Well I've finally done it. I have
finally kicked the coffee habit. Although I really didn't want to do it, I must
say I'm finally glad that the time is here. Beginning this week I ceremoniously
put my French Press away, cleaned out my coffee grinder, put my beans up on a
very high shelf where I can't see them, and bought an 80 pack of Black Tea.
To back you up on the story in case
you haven't been reading, I have been on a four-month odyssey to finally give
up my very long-standing coffee habit. I love coffee more than you can imagine
- but my doctor of Chinese Medicine tells me that my adrenal glands are fried,
and only by giving up coffee can I begin to do the final work on treating my
ADD symptoms.
I began by slowly changing the ratio
of caffeinated to decaffeinated coffee. I went through the cycle of 10 /90
decaf/regular all the way around to 90/10 decaf/regular. I suffered many
headaches, and the ever patient Laura suffered through quite a few of my cranky
moods. Oh, I won't lie; I did a fair amount of cheating during this quitting
episode. There were at least eight or nine days where my brain told me I just
couldn't hang with decaffeinated coffee, and brother I went with full strength
with abandon! And, it was glorious.
But finally, last week all games were
off. My homeopathic physician reinforced what my doctor of Chinese Medicine
said, and then went on to tell me that ADD medication destroys kidneys. He sent
me a homeopathic remedy and some Drenotropin to support the recovery of my
adrenal glands, and in two days my energy was way up. Instead of needing to
sleep and sleep, and taking up to two hours to fully wake in the morning, I am
waking up pretty refreshed and functional. I almost forgot what that feels
like. My homeopath rarely misses in his remedies and he was again on the mark.
My new best friend is Black Tea. I
really do enjoy the taste, there are enough steps involved to satisfy my
preparation ritual (but I gotta get some loose tea so I can turn my coffee
press into a tea press). I've even taken to adding a little bit of milk so
that's a bit more full bodied. It is quite enjoyable.
If
you're thinking of giving up coffee but are having a hard time committing, I
can assure you it's not as hard as you might think. The thing that surprised me
the most was the large amount of negative feedback I got from friends and
family when I announced that I was truly going to give it up. Many people
expressed shock...some even seemed upset. I was not really expecting
overwhelming amounts of support (we all have enough in our lives to think
about), but I was also not expecting the amount of "DUDE, YOU CAN'T DO
THIS!!!!!!!!!!" emails I received - as if I were walking away from a group
that didn’t want to let me go. What's up with that?
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