- 1). Spend a week writing down all sources and amounts of caffeine you consume. Don't forget chocolate.
- 2). Restructure your current caffeine intake into predictable intervals, without reducing the amount of caffeine consumed in a day.
- 3). Strategically reduce the about of caffeine at each interval. For three days, have 75% of your normal caffeine beverage. Replace the other 25% with a decaffeinated alternative -- water if possible. If chocolate is part of your ritual replace with non-chocolate candy or trade a regular size candy bar for a "fun-sized" -- or a higher quality truffle.
If you've been drinking coffee, black tea usually has about 3/4 the amount of caffeine. If you like tea, an even swap would be good at this point.
*Note decaf coffee/black or green tea all still contain caffeine. These substitutes are fine at this stage, but ultimately you'll want to give those up too. - 4). Once the three days have passed, reduce to 50% caffeine. (on the tea method this would mean switching from black to green tea.) Do this for a day or two.
- 5). Give up all caffeine for 1 day, then consume at step 4 levels. Repeat giving up for 2 days, then 4 days. By now you should be able to stay off caffeine with little or no withdrawal symptoms.
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