Been drinking tons of Pepsi since I was a teenager for the caffeine. Can’t stand artificial sweeteners so I’m kinda hung up on the sugar too. I get the Real Sugar variety when possible. In order to cut back on the caffeine so I could sleep better I started drinking IBC root beer in the evening. It’s made with Cane Sugar as prominently displayed on each bottle. Helped a lot for getting more sleep. Still consuming too much sugar though.
ETA: not all root beer is caffeine free.
I’d try tapering off that, too. Maybe replace one sugary drink a day with flavored seltzer water. See how it goes.
That’s already part of the plan. Flavored seltzer leaves me craving more sugar so I just started drinking more water. With less caffeine intake what I drink during the day is more effective so I can replace some of the Pepsi with just water without craving the caffeine. Water is also more effective at keeping me hydrated since I don’t have to wash out all that other stuff in system. I have kidney issues so staying hydrated is important.
Tapering off has made a difference for me, I’d try to get rid of all the caffeine before, or reducing the amount too quickly and before long I’d be having just a little of Pepsi off schedule, then a little more, then soon giving up. Hoping I can keep tapering down for a while.
Well, everyone is different. But tapering works really well for me to get off caffeine with minimal problems.
Oddly enough, just last week I gave up a 30-year addiction to Diet Coke (9 cans a day on average), no headaches, day 3 was the worst, on day 5 didn’t think of it at all.
I don’t drink coffee or tea, so no other sources of caffeine. Didn’t replace it with anything other than water and a couple of gatorades we had in the house.
I’ve held my resolve and continued to taper off. I’m down to basically nothing. I got past the lethargy - man, that was tough. I only had a half a Diet Coke yesterday, I’m shooting for none today.
I really appreciated you folks sharing your stories and opinions.
Whether it was diet changes or the caffeine or other chemicals, I’m feeling great now.
One side note, I started drinking vitamin water as a replacement for coke. My wife suggested that maybe it was the sweeteners in the vitamin water that was causing the stomach issues. So I stopped that and my issues did clear up. That’s not definitive proof but I think it was it.
I stopped the caffeine Excedrin too.
Anyway, I feel great this morning, looking forward to a Coke free future.
Thanks again.
Hoo-ray!!
Well done and bravo on the willpower!
That’s great! I know how hard habits are to shake. It’s a lifelong struggle for me.
One thing I noticed when I reduced my coffee drinking to just a cup in the morning rather than throughout the day was that I didn’t get that fatigued feeling as much later in the day. My theory was that when I had coffee throughout the day, my body would get used to the periodic injections of caffeine and come to anticipate it. My body would then create feelings of fatigue to motivate me consume caffeine with coffee or soda. So rather than me using caffeine to overcome a feeling of tiredness that came on naturally, my body was artificially creating a feeling of tiredness to satisfy a craving for caffeine. I’m not sure if that’s actually the case, but just my guess.