Without it my brain never wakes up, it is always sleeping..

caffeine= awake and active brain

without caffeine = sleepy and lazy brain



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2007 12:35AM by birdy.

*hugs*

It's a cycle that caffeine causes. Once you break yourself of the habit, you'll *never* need it to wake you again (because *it* was, in fact, the reason you were feeling sleepy after coming down from the high of it). It's hard to explain, but once you are clean of the caffeine you will have more energy than you had with it--no more ups and downs! :-)

Good luck!

Love,

Gypsy

thanks,

But I can't seem to get that alert brain on raw like on caffeine. Even after months without caffeine..

A better question, would be how do you get an alert brain on raw like on caffeine?

birdy

How much caffeine per day are you consuming??,,

Tea, coffee, soda, energy drinks, etc..

The best way to quit is "cold turkey", after you have weaned yourself down to a minimal daily conumption..

The more you consuming per day, the longer the withdrawal headaches will last when quitting..

I was a long term caffeine consumer & down to 8-12 oz per day consumed before noon the last & final time I quit..

Even so the headaches lasted for the better part of two days..

Don't forget to drink plenty of water while going through caffeine withdrawal..

Dehydration will make the process of quitting that much harder..

Once you quit you will rediscover a level of mental clarity & awakefulness that you forgot existed!!..

Bruce

I was thoroughly hooked on energy drinks as I worked for a distributor. I had one of the the worst migraines I ever had on a day when I consumed much energy drink and decided I would give up caffeine for a week.

For 5 days I could hardly think. It was harder for me to quit caffeine then go raw. But,after that 5 days, I had much more clarity of thought and the satisfaction that I didn't rely on a drug to make it through the day. Think of quiting as a short segment time to a new beginning. Just a short segment of time to a long and fulfilling existence.

david

good luck birdie,

caffeine was so hard for me to quit. At my worst, I was drinking at least a quart of very strong coffee every morning (sometimes a half gallon on weekends) followed by several red bull's during the day. I was an addict to be sure. I'm not sure what form you are getting your caffeine in, but for me, I switched to double brewed (2 bags) green tea for 6 months or so, then reduced the amount over time. This made the coffee-caffeine withdrawls less intense and eventually i was able to not drink green tea without any adverse effects. Once i got to that point it was easy to just stop. Now the energy i get from being raw far surpasses any rush I got from caffeine and it is totally sustainable.

I wish you the best, i know how hard this is!

Greg

Wean yourself off of caffeine with de-caffeinated substitutes......and/or healthier alternatives.......or just quit altogether. Just remember that you must have VERY clear....higher agenda/goals.....other than just quitting for health. That will be your motivator.

-Like eating healthy....your brain will never be the same. You may NEVER have that over stimulation feeling again.....but I promise you that the stability and clarity you enjoy....although different...will be better....in the not-so-long run!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

you could try a gentle transition, half decaf with your caf for a while, reduce how much you drink each day, sub with green tea, etc. my poor mother is so addicted to caffeine, she suffers dreadful migraines without it and she only has a cup each morning. it is so addictive. but you can recover, you CAN. over time you won't need it anymore. and i think some exercise in the AM will get you that awake brain you so desire. try it out. good luck.

birdy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thanks,
>
> But I can't seem to get that alert brain on raw
> like on caffeine. Even after months without
> caffeine..
>
> A better question, would be how do you get an
> alert brain on raw like on caffeine?


birdy,

In the long run, after being raw for longer than a few months, you *will* eventually experience consistent energy and alertness. In the beginning (at least the first few months for many people, I'm guessing) you'll be experiencing detox symptoms, which will make it seem like you don't have enough energy/alertness. You just have to decide what you want--do you want the easy fix of continued caffeine dependency, or the long-term energy/alertness that is waiting after the detox? ;-)

I'm sending you extra loving energy.

Love,

Gypsy

Somewhere on one of these forums there was a thread about how the body stops reacting the same way to stimulants after being raw for some time.

It turned out to be true in my case, as a long time major league caffeine addict. It used to be that I would get a horrible headache if I didn't get my coffee. After about 3 weeks at 100% raw the coffee just stopped appealing to me and I quit without any problem - no headaches!

Your mileage will vary I'm sure. It's amazing how many problems just take care of themselves if you take care of your body.

inspirit - aka coolkarma

I agree with dvdai that quitting caffeine was harder than going raw.

I did it cold turkey.

at first, I still loved the smell of coffee. But now it bothers me.

at least you're not trying to quit smoking! (I'm watching my dear dear little brother try desperately and unsuccessfully at that)

measure twice, cut once.

"In Watermelon Sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar." ~r.brautigan

I make paintings

birdy,

Quitting coffee is what brought me to raw foods! It was very difficult for me because my body had become so addicted to caffeine that I depended on it for my digestion.

