I love my coffee. The stronger the better. However, my 12-year affair with “the bean” is over. I did this primarily as part of a Raw Food Diet trial I did earlier this month (more on that in a later post). I also wanted to free myself from my caffeine addiction. I was tired of waking up every morning with a headache, needing that first cup just to feel “normal” and alert.

I’ve read about how caffeine over consumption leads to exhaustion, fatigue and addiction. I saw parallels with my own experiences as an avid coffee drinker that I wanted to test this out for myself by going off coffee for a couple weeks.

I spent the last two weeks of December weaning myself from coffee to green tea, which contains a third of the caffeine as coffee. I’ve tried to go cold-turkey before, but the detox symptoms were excruciating and I could only last one day before caving in to my cravings. It felt like something was trying to split my head open from the inside. To reduce detox, I drank two cups of of tea the first week but I still had a mild headache for the first couple days. After the first week, I went to one cup of tea. Halfway through the second week, it was late afternoon before I realized that I hadn’t had my tea that day. On January 1st, I stopped drinking coffee and green tea every day.

Since quitting my daily dose of strong, black coffee, I have noticed an increase of energy (ironically enough) that lasts throughout the day. I am more calm and positive as well. Interesting!

Two weeks after going caffeine-free, I brewed myself a cup of coffee. What I experienced was not pleasant and I was amazed that I used to drink that amount or more every morning just to feel normal. That one cup had me feeling anxious, jittery and restless all day. I felt like my entire body was vibrating and my heart was pounding. I had trouble sleeping that night. This was from just one cup! This experience was a wake-up call. I wondered what this daily dose of stimulants was doing to my body, especially in the long term.

I don’t drink coffee every day anymore. I don’t miss it, really. I like being free and waking up without a headache. When I do have a cup now and then, I know I’m in for an anxious ride that reminds me why I gave it up in the first place.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 10:08 am and is filed under Raw Food Diet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.