[greenbunny]

Once again Double Helix and I are diametrically opposed in our turtle vs. hare approaches with the goal and ideology identical. I knew someone who when giving up soda literally passed out in the middle of a Manhattan street and ended up in the hospital.

Caffeine addiction can be like other strong drug addictions. Giving it up all at once the capillaries in your brain contract giving you headaches, making you tired and miserable and causing you not to be able to think straight or even pass out: your adrenal glands go into shock, your pancreas gets wigged out and the sudden lack of adrenaline and the sugars it releases can create havoc for your entire sugar metabolism and everything it feeds including the muscles as well as the nervous system including the brain.

I have come off coffee more times than I would like to admit in my lifetime and have helped many other people to do it as well. It is my strong belief that cold turkey makes for unnecessary pain, discomfort and danger (including the danger of doing poorly at your work if you have responsibilities that have to be kept up with while coming off the drug).

There are teas that have caffeine in them that also have tremendous healing components. One of the best is green tea. If you transfer over to green tea and drink it all day in sips you will transfer your caffeine addiction onto a substance that is much easier to beat because it does not have all the other chemical/energetic addictive properties that coffee and soda do. There are other herbs that can help you come off caffeine. Licorice tea is a miracle tea. I get the tea bags and add them to my other cafeinated teas because it helps to heal the adrenals and balance sugar levels. It's like taking medicine with the poison. Cinnamon is another fabulous herb to balance the sugar levels. Chromium is a great supplement that helps when you are trying to re-balance your sugar metabolism. If you are not diabetic or hypoglycemic eating lots of fruit and fruit juices during the day will help to at least keep your sugars up. If you are getting headaches, putting your head lower than your heart can help to open up those cappilaries in your brain that have been shut down due to coffee.

You are really on track and getting rid of the caffeine - you will be amazed at how much better you feel.

My opinion is - like it is with everything - why make it hard and unpleasant if you don't have to?

Greenbunny