I've been off of coffee for almost 2 weeks.  Besides feeling calmer i haven't really noticed any other benefits.  I guess i thought i would have more noticeable results by now.  It's also motivating to see more changes, that keeps you going.

For people who have won the war against coffee how long before you noticed changes and what did you notice?.

Thanks!
Mickey

instantly for me, since 2006 no more café for me...got panic attacs and it was terible.... since I stopped I feel muchmore calm and concentrated and the most important for me was and still is: r e l a x e d  

to each their own......some Os would never even think of avoiding their good old coffee......
I for one, even lost a friend to coffee.....haha

she couldn t believe I was avoiding it for life.....she is German and no German will ever be off Kaffe & Sahne, unless following her guidelines with conviction, like I do......

I have been off coffee before and I felt great after about 2 weeks. I had A LOT more energy and a more positive outlook on life in general.

But alas, I started back up again. I am currently weaning myself off coffee, but this time I'm doing it differently.

My daily goal: introducing one freshly juiced veggie juice per day into my diet. So far, I am waking up more alert and am eating less during the day.

I still am having my coffee in the morning, but for example this morning, I felt ok after just one cup instead of my usual 2 cups.

The gradual wean-off is my best route. That way good habits are being established while the other habit gradually fades out.

try yerba mate ......

Feeling calmer is a big thing.. what else in life made you calmer..? nothing.. so you see the results are small YET large..

the real benefit will be long term.. lower BP lower stress on the intestines, lower health care issues as you get older.. but they all take patience..

It took me 18 years to get off coffee.. now I only take it when I need in place of medicine for headache, but other times I am much less stressed.  I can have much more relaxed conversations with friends and family.. a big thing.  I am still waiting to sleep more calm, I don't I think to much.. I live a whole life while a-sleep..

I have tried some other things but in the end nothing works any better then getting off coffee.. Many make a distinction to caffeine I think getting off both has helped me greatly, but from going from coffee to decaf helped, but it was a long struggle.. THEN i went to cocoa powder.. but as of a few days ago I am even going off that, maybe not forever but for now.. I expect some benefits from that , but have no idea yet what they will be..

Coffee affected my moods but it also affected my skin, going to the tiolet and other addictions.

the skin problems were better in a week, the moods maybe even as much as a few months. but i only really stopped thinking about coffee after about a year. now i laugh at being addicted to it and how silly it was to let it rule a part of my life.

having said that i now realise that other addictive foods were quickly replaced, sweets, crisps etc.

i am now working at those and have had none for a week. I had the best nights sleep in a while last night and was up at 6.oo am feeling bright.

i haven't had a head achei think since i stopped coffee, i used to get them daily years ago.

so far i have stopped smoking, alcohol, coffee, milk, pork, chlorine, wheat, corn, working on sugar still.

all the things i gave up were a breeze compared to giving up sugar but even cutting it a bit has actually had the greatest effect in terms of clarity of thought.

the more i read the more I'm believing that coffee, sugar and milk are linked to any other addiction.

i would not be at all surprised if any addiction could be stopped by cutting sugar out first. remembering tha lactose is a sugar etc. etc.

so on a small scale i would suggest that if you want to give up coffee, (and you normally have milk or sugar or sweetener with it, stop the sweetener and milk first. then the coffee will be easier to just stop cold turkey. I have been trying this with a few people and it seems to work. time will tell.

I never noticed any benefits at all when I first stopped drinking coffee. I weaned off of it  because I knew it was an "avoid" for my blood type, and I wanted to maximize the health benefits of this WOE.

A year or two later, when I next had a cup of coffee, I noticed within minutes of finishing the cup how jittery I felt. I probably could have gotten the "wake me up" benefits from two sips instead of the whole cup. It took several hours for that jittery feeling to go away. The next day I resumed my normal tea drinking instead of drinking coffee.

yes as one drinks less and less caffeine the less one needs..

as for addiction, it might be the first one.. sugar to make it drinkable, milk to cut the sugar, cake to drown the taste and for some a cigarette with every cup or vice versa.. yes addictions for sure all the way! and so innocent! might as well give the kid whiskey..  

IN the end the biggest benefit might come from having given up something.. being proud at the effort and having broken some Thinking patterns, overcoming the body' screaming for more ...  

Lola...do you think ther's any good café in Teutonia ...even with Sahne (cream) it isn't good....

