15 February 2012

Trying to cut the caffeine addiction

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Food

I have several vices: red wine, coffee, the very occasional cigarette and…soda.

I love soda, especially non-diet, non-zero-calorie soda.

On a hot day, I love a nice ice-cold beer, but sometimes, all I want is a sip of ice cold soda. The feeling of sugar hitting your veins is the best.

It sounds like a drug, and sometimes, it feels like one.

Yes, I know soda is bad for your teeth, waistline and general lifestyle but since high school, I’ve been able to limit how much I drink. Once, I even gave it up for three months. The headaches and bitchiness that were part of withdrawal were awful. AWFUL. But I did it and been able to maintain my limited quantity for years.

Until lately.

That’s right, I’m back on soda, and I’m hitting it hard. I used to only drink three cans per week and then I fell off the wagon and now drink it 5-6 times per week.

I blame stress, long hours, travel and other outside forces, but in reality, I love soda and when I have the option of having one, I cannot help myself.

Now I’m back to trying to limit my quantity per week and it’s awful.

Seriously, the HEADACHES.

This sounds crazy, but I’m trying to redirect my soda addiction to coffee (lower in calories) but that’s not even helping.

Damn you soda, damn you straight to hell.

Have you tried to cut back the caffeine? If so, how was your withdrawal?



  1. I was totally addicted to Mt Dew for the LONGEST time, but in recent weeks, I just haven’t drank as much. My goal has always been to cut back, but this time I seemed to have done it without intention. I have cut back in the past and the withdrawals ARE horrible. Good luck!

  2. Kim says:

    I cut soda out of my life back in high school. At first I did it because I was on the swim team and was trying to be healthier. Then I found out that caffeine is a trigger for my migraines. It was so bad that if I drank a coke one day the next day I’d be in horrific pain. Sure I have a sip every now and again and still praise Dr. Pepper as “the nectar of the gods” but when my server comes around it’s “I’ll have a water please”.

    I will say that after a while it gets a lot easier. Plus the cost savings is always nice!

  3. Paula says:

    I don’t drink coffee and never have, and it is soda (or fizzy drink, as I call it) that is my problem too. I probably have a few a day at least, and very occasionally, if I end up drinking only half a can of it one day, i will have terrible throbbing head equating to a hangover the following day. It’s horrible. Think I’d rather keep drinking it.

  4. Erin says:

    I quit caffeine (coffee and soda) years ago and don’t remember any withdrawal symptoms. Now I have the opposite problem: if I eat or drink something with too much caffeine in it I get a weird buzzing sensation!

  5. Marjolein says:

    I guess I’m lucky, but I never really get withdrawal symptoms. I have to say that I can’t drink more than two glasses of soda and three cups of coffee a day anyway, thanks to my irritable bowel syndrome. So maybe that’s what’s keeping it in check?

  6. Lacey Bean says:

    I had pretty bad caffeine withdrawal headaches on the weekends when I wasn’t drinking coffee regularly. I tried toning down my intake immediately because I knew when I got pregnant and had to give up caffeine, that was going to SUCK. So it got a bit better and luckily when I discovered I was preggo, and went pretty much cold turkey, I wasn’t too affected.

    It’ll suck for a bit, but once you’re off, or decreased, it’ll be so much better.

  7. I’ve tried to cut back on coffee and it’s ugly, like down right you have to turn away from the ugly because it might make you cry.

    I can easily give up diet coke (oh, my diet coke) but switching to carbonated water but coffee? absolutely not.

    I figure I usually have one (large) cup/day, sometimes two, and it can’t be that bad.


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