I have read that caffeine addiction has been classified as one of America’s most most popular legal drugs. Imagine, a cup of coffee being considered a drug? But caffeine is found in soft drinks, headache pills, diet pills, and chocolate besides just in coffee. Not to mention the growing popularity of coffee and expresso bars featuring sugary lattes’ and all their other similar concoctions. One would be amazed at how much caffeine ends up in your body over the course of one year!

Why do so many people depend on this potent legal drug to not only wake them up in the morning, but to keep them going all day?

Well, from Wikipedia, we learn…

Caffeine… is a xanthine alkaloid found naturally in such foods as coffee beans, tea, kola nuts, Yerba mate, guarana berries, and (in small amounts) cacao beans.

For the plant, caffeine acts as a natural pesticide since it paralyzes and kills some of the insects that attempt to feed on the plant.

Caffeine’s main pharmacological properties include a stimulant action on the central nervous system with psychotropic effects and stimulation of respiration, a stimulation of the heart rate, and a mild diuretic effect.

Is this something you want to put in your body on a daily basis? Even after knowing these facts, I hope some of you will reconsider your morning cup o’joe.

According to Stephen Chernisek, author of Caffeine Blues, caffeine in the human body…

1. Raises blood sugar levels and disrupts sugar-regulating effect of insulin
2. Raises fatty acid levels in the blood
3. Raises homocysteine levels, which greatly increases the diabetic’s risk for cardiovascular disease
4. Causes vascular resistance (circulation is reduced)
5. And caffeine raises stress hormone levels which is a primary risk factor for diabetes

If that is not enough info to get you to reconsider, Wikipedia’s article on caffeinism reveals that…

Caffeinism is poisoning resulting from excessive intake of caffeine, whether via coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks, over-the-counter medications, or other caffeine-containing products.

Its symptoms are both physiological and psychological. The amount of caffeine needed to generate caffeinism depends on individual sensitivity.

It is commonly assumed that only a small proportion of people exposed to caffeine develop symptoms of caffeinism. However, because it mimics recognized psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and psychosis, a growing number of medical professionals believe caffeinism victims are routinely misdiagnosed and unnecessarily medicated.

A study in the British Journal of Addiction declared that “although infrequently diagnosed, caffeinism is thought to afflict as many as one person in ten of the population.” (JE James and KP Stirling, 1983).

Shannon et al (1998) point out that: “Caffeine-induced psychosis, whether it be delirium, manic depression, schizophrenia, or merely an anxiety syndrome, in most cases will be hard to differentiate from other organic or non-organic psychoses… The treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis is to withhold further caffeine.”

The fact that caffeine is known to exacerbate organic mental illnesses (Hughes et al, 1998) can make accurate diagnosis difficult.

I drank coffee for many years, and a few years ago, then when I wanted to quit, mixed my coffee with half caffeine and half decaf. Then switched over to Yerba Matte tea. It has some caffeine in it, not nearly as much as coffee, but I thought it was better than coffee. Gradually, I weaned myself off the Matte, and now enjoy a cup of herbal tea instead.

Some people experience awful symptoms when they stop drinking coffee. Some symptoms can be headaches, upset stomach, sweats, and mood swings. I would not recommend going cold turkey, unless you like the pain of withdrawals. No, I didn’t think so! The best methods to stop drinking coffee are two ways that I can recommend:

1) Gradually reduce your intake on a daily basis. For example, the first day you decide to really quit, and say you usually have three cups of coffee, have two cups instead. Drink just two cups for a few days. Then when you are ready, say in a week, reduce it to just one cup of coffee for the day. And then drink that one cup of coffee for 2 – 3 days. Next, drink just ¾ cup of coffee, and then after another few days, reduce it to ½ a cup, and then a ¼ cup. Soon, you’ll be able to substitute a cup of herbal tea and feel just fine.

2) The method I used works great too, but you really don’t kick yourself of the craving for the ‘taste’ of coffee. I did half caffeine and half decaf. I would buy the coffee grounds and grind them myself at the store. So I would dispense regular coffee beans into the bag until it was half full, then switch over to the decaf beans and fill the bag up. Soon I was able to drink all decaf coffee. But like I said, this doesn’t cure you from the coffee flavor craving!

So obviously, one of the best things you can do for your health is to decrease or, even better, totally remove, caffeine from your life.

Once you get past the withdrawal problems (if any!) you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel physically and mentally.