With the help from http://www.dumblittleman.com/ (@JWhite on Twitter), I am going to try to wean myself off caffeine. I know...crazy, right?! The first step is to monitor how much caffeine I get in 1 week. This is how much I have had the past week:
September 6 - 2x 250ml can of Sugar Free Red Bull
September 7 - 2x 12oz cup light roast coffee; 1x 355ml can of Coke Zero
September 8 - 2x 12oz cup of light roast coffee
September 9 - 2x 12oz cup of light roast coffee
September 10 - 2x 12oz cup of light roast coffee
September 11 - 1x XL coffee at Tim Hortons
September 12 - 2x 355ml can of Coke Zero
Every 250ml can of Sugar Free Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine. The average cup of coffee contains 80-135mg of caffeine. According to http://www.energyfiend.com/the-caffeine-database, there is 108mg in an 8oz cup of coffee. I am going to estimate that my cup of coffee contains 135mg. Every 355ml can of Coke Zero contains 35mg of caffeine. I checked Tim Hortons' website, and my XL coffee has 200mg of caffeine in it! So I have had (if my math is correct) 1545mg of caffeine this past week. After some googling, it seems that 300mg per day is a "safe" amount to consume. Well, I seem to be under that amount, but I'd still like to help my fitness and nutrition goals by kicking the habit now before it gets to be more than it is.
According to the article at http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/10/how-to-give-up-coffee-and-caffeine.html, I should start replacing my coffee with caffeinated tea. Since I am at 2 cups per day (which used to be just 1 per day), I think I will substitute my 2nd cup for a caffeinated tea that has a decaffeinated version in the same flavour. Once I get through that, I'll switch both cups to caffeinated tea. Then 1 to decaffeinated, and both to decaffeinated. One thing the article doesn't really spell out is the timing. I guess I'm just going to have to decide that for myself.
This article also lacks what sort of side-effects one might feel during this process:
"Withdrawal symptoms - possibly including headache, irritability, an inability to concentrate, drowsiness, insomnia and pain in the stomach, upper body, and joints - may appear within 12 to 24 hours after discontinuation of caffeine intake, peak at roughly 48 hours, and usually last from one to five days representing the time required for the number of adenosine receptors in the brain to revert to "normal" levels, uninfluenced by caffeine consumption. Analgesics, such as aspirin, can relieve the pain symptoms, as can a small dose of caffeine. Most effective is a combination of both an analgesic and a small amount of caffeine." ~Wikipedia
Well that sounds like loads of fun! I assume that these symptoms would be experienced more if I were to quit cold turkey. But once I reach a point of switching everything to decaffeinated tea, there will be some risk of going through withdrawal symptoms, right? This is definitely something to be conscious of.
And as always, it is recommended that during this process I drink plenty of water. Well thankfully I have been in the habit of drinking at the very LEAST 2L of water per day. That should be no problem for me whatsoever!
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