Image by Getty Images via @daylife

So here I was ready to write one of the best primal tea primer’s on the web, but just before I did I decided that I would check out www.marksdailyapple.com to see if he had written anything good on the subject. Not only did he write something good…it is GREAT!

Check it out.

All true “teas” are from the same plant. (Herbal teas aren’t really tea. While they may offer certain particular, often marginal “medicinal” benefit, they generally don’t contain the same antioxidant load of tea.) The differences in black, green, and white tea (the true tea varieties) are a product of processing rather than source. The less processed the leaves are, the more of their polyphenols are retained. White is the least processed of the three main varieties, and black is the most processed. Green and something called oolong (between green and black essentially) are in the middle. Incidentally, not only does white tea retain the most polyphenols, it also has the least caffeine. Nonetheless, if you grew up on black tea and can’t get yourself to drink anything else (and you’re not caffeine sensitive), don’t sweat it. Tea as a whole offers solid antioxidant value whichever variety you choose.

Great information on bagged vs loose and even which teas to avoid. Go there now!

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/to-tea-or-not-to-tea/

Now don’t think I am not going to write about tea on this site, I will. In fact I plan to write up a few reviews of teas that Mark recommends. So stay tuned cave people!

Related articles:

• All About Tea (herbalmedicine.suite101.com)
• Primal Soda (paleoaddict.com)
• Coffee and Paleo? (paleoaddict.com)

I posted 7 days of my caffeine reduction plan on this website. After that life got the best of me. I won’t make excuses but instead move forward and provide some good tips that I discovered while reducing the amount of caffeine I drink.

This was not an easy journey, but I found following the paleo diet while doing this made things much easier. My body felt better and cleaner and therefore it was easier to kick the habit.

A body full of carbs really made me crave coffee and soda for some reason. However, when I cut out the grains and stuck to vegetables, fruits, and lean meats I lost the craving for any of that.

I admit there were a few days that stress got the better of me and I resorted back to bad habits. You see, if I don’t get much sleep and have a stressful day lined up I go to coffee to get through it. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink, I go for coffee. The flavors and smells give me comfort and push me forward. Using it a little bit wouldn’t be that bad, but when half a pot is gone before noon…we have a problem.

I have studied a lot of caffeine reduction plans and they all have similar ideas on how to do this. I will give you 5 conventional ideas and then 5 not-so-conventional ideas. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Lots of water: Make sure you are staying hydrated. This will help with your headaches and any withdrawal symptoms. Chances are you were dehydrated from your caffeine addiction in the first place.
2. Meds if you have to: If your headache gets to bad, and water and stretching isn’t working. Use the meds. I know I know…a Paleo diet follower wouldn’t touch Advil, but if you are serious about kicking your caffeine addiction you are going to need to use any tools you can get.
3. Early morning walks: If you are like me and live in the Pacific Northwest, you can take a morning walk and be exposed to brisk fresh air. This really helped me whenever I started to feel withdrawal symptoms. It kept me awake and relieved my headaches.
4. Fruit: I found that cold fresh fruit really curved my cravings for coffee and soda. Whenever I had the craving I would find some fresh fruit and enjoy. The natural sugar boost was great for my energy levels and it got rid of the craving.
5. Tea: If you want to take slow steps to reduce your caffeine consumption, go to tea. Puerh teas can have coffee like flavors if that is what you are missing. If you are just looking to make steps start with tea, and slowly work down to herbal tea. Sometimes we find out that our coffee addictions are just addictions to your morning ritual of drinking a hot liquid.

Now those are some great conventional caffeine reduction tips that will help you out. Here are some other things I found worked for me during my 30 day reduction phase.

1. Binge: A couple of days during my reduction phase, I binged. I had way too much coffee…or even GASP an energy drink. You know what? It helped me. I had reduced my dependency on caffeine enough that the amount I drank really gave me the shakes. I felt like crap, because of this the next day I really didn’t want anything to do with the stuff.
2. Get a cold: I got a cold around day 11, believe it or not it was a great thing. I was getting a lot of sleep in order to recover and thus my need to stay up was gone. Also the cold medicine really helped with any withdrawal symptoms I was having.
3. Waking up early: I found that if I got up super early, 4:30 am, that I was tired at a normal time (9:00pm) the next day I would get up at a more normal time and because I got a good nights sleep I had a reduced need for caffeine.
4. Focusing on it: Because I was writing about it, or at least for a while, I was aware of my decisions. I highly recommend either blogging or journaling about your experience while you go through it. It will keep you going.
5. Don’t take it too seriously: Like I said, there were a few days that really required my full presence being there. I needed to be at a high level of intensity and so I used caffeine to get me there. I was using the drug in order to enhance my performance. You know what, I didn’t feel bad about binging. If I did, I could have sabotaged the whole process.

I hope both sets of tips can help you out in regards to your journey to drink less caffeine. I love not being quite as addicted to the drug that runs America.

Got any tips that you have used to get off the sweet crazy energy drug? Leave them in the comments or email me at paleoaddict@gmail.com

Keep it lean!