I go off and back on coffee.  When getting off coffee, I notice mostly fatigue, tiredness, inattention, slightly depressed.  When I go back on, I might notice irritability as the uplifting effects wear off.

This is why I believe the SWAMI ignores the benefits of coffee.  For me, they far outweigh the negative effects.  I've posted about this before, and nothing I've read compels me to eliminate coffee.

Quoted from ruthiegirl

I never noticed any benefits at all when I first stopped drinking coffee. I weaned off of it  because I knew it was an "avoid" for my blood type, and I wanted to maximize the health benefits of this WOE.

A year or two later, when I next had a cup of coffee, I noticed within minutes of finishing the cup how jittery I felt. I probably could have gotten the "wake me up" benefits from two sips instead of the whole cup. It took several hours for that jittery feeling to go away. The next day I resumed my normal tea drinking instead of drinking coffee.

I can identify with this.  Personally, I don't consider the jittery feeling to be unpleasant.  Nevertheless, when I start back on coffee, I always sip it very slowly, or drink it very watered down, like 1 part coffee to three parts hot water.

BTW, I do not add sweetener or any type of creamer.

Oh gosh the mere title of this thread scares me to death lol I would never be able to give up coffee..is it an avoid for O?

Quoted from SquarePeg

I can identify with this.  Personally, I don't consider the jittery feeling to be unpleasant.  

I think I got back on the black stuff because I can think so much better overall when I have it. And my mood is great. The synapses fire better.
But I feel that coffee will age me faster by draining the precious adrenals. So I'd much rather be off it.

I have been a coffee-holic since the age of 18.  However, by the age of 21 or so I had completely weaned myself of drinking coffee with cream and sugar, instead preferring my coffee black.  I never had bad side effects from coffee such as feeling jittery or other issues.  When I went on the BTD, first back in the mid 1990's and then again just over a year ago, I gave up coffee cold turkey and switched to green tea.  This past year, I drank either green tea or chocolate yerba mate in the mornings for a year, except when I was on vacation.  I assumed that I would have trouble if I drank coffee, but that has not been the case.  Coffee does not bother me, although I will say I am more in tune with my body and know when enough is enough and if I drink too much I can feel the acid in my stomach.  However, I don't need to drink nearly as much as I used to drink in the morning to get the same kick start.  

Recently I decided to relax some of my dietary restrictions in an effort to bring my life into better balance.  I now switch between green tea, yerba mate and coffee and all of these beverages are consumed without any additives or sweeteners, and I don't feel any difference if I drink either of the teas or the coffee.  I think we are all individuals and re-introducing food once it has been eliminated can be very helpful to determine the negative or positive effects it has on our different body systems.  I feel that I gave the coffee-free life a very fair chance, maintaining a coffee-free existance for over a year.  I think if I truly had a problem with coffee I would have discovered that when I re-introduced it after such a long time.  I do, however, believe that if you have issues with adrenal burnout, you should avoid coffee.  Green tea, which has caffeine is ok to drink because, as I understand it, there is something in the green tea that offsets the negative effects of caffeine on the body when in an adrenal fatigue state.  This information came from my acupuncuturist.

I think we all have some issues that we are just playing with one way or the other.. I think getting off coffee for me was a good thing, but I am retired so my life is less about getting up and be powerful.. Coffee can make you feel as if you can turn the world upsidedown.. I did for years being a 18 hour work-a-holic.. It was fun while I did that, I felt as if I mattered a lot more then later in life.  Having said that I would understand someone (me included) thinking about the 'nice' of coffee, but if I think back, and see what damage I might have done to me, maybe even caused (added to) fibromialgia, pain every where, I might have given it up sooner.  

THEN we did not KNOW--- today we do KNOW that it is not good for us-- and in that is FREEDOM to choose.. We can choose to decide for our own personal life what is good and what is worth paying a price for, including self worth or self image.  KNOWING what it can and should not over do is a BIG thing.. IT allows for choices we otherwise don't have.  

With INFORMED choices it comes down to deciding for one self, what is or is not good for the insides, as well as the head and thinking and how we see our Self progress.  In the end I see it:  Dr D has given us information and we can decide what we deem as best.. therein is the gift of his research..

It's not in the design of 100% compliance, but in knowing that when you don't adhere to certain things, then you might 'feel' just ever so slightly better or worse, depending on the item, the amount and the frequency.  I 'cheat' 5% mostly on neutrals, (I am a little to restrictive in some places-fear based, pain or weight gain) but that 5% makes me feel RELATIVELY in control... knowing that I can 'reward' my self, sometimes.  

