Decaffeinating

Today marks my second day without caffeine. I have been saying for months-- no, years -- that I need to quit caffeine. But this weekend, I realized that it is only a mere 6 weeks until I embark on a big adventure in which I will not have access to caffeinated beverages any time I wish for a quick pick-me-up.

This left me with two choices: 1) keep on caffeinating and deal with the withdrawal on the first week of the trip OR 2) start weaning myself off diet coke now, so that I can begin fresh and new in 6 weeks. I decided on the latter.

At first, I thought I'd just decrease my caffeine intake little by little each day, and within a week or two, I'd be off the hootch. Then I remembered all the times I have attempted to do that in the past. It's a slippery slope. Once you have that first caffeine buzz, it's far too easy to just keep on going. So I opted for a different tactic.

I'm still doing a gradual wean off, but like this: This week, I switched to caffeine free soda. Next week, I switch from soda to sparkling water (I like the bubbles). Week three I go from sparkling water to flavored water. And week four I go from flavored water to plain water. Sounds good, eh?

For the past two days, I've been doing the caffeine free diet coke. Plus, I've been drinking "detox tea" like there is no tomorrow. I got the recipe for detox tea from some Pinterest posting and basically, it's a liter of green tea with a tablespoon of lemon juice, a tablespoon of cranberry juice, and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. (I have no idea what the rationale is behind this recipe. I just blindly followed it like   some kind of obsessed fanatic.) I did use a lemon wedge rather than lemon juice, though, so that proved that I'm still a free thinking, logical, clear minded individual and not one of the masses. Right?

Anyway, it's been surprisingly not bad. Yesterday I was feeling a little sluggish, headachy, and fuzzy headed in the morning. But not constantly. I had like these 15 to 20 minute spells periodically and then they'd pass. Today, I just got a couple of those feelings (lasting about 5 to 10 minutes) in the mid afternoon. But they passed pretty quickly, as well.

The only other drawback is that I've had the hungry horrors for the past two days. I'm guessing I'm craving food to take the place of the quick energy I got from the heroin  diet coke I consumed every afternoon.

 Maybe I should add week 5: cut out the sweets.