Giving up coffee: the good, the bad and the constipated

[dulwichdreadlocks]

I'm toying with the idea of giving up coffee (again) and I'm keen to hear about other people's experiences with caffeine withdrawal and so on. I currently drink one or two very large black Americanos per day. When I've given up coffee before (by going cold turkey) I've ended up feeling tired, depressed and unable to poo.

My reasons for wanting to give up coffee are that it makes me anxious and unable to sleep.

Have you successfully quit coffee? Did you feel better - or worse - once you'd quit?

:))

[Moos]

I have (temporarily) and I felt awful.

However, that may have been related to being pregnant at the same time.

[reetpetite]

I'm a caffeine addict and gave it up for a month when I done Carol Vordermans deetox diet. Missed it for few days ,bad headache then ok for rest of month .Unfortunately I finished the diet(was only meant for a month) and went straight back on it again ! I'm not a good sleeper so I dont drink coffee in the evening cept the odd decaff , yuk, But cant bear not too have my daily dose, I am a coffee snob and only like the best, NO instant.Oh and you cant beat a cup of coffee to get things moving!!

[PeckhamRose]

I agree with reetpetite. I only drink good real coffee and am a coffee snob. Have our own machine at home.

I do drink two or 3 mugs a day.

You could try substituting one or 2 for decaff (tho I absolutely do not see the point!).

However, as far as regular poo situation is concerned, try not eating carbs after about 2pm. Seriously, worked for me.

I'd be anxious if I did not have coffee but then again maybe I do not get the kick others do. It never keeps me awake at night.

I could give it up any time I wanted, yeah yeah yeah I could.

Just don't want to!

[reetpetite]

Yeah I could prob give it up too ...tremble tremble but I dont want too either .

[sanity girl]

A suggestion if you don't want to give up coffee entirely (I'm a fellow addict and can't do without it, get terrible headaches if I don't have at least my morning fix) - try having an espresso or cappuccino instead of a americano, as the longer coffee beans/grounds stay in contact with water, the higher the caffeine content is. So if you have a good espresso, the caffeine content will be less than that of an americano or filter coffee. Also, try using pure arabica beans (e.g. Illy), as they have a lower caffeine content. Hope that helps!

[Jah Lush]

I couldn't live without my caffiene fix in the morning. I need half a gallon just to get up and be a normal human being whatever that is.

[Mick Mac]

Sanity girl - I thought an Americano was an expresson diluted with water? But I take the point on filter coffee, it often sits around for a while.

I drink far too much coffee, but it does not keep me awake at all, probably because I do not go to bed until I'm really tired (or when there is noone left posting on the forum)

[dulwichdreadlocks]

Like some of you, I'm also a coffee snob. Strangely when I was snowed in recently and out of coffee and the only thing available to me was cheap instant coffee - I was able to easily say no and do without. So perhaps I'm not exactly addicted to coffee, just addicted to high quality coffee;-)

[PeckhamRose]

Ohhh then there's no problem is there!

Cut carbs in the afternoon to fix the poo situation and continue as before.

:)

[bignumber5]

why give up completely? why not just cut back? I went through the crap-sleep-is-it-the-coffee dilemma, and I'm down to 2 cups in the morning, one either with lunch or when i get home, and nothing after 7pm. why not have a bash at cutting back and see if that helps?

[????]

Coffee's my uppers, booze me downers, I find them mutually entwined in addiction

[woofmarkthedog]

Drink pure high arabica bean coffee & only up until lunchish, eat well & rest before bed. (no computas's ect....)

Sure beats the cold chicken thing

W**F

Are you and yours expecting ?

[indiepanda]

I used to drink about 5 cups of instant a day but I didn't sleep particularly well. Wasn't so much that I couldn't get to sleep, but I used to wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to get back to sleep very regularly.

I cut back to one cup a day first thing in the morning and started to sleep a lot better and soon decided to see what it was like cutting out altogether. First day I tried it I got a hell of a headache which vanished within minutes of having a can of coke.

So I spent ages just having one cut first thing in the morning (months.. perhaps even years thinking about it). Anyway, eventually I knocked the one in the morning on the head too - as much because I hated the idea of being addicted to something as anything else. I am not sure I noticed any major health benefits from cutting out the last cup.

Anyway, these days I have the occassional cup when I am feeling especially tired or if I fancy the taste of coffee and can't get hold of a decaf, but I do go for weeks without any caffeine at all. Wouldn't go back to drinking as much as I used to, I like my sleep too much.

[Mikecg]

If you can, Tea is a great substitution for coffee it has a bit of the good stuff in it and I think it's more healthy and is more refreshing IMHO.

[Strawbs]

I game up for 2 years once and it didnt bother me in the slightest.. Ive started drinking it again a couple of months ago and am already thinking of giving it up.. I say go for it.

[candj]

DD, try going down to one large Americano in the morning instead of two and upping the fiber in your diet and drinking more water for pooing issues. The feeling tired, depressed is just withdrawal and you should get over it in a week or so. Hopefully. I think one coffee in the morning is perfectly fine, health-wise.

Like the other self-confessed coffee snobs, I have a nespresso machine at home and have one VERY good cappuccino in the morning and it works. Occasionally if I feel very tired, I'll have two, but that's all.