I wrote a blog awhile back to do with getting older and having to deal with changes in asthma, well the revelation is now having to cut down on caffeine.
I LOVE caffeine! Not the look of it, possibly the taste but definitely what it does, keeps me awake.
For anyone who works in the Arts or another stressful work environment where the average hours tend to be 10-14 hrs a day, caffeine is essential.
Well, I've been told by my doctor to ideally cut it out altogether. Due to the fact I adore chocolate and couldn't get rid of that on top of everything else (there would be no point in living, lol), I've decided to cut out the rest and that's good enough for me. The main reason is due to repetitive heart palpitations that I seem to have been getting on and off in the last few months after various problems with my breathing. They are still unsure if it is connected with Asthma pumps, stress, allergies etc, so now caffeine is coming out of my diet (sugar better not be next or I won't know how to deal with it : s)
So Caffeine free, how hard can it be? It's not wheat related, I'm not vegan and as far as I know, I don't have any serious allergies. Unfortunately, buying caffeine free items was a bit harder than I thought. Caffeine can be found in fizzy drinks, tea, coffee, chocolate, cocoa powder, baking powder, cookies, liquors, cereal, certain desserts, soy milk, pie crusts, frozen yoghurt's, cake frostings, chocolate ice-cream and these as just the ones I found on nutrition data. I have to say, it's not until you have to stop eating something, that you realise how many food sources your item is in.
Now again, we don't know how much the caffeine is particularly effecting me, so I am not going to stop eating all of these (and some of them I pretty much don't eat /drink anyway) but I have to cut out some of the main ones.
So I went shopping and luckily came across some decaf tea and coffee (which I have taken away to my live away job). I have to say, caffeine must add some kind of taste, because I can't get used to the decaf stuff, especially the coffee. The tea is growing on me and I think I can have herbal and fruit teas as a change : ) I have generally cut out fizzy drinks out of the equation, baring coke, as it's what I like to mix my spirits with. Boy, is it hard to get decaf coke! Remember in the 90s, when you had red, white and gold labelled colas? Well I don't know what's been happening to the gold one (no caffeine, no sugar) because I found one measly place that sold it and only in small bottles. I just want one 2 Litre bottle of caffeine free coke to last me on this job and that's not even possible! Not impressed : (
The other problem I have had is headaches. The first few days and even a little now, I had tremendous headaches that would not go away. I have since been told by someone that it does the same as coming off sugar, your body can't deal with the lack of it and is making up for the loss - by making me feel ill, that's not fair!
I hope after being on this caffeine free diet that I will slowly be able to bring it back in at some point, just not in the heavy doses I was absorbing it before. Because like many I love tea and coffee and I just can't imagine them in their tasty entirety being part of my life anymore.
Blog title based on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI
I LOVE caffeine! Not the look of it, possibly the taste but definitely what it does, keeps me awake.
For anyone who works in the Arts or another stressful work environment where the average hours tend to be 10-14 hrs a day, caffeine is essential.
Well, I've been told by my doctor to ideally cut it out altogether. Due to the fact I adore chocolate and couldn't get rid of that on top of everything else (there would be no point in living, lol), I've decided to cut out the rest and that's good enough for me. The main reason is due to repetitive heart palpitations that I seem to have been getting on and off in the last few months after various problems with my breathing. They are still unsure if it is connected with Asthma pumps, stress, allergies etc, so now caffeine is coming out of my diet (sugar better not be next or I won't know how to deal with it : s)
So Caffeine free, how hard can it be? It's not wheat related, I'm not vegan and as far as I know, I don't have any serious allergies. Unfortunately, buying caffeine free items was a bit harder than I thought. Caffeine can be found in fizzy drinks, tea, coffee, chocolate, cocoa powder, baking powder, cookies, liquors, cereal, certain desserts, soy milk, pie crusts, frozen yoghurt's, cake frostings, chocolate ice-cream and these as just the ones I found on nutrition data. I have to say, it's not until you have to stop eating something, that you realise how many food sources your item is in.
Now again, we don't know how much the caffeine is particularly effecting me, so I am not going to stop eating all of these (and some of them I pretty much don't eat /drink anyway) but I have to cut out some of the main ones.
So I went shopping and luckily came across some decaf tea and coffee (which I have taken away to my live away job). I have to say, caffeine must add some kind of taste, because I can't get used to the decaf stuff, especially the coffee. The tea is growing on me and I think I can have herbal and fruit teas as a change : ) I have generally cut out fizzy drinks out of the equation, baring coke, as it's what I like to mix my spirits with. Boy, is it hard to get decaf coke! Remember in the 90s, when you had red, white and gold labelled colas? Well I don't know what's been happening to the gold one (no caffeine, no sugar) because I found one measly place that sold it and only in small bottles. I just want one 2 Litre bottle of caffeine free coke to last me on this job and that's not even possible! Not impressed : (
The other problem I have had is headaches. The first few days and even a little now, I had tremendous headaches that would not go away. I have since been told by someone that it does the same as coming off sugar, your body can't deal with the lack of it and is making up for the loss - by making me feel ill, that's not fair!
I hope after being on this caffeine free diet that I will slowly be able to bring it back in at some point, just not in the heavy doses I was absorbing it before. Because like many I love tea and coffee and I just can't imagine them in their tasty entirety being part of my life anymore.
Blog title based on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI
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