I was doing so well with many days of abstinence on the tally and then it all fell apart. Well...when I say days the total number of them may not amount to as many as you might think. It was four days all up, not a record by any stretch of the imagination but I abstained from my habit for those days and I'll take the win.
I'm talking about coffee, abstaining from coffee, as I'd made the decision several days ago to stop drinking it for a variety of reasons I'll not bore you with at this stage. I didn't think it would be difficult, I had thought I'd be able to abstain easily; a fact that rang true until today during a client meeting where my client went ahead and ordered me a coffee prior to me arriving - she knows how I have my coffee so she got it right. What was I to do, refuse the kind gesture of coffee she'd already paid for? Of course not, so I drank it and just like that my tally went from four right back to zero.
Maybe this coffee-abstinence habit-breaking thing would be more difficult than I'd envisaged.
Over the years I've conducted business over coffee on so many occasions either at corporate offices or cafés and have been successful at both; it seems to act like oil in the cogs of business and negotiation. I prefer meetings to take place at cafés, depending what it is of course, mainly because it's somewhat disarming (even if it's with internal personnel), neutral ground so to speak, and people tend to be more relaxed there. It opens the opportunity to extend the meeting if it's going well and show quality through paying the bill or offering to order food or more coffee to make the meeting go a little more nicely but it means drinking coffee, or other such beverages which, as I mention above, ruined my no-coffee-streak of four entire days.
I came to the realisation that giving up coffee would mean I'd have to abandon my café-meeting strategy as I simply can't control the situation and swapping coffee for tea doesn't help as it still has caffeine in it - I could drink decaffeinated coffee of course, but I'd rather not, it's not that good. It's tripped up the process for sure.
I still plan to abstain from coffee generally, as I'd like to break my habit of it - I drink far too much - but am going to apply some logic and permit myself to drink some (when required such as cases like today), without adding a feeling of guilt in certain circumstances. It seems like a good balance.
Have you ever tried to give up coffee; did you succeed or fail and how easy or difficult was it. What about other things like alcohol, foods, cigarettes or other habitual activities you've had? What methods did you use to break the habit and what challenges did you face? Feel free to share in the comments section if you'd like.
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I have never tried to give up coffee but have had a break of a day or so occasionally just to see if I could. It wasn't the easiest but after having given up cigs some years ago it was easier than that. Even now sometimes I hear the cigs calling me!
Boomyyyy....Booooommmmyyyyy... That's the cigs bro!
sriously though, it's not as easy as one thinks to give up coffee, it becomes such an intrinsic part of life. My issue is that it spike blood sugar levels so severely reducing it is better for me. It's a work in progress...
Boomyyyy....Booooommmmyyyyy... That's those fucken cigarettes again!
The cigs! The cigs! Or the fags! Always hollering! Lol
Apparently you get some with Chicory I think in it which reduces the amount of actual coffee and therefore the caffeine if it is that. I did try some once and it wasn't awfui... :OD
The fags? You mean @cockthor?
I'll look into the chicory thing, sounds like fuckassery, but it might be a good substitute.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Aye, it was bitter and not coffee but it was alright
I'll check it out, could be a good alternative.
I've tried quitting coffee so many times that I've lost count. Every single attempt ended up in failure. Not for lack of willpower, but life's little conspiracies that keep pulling me back to square one—life's got it out for me, that's the simple conclusion.
The method that's worked the best for me in kicking the coffee habit is drowning myself in water. I practically live in the bathroom all day (maybe that's why I don't have time for coffee 😂), but truth be told, guzzling water helped me ease off coffee, tea, and even sodas.
Chewing gum, keeping my mind busy—none of that did the trick.
But after trying so many times, I threw in the towel. My victory is that I managed to cut down coffee intake to just two cups a day, always before 4 PM, which significantly takes the edge off this energizer.
As for other habits, I drink very little and don't smoke. I think my substitute addiction is medicine. I spend a lot of time in the hospital, but as I gather new knowledge and climb the ladder, I plan to spend less time at work, so fingers crossed that all goes well
It can be difficult for sure.
Today...I had one on the way to work then had a meeting and the person I met wanted one so I had another. Then a couple hours later I had one more, then back at my organisation's facility I had one more. Four...on a day I promised myself I'd only have one. #fail
As long as that medicine isn't pills wrapped in plastic bags and smuggled into the States you're all good. Lol.