I wish there where a way to see avoids less as REWARDS, but rather some other word - like: pain-suffering-arthritis flair ups, intestinal issues, but I have no such word.. so the word AVOID is just fine.. it's short and simple.

Most days I do OK, with or without coffee or caffeine, but the drive to cheat becomes much easier as time goes on and I am getting used to BEING a NEW ME. Less hyper, less being in 10 places at once, less demanding...  (and at the end I can dream of the days when living for coffee was important, a social thing, which I miss, but more because many friends I shared a cup with, are either dead or moved away..

For those who need or want the caffeine, even O's can have it in tea, so that is really not the issue..

I LIKE the flavor of coffee, the smell and the friendship.. and years ago I could eat pastries with it- good conversations and yummm... whip cream and all.   IF it was not for health I would still drink it, but I do better without it.  

A good flavor coffee substitute made out of some other stuff would be nice.. maybe some day Dr D. will create such a thing..    

Thanks for all the great responses!.

Does anyone get less puffy or bloated when they stop coffee?.  The reason i ask is that about a year ago (during one of my other attempts of quiting coffee) my mom told me that i looked less puffy allover (in addition to asking if i'd lost weight).  Now for my mom to say something like that is a big deal, she doesn't dish out positive remarks very often.  One of the few things i can attribute it to is that i was off of coffee at that time.

I never thought it bothered me but as time went on, or I'd have some I noticed alot of things. My digeation is MUCH better, Don't get headaches, sleep much deeper and not as late. Energy is consistant from am to pm. Hunger is different, blood sugar stable, etc. And yes to less puffy. Not much actual weight loss but definately flatter stomach. Bloating gone. Hope this helps, it is sooooo hard to give up and such a slippery slope to cheat. I've gotten this far, I don't want to do it again

Quoted from SquarePeg

I go off and back on coffee.  When getting off coffee, I notice mostly fatigue, tiredness, inattention, slightly depressed.  When I go back on, I might notice irritability as the uplifting effects wear off.

This is why I believe the SWAMI ignores the benefits of coffee.  For me, they far outweigh the negative effects.  I've posted about this before, and nothing I've read compels me to eliminate coffee.

We're all individuals. Even SWAMI isn't perfect, and many people need to tweak it. If you feel better when you consume coffee, then go ahead and consume it!

For most O's, coffee is detrimental. That's why it's an avoid for Os on BTD.

Mickey...great job being off the coffee for two weeks.  Keep it up.  

For me, not so many migraines and stomach issues.  Could never really stomach it without putting some milk in it.  Yeah...right...the milk sure did wonders for it, but not for me in general.

Mickey...I think the question for me right now that I have been off of it for more than 7 years is...what would it do to me now.  Don't even want to go there.  

Debra

why eat beans in liquid form?  have green tea instead..

The only benefit I noticed was more evenness and calmness, not so much jitteriness and that up & down energy thing.  I was surprised how easy it was to give up coffee, but replacaing it with green tea was easy, which has caffeine, so no withdrawl headaches in the afternoon at all.  Green tea does not affect me like coffee.

I was so accustomed to having coffee over the years that I didn't know what to tick for caffeine sensitivity on my swami.  I never noticed that coffee was an issue.  Now that I have been off of it for a year or so, even the thought of having a cup of coffee in the evening makes me feel jittery.  I did have a coffee one night a few weeks ago, and I was unable to sleep that night.  Anyway...my point is, I am the type of person who has to put time and space between the offender and myself to get a better perspective.

Today I decided that yerba mate would be much more appealing if I could find it in an instant mix. So I pulled up good 'ol Google to see if it even existed and found a product!

But even better, they carried it at Whole Foods. So I got a canister tonight.

Because I drink instant coffee, I don't like to wait for things to brew, I like to get on with it. So now I found a good alternative.

Ah I love the brain with all its ideas.

Did you think of that after a nice strong cup of coffee?  

Quoted Text

Could never really stomach it without putting some milk in it.

Debra,
I know what you mean, but i also can't have it without sugar!.  I ditched the sugar with the coffee, but i've still been having half-n-half with my tea.  Today is my first day off of half-n-half, so maybe i'll see more changes without it.  I'm still having nasal congestion and some eyelid puffiness, i thought maybe the coffee was contributing to the puffiness.  Hopefully going off of half-n-half will help both of these.