Wake up, DRINK (coffee). Every day in the United States over 400 million cups of coffee are consumed—in fact, many adults admit to drinking more coffee than plain glasses of water throughout a normal day.
Coffee itself has many health benefits (such as increased fiber intake, protection against Parkinson’s disease and type 2 diabetes, reduces suicide risk and depression, etc…) The benefits to drinking coffee are appealing but it is a delicacy in which you are supposed to drink in moderation, a rule that the majority of people do not follow.
The recommended daily intake of caffeinated coffee products is about 6 ounces (around one small cup), whereas most people double or triple this number—and in a lot of cases people consume over three cups a day for no other reason than, “I need it”. But what if you didn’t?
Straying away from your everyday coffee habits can be scary and even seem unrealistic. I have never been a big coffee drinker but I have been able to help a lot of my friends and family stop drinking it altogether.
First, I would recommend not trying to stop cold turkey because (especially if you are a frequent coffee drinker) this probably won’t work. When starting out, try mixing half of your regular coffee with decaf to keep the flavor and some of the caffeine. After a few days of this, switch to a smaller ratio of coffee to decaf, and do this for a few more days.
Next try to cut down to just a caffeinated tea, or another similar drink with a significantly smaller amount of caffeine and when you feel ready, you can cut out the caffeinated stuff altogether.
One of the most important parts of staying energized without caffeine is being able to stay active and keep a consistent schedule. Start waking up around the same time every day—yes, even on the weekends! This is a small change that will make huge changes in your daily activities as well as boosting your overall mood. On top of this, try doing at least thirty to sixty minutes of physical activity almost every day to keep your body naturally energized.
At first, giving up caffeine is going to suck, but being able to wake up feeling as though you do not need it will be even more rewarding than that first morning cup-o-joe.