Trying to kick (well reduce..) the coffee intake...

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 2:32 pm

I've heard heroine is a good substitution drug, then aftera few months with that you can switch to methodone.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:30 pm

@DW, is it important to you to be free from addiction, or is it the lack of nutrition intake in the morning only that bothers you?

If feeling free from addiction has a value of its own to you, you should not substitute coffee with tea or other caffeine rich drinks, instead you should titrate down your caffeine intake successively over at least 2 weeks, in order to avoid unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Like VonDondu suggests, you can use caffeine tablets to decrease abstinence but still uncondition yourself to coffee, and then after some time, you can start drinking coffee again in moderate amounts.

If you instead plan to continue to drink coffee but are bothered only by the loss of appetite in the mornings, I suggest a totally different strategy. Some alternatives:

1. The most simple strategy: prepare something to eat before you go to bed, (or ask your partner to make it for you before you wake up). It must be something easily digestable, that is not disgusting to eat even if you are not hungry at all. I would recommend room-tempered fruit drinks, they are easy to make if you have a mixer. If you put in some fruit and drink this before your coffee, you have given your brain enough glucose for a few hours at least.

2. Eat a heavy meal just before you go to bed. One of my friends does this, since he is never hungry in the morning due to too low general arousal level. Regardelss of how long he has slept or when he last ate, he is rather nauseus in the morning and prefers to eat later. His solution is to eat a really heavy meal just before he goes to bed at night.

3. Do some exercise in the morning. Have your coffee, then take a brisk walk or get on a stationary bike or treadmill for at least 30 minutes. The metabolism is usually low when we awake, and we get more hungry if we help the body to start metabolising faster.

There are other methods as well, if none of these should suit you.

Yeltsu · Post by **Yeltsu** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 6:54 am

I drink coffee from time to time, and I must say that I love it, but it doesn't seem to hamper my appitite.

fact of interest: the guy who is mayor of the city I live in (Bergen, Norway) is actually the founder and chief of the largest coffe producing company here in Norway

His name is Hermann Friele, and the coffe brand is called Friele coffe.

So we Norwegians are a nation of coffe drinkers.

jopperm2 · Post by **jopperm2** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 3:05 pm

I think the best option out of CE's list is excercise. Do 30 minutes of Cardiovascular excercise at medium intensity. target heart rate of about 190 minus your age. Then wait at least 30 minutes and eat a high protein breakfast. Very good for you.

VonDondu · Post by **VonDondu** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 6:18 pm

[QUOTE=Xandax]I belive I'm "O rh -" whatever that means for my life.

[/QUOTE]
It means that your blood has no antigens and it can be donated to anyone regardless of the recipient's blood type. It's a recessive combination of factors, since most people are likely to inherit at least one antigen from their parents. If you ever donate blood, the blood center will put you at the top of their list and call you every month or two asking you to come in. It wouldn't hurt to rack up a few blood pint credits in case you ever need blood yourself, since you can only receive blood from other people with "O rh -" blood.

Ideal Maxima · Post by **Ideal Maxima** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 6:38 pm

Well, I'm twelve, and even I enjoyed dinking coffee

I've stopped now, but I drink only occainsionally, I heard it stunts your growth, which will really take a bad toll on me. Hmm, as for helping you stop... Just slap yourself every time you think you need coffee. Late night? When you feeling drowsy, SLAP YOURSELF!

May sound crazy, but it works!

Locke Da'averan · Post by **Locke Da'averan** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 7:04 pm

actually there's a point when the slapping won't do the trick..
i have a problem of getting out of bed on a week day.. i'd do almost anything so i could just continue my rest.. i believe i'm sitting on the bed trying to get the big ball rolling when i suddenly wake up. falling asleep without knowing it.. slapping won't eventually do the trick but caffeine is almost a foolproof way of staying awake, but of course only to some point..

self-discipline is all you need, whether or not one wants to abide it is up to him/herself but i hope you'll get yours sorted out dw..

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 3:08 pm

If your trying to find an alternative method to wake up, I'd suggest doing a shot when waking up. Not getting wasted to wake up, but grab a bottle and do a shot when you first wake up. If that doesn't wake you up, then no amount of coffee or coke or tea will.

Getting rid of an addiction to caffiene however, is just downright hard. I need the stuff, it is about the only thing that helps with my headaches and migraines. I know I'm addicted, but, it's either down coke like crazy which I enjoy, or go through bottles of pain killers daily.

Maybe you should see to it someone else makes the coffee for you, so you end up not enjoying it, leaving it so you drink far less of it. If someone consistantly makes you a bad cup of coffee, soon you'll just ignore the stuff and go in search of something else to drink.

My old roommates used to be addicted to the stuff, but alas, they couldn't afford groceries and as I hate coffee and was paying for food, they quickly got over it. No one was happy for weeks, but they got over it.