Coffee: There are conflicting reports, some saying it is healthy and others not. If you drink coffee regularly, have you tried to go a day without it? And how did that feel?

submitted by In-the-clouds from self.AskSaidIt

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[–]TemporarilyDeceased 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

It depends on who you are. My wife will get headaches if she misses her morning coffee by two hours. I've had multiple cups of coffee and tea daily for years and gave up all caffeine cold turkey for 3 months with no ill effects. I've also had 8 cups of coffee between 4pm and midnight and gone right to sleep afterward.

[–]In-the-clouds[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

You are right, I think, to say that not everyone responds the same to coffee or its withdrawal. I can sympathize with your wife because I have found it challenging to delay the first morning cup of coffee. You said you quit all caffeine for three months. What motivated you to do that?

[–]TemporarilyDeceased 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Knowing that caffeine had no effect on me, I was curious if I had built a tolerance to it so I wanted to see what would happen. That answer is: nothing. No withdrawal when I stopped and no jitters or even improved alertness when I returned to it.

I've done the same with sugar. That was difficult not because I couldn't ween myself off of it, but because it's in everything. Life without sugar did leave me feeling better, but I do love chocolate.

[–]In-the-clouds[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You sound like you are immune to caffeine's effects. Why did you return to coffee drinking then?

That is an interesting testimony you gave about sugar. I feel better without the adulterated form of it: high fructose corn syrup.

[–]TemporarilyDeceased 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

If I can drink 8 double espressos in an evening and go to bed like nothing happened, caffeine immunity seems likely. There's a protein responsible for metabolizing caffeine. If you have too much or none at all, you can be immune to caffeine. Interestingly, it is the same protein that metabolizes a number of common pain killers and the results are similar which really sucks when I have serious pain to deal with.

HFCS is a great point. Specifically avoiding that may give me the same feeling as avoiding all added sugars... and I can still have (some) chocolate.