Mostly Caffeine Free

My new year’s resolution this year was basically to try and stop drinking caffeine and diet soda if at all possible. I used to drink probably close to 2L of diet pepsi a day in Vancouver, mostly because the office I worked at had a fountain pop machine that everyone could use for free. Whether or not diet soda is a health concern is still up for debate, but undoubtedly it has aspartame (even though it has a good safety record, it’s still a chemical) as well as caffeine (which has been linked to weight gain and elevated levels of adrenaline, and cortisol, the stress hormone). I figured while I was in the process of giving up soda pop that I may as well stop caffeine in general.

It’s been nearly four months now, and for the most part I’ve been caffeine free. I won’t lie and say I’ve been completely caffeine free, as I haven’t been entirely (mainly because decaf hasn’t always been available). But I can probably count the days on one hand when I ended up having a caffeinated beverage.

Without a doubt, I am definitely sleeping quite a bit better. In terms of weight, I’ve actually lost about eight pounds; I can’t really say that it’s due to the caffeine, since I’ve been going to the gym quite a bit as well (especially in the last few weeks), but I’m sure it isn’t hurting anything. But in general I definitely feel a bit healthier. Strangely enough, being healthy seems to perpetuate healthiness — the more I go to the gym and feel better, the more I want to continue going to the gym and making healthier choices.

I’ve also been purposefully staying away from any activities that generally go along with eating garbage food, such as parties and pub nights. While I enjoy them, it’s pretty counterproductive spending an afternoon at the gym and then consuming 1,000 calories worth of beer at night. So my plan is to continue staying away from anything of that nature (whenever possible) for at least the next month or so.