I've been completely caffeine-free for about the last two weeks. When I started working here in Victoria, I also started waking up at 06:00 on weekdays in order to get a ride downtown with a coworker. I thought I was needing caffeine, so I ended up falling back into an old coke-a-day routine. Get to work, crack open a coke or a root beer or something, and sip on it for most of the morning (as an aside, my usual caffeinated beverage of choice, Mountain Dew, is available in Canada but has no caffeine).

I've switched to ginger ale (no caffeine but still full of sugar) and haven't noticed any ill effects of being decaffeinated. I can still wake up at the crack of dawn, and aside from that day earlier this week where I got no more than about five hours of sleep, haven't felt tired during the day at all.

I read that the US per-capita annual consumption of Coke in servings is 411. A can of Coke is 12 oz, so I'm not sure whether a can is one serving or 1.5 (if they're measuring by 8 oz serving). In any case, that's one heck of a lot of sugar and caffeine.

Years ago I completely eliminated aspartame from my diet; I'm considering doing the same with caffeine. I still enjoy tea, but fortunately there are caffeine-free (or low-caffeine) options such as herbal or white teas.