Caffeine?

[Courtney]

Hi all.

I have a question for the veteran rawfoodists here: have any of you given up caffeine completely?

If so:

1) Was it hard to do, or did you just find after time that you really didn't need it, even in the morning?

2) Did you notice an improvement in facial lines and creases?

Many women pay megabucks to have Botox - botulinum toxin A, which is related to botulism - injected into their skin to diminish wrinkles. Botox
blocks the neurotransmitters that tell the facial muscles to contract, right?

When I drink a lot of caffeine, I notice that I am subconsciously tensing up my face, causing premature wrinkles. I figure it would be a helluva lot cheaper to stop the caffeine use causing the wrinkles than to inject a toxin to paralyze my muscles.

Caffeine is addiction, of course, so I'm wondering if staying raw will help me to kick it once and for all. Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

Courtney

[rawsurfer]

i gave it up when i went raw because i got so sensetive to it. i imagine that all you would have to do to quit is just lower your dosage daily for like a week and then stop. im the kinda guy that has to do it cold turkey, though, so that might work better for you. depends on your personality. then after that, after being free from it for a week or two (i like to think of this as being sober lol), maybe just drink a cuppa real fast and feel extremely crappy. that should do the trick for cravings down the road haha. no seriously this isnt necessary but if you give into the cravings that is what will happen. when i eat too much chocolate, or even when i gave up coffee before going raw (imagine what it would do to me now!), i basically am really messed up on drugs. there is no other way to put it. and since i am a chocoholic and i will just eat every bit of chocolate in sight after the first bite, i am just staying away from it for the time being. hope this helps some. good luck:D

[Courtney]

Thanks for that, Rawsurfer!

I kinda suspect that I'll just lose the need for it. I already gave up coffee like 2 years ago, so it's just green tea.

Is there caffeine in mate tea, I wonder?

Courtney

[cbowden]

Courtney, I'm not a veteran rawfoodie, but I found doing a Green Smoothie instead of my morning coffee worked. I don't crave coffee. I don't miss coffee. Of course, I only drank 1 -2 (big) cups in the morning and that was it. No cokes, no teas because caffeine keeps me awake.

Try the Green Smoothies. Everyone here swears they cure everything!;)

Good luck.

[rawsurfer]

even better than a smoothie first thing if you have a juicer is some green juice! instant energy. although i dont usually eat for 4 or 5 hours after i wake...

[Eva]

Yerba mate has a ton of caffeine in it.

Everyone's right about the green smoothies, they really do the trick. There is still some time for most people to go through withdrawal no matter what though.

It's been a while since I had coffee, and I do not miss it any more.

[Courtney]

Courtney, I'm not a veteran rawfoodie, but I found doing a Green Smoothie instead of my morning coffee worked. I don't crave coffee. I don't miss coffee. Of course, I only drank 1 -2 (big) cups in the morning and that was it. No cokes, no teas because caffeine keeps me awake.

Try the Green Smoothies. Everyone here swears they cure everything!;)

Good luck.

Hey, thanks, Cynthia.

I do notice that I get a "buzz" after a green smoothie. Maybe I can combine that with some stretches and stair climbing--anything to get the blood flowing. Stina recommends exercise to replace the morning java. I heard someone else recommend skin brushing to rev up circulation as well.

Wow, I can't believe you're in Deland! I grew up in Ormond Beach, a half-hour away, and I took weekly cello lessons at Stetson University. Nostalgia...Must be pretty hot there right now. It's a whopping 70 degrees F here in Siberia.

Courtney

[Courtney]

even better than a smoothie first thing if you have a juicer is some green juice! instant energy. although i dont usually eat for 4 or 5 hours after i wake...

That would work, Rawsurfer. Only prob is, I'm not sure I'd have the energy to juice first thing in the morning! Maybe I should fix up a good pint of pure green juice tonight for tomorrow morning, and then just chug it without tasting it. Hee hee. Think I can do that?

Ask me tomorrow....

Courtney

[Courtney]

Yerba mate has a ton of caffeine in it.

Everyone's right about the green smoothies, they really do the trick. There is still some time for most people to go through withdrawal no matter what though.

It's been a while since I had coffee, and I do not miss it any more.

