remove caffeine from my diet

I was doing really well with this goal for a while. I regularly ordered decaffeinated coffee when I went out, and I always made it for myself at home at and work.

Then I started my new job, and I backtracked pretty significantly. I was previously drinking 1-2 caffeinated beverages a week…Now, and my new job, there’s only one coffee pot and they always brew regular. Now I’m drinking a cup every day.

I love having a cup of coffee in the morning, but it’s unfortunate that it’s always regular.

I’ve gotten pretty good about remembering to order decaf when I get coffee at restaurants, and I haven’t consumed any caffeinated sodas since I made this goal. I’m having a hard time letting go of iced tea, since that’s what I always order when I go out to restaurants. Tea generally has a lower caffeine content than other caffeinated beverages, so I’m tempted not to get rid of it. Additionally, I only have a few glasses a week. On the other hand, I don’t know if I can really count this goal as complete until I remove it. I’m undecided.

This goal is actually coming along fairly well. I’ve completely stopped consuming caffeinated sodas (although I did that rarely beforehand) and have only had two cups of regular coffee. The coffee situations were hard to avoid, because they were times when someone else had prepared the cup of coffee for me in hopes of being kind. Regardless, this task has been relatively successful, which makes me happy.

I’ve decided that caffeine isn’t really something that I need to include in my diet. In high school I wrote a paper about health problems associated with excessive caffeine consumption, and for a while I was really good about avoiding it. Lately, though, I’ve been allowing myself to consume it more frequently. I think it’s best that I make a better effort to avoid it. I’m going to start but cutting caffeinated coffee and sodas (although I don’t drink those often) out of my diet and work from there.