How to wean yourself off coffee

That jolt of energy you get every morning after drinking your first cup of coffee is a sign of dependence. Caffeine has become a socially acceptable drug as places like Starbucks bloom and pop up on every street corner. Don't get me wrong, I love coffee. Really. It's been a love and hate relationship between us though. If I drink too much of it, it has no effect on me. If I don't drink any, I feel like I'm missing out on the extra boost that will get me through my hard days. So what to do?

If you're already dependent on coffee, you can figure this out as my friend R did. No coffee for two days and see if it has any effect on your body. If you start getting headaches and such, then you are going through withdrawal. Your body has become coffee addicted. To stop that, you can drink coffee but slowly decrease the amount. So you might be drinking 2 cups a day. Cut it down to one cup for two weeks. Gauge how you feel and go from there, slowly decreasing the amount of caffeine you take in.

If you're only a little addicted to coffee but want to use it for its maximum benefit of giving you energy, then here's what you do.

Drink coffee only when you have to. Do it on hard days, days when you have to push but feel like you can't anymore. Don't drink it everyday. It won't have the same powerful boost as to someone whose body hasn't become accustomed to the regular supply of caffeine.

But what about meeting my friends at coffeeshops to talk? What do I do? You can get organic noncaffeinated tea instead or a blended drink that's coffee free. Either way, the point is to talk to your friends, not to drink actual coffee.

Stopping the coffee addiction can also greatly help your pocketbooks, not to mention your waistline (especially if you're in love with frappucinos and such.) But if you're really craving a frappucino, then indulge or make one from a recipe. Either way. be kind to your body and use coffee wisely.

Other recipes for frappucino can be found here and here and here.