Thanks, Eva. That's inspiring. How long did it take you on the raw diet to lose the desire? I'm curious.

It's just first thing in the morning that I miss caffeine. I've been drinking more water during the day, which helps replace tea.

You know, there are a lot of beneficial aspects of green tea (cancer-fighting catechins, for one), so I wish I could find a green tea without caffeine.

Courtney

[Authenticme]

:eek: Yerba Mate has caffeine in it!!!! Omg! I was drinking it because like so many others posted after I started drinking green smoothies, I couldn't tolerate the smell or taste of coffee anymore. Yerba Mate seemed milder and a good substitute. Wow, i didn't know it had caffeine in it too!

[SeaSprite]

Hi Courtney! I've been so happy to see you here, you're doing great!!

I miss the ritual of coffee, I actually hate how it makes me feel, but on a rainy or foggy morning, I really really miss it, so I was hoping someone here would offer you a nice replacement for the ritual.. any ideas anyone? I woke up on my little sailboat in Santa Barbara really early yesterday morning, and missed my morning tradition of going to the little cafe and watching the sun rise with a cup of black coffee.

BUT coffee and tea, even green tea, are really terrible for your pH, they make your body really acidic, which makes a happy environment for cancer to grow, despite any anti-cancer benefits of the green tea! Green juices or smoothies and bluegreen algae like e3live are really really good for your pH, and also have anti-cancer benefits from the nutrients, so you are definitely better off switching to greens if you are concerned about cancer ;)

I just wish you got the same snuggly feeling on a cold morning, sitting over a nice mug of bluegreen algae :p Oh well....

I've been making the most delicious tea-drink that's raw, I'm just putting a handful of fresh organic mint leaves in a pitcher of water, with a little stevia, and letting it sit overnight in the fridge. You wouldn't believe how much more delicious this is than tea, it's velvety and fresh. On cold mornings I've been having water with grated ginger, juice of one lemon, stevia, a tiny bit of salt, and cayenne pepper. Sounds nasty but it's really good and feels warm going down like coffee. It's very cleansing and the lemon is good for the liver. Mmm I'm going to have some now...

Wishing you all the best Courtney!

April

[Veganforlife]

Hi Courtney! I've been so happy to see you here, you're doing great!!

I miss the ritual of coffee, I actually hate how it makes me feel, but on a rainy or foggy morning, I really really miss it, so I was hoping someone here would offer you a nice replacement for the ritual.. any ideas anyone? I woke up on my little sailboat in Santa Barbara really early yesterday morning, and missed my morning tradition of going to the little cafe and watching the sun rise with a cup of black coffee.

BUT coffee and tea, even green tea, are really terrible for your pH, they make your body really acidic, which makes a happy environment for cancer to grow, despite any anti-cancer benefits of the green tea! Green juices or smoothies and bluegreen algae like e3live are really really good for your pH, and also have anti-cancer benefits from the nutrients, so you are definitely better off switching to greens if you are concerned about cancer ;)

I just wish you got the same snuggly feeling on a cold morning, sitting over a nice mug of bluegreen algae :p Oh well....

I've been making the most delicious tea-drink that's raw, I'm just putting a handful of fresh organic mint leaves in a pitcher of water, with a little stevia, and letting it sit overnight in the fridge. You wouldn't believe how much more delicious this is than tea, it's velvety and fresh. On cold mornings I've been having water with grated ginger, juice of one lemon, stevia, a tiny bit of salt, and cayenne pepper. Sounds nasty but it's really good and feels warm going down like coffee. It's very cleansing and the lemon is good for the liver. Mmm I'm going to have some now...

Wishing you all the best Courtney!

April

April, VERY well said. RITUAL. I think so many of our SAD/CRAP ways of eating ARE ritual. Birthdays? Get out the ritual cake. Morning? Get out the ritual pot of java. So true. It's a mind set.
I love the "tea" drinks you posted. I'll use agave instead of the stevia, but that's just me...

[cbowden]

Hi Courtney! I hope you are surviving the caffeine withdrawals. I'm sure the Green Smoothies will help and they are so delicious. My favorite one so far has been fresh pineapple (about a fourth), one mango, two bananas, a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach, spring water and a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil. Yum!

