Wednesday, January 4, 2017

I Quit Coffee and Other Hilarious Things I never thought I'd Say

Coffee....ahhh, coffee!
And by coffee I mean, delicious flavored coffee with cream.
How I have loved you, let me count the years!

OK, so seriously, I have been drinking coffee since I was a kid.
 Being a Roper = Loving Coffee
I remember sitting around family dinners with the grown ups having decaf coffee and milk when I was 8 years old. But I didn't full out adopt the habit for myself until my college years. As an adult, waking up to a mug or two of coffee , my bible and journal has been a constant daily routine. Sometimes, I gotta be honest,  coffee with God was my only reason for pulling my exhausted body out of bed. You see, when you are surrounded by your darling children all day long, those few moments of centering and quiet with the Lord and a steaming cup of coffee in the morning are priceless.

The soothing delight of a cup of coffee is woven into so many aspects of my life...perhaps its lingering over coffee  with my hubby in our red chairs on a low key Saturday morning.
 Maybe its taking in a gorgeous Colorado sunset with my parents on their deck.
Or grabbing a Starbucks with a friend.
And sometimes it's the little perk of sipping on your coffee during a long drive or meeting.
 Yes, I have a lot of emotion wrapped up in my coffee drinking habit.

So why on earth would I give it up?
This fall I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue and celiac.
This gave me a revelation about why my mugs of coffee were key parts of my day, even in summer. Coffee was flat getting my cortisol depleted body through the day! 
However, it was also causing increased stress on my adrenal glands and was part of a cycle where I was hyped up and then crashed. To support my adrenal glands and heal them I needed to cut the caffeine. 

So I switched to decaf! BOOM problem solved! not really...

There were other issues.
 my coffee had been tampered with.
You see, when I was diagnosed with celiac and all my food sensitivities, I found out that milk was a problem for my gut. So out went the half and half (btw I had spent a year weening my taste buds off of processed GMO creamers to half and half).
 Let me tell you, my coffee was not the same with almond milk or coconut milk. 
Yes, I tried bullet proof coffee with coconut oil and ghee in it. Not the same! 
Fall is a horrible time of year to have limitations placed on your coffee...I mean its PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE time!


So fast forward to Thanksgiving, my family was in town. 
My energy was tanked and my mood was bleck...I decided to have a cup of REAL CAFFEINATED COFFEE..and within 5 min I was in a happy mood and my body was ready to roll! 
When you have felt fatigued, depressed, and foggy for months on end, experiencing that high really is delightful! I jumped back into my caffeinated coffee addiction with two feet! And bonus, I found a delightful pure cane sugary vanilla  almond milk creamer to go with it. At times my cup was 1/3 creamer and 2/3rds coffee.... just writing about it makes me giddy with cravings. 

Did I mention I was supposed to be off sugar? yeah...Dr's orders. 

Funny thing about caffeine and sugar...you know they aren't healthy, you know that they are bad for you in the long run, but damn aren't they good when you use them! Don't they just perk you right up and give you the energy to do your day! HELLO ADDICTION!

So I decided I would indulge this unhealthy delightful habit through the holidays, then in January I would cut the chords. 

So, damn, its January. And its day 4 of no coffee.
 I thought I would crave it more. 
I don't really crave it for the taste at the moment, what I crave is the instant energy and brain fog lift. 
I nearly caved this morning when it was 9am and I felt like crawling back into bed. 
But I didn't. 
I drank a protein shake and went walking with a friend. 

I mean if you blab this stuff on a blog, someone will call you out if you are a loser who quits after 4 days, right!?

This is hard stuff...but I know it will help me heal and bring balance to my body.
 I look forward eagerly to the day when I can be one of those chicks that says, " oh I used to drink coffee but I feel so fabulous off of it! " 

Until that day, or at least until my detox days pass, you probably don't want to mess with me! 

Will I bring coffee back at some point in the future? Who knows. Right now, I commit to nothing but  3 months...January, February, March...no coffee...then we will see!! 

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