What's the best way to wean yourself off of caffeine?!
Answers: I have a huge Diet Coke habit I'm trying to break. Please help!
i couple of years ago i use to drink ten or more pepsi's a day... everyday i would try to quit but i couldn't... So slowly i knocked out out one soda day... until i was don't to one. then i would have a cup every other day.... then i would drink it once a week.... Tell yourself... soda is a special treat... and you can only drink soda on special occactions... Also try drinking other drinks with caffine in it.. Like ice tea....
I would try to slowly decrease the amount of caffeine you are taking. If you normally have a large cup of diet coke try a medium for a week or so, then a small. Hopefully your body will adjust to not needing as much caffeine making it easier to break.
Do it gradually. You'll get a killer headache if you don't and the only thing that will take it away is caffeine. Try switching every other one to caffiene free then increase it after a few days. I made the switch and enjoy the caffiene free variety much better now. The other stuff tastes funny to me.
Now, if you're trying to break the habit from soda completely. Substitute juice, kool-aid or water for the caffiene free soda.
Drink ice tea, regular tea for the caffeine (much less of a buzz, more of a hum) and non-caffeinated pop if you still need something "better" than water.
The way I've done this in the past is to swop over to caffeine tablets (in the UK they have them in the brand name Pro-Plus) so that I wasn't getting the withdrawals but I was getting used to not drinking my caffeine - and that cut down on some of the triggers for drinking so much. Then because I had a measured dose in my caffeine tablets it was easy to be sure that I was cutting down only gradually.
I'd recommend making sure it's a weekend when you stop taking any caffeine at all - even if you've cut down previously your body may be sensitive enough to it to still have withdrawals like headaches, fuzzy thinking etc.
I think you're right to wean yourself off (rather than go cold turkey) but if you swop to caffeine tablets now while your desire to give up is strong it'll probably help break your connection to Diet Coke... otherwise I've found I cut down for a week or two and then "forget" that I was planning to stop ;-)
Good luck!
start decreasing the intake of the soda at first..and day by day it will get easier...I used to drink coke and hot tea all the time...I started in the morning with decaf tea and found I had headaches but they were bearable...and then at lunch I would have a coke...and around 3 I would have decaf tea and then dinner a coke...and I did this for 3 days and I was fine!!! I hear some people really have a hard time cutting the caffeine out of their system...try caffeine free diet coke..that will help you as well. Good luck..
either eliminate it cold turkey or start drinking the caffeine free diet stuff.
if you go cold turkey, you must drink nothing but water. Think of diet coke as a poison. Do you really want to be addicted to the stuff?