I'm only joking, I know what you meant and I think distraction can be a good way to beat an unwanted habit.
One of the things that I’m doing myself is transitioning over to mushroom coffee. It sounds horrible, I know.. and it doesn’t have the same taste as coffee does but it’s actually pretty damn good lol. I’ve been drinking it for a few months now and it’s not bad, the company is called Ryze it doesn’t have caffeine in it but it’s got adaptogens in it and stuff through various mushroom mixes. I like it because it has a pleasant taste to it, whereas a lot of tea tastes like horses ass. The challenge there though is it’s not caught on with the hipster movement and you won’t find it at cafés yet. I loathe the day when I hear some hipster order some abomination variation of mushroom coffee.
Mushroom coffee? Mushrooms in hot water? That's soup! 😉
I imagine that hipster ordering a *double fungal, almond milk, soy, oat milk mushroomachino with double froth on top and a sprinkle of powdered chocushroom on top. Yum. I hope you're not there, you might go bonkers and have to re-evaluate your mushroom coffee strategy.
I don't think I could function without coffee. The mere thought of abstaining from it terrifies me :)
I am doing a sobriety experiment, though. Since Oct. 27. I went back to therapy and started reading and writing more instead of getting trashed every night. Also joined the local trail running group, so I have a little bit of a community for the first time in a long time. With alcohol, there isn't really any easy way out if you're addicted. At least not for me. Who knows, maybe I'll relapse someday, but for now, I'll take the win one day at a time.
Haha, yeah I felt the same but I drink five cups a day and that's too much; time to make a change.
Well done on the sobriety thing, admirable. I wouldn't give a shit if I never had another alcoholic drink for the rest of my life so that's never been, or will be, a challenge for me I guess. I drink alcohol, but rarely and not much. I've just never felt the need to.
It's really good what you're doing and I wish you all the best with it. The trail running, the one day at a time strategy...seems like you're on the right track.
Five cups a day is a pretty good start. One of these days my heart is probably going to just explode.
Lol, a start. ✅
Oh... complicated subject. Better 🤐 because there's something I can't seem to put down 😒
By the way, isn't it excessive to renounce the ambiance of a Café by not drinking it? Drink something else, be strong! Come on, you can... a tea maybe.
Café's sell bottled water but at $6.00 a pop I'm not buying it so coffee or nothing it is.
On the addiction thing...I'll not lecture you. 😉
😝 well, one always tries to encourage... 😅
Ok, well I encourage you to quit.
😁 gracias y hola
It's so hard to give up something that has been part of your routine. And something enjoyable, especially. I used to drink loads of coffee when I was younger, and then my body gave me clear signals that it didn't want any more caffeine. Giving it up was hard, but time eases the strain. Like most things.
Be gentle with yourself. And good luck! You've got this.
Breaking habits takes time, patience, diligence and yep, one must be kind on oneself through the process. I seem to be going quite well with it and really have no desire to have coffee. Had that client not ordered it before I got there if not have had it. I am a very busy person so it helps to stay busy, it distracts me from wanting coffee, and then on those occasions I have some it's more of an event. Seems to work.
The health benefits of coffee seem to outweigh the negatives so i don't really have any desire to give it up. I suppose it depends on how much you drink and how it affects you personally though.
If it is caffeine you are trying to reduce then switching to tea is a big improvement. Even black tea has significantly less caffeine than coffee.
Yeah, I mentioned the tea thing in my post, I'm trying to reduce caffeine dramatically as it has adverse effects considering my situation. Small amounts is ok, the five cups I'm having is not.
I never really got into coffee. Similar to beer or alcohol, I am just a social drinker of coffee. I only drink it when the group decides to go to a coffee shop. Even at work, I don't drink coffee. The closest habitual activity I have is eating rice with every meal. It isn't always good since it has a lot of carbs and can spike sugar levels. I've lessened my intake of that, and just drink a lot of water at the end of the meal to make myself feel full.
I recall you like rice, something I also like but far too high in carbohydrates. I had some the other day but only a small amount - I enjoyed it though.
Yeah, rice is life haha. But I need to try alternatives in the future. Brown rice, and Quinoa are supposed to be healthier.
I laughed while I recalled one time I decided I wasn't going to take coffee so much anymore. Not like I am a heavy drinker but before the decision, I downed cupfuls, a lot to keep my eyes open and nerves steady to face the work at hand which rolled into late night. After battling insomnia for weeks after the job was over, I had to call it quits.
