and then I was up all night tossing and turning!! Ahhhhh caffeine, I hate you but love you in delicious coffee beans.
I don’t know what I’m going to to next. I think that my foggy, bad feeling is gone, so since that was my main motivation for cutting back, then I guess that’s what’s most important. I just have to remember to stick to less than one mug a day and not teeter into the 2-cup range like I had been before.
Vino
The wine side of things has been going really well! It took me about 3-4 days of thinking about wine at dinnertime, feeling the desire for a glass, and knowing it was a habitual craving to make it fade away. Just like with coffee, my goal isn’t to completely cut wine from my life, but just to cut back on the frequency I consume it at home. My word of the year is intentional, and I want to be more intentional with my wine consumption. I’ve been successful so far, so cheers to that!
You know what we all need to chug today? Good ole H20!!
Christina @ montessoriishmom.com says
I am definitely squarely in the two cup range with coffee right now lol. Caffeine has never made me feel jittery or anything though. I know I would get a major headache if I went without it though, so that’s probably not good…something to think about!
alan says
I attempted to quit coffee a few years ago at the time I was afflicted with flu or something like that. I wasn’t eating or drinking–no appetite, malaise–so I thought what the heck. Let’s retrigger.
After 2 weeks, with continued headache, feeling poor energy, and so on–I asked my physician who said, ‘caffeine is not horrible, coffee is not horrible, don’t sweat it if you have 1 or 2 cups (or more) per day. Your body is telling you that, and it is not an addiction the way we think of bad drug addictions’. He said, if I was going to make myself sick, then it wasn’t worth it and that it was OK.
For what that’s worth. So now, I have my coffee pretty much daily, mostly caffeinated and it turns out the headaches weren’t from illness but from withdrawal. That can last weeks. Good luck, but as my doc said, ‘don’t sweat it….worse things in life’.
KathEats says
That’s what I’m thinking! I will still keep it to a minimum though : )
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
I can’t take caffeine – I used to be able to, but these few years I’ve become very sensitive to it. That being said, I was never a coffee drinker anyway – I’m more of a tea person. I still can’t drink any tea with caffeine in it after 3 pm, though, haha!
And wine… I never really liked the taste of alcohol, so I’m all good in that department too!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Jenny says
Oh man, I’m a coffee lover. I enjoy a good cup or four of strong espresso every morning. I don’t really feel any ill effects when I wake up in the am though.
Renee says
Curious how you make your coffee. Unless you’re using K-cups, could you make a half caff coffee instead? Actually, they probably make 1/2 caff K-cups, too!
Also, something else to try – Crio Bru! Instead of ground coffee beans, Crio Bru is ground cacao beans. It’s practically caffeine free – less than decaf coffee at least. I combine it with ground coffee beans – sometimes caffeinated, sometimes decaf. The taste is amazing and it’s more nutrient-dense than coffee with all its antioxidants. May help with that foggy feeling more so than decaf coffee.
KathEats says
I’m using a drip coffeemaker or a french press and sometimes espresso and bought some decaf so I can mix!
Jen says
I can’t quit coffee either. I love my cup of coffee in the morning, before anyone else wakes up. It’s just one of the things that makes me happy! Coffee4Lyfe.
Kelli @ Hungry Hobby says
I get the same thing going on with coffee, but I’ve noticed something weird. So I wake up EARLY around 5 am and I have my first cup of coffee. I used to drink it black but I realized that I need a little nutrition in it so it didn’t make me jittery and so I didn’t drink it so fast so I started adding collagen plus half and half. The next thing I noticed is I can have more than 1 cup a day, but the second cup needs to come AFTER 10am at the EARLIEST, usually 11am. If I have a second cup before then I get super caffiene buzzed and then crash REALLY hard, so sleep and tired. Once I moved that second cup back the crash went away. This works out because I love my afternoon iced coffee!
I gave up on wine. Too much sugar, whenever I drink wine I end up raiding the cabinets and drinking too much. I switched to Vodka sodas and the problem is gone. So, wine and me had a little break up.
Sarah @ Bucket List Tummy says
I’ve tried to cut down on coffee, especially before big races, to get that extra jolt the morning of that you described. I could never get rid of the little guy ever though. Those headaches are real!
Miriam says
I always reacted strongly to caffeine, but I LOVE coffee. I use to drink one cup a day (always espresso because regular coffee doesn’t do it for me). However when I was pregnant with my son I was put on bed rest so I stopped drinking regular coffee (this was 3 years ago). I was drinking decaf coffee –one cup a day and espresso- for almost a year (before I started working again). When I started working again I tried to go back to my one cup of regular coffee a day but it made me feel SO SO bad, I couldn’t take it. So I’ve been drinking decaf ever since, it taste exactly the same, I buy decaf espresso decaffeinated with swiss water and I drink one cup every morning!
