Okay, I’ll admit right now – I’ve never been addicted to coffee. Lucky me.
No particular reason for that, but just like I never bothered to start smoking cigarettes, I never took to coffee drinking either.
Well, lucky me, but perhaps not lucky you. Maybe you are a coffee addict and would like to quit. There are plenty of good reasons to quit caffeine – one is your skin! Caffeine directly acts like stress in your body by releasing the cortisol hormone from your adrenal glands. It also sends you on blood sugar swings, which then causes the release of excess insulin and androgens, which can lead to acne.
I’ve said all this before, so I won’t harp on…
I’m here to direct you to a very interesting article I read a while ago. It suddenly popped into my head yesterday because my dad announced that he was quitting coffee cold turkey.
Now, my dad (no offense Dad) can often get his cranky pants on at the best of times. And since I’m living at home with him while Luke and I look for a place to live, I was slightly alarmed at what was to come as he went through coffee withdrawal… which I hear can be pretty nasty for up to two weeks or even longer!
So I quickly got on the ol internets and brought up this article from Cara at her Health, Home & Happiness blog and plopped it in front of his face to read.
Apparently Cara and her husband quit coffee cold turkey with the help of an amino acid supplement called D, L-Phenylalanine (DLPA) and didn’t experience any withdrawals at all.
Here’s what her blog says about DLPA:
D, L-Phenylalanine (DLPA) is used by the brain to produce norepinephrine (our brains’ version of adrenaline), a neurotransmitter depleted by stress, caffeine, nicotine, pollution, and some pharmacological and recreational drugs. Source
When you’re low on dopamine, you feel dull, unmotivated and tired. Nothing seems very interesting. When left to yourself you might sit in the same spot for hours. This can feel terrible!
Fortunately, there’s a simple way to boost dopamine levels. The amino acids L-tyrosine and DL-phenylalanine (DLPA) are your body’s natural dopamine precursors. When you take L-tyrosine and DLPA as supplements, your body converts them into dopamine, and your alertness and energy level get a boost. Source
Caffeine gives us a temporary lift by sending norepinephrine into the blood stream. Over time, healthy levels of norepinephrine are depleted by caffeine and other factors mentioned above … if not replaced. Phenylalanine does a great job replacing this major neurotransmitter. Source
She says that DLPA has no side effects, isn’t habit forming, and actually corrects an imbalance in your brain rather than just force adrenaline out like caffeine does. She also says it seems to give her a nice energy throughout the day, but not in a crazy wired way like from coffee.
Anyway… just go read the article.
Happy quitting 🙂
Are you or have you ever been a coffee addict? Have you ever tried quitting? What were your experiences?
28 Responses
Thanks for the article. I’m not really a coffee drinker. I’ll maybe have it here and then just for the fun of it.
I was a terrible caffeine addict.. very hard withdrawal, but I’m over it now. The only time I really crave coffee is when I smell it brewing. I usually opt for decaf or “1/2 caf” if I do any at all. I was a gourmet coffee drinker… it’s my favorite! Maybe again soon, after I get past this acne. 🙂
I never liked the taste of coffee and I decided I didn’t want to try acquiring a taste for it. Now I’m so glad that I never did! I don’t have to deal with getting off coffee and I’m sure we’d saved a lot of money never buying coffee over the years.
I have been an espresso-drinker off and on for about five years now. I have quit several times for a period of a few months, but I have always gone back. It’s not the physical addiction that’s hard for me, it’s the psychological addiction. Coffee is everywhere. It’s part of the social fabric of life in the Pacific NW (and elsewhere, I’m sure). You cannot walk around out in the city without seeing someone toting their brew. It is delicious. And a routine. Going out for coffee is something you can do with your friends, as a way to relax, or as a place to study. And it boosts the mood (temporarily). It gives you (fake) energy. And it tastes amazing.
So…the psychological addiction is the hardest part for me. I can suffer through a headache for a few hours and be done with the physical withdrawal.
I guess the best thing to do is to train myself to enjoy a replacement, as suggested in your video.