I work in Ormond Beach! Drive back and forth to DeLand, which I love!

Small world.

What the heck are you doing in Siberia?

[purelyorganicproducts]

I completely gave up caffeine about 5 years ago. The miraculous thing for me was that, after the detox period, I completely stopped getting headaches. I think I have had one headache in all this time.

As for coming off caffeine, I tried it once cold-turkey and it was pretty unpleasant and ultimately failed. The second time I tried, I initially allowed myself one cup of tea a day, then after my body was used to that lower level, I cut out the tea entirely.

I found that I really missed warm beverages, particularly in the winter, so now, I drink hot water all day at the office.

[JustusGSD]

I recently gave up caffeine (again) about 2 weeks ago. What worked for me was cutting back for a week and then adding a cacao smoothie in the morning. I have my normal green smoothie a bit later in the morning now and that works great for me. :)
This past week I've also added green juices in the morning and I'm really getting a great buzz from that. I've also noticed a lot less cravings since adding the cacao smoothie. Who knew? ;)

Sarah

[rawsurfer]

That would work, Rawsurfer. Only prob is, I'm not sure I'd have the energy to juice first thing in the morning! Maybe I should fix up a good pint of pure green juice tonight for tomorrow morning, and then just chug it without tasting it. Hee hee. Think I can do that?

Ask me tomorrow....

Courtney


nope i dont lol. just wash the greens the night before so its ready to juice. green juice has the fastest oxidation and breakdown rate out of all of them i believe.

[rawsurfer]

Hi Courtney! I hope you are surviving the caffeine withdrawals. I'm sure the Green Smoothies will help and they are so delicious. My favorite one so far has been fresh pineapple (about a fourth), one mango, two bananas, a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach, spring water and a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil. Yum!

I work in Ormond Beach! Drive back and forth to DeLand, which I love!

Small world.

What the heck are you doing in Siberia?


i have a cousin who lives in deland.

[rawsurfer]

I recently gave up caffeine (again) about 2 weeks ago. What worked for me was cutting back for a week and then adding a cacao smoothie in the morning. I have my normal green smoothie a bit later in the morning now and that works great for me. :)
This past week I've also added green juices in the morning and I'm really getting a great buzz from that. I've also noticed a lot less cravings since adding the cacao smoothie. Who knew? ;)

Sarah

well the cravings would go away if you kept using caffeine, which is in cacao...

[Anastasia Alston]

Funny, the caffeine in cacao doesn't (& never has) bother me! My thing was black tea. About a year ago I got up one morning to my usual cup of black tea & couldn't bring myself to get it down. No warning, just "EEEW!" My body totally rejected it. I went to decaf black tea & eventually the same thing happened. I tried the herbal teas for awhile & they were okay, but eventually had no desire for them anymore, either.

The thing that helped me the most with the caffeine detox was downing tons of water; it was easy for me to drink a lot of water 'cause my body just craved it all the time. I had hardly any withdrawal symptoms that way; a little tiredness & a little bit of a funny feeling in my head, but that was it. Now I get totally jacked up if I drink anything caffeinated like pop (I never touch the stuff) or tea or coffee. I had a cup of tea a few months back & I was so wigged out I felt like I needed to stand in the middle of the gym (where I work) & scream! My body was all out of whack & just buzzing with fakey energy. I felt completely out of control. I haven't touched the stuff since. I was eating cooked/SAD then; I don't even want to know what would happen now that I'm raw!:D

Stasi

[Courtney]

i have a cousin who lives in deland.

Hey, Rawsurfer!

You just read my mind. I was going to ask for a recipe for a tastier green smoothie. Trouble is, there's no pineapple, spinach, coconut, or mango here. (Well, if I searched enough I could probably find pineapples and mangos, but they're imported and expensive.)

I mixed up a green smoothie to gulp first thing tomorrow. Ugh! This is gonna take some will power. I don't have Alissa's book, right? So here's what I did:

---90% greens
---10% grapes

The greens are: parsley, horseradish greens, and this other stuff I don't know what the hell it's called in English. Anyway, it all smells very pungent!

