Your thoughts on caffeine page 2

[Metric]

Without caffeine, I can't manage to have thoughts.

Questions about the coconut milk. Does it make it sweet or just creamy?

[fiercehunter]

I like caffeine, think it's healthy. Read this:
Caffeine: A vitamin-like nutrient, or adaptogen. Questions about tea and coffee, cancer and other degenerative diseases, and the hormones.

[wolfman]

I make a big cup every morning and drink it black and sip it through out the day, usually lasts until lunch time. On my days off I love warm cup in the morning. I enjoy the effects of caffeine, when I feel jittery I just stop. Maybe try half cafe? or decaf, but I see nothing wrong with it unless you drink more than 24oz. a day, but as always, listen to your body.

[Lawyerchick12]

I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on coffee. I thought it strange that many Primal people avoid other beans but still have coffee, which is a toxic bean, right? And must undoubtedly produces a stress response in most people. What's your approach?

Have you cut down?

Did you naturally need it less due to eating less junk?

Do you simply make sure to get a quality source, low on toxins?

Have you quit completely? Did you go cold turkey, cut down gradually, or use a more primal-friendly alternative?

My personal story with caffeine is a love-hate relationship. I'm addicted to diet cola, which obviously has to go because of the evil chemicals, and although I like the taste of coffee I find it a bit overstimulating. I can't drink tea either as it has sulphites, which I'm allergic to. I've been trying out some herbal teas, such as gota kola (similar to ginseng), and peppermint tea. I've tried unsuccessfully to quit caffeine before and ended up sleeping a lot and feeling depressed. I don't want to end up depressed but I can't help wondering that beyond the withdrawal stage there might be a different, naturally energetic version me that was there all the time, but was being hidden by the drug effect?

I also eat dark chocolate, which has caffeine, but I'm feeling so crap lately that I could gladly take it or leave it if it meant I would feel better!

This seems to be an emotive issue. I've read some evidence for and against drinking coffee as part of a primal/paleo lifestyle, but it seems that many people find it hard to judge it objectively, since they are hopelessly addicted!

Bingo. I find personally, that since going 80 percent primal, I wake up really energenized these days. I still drink coffee, mostly out of habit, a cup a day, but before I went primal i was HUGELY dependent on it, to wake me up before I have to drive to the firm. I could not even think without my first caffeine jolt, now if I run out of coffee at home, I don't go into panic mode as I would have previously. So from my experience, going primal has made me less dependent on coffee as I do not need it to "wake up" anymore....

[dbalch]

The way I look at it, caffeine is a drug. If you are addicted to it, you should get unaddicted. I was addicted for many years. I drink it now occasionally for a purpose (long drives usually).

Here's the best way to kick caffeine with minimal side effects.

1) Either switch to instant or brew two pots a day. One regular, one decaf.
2) Start diluting your caffeinated coffee with decaf. How much and how gradually is up to you, but keep diluting it until you are eventually drinking all decaf.
3) If you want to go a step further because decaf actually has a lot of caffeine, go through the same process only dilute the decaf slowly with Teccino, a chicory based coffee look a like they sell at Whole Foods.
4) If you are a real addict, at that point it's best to stay with Teccino permanently or switch to herbal tea. For most addicts "just a little bit" just lead back to addiction.

Once the caffeine is out of your system you won't want it anymore, so it's not as hard as it sounds. Like all drugs, YOU don't really want caffeine, it's the caffeine in your body that wants more of itself. Once it's gone, so is the problem. All these people who think they like the taste of coffee so much are kidding themselves. The caffeine is in control of their bodies and taste buds.

Sugar addiction is very similar. That's why I recommend Stevia. I don't even mind if they use a weird substitute like sucralose short term. It's like methadone treatment for heroin addicts.

[federkeil]

You ask about caffeine and then talk about coffee..... blech

I get my caffeine from tea, mmmm. Cup a day in the morning and I'm good to go. Martin Berkham (lean gains) has posted some stuff on the benefits of caffeine for training (100-200mg a day). Which is ~2 normal cups of coffee. Different types of tea (green vs black for example) have different benefits for your body (from Mark's blog posts) and can be dosed accordingly.

[JackieKessler]

Questions about the coconut milk. Does it make it sweet or just creamy?

I only put a dollop in - maybe a teaspoon? Just enough to change the flavor -- slightly sweet. Maybe a touch creamy? I usually take my coffee black and without sugar, so it's difficult for me to say. Give it a try, see what you think! (Make sure it's unsweetened coconut milk -- canned, not the carton.)

[fiercehunter]

Endocrinologist Diana Shwarzbein is against coffee, says it's a drug & the long term goal is to wean off it:
The Schwarzbein Principle: The Program : Losing Weight the Healthy Way : an ... - Diana Schwarzbein - Google Books

I've been drinking green tea about a decade & just recently read it has a lot of fluoride in it which is thyroid suppressive so no, not gonna drink green tea anymore..... and not giving up coffee which I didn't drink much ever till recently. I like it, don't think it's harmful.

Green Tea...

[RoyHerb]

I have naturally cut down. I have to have a cup of coffee in the morning, but since I stopped using super sweet creamer (now heavy cream) I've realized how much my 3-4 cups per morning were really about the carbs, not the caffeine. I'm still stuck a little on diet sodas but I've cut waaaaay down.

[hulahoop]

I was never a tea or coffee drinker but since going primal i have stopped my 1-a-day diet pepsi habit! It's nice not to be a slave to getting that coke fix.

You mention sulphites (the bane of my life!) i did read somewhere that coke/pepsi etc all have some level of sulphites in them, so you may feel much better for stopping that habit