Straight Talk TNT

My experience is to just quit completely. You might feel sluggish for a few days and even endure headaches, but afterward you’ll feel great. In my opinion this is the only way to quit.

Eat fruit. It’s a natural energy booster. Resist the temptation to buy “just one” drink. Instead, chew gum.

Sugar, caffeine, high-fructose corn syrup. They’re everywhere. It’s easy to consume empty calories from caffeine drinks and never feel hungry. Make sure you are eating healthy; it will help with the energy problem. When you first quit you will crash in the afternoons. But it’s summer so you can afford this for a couple weeks.

Downsize. If you drink two Monsters per day, cut it to one. Also, nutritious foods will give you the energy you get from caffeine. Exercise is a great stamina-builder too. Stick to it. Change takes time and effort.

Just stop buying them. If coffee isn’t in my face, I don’t miss it. But if I wake up to it, forget it. If your parents brew coffee at home, request that they adjust their routine or encourage them to quit with you. Or try switching to hot chocolate which has less caffeine.

I can relate. I love feeling energized all day too. I still drink coffee occasionally, but when I’m tired, I try to understand why. If it’s from lack of sleep, I promise myself to go to bed early regardless of what my friends are doing. Most often, my sluggishness is from lack of exercise. If I exercise, go to bed early, and still feel slow, I fake it to make it. Believe in it.

I had an unhappy year where I would constantly stuff my face with chocolate. If I didn’t have it, I would get mean and have killer headaches. When I finally saw myself, I was disgusted and immediately tried cutting it out of my life. The only thing that worked was eliminating all forms of sugar until my body detoxed. The first week was the hardest. Remember, you have an addiction, so it’s not easy.

I drink coffee rarely, so I feel just as awake the mornings I have coffee as the mornings I don’t. This will happen to you too. I knew a smoker who pretended she lived on an island where there were simply no cigarettes. This made quitting easier because she had “no choice” since there were “no cigarettes.” Use your imagination to do the same thing with caffeine.