Well, I will relate to you a little story from my life, but first we need some background info on bouv.
Back in high school I was addicted to caffine. Every morning I would buy a cappucino from the bakery. Buy cases of Mountain Dew and other nasty citrus drinks all the time. Basically if I could have a drink of something, I needed it to have caffine. Eventually, over the course of my senior year there and freshman year at college, I weeded myself off of caffine. I drink soda now, but only ones without caffine (rootbear, lemon-line soda, and the occasional caffine-free cola.)
Anyways, I was in a store last week and was thirsty. I wasn’t in the mood for carbonation, so I grabbed one of those Snapple elements. I enjoy those drinks, very flavorfull. So I finish that, and it was good. Cut to yesterday, I have consumed about one of those things a day since then. I looked at my room an noticed the empty bottles. I casually picked one up and read the label. There it was, at the very bottom of the ingredients list: caffine. Those bastards over at Snapple put caffine in this drink that is suppossed to be so ‘pure’ and ‘from nature’ Man, I don’t think I can ever have one of those again (a shame too, their good.)
Heh, I hear that. Beware “energy” drinks; though they may feature a vast potpourri of odd herbs and such on the label, the active ingrediant is almost always caffeine.
Caffeine may be your friend, but since I’ve quit drinking caffeinated beverages, I’m sleeping better and I don’t get headaches. It took about 3 weeks to complete the weaning process, but I don’t miss it. Of course, drinking water all the time is boring, since I try to avoid sugared drinks… Geez, I’m dull… <sigh>
Yeah, I knew Barq’s and Excedrin have caffine, and tend to avoid them at all costs. I don’t drink energy drinks, figuring most of the energy came from caffine.
North American “energy drinks” aren’t so bad. (Then again, I’m a certified Caffiend[sup]tm[/sup].) My friend Merlin had managed to quit smoking for several years before going to visit his dad in Japan. He got hooked on japanese “energy-drinks” marketed to students, and sold without any regulation in vending machines. He couldn’t figure out why he was having “nic-fits” again until he found out that the drinks contain huge amounts of caffeine and nicotine! Sold as a “study aid.” Neat.
Ditto here, except I went cold turkey. OTOH, I went cold turkey the day I had major surgery, so I had access to good drugs and permission to sleep whenever I wanted to.
I do drink hot chocolate and decaf coffee quite a lot, but I prefer water or wine with meals for the most part anyway.
I used to have at least 4 or 5 sodas a day. Then my dentist told me some of my teeth literally have no enamel left because of the acidity and the amount of sugar of the soda I drank. So I had to give up soda, and all acidic or sugary drinks. So that pretty much ruled out any caffeinated drink.
So one day I woke up and said I’m not going to drink any acidic or sugary or caffeinated drinks again. I’ve gone about a week and a half so far. I’ve been feeling jittery, but I’ve been able to resist.
I was surprised how many beverages that ruled out. I’m pretty much constricted to water, milk and unsweetened, uncaffeinated iced tea (which tastes like dirt, but I’m trying to get used to it). Even most juices are acidic.
I have the most amazing tolerance for caffeine, I hardly even bother with the stuff anymore because I won’t wake me up anyhow. I’ve had Starbucks coffee or soda or something less than an hour before regular sleep.
Meanwhile my Dad can’t handle more than half a cup of regular coffee because he says he can “feel” how strong it is.