How to Quit Coffee Painlessly!

Chances are that if you are doing a detoxifying cleanse, trying to resolve a sleeping problem or  visiting an Ashram you will need to quit coffee.   At least during your cleanse and/or your visit.  I am not writing about the pros & cons of coffee (I love coffee too much & I have experienced both the pros and cons for years).  This is just a practical way of giving up coffee as painless as possible.  Whether you want to do it momentarily or permanently is up to you.

If you are a coffee drinker and have tried to quit it before you know that it can be a very uncomfortable, if not painful, process.  So the main step to do this successfully is to do it in stages and slowly.  Start by weaning yourself off main offenders such as colas (even Diet Coke! or any soda for that matter), energy drinks, and chocolate.  Even some over the counter medications such as Anacin and Excedrin contain caffeine.  

That alone may take a week or so.  Once you are only consuming coffee it takes about a week or two depending on how many cups of coffee you consume on a daily bases.   Here’s a painless strategy to unhook from the caffeine drip:

Day 1: Today, have your usual amount of coffee. Yes, that is part of the process.

Day 2 – Day 3: Blend your regular coffee with 50% decaf (preferably certified organic). Drink that for the next three days.  Have at hand your favorite headache cure whether it's aspirin or peppermint essential oil. 

Day 4- Day 6: Have 25% regular coffee, 75% decaf.  By day 5 or 6, try to consume only one cup a day of this blend.

Day 7: Start drinking pure decaf. Yay, you are on decaf now.  However that is not caffeine free.

Day 9 - Day 12 : Continue drinking decaf.  Some people may need to this for a whole week depending on their addiction.

Day 13 - Day 14:  Most of the coffee drinking habit is, well, habit.  Begin to use a coffee substitute.  I tried INCA successfully.  There are many other in the market.  Find them at your local health food store.  Just remember these are not coffee and taste nothing like coffee.  You are trying to avoid caffein so think of it as a ritual placebo not coffee, you will be disappointed if you think it's replacing coffee.   Now you are caffeine free!

Kicking the caffeine habit can be incredibly difficult, but well worth your while. Your sleep will be longer and of higher quality,  quitting before you start a detox cleanse would make the cleanse a lot easier & quitting before going to an ashram will make waking up at 5 am a lot easier without coffee.   

Please let me know if you have any questions.  I am here to help.

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Eduardo Martinez and filed under essential oils, inspiration, wellness and tagged coffee quit coffee detox cleanse.