After some time of struggle, I managed to get past the urge a little. And one day, I went by an aunt's place and the air smelled sweetly of coffee. When I got back home, I had to make some for myself. And like yours, it dented my effort. I'm out of the hook now. Can't remember the last time I drank any.
Coca-Cola was the addiction I had this year. For every day in about 8 months this year, I took a bottle. It was fast-food when taken with snacks for me. School just did not help my feeding habits. It took me consciously reducing how I took it, from 7 times a week to 5 times a week, on and on until I could overcome. Was a little struggle. Then the holidays came and since coming back home, knowing the distance from my house to the store is something, I got a hold of myself.
You'll definitely fall in and out of the habit while trying to abstain. Go slow, you'll get over it soon
Haha, cupfulls of coffee prior to quitting... Interesting strategy. It's good that you attained your goal though.
You mention soda and fast food...so many are addicted to that, and it's pretty bad for the health. Again, you seemed to work towards reducing it which is good.
I'm going well so far today...well, I had one coffee, but I think that'll be it for the day. Time will tell. 🫣
Thanks for commenting.
I am a lot addicted to tea and I can't give up. I have tried giving up on this habit but there is a thing.
Whenever I meet my friends or we will be having a get together they will order tea and I have to drink it with them. It isn't only about ourselves it is about the society which can't let us abstain from.
Else I don't remember any bad habits I have to work on. I am a good guy. Lol
Tea is good, I drink a bit here and there, but more coffee.
No bad habits? Hmm, you must be the only person on the planet with no bad habits. well done.
Coffee is a funny thing. It's one of those things like eggs where one month they say it is bad for you, then the next month they talk about all the health benefits. I've never cared for the stuff, but I do like the smell. I also like dark beers that have a coffee note to them. I gave up drinking soda regularly quite some time ago.i still have some coke mixed with rum occasionally, but usually when I try to drink it plain I can only have a few sips and then it hurts my teeth for my gut.
well, it increases blood sugar so has to be limited (for me) to some degree; it is what it is. I was planning to stop for a little while then get back on it in lesser amounts than the five cups I drink a day. I lasted four days...not a good record. 😆
You gotta start somewhere!
I'm thinking I'll drop down to four and seven eighths cups of coffee instead of five...A small reduction, but baby steps right? 😁
Yes, just like the movie "What About Bob".
😁
I guess I'm never giving up on coffee, not anytime soon at least, but every now and then I will lower the "dosage" or maybe even skip a day or two, maybe a week. But I'll surely have a substitute ready, mostly milk tea.
These hot beverages help mostly when I'm working or reading a book, it's like an extra bit of icing on the cake; it's not necessary, but it helps.
I think it's ok in reasonable amounts, but the five cups I was drinking a day was too much for various reasons I've outlined in other comments on this post. It's all a personal choice though, what worlks for one may not work for the other. I enjoy coffee though, so will have it, just in smaller amounts.
Man! 5 cups a day is too much I'd say, 2 cups is fine. I'm good with one hot cup a day. The highest I went in one day was 4 cups I think, my wife and I were on a crazy streak for some reason. We finished our last cup at 2 AM that morning lol. 😂
Coffee at 2am? I'd be up for a week!
I think I've allowed my intake to increase a little out of control hence the pull-back. I only had one yesterday and am planning on none today. Small steps right?
Yeah, whenever my wife is around all the coffee drinking goes off the rails sometimes. 😂
Always, one by one, slow and steady. This always works in the long run. You can't just get rid of a habit or diet just instantaneously.
Yeah, slowly does it.
Best laxative ever.
But the hot stomach bothers me. I reckon that is the caffeine right ?
I could stop drinking it at any time...
It's a good thing, but like most things too much of it is well, too much sometimes. I'm scaling back and will see how that goes for a while. My four days off it seemed to go ok, the hiccup today ruined things though. Lol.
I found ice water is my best substitute. Yours .?
Sipping one now.
I drink loads of water, 2-3 litres a day, that's about 3/4 of a gallon. I don't mind kombucha also, now and then.
I had to do a little "presearch" on that one.
https://www.eatingwell.com/article/8031171/is-kombucha-good-for-you/
It's better than soda, all natural, so when I feel like something fizzy it's what I have. There's different flavours and all, it's organic and pretty tasty too.
Will be picking some up to try this weekend.