I think the supplement is a great thing for those crippled by physical withdrawal symptoms. They can be seriously nasty.
I do try not to directly mess with my neurotransmitters, however. Although I guess everything I eat indirectly affects them, including caffeine. I think DLPA would be very helpful for the first couple weeks of quitting. I wonder if you have to take it for a while before you quit, if it has to have a chance to take effect…or if you can just take it and have an effect within a few hours.
I don’t really think a nice cup of coffee or espresso is bad at all. Well, a triple shot venti extra caramel frappucchino from starbucks is another story, but a perfectly brewed expresso as a treat once in a while is fine by me (granted that you don’t get an acne outbreak right after coffee). I used to drink coffee every morning but quit like 5 weeks ago, replaced it with green tea and matcha. There’s also caffeine in there but I’ve also heard green tea is great for acne. Now I enjoy every cup of coffee (when I’m meeting friends or whatever) more than ever. Whatever works for you 🙂
Interesting..some months ago I was complaining here that I had a hard time with my coffee withdrawal. I was used to one or two espressos a day. ( I started drinking coffee in my early teenage years in the mornings before I would get to school.) My withdrawal symptoms wouldn’t go away for more than a week and then I would give in. But still eager to give up coffee I tried three times in a row, and the third time it worked. I decided not to go cold turkey, but instead drink less and less every morning until my coffee was super thin and I would only take a sip. And then I switched to white tea, which still has a little caffeine but much less. Although one could say I made it and I think it’s been about 5 months or something, I noticed at some point that something was really missing in my life. The crazy thing was, that although I was not really addicted anymore I felt less motivated to get up in the morning. I used to look forward to my morning coffee, I found it something really joyful that would make my morning whole. I would even say that the morning coffee was sometimes the main reason I would get up at all. So that is kind of sad. Quitting coffee really confronted me with the question what is lacking in my life that I’m not excited about getting out of bed. The addiction was in that sense serving me.
About the supplement I’m not sure, I guess it’s helpful, but I’m honestly tired of taking supplements (there is nothing joyful about it) and also believe that the human body is not made to take supplements all the time. I mean, I feel there is always something I could take a supplement for and they are adding up on my shelves and I would forget to take them, and often they also disturb my digestion.
I look forward to waking up to it, too. Sometimes it even encourages me to go to sleep so that morning will come. Wow.
I know exactly what you mean! and my boyfriend actually mentioned the same, he is often already looking forward to it the night before. (And he would never quit.) I like white tea, but it’s just not the same. Funny thing is, that I don’t even like the taste of coffee that much anymore, but I miss the addiction in a weird way. Quitting did help my skin and my all over balance though. But lately my skin started looking more irritated again and I’m not sure where this is coming from since I haven’t eaten sugar, bread, rice or pasta at all for one week now while eating lots of veggis and coconut oil. and at times when I ate a lot of sugar my skin looked almost perfect. Maybe it’s a detox reaction or emotional or something else, grrr..
This is some great insight about how we use addictions to distract ourselves from uncomfortable feelings… it seems like everyone’s addicted to something. Mine is probably internet/information seeking addiction… doesn’t sound so sinister, especially because it is useful for me and this blog, but I know it fills some kind of loneliness void when it takes up so much more of my time than it should and it’s unproductive. Have you figured out any way to make your morning more joyful without coffee?
I haven’t figured it out yet. At the moment I’m having two tsp organic blackstrap molasses in my herbal tea with fresh juice of half a lemon. That’s quite energizing and yummy. I would love to be the kind of person that could get up an hour earlier to have enough time for meditation. but so far I’m rather unorganized and also like to sleep in sometimes. and I live in a tiny apartment with my boyfriend where I don’t have my own room, so meditation in the morning is quite impossible. I definitely also suffer from internet or “research” addiction.
How to make the morning more joyful without coffee? It would have to be something really good…some other treat. Maybe a walk out in nature, or another form of desirable exercise. That’s the only thing I can think of that would get the heart pumping, elevate mood and wake one up in the same way caffeine would.
walk in nature..I would love to..I really feel like I’m living in the wrong place (Berlin), and the more I read the comments here the more I think that the only short term solution for living in the wrong place is to go back to drinking coffee in the morning again 😉 until I have a garden or a forest nearby or at least a balcony!
