Caffeine- opinions

[pookafey]

Ok, so I have so far stayed 90% raw for the last 6 days (I know not to long yet!) and I am finding most cooked food not to hard to give up. My problem is that I am having trouble giving up black tea, chai tea and the occasional coffee. I do try to use almond milk with these, but sometimes I do end up using nonfat organic milk. In your opinions how bad would it be to be all raw, but for maybe one drink like these a day? I do eventually want to quit these, but I have a feeling that if I quit it right now it might make me slide back to cooked :( .

[rawbeliever]

go at your own pace, pookafey. It doesn't have to be everything, all at once. think of how much better your eating habits are this week than they were last! There's plenty of time to refine things, and if you know that caffeine isn't the most magical substance for health in the world, you'll get around to eliminating it.

[Biff]

Caffeine is a drug, and a bad one. Among many bad things, it does leech calcium from your body, and messes with your nervous system. If you can give this up, it will be best for you in the long run. But do go at your own pace like rawbeliever said. You are still better off now than you were before!

I have heard that some people went on a fast before starting RAW, because it allowed them to give up their caffeine addiction.

Read about the Master Cleanse, juice fasts, and water fasts to learn more about it and to decide if it is something that you want to try. The Master Cleanse is a 10 day liquid fast that is very easy to do. (Believe it or not, you do not get hungry doing it.) Juice fasts are also great, but I wouldn't recommend a water-only fast for more than two days without supervision.

[JEN]

I had to cut down the amount I was drinking a little everyday to finally get off the caffiene. I would make it weaker and water it down more and more until the desire was gone and no headaches. It took me a few weeks. I still miss drinking it because it was warm and comforting but Im to the point to where if I really want warm I make an almond milk chai in the vitamix or have an herbal tea without having to have caffiene. The detox from the caffiene was pretty rough. I had mild headaches and a lot of pain in my upper back and chest. Now that Im caffiene free and raw I have more energy than coffee ever gave me. Good luck, its soooo worth letting it go!!

[wyjoz]

Ok, so I have so far stayed 90% raw for the last 6 days (I know not to long yet!) I am having trouble giving up black tea, chai tea and the occasional coffee. :( .

this helped me get off coffee and it was very enjoyable:
http://www.teeccino.com/ almost all health food stores have it. It's by the chai tea etc. Hope it works for you. Joz

[exurb]

pook, you could try brazil nut milk instead of coffees with milk in them if you like. It has a wonderful maybe sort of mocha taste.

For the chai, you could make stuff with chai spices in them, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, pinch of star anise, etc...

That's if you want to raw sub them.

I would also suggest toughing it out and remove the milk at least to start. I know a 99%er who says he looks at the coffee and the tea like non-raw seasonings in hot water, so incorporates them into his otherwise raw diet where his exception is seasoning and spices.

If for some reason you don't want to remove the milk at least please only do organic milk, especially in the U.S.

google: Monsanto posilac carcinogenic breast prostate

the hormone given to cows in the United States is illegal in virtually every other civilized country.

maybe this link works?

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:6yOqhRSK_FMJ:www.factoryfarm.org/docs/rBGH-Hudson.doc+monsanto+posilac+carcinogenic+breast+pr ostate&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=3

here's another, you can scroll down past the intro to the book and there's a really good extensive article on it

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewwork.asp?id=10442

[wyjoz]

exurb: thanks for the links! I'v read the articles and for the love of I don't know what HOW CAN PEOPLE DO THIS TO OTHER PEOPLE? And millions are addicted to MILK! and their: it does the body good comercials ! WOW!

[Veganforlife]

exurb: thanks for the links! I'v read the articles and for the love of I don't know what HOW CAN PEOPLE DO THIS TO OTHER PEOPLE? And millions are addicted to MILK! and their: it does the body good comercials ! WOW!

Money. It's all about money. Those big corporation don't care about humans. Humans are replaceable. Money is all they care about... :mad:

[luckitri]

I love my coffee and have not yet given it up although I often go all day on only 1 or 2 cups max.....so thanks for the links wyjoz and exurb! Especially the not-coffee one that tells me that maybe all this cilantro I've been eating and juicing since no spinach is maybe getting toxic metals out of me!

[pookafey]

Wow, thanks everyone for the great info! I will have to give both Brazil nut milk & Teeccino a try. How do you make Brazil nut milk? Or can you buy it made?

[rawfigure]

The BEST thing I ever did was give up caffine. It had such a negative effect on me and I drank it for 20 plus years !

I went cold turkey, drank Yerba Mate tea instead, whixh is awesome !!

[Sharon in Colorado]

I had some Kukicha tea (twig tea) last night at a group study and I had a lot of trouble sleeping. I also woke up in the midde of the night and couldn't go back to sleep for hours!

I didn't think the caffeine was that high, but apparently it is made of tea leaves and the twigs from the same plant.

I'm going back to white and herb tea!

By the way white tea is low in caffeine and sun-dried - I often make sun tea out of it and add mint and/or lemon balm.