the "skinny bitches" folks say Soda is Satan.
might also be true-- but again, I don't want to be a zealot.
I am not sure about everything in moderation. Maybe some stuff just shouldn't be in my diet at all. the science experiment continues.......

I have been thinking about trying to detox from caffeine myself because I find I am dependent on it -- I get a headache when I stop -- once I change jobs and don't need the jolt to stay awake during a long and boring commute.

My mom who is a health freak in ever way besides what she drinks wishes she has never tasted diet coke. She is completely addicted. It is very funny to hear her say to someone "I am addicted to coke!"

Have you found the Crystal Light energy mix? There's as much caffeine in it as coffee, so I drink that (I don't like coffee). I guess if you're trying to stay away from it that doesn't help much! I drink one of those per day and my other three or so CLs are the regular flavors.

Of course the energy mix says it has B vitamins, which is what we give pets to give them an appetite, so maybe I'm thwarting weight control with this product...

I've always been suspicious of nutrasweet. My husband used to drink 6-10 diet Mt Dews a day and I swear, if the man comes down with cancer one day I'm blaming it on the nutrasweet. I'm one of the "lucky" people who is allergic to it (ie, it gives me a headache & makes me feel sick; however, this comment in NO WAY implies that your headache is caused by nutrasweet, I know better than to suggest that! ;-). So I pretty much drink water & iced tea with sweet & low (which they used to think caused cancer, but now they don't, so who the heck knows what's what anymore). Oh, and coffee. I do drink coffee. Gotta have my coffee.

"Half-assed author Jennette Fulda..."

Maybe not the most opportune label, no?

ROTFLMAO

I'm pleased with my level of addiction, actually. 1-2 per day. I choose doctors who agree with me. Healthy!

So look at the bright side- you never noticed the caffeine detox headaches, because you already had a headache going on!

But I seriously wish I could part with the caffeine b/c it's bad for your stomach, bad for getting a good night's sleep, bad to be dependent on something, and bad for your teeth. Any detox tips??

Hope the headache buggers off soon!

I used to be a big coffee/soda/ice tea/diet energy drink drinker but when I started down this healthy living stuff my first goal was 8 glasses of water per day. I had barely been drinking 1 per day, so this was hard. I told myself that I could have other things to drink (besides one flavored thing in the morning) after I got my 8 waters. Most days, it was a struggle to get down that water so I didn't drink much else. Then I notice caffeine was giving me a buzz again, so I had to watch when I drank it. So I told myself no caffeine after work, and somehow spent a month exploring herbal tea instead of coffee and then realized - hey, I don't drink caffeine anymore.

The other day I went to lunch and got one green tea iced tea and was literally bouncing off the walls. I'm pretty sure I would now explode if I got hold of an energy drink. Crazy!

And I wish you luck finding the root of all evil in your head!

Yay for water! I add sugar free fruit flavored liquid vitamins to mine when I am craving something with flavor.

Would a well-meaning but essentially powerless wish that the big H. goes away soon be cause for deletion? If so, I will keep it to myself.

My sister gets migraines from aspartame and her husband gets them from caffeine. I guess I get them from both. Fun, huh?

Congrats on being caffeine free! :)

Not a suggestion, but a possible explanation? When your body goes from lots of caffeine to no caffeine, you get some pretty bad headaches for a while as your body adjusts, I think due to dehydration. So the benefits may arrive eventually?

Caffeine means I can't sleep at night unless I drink it very very early in the morning. Had to give up wheat and gluten and artificial sweeteners too because of my very own unsolvable headache. I'm headache free finally now but at first it felt like I couldn't eat anything. Not as bad now.

Strangely enough I find that a great replacement for soda is just plain old unflavoured soda water the fizz is satisfying enough and if I want a little extra something something I'll add a touch of lemon or lime juice.

I can't go to sleep early even if I'm totally caffeine-free, but that "I am too tired to concentrate" feeling is very familiar, particularly when I'm at work. Someone I know put a lot of photos of her office on Flickr a while back, and her office has an official nap room! Maybe this is the way forward? Everyone gets an officially-sanctioned nap period at a time of their choosing?

Somehow I don't think my office will be adopting this any time soon.

Just keep doing your thing and hopefully you'll get the issue resolved. :-)

2. Interesting that you dealt with caffeine like a lot of people who've lost weight (including you, I think) have dealt with don't-eat-often foods-- by getting rid of it from your house, not just by avoiding it yourself. I'd be interested to read your thoughts on this bit.

When I saw this topic I thought I might mention that at the age of 40 I quit drinking my favorite drink...Diet Coke. Within 6 weeks my 15 year acne problem disappeared! There was no other alteration in my diet but this one thing. I still drink STRONG coffee in the AM so it wasn't the caffeine...go figure!?!

Your headache is just bizarre, I can't believe it's lasted this long. Is it constant (like, not even letting up for 30 minutes or so)? Man, I don't know what's wrong (I'm not a doctor, nor do I pretend to be), but I sure hope you feel better soon.

Yes, the advice can get really irritating. My illness ended up being one "real" doctors don't believe in yet. I ended up finding help from a naturopath. So the most hilarious advice is the one that involves switching to a different kind of alternative medicine, usually one that is more expensive and less scientific. Ahh, good times.

Your good diet/exercise habits ARE helping you. DON'T give them up. I strongly believe that good habits, though they may not prevent illness altogether, have the power to shorten an illness, make it less severe, and give you the inner strength to deal with it.

I don't drink caffeine-- well, except maybe once in a blue moon at a party or something. I don't drink soda often, and when I do it tends to be caffeine free.... I'm a water drinker!

I still miss it.

I work in an environment with free soda and lots of free fancy coffee drinks and I'm pretty much over it. I guess it's like working in an ice cream shop, eventually it doesn't look good anymore.

I don't miss the soda very often, but I think if I gave up my one cup of coffee, I'd be a crazy person.