Giving up Coffee, Almost

During the food poisoning from hell a few weeks back, I found it impossible to drink coffee. For someone who became a heavy coffee drinker in college - more than 30 years ago - to have no desire to drink coffee was quite astonishing. Really, I had no taste for the juice at all.

Caffeine has been one of those substances I’ve always thought I should give up/cut back on. But I’ve never been motivated enough to change my habits. Thanks to the old food poisoning, however, I changed my habits quick. I think the combination of an ongoing queasy stomach lasting about ten days after I was my sickest and a seeming lack of caffeine withdrawal has made giving up coffee, almost, easy.

I say easy because I now have one nespresso capsule in the morning. Once last week I had an espresso in the afternoon. Another day I had a cappuccino. That’s it. In contrast, I used to drink half a pot of brewed coffee before work, a 16-ounce travel coffee mug of coffee at work, a cappuccino at lunch and an espresso in the afternoon - all in the same day.

These days I hardly recognize myself! I eat breakfast in the morning because I wake up hungry! Of course, you say, coffee is appetite suppressant. Of course.

The other benefits of giving up coffee have been astonishing. I sleep better, feel genuine hunger more frequently and am generally not a kind of rotten bastard in the morning. I also have a tremendous amount of what I call natural energy. In the past I would drink coffee when I felt sluggish in the afternoon. Now I eat some nuts and a piece of fruit, and I’m ready to go for a long walk after work or to the gym for fun and games with the boxing bag.

I’ve also found my stomach is in much better shape now. All that acid on an empty stomach could not have been good for me. And my inner economy isn’t as resilient as it used to be.

The funny thing about the timing of all of this going caffeine-free almost? I had planned on attending a coffee brewing methods class at the Zingerman’s Coffee Company the Sunday of my lost food poisoning weekend. Guess I saved myself a lot of money not buying snobby coffee accoutrements.

If you find your stomach is queasy, or you’re having trouble sleeping you might consider reducing or eliminating the Black Ichor of Life. I feel ten years younger!