Depending on where you find your information, you will hear and read that coffee is either great for you, or it is absolutely terrible. One thing, however, is for certain: caffeine turns glucose into fat, which makes coffee with sugar bad. Also, coffee with cream or half and half is no better for you thank drinking that cream or half and half on your own. And finally, it’s never good to be “addicted to” or “dependent upon” something, which is the place many coffee drinkers find themselves in. If you are thinking about trying to cut out coffee, or if you are just thinking about trying to balance your coffee drinking with something else, here are three great options.

1) Tea: Although the caffeine content in tea is lower than coffee, you will also find that it is a healthier alternative. Green tea can help with digestive disorders, and all tea contains antioxidants that are helpful in fighting diseases. Furthermore, green tea helps to maintain stable blood sugar levels for those who suffer from diabetes. You can also drink tea all day long, without fearing the adverse effects that can come from drinking coffee all day.

2) Yerba Mate: Many people think of Yerbe Mate as a form of tea, but actually it is not. Yerbe Mate comes from the yerba mate plant of South America. Yerbe Mate can be brewed in a regular coffee pot, and it can be purchased in packaged form at such stores as Whole Foods. While Yerba Mate tends to have very low caffeine levels, it also has a stimulating effect on the body. Yerbe Mate has additional health benefits compared to tea or coffee, while yeilding a similar effect. Yerba Mate is considered to be an acquired taste, but if you are feeling adventurous in your quest to kick the coffee habit, it is definitely worth a shot.

3) Fruit or vegetable juice: Fruit juice and vegetable juice can be great alternatives to coffee. These drinks are full of useful vitamins, and you can avoid the piles of sugar and the nasty preservatives by making the drinks at home or by buying organic. These drinks will leave your body feeling clean and refreshed, even if they do not provide that kick you are used to experiencing from coffee.

It’s not easy to kick the coffee habit, but these alternatives will help you move one step closer to achieving your goal.

Even though coffee is entirely legal – as evidenced by the prevalence of coffee shops all across every town – coffee is still a stimulant much along the lines of a drug. Of course, coffee does not have the adverse effects on the body that many drugs have, but if you try to quit drinking coffee, you will find that the withdrawal symptoms will make it feel a lot like you are trying to quit something much harder than coffee! If you have come to realize that your body has become dependent on coffee, and you want to break this cycle, here are a few tips for weaning yourself off coffee – without experiencing the headaches and fatigue many others experience!

Slowly cut back: If you slowly cut back on your coffee intake, you will eventually get to a place where you you no longer need it. The first step of cutting back is to figure out exactly how many milligrams of caffeine you consume in a day; once you have come up with this figure, try to cut twenty percent off this original level of caffeine every week, until you are no longer dependent on coffee!

Find alternatives: There are plenty of alternatives to drinking coffee – but realize that this does not mean you should switch to energy drinks instead! There are plenty of foods that are “energy foods,” and once you start adding these foods to your regular diet, you will be able to cut coffee out far more quickly!

Drink water: Your body needs water more than it needs anything else you put into it, so when you start cutting back on coffee, you should help your body make the transition by giving it as much water as you can. Water will make it less likely that you end up with those nasty caffeine headaches, and you will also have a lot more natural energy when you drink water.

Even though coffee is unlike a drug in that it is not horrible for your body, it is always nice to be able to have coffee as a “treat” instead of because you are dependent on it; once you follow these tips, you will be that much closer to cutting coffee off your “needs” list completely!