But...the concoction is sheer agony! Like drinking liquid horseradish. It makes my eyes smart. I managed to ingest some of it by drinking fresh carrot juice after each spoonful. I have NO IDEA how I'm going to finish the rest of the blender-full, much less drink it first thing tomorrow morning. Maybe mash a banana with it??

I think I'll follow your advice and use fewer greens and more fruit, preferably green fruit. We have kiwis here, as well as green grapes (with seeds) and green apples.

What am I doing here in Siberia? Good question! I'm halfway through my second book. It's nonfiction, but sometime soon I want to write fiction.

Wow. Ormond Beach.... I grew up in a house right on the Halifax River, just a few blocks from the ocean. My mom still lives there. The river water's polluted, but we went skiing a lot, and crabbing. How's the weather right now?

Courtney

[Courtney]

Hi Courtney! I've been so happy to see you here, you're doing great!!

I miss the ritual of coffee, I actually hate how it makes me feel, but on a rainy or foggy morning, I really really miss it, so I was hoping someone here would offer you a nice replacement for the ritual.. any ideas anyone? I woke up on my little sailboat in Santa Barbara really early yesterday morning, and missed my morning tradition of going to the little cafe and watching the sun rise with a cup of black coffee.

BUT coffee and tea, even green tea, are really terrible for your pH, they make your body really acidic, which makes a happy environment for cancer to grow, despite any anti-cancer benefits of the green tea! Green juices or smoothies and bluegreen algae like e3live are really really good for your pH, and also have anti-cancer benefits from the nutrients, so you are definitely better off switching to greens if you are concerned about cancer ;)

I just wish you got the same snuggly feeling on a cold morning, sitting over a nice mug of bluegreen algae :p Oh well....

I've been making the most delicious tea-drink that's raw, I'm just putting a handful of fresh organic mint leaves in a pitcher of water, with a little stevia, and letting it sit overnight in the fridge. You wouldn't believe how much more delicious this is than tea, it's velvety and fresh. On cold mornings I've been having water with grated ginger, juice of one lemon, stevia, a tiny bit of salt, and cayenne pepper. Sounds nasty but it's really good and feels warm going down like coffee. It's very cleansing and the lemon is good for the liver. Mmm I'm going to have some now...

Wishing you all the best Courtney!

April

Thanks for the kind words, April!

I love mint! That sounds really delish. Never thought of soaking it overnight. Great idea.

Courtney

[Courtney]

Hi Courtney! I hope you are surviving the caffeine withdrawals. I'm sure the Green Smoothies will help and they are so delicious. My favorite one so far has been fresh pineapple (about a fourth), one mango, two bananas, a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach, spring water and a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil. Yum!

I work in Ormond Beach! Drive back and forth to DeLand, which I love!

Small world.

What the heck are you doing in Siberia?

Hey, Cynthia!

I replied to your message earlier. Thought it was from Rawsurfer. OK, I've concluded that I need to use fewer greens and more fruit for this to be palatable. Anyway, I still got a buzz from the horseradish greens, just not a pleasant one...

Courtney

[Courtney]

OK, I tried it. Started my day with a green smoothie and no caffeine. Took a portion of the horseradish greens and mixed in 3 whole bananas!

Now THAT's more like it! Tasted great, plus it was still very green and gave me a buzz. I think this could become habit-forming...

Thanks for the support.

Courtney

[belle]

OK, I tried it. Started my day with a green smoothie and no caffeine. Took a portion of the horseradish greens and mixed in 3 whole bananas!

Now THAT's more like it! Tasted great, plus it was still very green and gave me a buzz. I think this could become habit-forming...

Thanks for the support.

Courtney

:D awesome girl!!!

[teachingking]

Courtney,

I'll be interested to see how it goes for you without the green tea. I have also whittled my way down to green tea from coffee (which I love dearly and feel nostalgic about). About a month ago, I tried to cut out the tea, but after a few days I felt very depressed and emotionally uncomfortable. Note: I was not eating raw at the time. I finally broke down, said "the hell with this" and brewed a big fat cup of tea.