Related articles:

• Caffeine Reduction: Day 6 & 7 (paleoaddict.com)
• Caffeine Reduction: Day 2-5 (paleoaddict.com)
• Caffeine reduction (paleoaddict.com)

Day 6 & 7 no caffeine but I got help with my headache, yes I said headache. I think the withdrawal symptoms finally caught up with me. However, I got some help, I got a cold. With a cold came some NyQuil, therefore help with my headaches.

It really has made going with no caffeine much easier. Being sick tends to deter me from coffee and draws me towards herbal teas. I have been drinking a lot of Yogi Tea’s Peach Detox. I love the way it smells and the way it makes me feel. I figure it is a good idea to detox after using cold medication like NyQuil.

Feelings: I love not being attached to the coffee cup, when I get up in the morning I have a choice now. No longer, COFFEE!, but now I can choose a glass of ice water and not suffer any ill affects.

If you have an addiction, really to anything, you should try a gradual reduction system that works for you. Work with your doctor or homeopath (your choice) to set up a program that works for you. I have really seen good results in reducing addiction symptoms with coffee by using a Paleo diet plan to clean out my system and satisfy the nutritional needs my body was lacking.

I think a lot of my problem with caffeine use was because I was lacking nutrients and vitamins that my average American diet simply wasn’t giving to me. I don’t remember the last time I ate this much fruit, vegetables, and lean protein. My diet consisted mainly of carbs and processed food.

Look to your right, click on the Paleo cookbooks link and get started. I can’t highly recommend it enough, plus you will be supporting this site. Win-Win-Win

Things that helped:

• Cold medication: Just a coincidence.
• Paleo meals
• Will power
• Accountability through this site.

Related articles:

• Caffeine Reduction: Day 2-5 (paleoaddict.com)
• Quitting an Addiction – No More Coffee (funkykaraoke.com)
• Caffeine Reduction: Day 1 (paleoaddict.com)
• Caffeine reduction (paleoaddict.com)
• Love your cup o’ Joe? (thindependence.com)

Well did you miss me?

I took time to go on a Men’s retreat this last weekend, got a lot of good work done. Well back to caffeine reduction.

Days 2-5 were very interesting. I decided to go drastic on day 2 and 3, slipped up on day 4 and day 5 is going good! In fact I had 1 sip of coffee today and that is it.

Feelings: Day 2 and 3 were great, I was focused and even on the retreat I kept up a paleo diet and didn’t have the craving for caffeine. However, day 4 was a very long rainy day on the Oregon coast and with that came the desire to have a few cups of hot coffee. They were great, I could see the increased effect of it on me now though. Due to going a while without a large amount of caffeine, it hit me real hard. Luckily I could go on a nice long brisk walk to get it out of me.

Diet: Temptation was great on the retreat but I stuck to my guns, I felt much better for it. The first day I did have some carbs, and I paid for it with a stomach ache. As the week went on I even passed on fresh baked cookies each night. Wow, I have grown!

Caffeine Content:

N/A on days 2, 3, and 5

Day 4 115 milligrams x 6 = 690 milligrams

Normal intake: Coffee 115 milligrams x 4 = 460

Headache?

Nope

Things that helped:

• Paleo meals
• Hot herbal tea
• Talking with good friends to keep my mind off of it.
• Walking outside (brisk ocean air)

Days 2-5 went satisfactory, but I really need to get going and start being drastic. If you have any tips to fight cloudy day coffee cravings, let me know by making a comment or it me up on twitter @paleoaddict

Keep it lean!

Related articles:

• Caffeine reduction (paleoaddict.com)
• Caffeine Reduction: Day 1 (paleoaddict.com)

This is day 1 of my caffeine reduction 30 day challenge. I want to keep a similar format on each day to make it easier to follow along. So the format I use on this post will be used on every post. I am type A like that.

Feelings:

So 2 cups of coffee (roughly 12 oz) is all the caffeine I have had today. I feel alright. At the moment it is 2:52, a time where I am normally pretty tired.

Diet:

I think having a good breakfast (eggs/bell peppers/spinach) and lunch (spinach salad with carrots/cabbage/olive oil dressing/apple sauce) has really helped. I have also been drinking a lot of ice water, which I think has helped a lot. I just feel slightly run down.

Caffeine content:

115 milligrams x 2 = 230 milligrams of caffiene

Normal intake: Coffee 115 milligrams x 4 = 460

Headache?:

Nope

Things that have helped:

• Paleo meals
• Ice Water
• Plenty of sleep the night before
• Walking outside (its currently 43 F outside. Nice and brisk)

I am slightly surprised how easily I have stepped down to 50% of my caffeine intake with no pain medication. I was expecting a large headache. I may have a small cup of coffee towards the evening hours by the way I am feeling. I have a busy evening and might need the good effects of the drug in order to keep going. Again, I am controlling it, not the other way around.

Keep it lean!

Related articles:

• Caffeine reduction (paleoaddict.com)
• Quitting an Addiction – No More Coffee (funkykaraoke.com)
• High-Octane Caffeine May Trigger Headaches (nlm.nih.gov)