About wine, I am certainly drinking too much of it. I should try the mocktail thing.
polly says
This is awesome Kath!
With the coffee caffeine thing.. man I feel ya.
I have been “off caffeine” but recently had ice tea from starbucks and WOW it makes me so happy and awake! haha. but i cannot handle too much or i go from foggy to dizzy or jittery, ya know what I mean?
So i found a middle ground with white tea. just a little caffeine for a pick me up, but not so much that I am a spaz. but enough that I am not a fogged flop. haha
oh my i hope that made sense.
XOXO
Kaley says
I think this is smart! Tea is caffeinated but just slightly. My husband only ever drinks tea, and he loves it. He’s Spanish, and in Spain (I don’t know about other Spanish-speaking places), they have two words for what we call “caffeine,” which are cafeina and teína. So funny! They also call all caffeinated teas té and herbal teas infusiones, because they are not actually tea. It’s interesting to see how different cultures approach it.
KathEats says
That’s cool to know!
Lindsey says
I’m in the exact same place with coffee consumption! I usuallky drink 2, 3 cups max, and I feel like that’s dangerous territory. But my office has a Nespresso!!! #notmyfault
Judith Scott says
Aaah, yes the beverage conundrum
I went on a binge a few years ago, after a particularly bad bout of the flu.
I cut out coffee, Diet Coke, alcohol, and also red meat, white sugars, etc.
Wrote down everything I ate or drank for about 3 months
Lost 10 pounds and felt great
Gradually added some things back into my life, wine or beer only, no hard alcohol,
small amounts of red meat, and so on.
But NO coffee, I’m now a serious tea drinker, which I find healthier and such variety available now.
If I do have a coffee, say meeting a friends at Starbuck’s, even though I get a foo-foo kind,I still feel like I’m on crack…not that I’ve ever experienced that, but how I assume it feels :-). Very wired and hyper.It’s interesting that caffeine really does have a kick to it.
As usual, Kath,you are sensible and thoughtful about your decisions.
Jamie says
I wonder If the foggy morning feeling was due to the evening wine (as opposed to the coffee) and since cutting it out successfully, you are feeling better in the morning?
KathEats says
That’s what I originally thought – “Oh man I am getting more sensitive to one glass of wine.” But the weird thing is, it was WORSE on the mornings after I didn’t have anything to drink!! I have absolutely no explanation. Maybe I woke up earlier (or later) on those days?
Sam @ G & G Nutrition Co. says
I also try to be more intentional with my wine these days! It was such an easy habit to have a glass every evening. Now I just stick to special evenings and I enjoy it even more 🙂
Linda @ The Fitty says
I LOVE aromatic coffees–would you ever try decaf again? Perhaps that one time was a fluke?
Diane says
The coffee struggle is real! I Feel good physically at 1 cup… habit makes me have two, sigh. Yes, there are worse things than coffee, I agree with your doctor! Have to live a little! I try to eat by the 80/20 rule most days ?
elle says
After your last post about wine i went and bought a bunch of kombucha and started having it in a wine glass in the evenings. It tastes just weird enough that I drink it about the same speed as wine but it has 35 calories in serving instead of 100+.
KathEats says
Get it!! I’ve been loving the cranberry juice too. It’s not as good as kombucha, but it has that wine feel!
Katie @ A Full Plate says
I love everything about your previous post and this follow up! I used to have a latte every day and I found my body getting immune to the caffeine so my one shot latte was becoming two shots. I also just started to not feel good when I had it…I wasn’t liking the buzz it gave me and that icky feeling once it wore off. One day I decided not to have it and that one day turned into a week and that turned into a month and so on. It’s been a few months now without espresso or coffee and I feel so much better without it. And I wake up in the morning so much easier! It’s amazing the difference it makes.
Have you tried any coffee alternatives?? I am really into matcha lattes right now. I’ve always loved tea and I love the health benefits of matcha. I’ve also seen mushroom coffees around, as well as dandy blend but haven’t tried either yet. Was curious if you were into any of those!
Katie @ A Full Plate says
Oh and I meant to say I’ve been doing the same thing with wine lately as well. Your thoughts on how habitual drinking alcohol can become really struck home for me. You get in such a habit of having a glass (or 2) after a long day or with dinner. I’ve started to ask myself each night ”Do you really want that glass of wine or is it just habit?” I’m also realizing that I’m naturally drinking less. I take my time with a glass and usually the one is enough for me.
KathEats says
i have tried pero and a few of the other subs, but swiss water decaf is really good and I like the taste, so if I end up back off caffeine that’s where I’d head I think. Or black tea!
Nicole Haber says
i gave up coffee for a few weeks and it was VERY tough at first. eventually I added it back in b/c i just do really like it. i wrote about it here:
https://cuckoolemon.com/2017/02/05/time-gave-meat-dairy-soy-nuts-gluten-sugar-caffeine/