Coffee!

topic posted Fri, January 18, 2008 - 12:29 PM by  Rachel
Any advice on effective ways to cut out or dramatically reduce coffee consumption? Caffeine is a drug that seems to zap all my energy and yet I do enjoy it...a love/hate relationship, if you will.
posted by:
Rachel
Vermont
  • Re: Coffee!

    Sat, January 19, 2008 - 11:40 AM
    I have a superfood smoothie everyday and have completely discontinued use of coffee and caffeinated teas. Yay!
    I find it to be very mentally energizing and it has also way cut down on my intake of other foods because it is so nutritionally dense.
    You can make your own blend pretty easily or buy something like this: superfoodmagic.com

    ~shiva
  • Re: Coffee!

    Sat, January 19, 2008 - 12:45 PM
    This may read like heresy but switch to Genmai Cha, green tea with toasted brown rice - that really great tea you get in a japanese restaurant. Or regular green tea, but make sure it's not a really cheap one from the typical grocery store - ask around.

    This will give your body the caffeine high it craves but it behaves differently in the system than coffee. For myself, I've noticed that green tea caffeine tends to involve the "other brain", my gut. As opposed to coffee caffeine which always goes straight to my head and makes me hyper crazy.

    And I've never noticed an energy zap from Tea and the transition wasn't painful. You know, getting past the typical "I didn't have my coffee yet" headache. When I switched the tea gave me a soft landing. Yeah, my body noticed the difference but it was manageable. Then I eventually cut out the Tea and found myself with far more energy than I had with either forms of caffeine.

    Best.
    • Re: Coffee!

      Sun, January 20, 2008 - 8:43 AM
      can you recommend a quality brand tea that you can get packaged at a health food store? For example, Yogi Tea?
      • Re: Coffee!

        Sun, January 20, 2008 - 2:13 PM
        I agree with skooter about genmaicha, and it seems to me I've seen that packaged in health food stores. You can also get it in bulk at World Market.

        Of course, if you want a truly medicinal tea of a different order, check out pu-ehr teas: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea
        • Re: Coffee!

          Sun, January 20, 2008 - 4:23 PM
          I like mate for that upper buzz.
          Dandy lion root tea has kind of a coffee taste and is a mild stimulant. But don't just harvest local roots and roast them. I did and it wasn't as tasty. I hear the kind they sell is a different variety from France or something.
  • Re: Coffee!

    Mon, January 21, 2008 - 7:47 AM
    I'm going to second shiva's reply..
    a cacao-based, superfood smoothie is your best alternative.

    wolfe points out a recipe for those who still want to consume coffee: cacao + coffee + reishi/cordicept mushrooms + maybe something else (vanilla, etc..)
  • Re: Coffee!

    Tue, January 22, 2008 - 5:34 PM
    I was very hooked on coffee over a decade ago and the way I managed to quit was to mix decaf half and half with regular coffee. After a week or two of this I added more decaf and kept this up until it was all decaf. Then I began cutting back on the amount.

    Now I drink only a cup or less of black (or green) tea daily. For some reason I never get hooked on the tea the same way as I did the coffee (and I was up several pots a day) and I don't feel a compulsion to drink more. I also can choose to not drink tea at all for days or weeks without missing it much. When I drank coffee, I HAD to have it every day!
  • Re: Coffee!

    Tue, January 22, 2008 - 8:50 PM
    try celestial seasonings roastaroma- it smells all rich and tastes delicious, like coffee. its not caffeinated. but it tastes all full-flavor and seems like a caffeinated beverage. you may need something else for the caf, but its a totally delicious alternative.
  • Re: Coffee!

    Fri, February 8, 2008 - 7:42 PM
    I drink half caff an decaff in the morning and then throughout the day, green tea. The green tea gives the boost I need without too much caffiene...and all the awesome benefits it's known for.
  • Re: Coffee!

    Thu, March 20, 2008 - 2:55 PM
    hey! i found this: www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/for....php

    "ginger's best coffee ever" its not coffee at all, its incredible and delicious, and fun to make!
    • Re: Coffee!

      Sun, March 23, 2008 - 8:25 AM
      Ginger's best coffee looks delicious, but I have no idea what these ingredients are: Fo-Ti (Ho Shou Wu)
      Maca
      Lucuma
      Yacon
      • Re: Coffee!

        Mon, March 31, 2008 - 11:32 AM
        lacuma is the only one i never found. i had to research some of the ingredients, but i found all of them at my health food store. fo-ti can be found as an herbal supplement, as can maca (you can usually also find is as a loose powder) and the yacon i found was like a syrup. similar to molasses.
  • Re: Coffee!

    Mon, March 31, 2008 - 5:00 AM
    Try decaf coffee - it's great
    • Re: Coffee!

      Wed, April 2, 2008 - 4:38 AM
      re decaf: know that there are some preeeety nasty chemicals used in the caffeine removal..
      • Re: Coffee!

        Wed, April 2, 2008 - 4:07 PM
        There is (or at least used to be) decaf coffee that was 'water decaffineated', no nasty chemicals.
      • Re: Coffee!

        Thu, April 3, 2008 - 3:18 AM
        That was a long time ago... today they use two natural elements, pure water and carbon dioxide to extract caffeine from the coffee grains
  • Re: Coffee!

    Thu, April 10, 2008 - 12:13 PM
    drinking kombucha ,apple cider vinager and regular fasting (24 hrs is all you really need/weekly) will allow you to drink coffee out of enjoyment and not addiction also spirulina, nutrional yeast,bee pollen and really dank multi v's are good. organic coffee also is much more pure and better for everything. take care

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