How to give up coffee
If you're going to give up coffee, take it slowly and create space in your diary.
If I’m a little bit grumpy at the moment, you’ll have to forgive me, I’m giving up coffee. Why? Well, I’ve been Editor at Psychologies for a year now and if I’m honest, at times I’ve been relying a little bit too much on adrenaline and coffee. This year, I want to up my energy levels naturally. I suspect that relying on caffeine to get me through the day isn’t that healthy.
At my peak, I could easily down 10 cups a day. I’m now down to one cup a day in the morning. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
- Do it slowly. I’m of the-tear-the-plaster-off-all-at -once -school but going cold turkey with coffee resulted in me vomiting and shivering like a drug addict – with a headache that felt like someone had halved my head with an axe.
- Allow yourself space in your schedule to move more slowly than you usually do. I took a week off and found myself sleeping 12 hours a night and taking a 2 hour nap in the afternoon!
- Find some herbal teas you actually like – my favourites so far are Licorice Yogi tea (apparently good for supporting my stressed out adrenal glands) and Pukka Relax tea – organic chamomile, fennel & marshmallow root tea: to calm & soothe – lovely.
I’m through the worst but am still feeling a little bit fuzzy headed in the afternoon. I’m working with a Dr Claire Maguire a wellbeing coach from Split Farthing Hall (I went to an amazing retreat there last month) and she is helping me with creating a plan of raising my energy naturally over the coming months. I will be writing about the journey in the September issue of Psychologies.
Have you given up coffee? What are your best tips?
4 Comments
I really like coffee substitutes, like Bambu, which you can buy in health food shops (and some supermarkets?). I find that a big part of the coffee 'habit' is the ritual - the actual going to the kettle, flicking it on and making a drink. And in many ways, I find it doesn't really matter what that drink actually is, as long as the 'kettle moment' is fulfilled. It also helps that it's kind of coffee-like - a herb tea doesn't always seem to do it for me.
What would be so bad about continuing to have just one or two cups of coffee a day? Genuine curiosity here.
I'm with Martha on this - it's almost more about the kettle moment than the buzz itself, but like Suzy, I'd allowed those kettle moments to ramp up over the years to the point that I could easily hit double figures by the afternoon. Tea worked for me - a good mix of fennel, redbush and peppermint. The headache was killer...
No, it wouldn't kill me to have one or two. But I'm a bit of all or nothing. As soon as I go back to having one, I want 10!
I'm 4 weeks in now. Will report back after a few more weeks.