Stop drinking coffee for a month

I’m writing this with a cup of coffee in my hand. It’s probably going to be my last cup in a while because tomorrow I’m supposed to start this goal.

During this week I have paid more attention to my coffee consumption and it seems that I quite often get a cup of coffee when I have some time to kill. When I’m in a hurry, I don’t seem to crave coffee at all. So drinking coffee seems to be more like a habit for me and I’m not expecting any severe withdrawal symptoms, but it will be interesting to see how this experiment proceeds.

I’ve been drinking coffee for almost as long as I can remember. I cannot say when exactly I started but I was a young child back then. Everybody else in my family also drinks coffee so it has pretty much always been a part of my everyday life and I’ve never really questioned the habit.

Now I want to find out what happens if I quit drinking coffee for one month. I want to feel how my body reacts to it and I also want to see how hard it will be. So this is just a temporary experiment, the aim of which is to find out what coffee does to me.

I hereby announce that my month without coffee will begin on November 23 and end on December 23.

Every day that I have coffee, I have debilitating acid reflux which causes asthma. I NEED to stop drinking the stuff. Why is it so hard to stop? It smells so good. Apparently, drinking coffee is also linked to heavier consumption of alcohol, which I could stand to cut back on as well. I can do it, I just need to have more discipline. It’s hard when someone else in the house isn’t trying to give it up… so it’s always around.

when i chose to stop drinking coffee it was mainly because I was suffering from daily headaches. Even after not drinking coffee for a week, the headaches continued and eventually, because my jaw started hurting, found out i had TMJ which was a result of grinding my teeth at night and some stress during the day. My husband has an acupuncture degree and treated me twice with acupuncture and my headaches and TMJ have gone away completely!

Why did I think that I could quit coffee during Seattle winter? The cold and dark days are a huge incentive to go fill up my cup with a warm caffeinated drink. I wonder if it’s equally bad for me to drink black tea with cream and sugar?

I’m attempting this goal once again. The impetus being the dreadful headaches that i’ve been experiencing after having espresso. My body is desperately trying to send me a message and I’ve been ignoring it for months now. I took down 2 shots of espresso yesterday, then bid farewell for a while. It’s the ritual that I will miss most: flipping the switch to the espresso machine, grinding the beans and pulling a smooth shot. I’m working on embracing the tea pot…not quite as exciting…

i admit that i fell off the coffee wagon on day 7. a good friend came over that evening and requested afogatos for dessert—a simple combination of vanilla ice cream (gelato) and a fresh shot of espresso poured over the top. i say…did you really think i would be able to resist? apparently not…

i’m on day 7 and found that i really miss my coffee on the days that i work. to quell my craving, i’m eating a lot of chocolate today.

i think i’m ready to kick the coffee for a month to see if i feel any different…i think…