Quitting Coffee

My love for the beverage had roots in the Canadian
winters. A cup of steaming black coffee with a
maple donut or a "double-double" (coffee with 2
units of cream and sugar) at Tim Horton's was such
a treat to look forward to after 20 minutes'
morning march in the numbing freeze.

As part of regaining health, I have given up milk
and sugar and been drinking only black coffee. It
seems comforting during intermittent fasting. Few
would call it a drug but it is addictive just the
same. I have happily consumed between 200mg to
400mg caffeine per day.

It all changed Memorial weekend, 2017. I woke up
two hrs earlier than usual on Saturday and tried to
finish a book that was due. We later went to the
beach with my 17oz can of Starbucks dark-roast.
But something didn't feel right. Heading home, I
had to park the car at road side and take a nap
before driving on. My stomach and intestines
seemed in rebellion and I farted a lot.

I had a good sleep and the next morning, we went
cherry-picking. Energy level was low. I later read
this article about someone's story giving up after
5 years of caffeine addiction and decided to
follow the example. I took a 2hr nap at noon which
didn't help much. Listening to Jocko and Rogan
kept me going. I did S&S in the afternoon.
 

The third day was no fun either. I felt depressed
and no motivation to work or write. I again took a
nap at noon. Watching Aliens IV with Tim in the
afternoon didn't help. Again, I lifted weights.

The 4th day I went back to work. As in the
previous days, my body ached in its weakest
parts: the right foot, the back, and the shoulders.
Stretching was harder to do. I would have mistaken
the pains for exercise-induced but no. It was
scary to realize how much I depended on coffee.

The 5th day was horrible for a different reason:
I slept only 2hrs the previous night--due to
indigestion. My intestines rebelled all night
after I wolfed down a large amount of cherries,
almonds, and jjigae at supper. Combining the
acidic fruit w/ protein-rich food might be the
cause, according to The Gracie Diet. I had a 12oz
decaf cuppucino at 4:00pm and lifted weights.

The 6th day started great. My mind was a little
cloudy but I didn't crave at all. I thought the
coffee detox was over. So what now? I would treat
it the same as liqor and drink at random.

[7grizzly]

Good for you, 暖冬!

I don't think coffee's all bad now that it doesn't control me.

Thanks for stopping by.

[暖冬cool夏]

I am never a coffee person, but a co-worker of mine, whose heartbeat is around 100 per minute, was told by the doctor that the fast heartbeat is caused by the coffee drinking in the morning. She stopped coffee and her heart beat sounded normal later... Just for your reference...