Thanks 👍
The logic you choose is good. Once a while to satisfy the other party, by making themhappy and not feel bad is definitely a good idea. Here you get an opportunity to taste coffee once a while. I tried reducing my tea from twice a day to one time but failed.?
I'll get to have coffee whenever I choose, I'll just choose to have it on fewer occasions. No stress, it's all good! Hurrah for coffee!
👍🙂
When I went to university, I drank a lot of coffee, black coffee, but too much and it was very bad for me, I would alternate and the nerves were even worse. I used to drink it to keep me awake to study but it had a negative effect on me and I stopped.
I do drink coffee from time to time but it is milk with coffee, hardly any of it. With regard to alcohol I don't drink, only on special occasions and I don't eat a lot of food... Well, my weakness is pasta.
Now what I do drink a lot of is mate, but you know that, it doesn't cause me any negative consequences, on the contrary, it's very good for my health and I love it.
What I did have to control myself is bread, I like it but I know that too much of it is not good for me, so I almost practically eliminated it, I eat it from time to time but in small quantities, I prefer not to.
Hugs Galen.
Bread is way worse than coffee I think, so many carbohydrates, but it's bloody tasty! I like sourdough bread, can't get enough of it, but with my situation I can't even recall the last time I had some. Oh well, that's life.
It's true, it's delicious and the sourdough is even more so, but I like to take care of myself, even if I don't have any illnesses and that's why I hardly eat it.... although it calls me and calls me... I discovered that I'm stronger than bread.
Good night Galen!
Back when I used to work at night, coffee and cigarettes were like a necessity to me. In my younger days, I didn't take care of my health. I would drink coffee from morning, noon, and night every day. I could finish a whole pack of cigarettes in a day. I admit, it was really bad when I think back to my life working in nightclubs.
In 2021, I was diagnosed with panic attacks and MDD, and I quit both coffee and cigarettes on my own. It wasn't because I wanted to, but my panic attacks were severe.
Now, I have quit both. I started smoking and drinking coffee when I was still in school at 17 years old. I smoked for 27 years. Now, I have high blood pressure and have to take medication. Regretting it is useless, but that was my experience.😎
Cigarettes? I never smoked personally, never saw the point of it. A packet a day is a fairly heavy habit so I'm glad you quit. I find it to be a rather disgusting habit to be honest. Well done for taking a stand and choosing to put your health and wellbeing first.
I was young and dumb, that's for sure.😬🤭
It has become a real problem for me when it becoming an addiction.
I may have spent time with the wrong people, but I know that I am responsible for my actions. So, I never blame them.
I have tried to stop a few times before, but it didn't work out. I really hope that this time I can stop for good.💪💪💪
Good luck, I hope you manage to find the discipline to stop.
I took up the jitter fluid habit a few winters ago as the season escalated its war on my well-being. I don't drink it daily, but probably in greater quantities than I should when I do. On one hand, a caffeinated hot beverage helps with the cold and gray weather. On the other hand, it can't be good for my stress to pump stimulants through my system while I am also dealing with other conflicts.
I never took up tobacco or marijuana, so those vices haven't gripped me. I don't like to be drunk, so booze isn't a major threat. Food allergies have forced me to give up cheese, ice cream, and innumerable old favorite foods with dairy in the ingredients. Every meal I eat is a battle to avoid stuff that will make me sick.
I enjoy coffee, but it spikes blood sugar. It promotes the release of adrenaline which triggers the liver to release glucose (stored) for the energy boost the body thinks is required and that glucose enters the blood. Not good for me really, so I thought I'd back it off a bit.
I think many people have dietary constraints, or should have, so it's a fairly common thing but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with I guess. I get what you mean about the meal battle, I understand completely, just from a different perspective.
No matter what you cut out, never go cold turkey, it somehow affects the brain worm, constantly niggling that you want it!
Anything in excess is bad for us, normally all the fun things we do tend to like 🙃
!BEER
So...five cups of coffee a day is excess you think? (I think it is) But that's where I was at up to last Saturday. The last four days haven't been too bad without it, but damn that coffee today was god! Lol.
Perhaps a little cynical if one thing doesn't get you, another will!
Five cups is quite a lot, but then I drink around two liters of water after two strong kick-starters to the day, yup coffee!
I drink heaps of water too, it's just that some of it is filtered through coffee. Lol.
Water is boiled and filtered too, living in Africa!
I've heard that. Better to be safe than sorry.
