Caffeine
I'm sure most of us that follow this community are mindful of what we eat, try to eat properly, diet, exercise, etc, etc. Some try to avoid sweets(sugar), carbs, junk food, whatever it is that our "diet" or health needs us to avoid. Me....I am flirting with high cholesterol....on the borderline according to my last blood work....I am taking steps and reading labels, changing things...doing the right thing....label reading is a new thing for me....one thing I realized this morning while trying track some of things I put in my body is the amount of caffeine I actually consume on the daily....we all joke about needing our coffee to survive....but when reading labels, I was dumbfounded by all the caffeine I put into my system....here is a regular day for me....I won't share the MG's of caffeine in each product, but I will share the drinks....they all contain caffeine....
I start the morning by downing an 8 oz v8 energy drink....get a shot of caffeine with my fruits and veggies right off the rip.....then I sip on a 16 oz cup of Maxwell house coffee while at work...If I drink it hot the 16 oz will do....If I make an Iced coffee, its 32 oz.... at some point in the morning I have my pre-workout amino energy/hydration mix that I sip on through out the morning (2 scoops mixed with 32 oz of ice and water) so that it is in my system when I get home from work for my workout....then, if doing a long bike ride or hard lifting session, I take a carbohydrate, electrolyte, energy gel or jelly beans, depending on what I'd rather have that day, halfway through the workout....and finally I usually have some sort of flavored Lipton green tea from the bottle with my dinner....
Thats a ton load of caffeine in a day.....no wonder I sleep like crap....I'd like to back it down, but I do suffer from migraines and am afraid the lack of caffeine will make them more frequent...I've been doing this routine for a number of years, so my body is probably used to it.....so now I'm at an impasse....not sure what to do....
I share all this because if any of you have any ideas, or weaned yourself off of caffeine, I'd like to hear your story.....or maybe just a topic for discussion.....feel free to join and comment.....
I hear that matcha or other tea helps people to wane of more intense caffeine
I was diagnosed with multiple fibroadenomas when I was 19, and had to have a lumpectomy. I also have interstitial cystitis due to years of stress because of my mental illness. I was told by both my women’s health center doctor and my urologist I had to cut out caffeine entirely, and I work third shift, so that sounded impossible. But it was the only way to deal with the constant chronic pain.
I started by weaning from energy drinks to soda, then started trying to move towards caffeine free sodas like sprite. It’s not easy, the hardest part is probably the headaches. But over time your body stops craving it, just like any chemical addiction. I wish you luck!! It’s possible, and definitely worth doing.
I would contact your doctor.
I switched to honey ginger lemon herbal tea that's work for me
Monday 28 October 2024
Update....I'm holding on status quo with this....I've completely cut out my pre workout for 2 whole weeks now....I'm doing more decaf tea to replace it....My only caffeine right now is one cup of coffee in the morning, my V8 energy drink that I have with breakfast and, if the label is right, about 11mg of caffeine in the half bottle Lipton diet mixed berry green tea that I have with my dinner in the evening.....I would think that the 11 mg with my dinner wouldn't effect my sleeping habits as I've been drinking this with dinner for quite some time now, but maybe it is...my sleep has been a mess for some time now also.....maybe its time to replace that with decaf also....problem being I hate to waste money...I still have a bunch of them left and hate to throw them away.....
Monday Nov 4, 2024
I've been about two weeks now, maybe more, without my morning "extra" caffeine fix (pre workout drink). I think I can honestly say I've crossed that bridge and overcome that hurdle.....all that is left is to throw away what I have of it in the cabinet. I didn't toss it sooner because, well, just in case....but I think I can get rid of it now.....I'm officially down to one 16oz cup of coffee and a V8 energy drink each morning....at some point, I will start to swap out the coffee for green tea or maybe decaf because I like the taste of coffee, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet....my goal priorities have changed some and I have some other things that I want to change in life that are higher on the list than cutting caffeine right now....
