Thanks for starting this thread, Nancy. I'm about halfway through a two-week tryout of a paleo diet. I made an exception for the morning coffee and a small amount of cream. I hate the thought of giving that up.

Anyway I've lost 3 pounds in six days (after a 7+ month stall on Atkins), so I'm thinking paleo will be my new diet. If so, I'll have to dump the coffee and cream. It helps to know that someone else made the transition and that it wasn't that bad.

It may be a while before I work up the nerve, though.

See, this is the mind-game part. You think you have to work up nerve but in reality you have to work off your irrational fear of quitting. Because believe me, the fear you have now is worse than anything you'll experience when you quit. If your brain works like mine.

Just be sure to wean yourself off the caffeine gently so you don't have withdrawal symptoms.

I'm trying to go slow.

Actually my thought process right now is "You mean I gave up most of my favorite foods for Atkins, and now you're asking me to give up even more - including my coffee? grrrrr!!!!"

Well, I'm not saying you don't need to have a reason for it, I think you do. Also, I've been low carb for 5+ years and paleo-ish for 3+ (I think) so I'm not mourning over foods I gave up many years ago, that's long behind me.

But when you decide you have a reason to try to give it up, just be aware of the little games going on in your head that will keep you from doing it.

My reason was, "I've given up everything else and my gut is still bothering me. Maybe it's the coffee." And what do you know, it was!

Costello, try thinking of it this way: "I'll just try it for a month." It's easier to accept if you know you have permission to go back after a trial. Once you're un-addicted, you might have a different perspective.

Yeah, that was another thing I used on myself. Just give it up for a few weeks and see how you do. I can't go back because it was obviously doing really bad things to me.

sage advice!!

It's interesting to hear y'alls psychology because I have the opposite problem. I have no problem with the idea of giving up anything, but find it harder to do in practice.

oh, i found it very simple to walk away from coffee but my head and my caffeine withdraw did not. i had to be careful because i did it once before and couldn't stand up for a couple of days..

just so you don't get sick, you withdraw slowly.
just like coming off anti depressants.. you do it slowly.

That's a good idea. A month is too long for me, though. It'd have to be a two week trial.

This morning with the beautiful spring weather it occurred to me that summer would be a good time for a trial. Hot weather and all - good time to give up hot drinks.

I've been drinking coffee since I was 12. Now I'm 47. Over the years I've given up coffee for extended periods of time, but I always come back. Kicking the caffeine is easy. It's the habit of preparing the coffee first thing every morning, the smell of it brewing, etc. Probably more of a psychological addiction. Maybe I should just brew a pot and throw it away?

2 weeks should be plenty for dairy. I promised myself I'd give up cheese for 2 weeks and never have touched the stuff again. It took me longer to get to giving up all dairy but again, I never touch anything but butter any more, and thats only small amounts.

I think I'm really glad I never got in the coffee habit.

My withdrawal symptoms weren't close to being over at 2 weeks, even after a full month, I occasionally would get those, "Must.Fall.Asleep.NOW" orders.

It takes two months for the body to fully eliminate all caffeine from the body, and I've read online that some docs tell their patients that it takes half a year for the body to fully readjust to being caffeine free.

I had maybe 2 days of being a little sleepier than normal, but I'd been cutting back on caffeine for a long time. Actually, can't say as I'm off caffeine. When I get super-tired I either take a nap or have some diet coke. But I gotta think that's a lot less caffeine than downing 2 pots of 1/2 and 1/2 coffee everyday.

In the morning now I'm actually not as sleepy as I used to be when I was drinking coffee. Just a bit muddleheaded for a few minutes and it goes away quickly with that first cup of tea.

I also don't recall having any withdrawal symptoms when I quit eating gluten or dairy, but I know some people seem to have really bad issues.

Now when I quit nicotine that was an entirely different story! That was HARD!


I have one with a thermal carafe. I put the brewing part in a cupboard and maybe I'll use it for company or brewing tea sometimes. But right now I'm just using the thermal pot for brewing my tea and it is nice to have some counterspace back! It was good to get the coffee grinder put away too. I don't have all those little coffee crumbs falling all over my counter now.

Can you elaborate on that? When I gave up the last bit of dairy I had some excruciating headaches. Could that have been withdrawl?

Nope, I quit ALL caffeine last year, and earlier this year I went LC, so although I had some fruit juice and some milk after quitting caffeine, ever since I went LC, I only drink water.

My withdrawals from ALL caffeine was simply so extreme that I have no interest in coffee or tea, and won't even use the alleged "de-caf" version.

And mind you, I had cut WAY back, down to less than four cups of coffee a day, and often only two.

There's also caffeine in lots of the OTC pain relievers.