Drink beer it's safer !LOLZ
When quitting a habit, everyone has their strategy but the most important factor is willingness to do so. I quit smoking 16 years ago when I was 40 and have not had a cigarette since then, but I smoke a pipe every once in a while, especially in the summertime at night when I relax after dinner.
It's been many years now and I could probably smoke a cigarette today and keep away from the habit, but back then I was sure if I tried one I would start smoking again so I drastically stopped and introduced the pipe, which is more of a pleasure than a habit, you cannot lid up the pipe right away and start smoking, it is a ritual and takes longer time which makes staying away from it easier.
I would have acted as you did in the same situation, refusing that coffee would have been bad, you still have your four days strike win no matter what, try to introduce a substitute that you can end up liking, of course, it will not be the same at all at the beginning but through the years I've learned our body (and stomach) gets used to anything we challenge it with.
Also, the Tiny Habits book from B.J. Fogg may help, I took his program when he was offering it for free while writing his book, and was quite helpful for any habit you want to introduce in your life, be it new or to substitute another one.
I've never smoked but have heard it's not the easiest thing to quit.
I'm not too concerned about the quitting process, I'm very disciplined so if I decided I would never have coffee again I'd not have coffee, plain and simple. I'm really just trying to cut back and wanted to go a couple weeks without it as a kick-start. But refusing that coffee today wouldn't have gone well and I'd never do such a thing, it's disrespectful.
So, I've hit zero and let's see how the rest of the week goes. I might manage to string a couple days in a row again! Lol
Me in Istanbul trying some local smoke three weeks ago :)
I'd not be looking so cool, I'd be coughing my lungs up! 😂
Yes, I confess that I have had vices and that some I have given up. And I can only think of one way to give up an "addiction", to give it up at once and not little by little and avoid temptations and of course willpower. For example let the people around you know that you have stopped drinking coffee so they don't offer it to you or avoid coffee shops. I hope this can be of some help to you. Have a great day
If I'm asked, can I get you a coffee, I'd say no, but when it's already purchased I think it'd be rude not to and drinking it won't kill me. I mean, it's like they're saying, here, shoot up some heroin, to which I'd say no. When with clients the idea is to find the path of least resistance I guess, and saying no to a client who has already bought me a coffee is something I'll never do.
Avoiding coffee shops...if my client wants to meet there then that's where we meet. It's just how is. I can choose not to drink coffee mostly though, and that's what I've been doing. I guess I wasn't really looking for advice, I'm a big boy after all, more to see how others have handled their own habits when wishing to beak them.
I hope you have a nice day.
I understand you, you are a big boy and I have discovered that I have an addiction, to give advices, It is an issue that I will have to think.
Have a great day
Lol...addicted to advice-giving? Ok, well it cold be a far worse addiction I guess.
Yeah, I guess so hahahahahah! Best regards
Have you thought about tea 😉?
I get you though... I'm trying the same thing with sugar. In theory it's so easy but practically it's over two years since I had the intention to entirely quit sugar with no success... so far.
I don't drink coffee though. Can't blame the ones who do it but it doesn't do good to me thus I could not turn it into a habit.
As I said in the post, tea has caffeine. Did you not read my post?
You mean green tea or black? I remember reading the entire but I don't remember anything about tea... My bad...
No worries. I'm not sure about green tea and wouldn't drink it anyway, tastes like water, but tea has caffeine in it, not quite as much as coffee, but it's there.
Didn't knew that. I only drink green tea once in a while for its "fat burning" attributes.
I just looked it up...Apparently an 8-ounce cup of green tea contains 30 to 50 milligrams of caffeine and the same size coffee has about 80 to 100 milligrams. Who would have figured huh?
Yep... Not that strong but potent anyway. Black tea must be stronger. Chamomile rules though 😀
It's been more than a year already since I stopped drinking coffee. It's not that hard though. Just like when I decided to lessen salt and sugar intake.
So you had no problems quitting it? No side-effects or cravings? well done, a year already is a great effort.
Yes no problems at all. I'm trying to live healthier now. No cravings at all and no side effects. Thank you.
You're on the right track. Well done!
Before I drank coffee twice a day.MOrning and evening. For me eating without coffee is not complete.
Yep, twice is common...I'm more like four to five a day though...too much. Lol.
Well I know someone who's addicted to coffee. He drinks coffee like water. Because of that person I learn to drink plain black coffee and love it.
All coffee is good. 🙄😂
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