I have just started transitioning to raw and have been drinking green smoothies in the morning for the past couple of days (spinach, apple, parsley, water). What I'm noticing is that I'm not craving the caffeine. In fact, the thought to make a cup of tea this morning didn't even arise. That said, I will probably have a small cup today as I fear going cold turkey and stirring up even more detox than I'm already feeling:)

Anyway, good luck!

[grassygirl]

Hi all,
I quite coffee - and cigs two years ago when I went on a 5 day juice fast (not really knowing what I was doing) I got such a bad headache that I actually threw up. Have not touched coffee since. Although I have incorporated green tea back in the last year. Is green tea bad for you on a raw diet??
Good luck to you

[Eva]

Courtney:

You posted a question for me on my birthday, and I never saw it! You asked how long it took for me to get over the coffee/caffeine. I dealt with the detox (which sucked!) for a couple days with horrible headaches and felt awful. I remember laying in bed telling my husband I felt like a crack head trying to get off real drugs.

Then I felt better than ever. Those were my first couple days 100% raw too.

I have struggled some to stay 100% raw, but I keep coming back to it. I did have coffee a couple times and it made me feel really confused and was awful. I just don't even want it anymore; it has no appeal whatsoever.

I have been drinking herbal hot teas pretty regularly and have white tea on occasion mixed with peppermint tea. Supposedly it has 20 times the antioxidants and healing properties of green tea but only about 1% of the caffeine of a cup of coffee (compared to green tea, which I think is about 40%). It doesn't affect me at all, but I have only a little at a time.

There are some great tips on this thread, especially the mint leaves and stevia overnight in a pitcher. I'm going to try that tonight! :)

Courtney, how are you doing with the caffeine?

[Rawzula]

I gave up caffeine nearly a week ago. The caffeine AND sugar nearly destroyed my gums.

I've been having really horrible headaches and nausea. I had no idea withdrawal symptoms could be so severe.

Instead of soda, I drink 1 gallon of ozonated water a day:D. I don't miss soda, not at all.

[alecia]

i used to be a total caffeine junkie...i'd drink soy latte's 1 or 2 times a day (double shots of espresso of course) and throughout the day drink gobs of diet coke, energy drinks, even these things called "red lines" that you were only supposed to drink half at a time because they had so much caffeine in them. (i would chug the whole bottle at once haha)

i slowly transitioned to drinking black tea in the mornings and diet coke during the day, then got rid of diet coke, then finally after starting to incorporate more raw into my diet i started drinking raw kombucha tea that i found at a local health food market instead of black tea.

i haven't missed any of it in quite a while! i would definitely recommend scaling down slowly, otherwise you're in for a miserable week of migraine-level headaches (if you're a total caffeine crack head like i was, anyways.)

now i can't even imagine drinking a latte. my mom bought me one when we were shopping about a month ago and i was able to drink about a fourth of it and i could feel my mind getting really frantic and i was getting extremely anxious and it was just miserable. i've found the same thing happened with alcohol. i used to be quite the party animal and could drink like 10+ beers in a night and wake up and run 4 miles....

now i have more than a glass or two of wine and just want to die all the next day.

this is long. i guess the moral is that the healthier you get the more your body doesn't let you treat it like crap :)

good luck!

[lore-ah]

OH MY GOD the caffeine withdrawl. If you (the figurative you, not someone in this thread) didn't have withdrawl symptoms, you probably didn't have a giant caffeine addiction. I finally gave up Diet Cokes last week after years of drinking at least 5 a day. I'm starting to come out of the fog but I'm still not 100%.

I did that at the same time I went completely raw (so I'm new at both). I know it's not the diet since I've always been a huge veggie eater anyway. It's that damn caffeine. I also substituted my morning DC (not a coffee drinker) with a green smoothie so I had the ritual of something to drink first thing in the morning. It filled me up, but man, no replacing that Diet Coke. I never want to go through that again.

[sciencegal]

Hey, I'm going to try some of these ideas. I have to go cold turkey b/c if I try and do it gradually I will never get it done! I was off of it before, so I know I can do it. I drank my last "energy drink" today at the gym:D :D so I will find out tomorrow!! From experience, I know I will have more energy without the stuff!! It's just a habit I need to give up forever!!! Cheers!!! Sciencegal :D :cool: