Caffeine is something most of us think we need to thrive in this fast paced, speedy world. Without that hit of good Ol’ cup of Joe, we feel exhausted, tired, and lethargic.
Have you ever felt the rise and fall of your energy levels after taking 1-2 cups of coffee in the morning? Most of us get this feeling. Caffeine creates the illusion that we tend to feel these sort of peaks and valleys of energy throughout the day.
I myself would have major peaks of energy and major valleys of energy from my my daily caffeine consumption. But, I felt my energy became inconsistent day to day so I decided to kick the fix once and for all.
I am going to tell you a few tips that helped me kick my fix for good and helped re-create that HIGH ENERGY I’ve been searching for!
These tips are:
- Transition to lowering your coffee intake first (e.g. – if you currently drink 1-2 cups per day, lower to 1 cup per day, or if you drink 4-5 cups lower to 4 cups per day, and so on)
- If you can’t eliminate coffee entirely, try decaf-decaf coffee has 7-10 mg of caffeine approximately versus a regular cup of Joe can have 80-100 mg of caffeine or more per cup
- Try higher caffeine Green Tea or Black Tea-Green tea is a great alternative to Coffee if you feel you get the jitters too bad like myself. Green tea has many flavours that may suit your fancy, without nixing caffeine entirely.
Transition to lowering your coffee intake first
Let’s start off by saying that lowering your caffeine intake will be the toughest challenge by far.
If you are someone that has built the caffeine habit over many years, It can be a very tough habit to break. When you have such a reliance on maintaining your energy through a mental stimulant such as coffee, the first week of taking in less caffeine will be felt.
Initally you may get a few lopsided headaches that feel like someone just sucker punched you in the head, your focus may dwindle slightly, but this feeling shall pass after the first few days of lowered consumption.
Once you have continued to lower your intake after 3-4 days, it starts to get a little easier. Not only on your gut, but on your mind too.
If you can’t eliminate coffee entirely, try decaf
The thought of never drinking a cup of coffee again was daunting to me, to say the least. I sure didn’t want to give it up entirely. Caffeine yes, but coffee? I still loved so deeply, and passionately.
As I transitioned off of caffeine, this would be the first time I had experimented with trying decaf. I heard people talk about it from time to time, but never really gave it a fair shot when I was contemplating nixing my coffee habit.
I would often hear mixed reviews when out in public. I would say, “I am trying to quit coffee!” and people would look at me, eyes slanted sideways and say, “oh dear really? I have drank coffee since I was young because it’s so habitual, and its what everyone does” or “I like to drink enough coffee so I start to hear a fast murmur of my heart” (another term for fast racing heart after oodles of coffee)
No one quite understand my transition to decaf except for me of course. But, eventually I didn’t need to rely on caffeine anymore. Decaf had become my saviour, my new elixir that would reset my energy levels for good!
Try higher caffeine Green Tea or Black Tea
Lastly, the next best option to nixing caffeine entirely would be to try green tea or black tea.
People don’t realize how much caffeine is actually in a cup of green tea! I couldn’t believe some of the teas I found by a brand called Tazo, that made me have the jitters even more than a cup of Joe.
Tazo brand’s Chai flavoured green tea has 47mg of caffeine in an 8oz cup. That is still 1/2 the caffeine of a cup of coffee! Which is still decent if your reluctant about taking decaf coffee. It all depends on whether your more of a tea drinker or a coffee connoisseur.
Some black teas can have as much as 90mg of caffeine depending on the type of black tea you drink
I prefer coffee over tea for most of the time, so decaf has been a great change for me. In the past, I had green tea and no coffee at all. That was when I was much younger, and had no tolerance for caffeine.
Nowadays I have a slightly better tolerance but still can’t handle the jitters as much as I used to.
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Hope you all enjoyed and stay tuned for next week’s post on my obsession with mental performance.
Cheers,
Alex