Perhaps if you would share what you might typically eat in a day we could see why your diet is making you tired such that you need caffeine. Also realize that while caffeine is a stimulant, it takes away more energy than it gives. This means that for whatever energy you get from caffeine, you will pay back with interest after the effects of the caffeine have subside.

ahhh I feel your pain, birdy! In my nearly 2 years as a raw foodist I still always had to have coffee in the mornings - only 1 small cup a day, but I just needed it in the morning since I'm not at all a morning person. And in the mornings, fruit just didn't do it for me. There were only 2 times when I didn't need coffee- when I first went raw, and now. And the reason for that is those are the times when I ate grains for breakfast - coarse grains like spelt, rye, and millet. I def look forward to grains as a first meal, accompanied by tea. Cooked though they can feel kind of heavy, but it's better than coffee. (sometimes I get to enjoy them sprouted.)

To wean myself off the morning coffee I at first did a cup of half coffee/half green tea, which was surprisingly tasty.

However, also, if you're any eating sugar with that coffee, that may be an even bigger culprit in your lack of energy than the coffee itself. Sugar is worse. Same with any processed grains. Awful energy killers.

Get rid of sugar, and your need for coffee may just dissipate on its own.

hey shaine, i tried to PM this to you but your mailbox is full so i'm sticking it here. who knows, maybe it will help someone else too...

i wanted to share my experience of quitting smoking with you. it was many, many years ago but i had a very effective method.

i am up very late waiting for laundry to dry BTW. my little boy threw up all over his bed tonight and there isn't room for all of us in my bed so i have to wash his things. ugh.

anyhoo...

quitting smoking is a multifaceted thing. for me, what worked was conquering the physical and psychological addictions seperately. i rolled some herbs to smoke instead of tobacco for the two weeks that it takes to rid yourself of the nicotine addiction and after that the desire for smoking anything at all tapered off pretty quickly. the herbs i used are available at many health food stores that have a bulk herb section. they are lobelia(1/2), mullein(1/2) and catnip(a pinch). the lobelia mimics the effects of nicotine but in a very mild and non-addictive way, catnip for flavour.

good luck to your brother. once he unshackles himself from that awful curse he can be free for life!

Do you drink your coffee black or with creamer?

After a consumption of up to 2 liters of coffee/day + lots of creamer (the sweet and flavored kind) I switched to plain coffee (black), then I replaced with cocoa, making a thick paste like a drinkable chocolate - but with NO SUGAR at all.
This chocolate was so bitter, I could only have a sip or two at a time - healthier too and very helpfull in getting rid of my addiction to the refined sugar AND artifficial sweeteners.
I stopped eating/drinking ANY product containing artifficial or refined sugar AND coffee

The raw lifestyle gave me the extra energy - so I don't need the coffee no more. Period. With so much energy, I am not even tempted because there is no reason to drink coffee.
I can even go farther, saying that I don't use cocoa either. I might, once in blue moon - only for variety.

Maybe my story will help someone.

Good luck.

Pls. excuse my English - foreigner.

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Caffeine was (and occasionally is if I relapse!) a serious struggle for me. Coffee always gave me diarrhea, but I would drink several big glasses a day of strong iced tea from local restuarants: a triple whammy of caffeine, sugar syrup, and the bacteria that breed in those big tea urns when they are not properly sterilized each night. The withdrawal from that cocktail went beyond just the headaches, and included achingly sore joints, general inflammation, cold sweats and night sweats, blurry vision --much the same as withdrawal from really hard drugs. I knew the stuff was slowly killing me, and it affected every aspect of my life, but I could only break free of it under certain conditions.

Going raw (or nearly all raw) helped enormously, as it gave my body the nutrients it needed to cope with the withdrawal better. I blended strong drinks of raw leaves and veggies with the VitaMix, and drank them several times a day. Plenty of water helps.

I believe in going cold turkey, and did that the first time, but the second time I found that switching to a type of ice cream bar(!) helped, because it gave me a lesser amount of the "fix" (lesser doses of caffeine and sugar, sans bacterial cocktail) with much less of the side-effects and withdrawal symptoms. Switching to the ice cream bars helped me get off of the tea, and then continuing with the veggie drinks and salads helped me get off the ice cream bars.

The other thing that REALLY helped was a combination of exercise, far infrared saunas and dry-skin brushing. I'm not sure what it is that comes out in the sweat, but whatever it is, "sweating it out" helped me get off of caffeine. The speeded-up circulation from the exercise probably helped accelerate clearance. Deep breathing and deep relaxation, paying attention to the subtle effects of caffeine in the body (the "buzz" helps to make the elimination smooth. It also makes one aware of how actually UNpleasant the buzz can be, and motivates one to quit.

Caffeine can be a tough one, as the effect is physical but also directly affecting (and mediated by) the brain. [The brain actually produces WAY MORE of its own similar stimulant when it detects caffeine, to speed things up and assist with elimination of what it recognizes as a toxin. It is this mechanism that he "inner work" I mentioned above addresses.] You CAN get off it, though, and once you have done so you will discover a steady state of mental clarity and energy that FAR exceeds the stimulated buzzy feeling the caffeine gave you. GOOD LUCK! Get through the withdrawal and it is DEFINITELY worth it. Get really free of it, and you'll find the buzz of caffeine in a non-addicted system becomes very unpleasant, and much easier to avoid.