Aw I love Berlin 🙂
the web mountain rose herbs that you mention as a good source to buy organic jojoba oil for the skin offers a combination of herbs called herbal coffee tea, which contains roasted dandelion root, roasted chicory root, roasted carob and maca powder and is caffeine free seams to be a good alternative instead of drinking coffee.
I could never let go of coffee. Coffee is more like an experience than just a hot beverage. I don’t drink caffeinated coffee anymore though which I suppose is okay. But I just love the taste. It’s something I could never live without. So what I do is probably once or twice a week I’ll have a cup or two of decaf coffee (usually on my days off of work). Every other morning I usually have 1.5 liters of a green smoothie lol.
I quit drinking caffeinated tea and I got lots of headaches the first days. :-/
I quit drinking caffeinated tea and I got lots of headaches the first days. :-/
Ugh, I’m so saddened that coffee has a correlation to acne D: Not good! I love the stuff. But alas, I have this strange feeling that it is also the main source of my acne. Maybe because I don’t want it to be. So how long after quitting coffee would one potentially see the results of clearer skin? Would this be days, weeks or even months after?
Ahh coffee… my sweet love… I shall miss you :*(
Hi Matthew – that’s going to be different for everyone and that’s only if coffee was your major triggers… usually acne is a lot of little things contributing together, so, unfortunately there’s really no good answer for that..
Sweet, thanks for the quick reply Tracy, you’re awesome! I will systematically eliminate things one at a time until clear skin is mine! Hoorah!
Funny I just wrote a post about this today 🙂 What caused me (naturally and without initial intent) to give up coffee was juicing! Check it out here: http://www.ilovewellbeing.com/juicing-makes-coffee-urges-go-away/
I just wanted to add that I think its a bit irresponsible to say that dlpa has no side effects. ALL supplements have the possibility of side effects, especially those that stimulate functions in your brain. DLPA can cause nausea, headaches, heartburn, brain fogginess, anxiety and increased aggression. Please research these things before you publish them. I personally take DLPA and love it, however I know people that have had bad reactions to it. Always educate yourself before taking Aminos, they are VERY powerful.
I don’t think she meant there were absolutely no side effects. She was basically saying she hadn’t seen any mentioned on the web.
I LOVE coffee! 🙁 That’s probably the main reason why I felt like crap during the candida cleanse. I had zero energy and motivation, I felt exhausted and depressed. My body was very weak and pale. However, I still haven’t truly convinced myself that coffee is bad for me. I always think about quitting temporarily, not for good…
What I like the most about drinking coffee is a daily ritual. I like to read a book while sipping my morning coffee. I tried to do it with tea but it just isn’t the same! Maybe something more coffee-like would do the trick.
Btw Tracy, I’m also an information addict. I used to be on internet like 24/7. Then I exchanged it for Kindle and audio books. I think a lot of people from our generation suffers from it.
Hi Masha,
It kind of depends.. for some people caffeine is a big deal and really affects them and their skin and health, others… not really. They say too in contradiction that coffee good because it’s full of antioxidants. It all depends on how your body reacts to it. It does sound like you’re pretty dependent on it though. Maybe this amino acid would help??
As for information addiction… yep. I am very addicted, and I know it. There’s definitely a point where information is not useful and in fact becomes harmful!
I’ll think about amino acids – I’ve heard a lot of praise already, especially from sportsmen. But I have a little hard time choosing the “right” supplement since I don’t want to have them too many.
However, I was on 2-3 cups before your cleanse and I’m back on “only” 1 now. So maybe it will be much easier on my 2nd try. 🙂
I completely agree with many of the commenters. Coffee is a joyful experience! Maybe I am using it as distraction from something, but I also find it enriching.
Maybe a dumb question, but – does decaf count? I think I like the experience more than I care about the actual caffeine and decaf would really help!