I don't use the term "coffee abuser" lightly. Before, my recent hiatus, I was drinking a significant amount of coffee. The day before I quit, the best I could remember I had consumed 7 cups of coffee. But, it wasn't the caffeine I was after -- it was the ritual.
I wasn't drinking drip coffee from filters. I was drinking the good stuff. French press and AeroPress with Primavera Coffee (http://primaveracoffee.com/). The Primavera Coffee Columbia blend was/is my favorite. I ground the beans, boiled the water, prepared the containers. I would do this multiple times day: before breakfast, breakfast, when I arrived at the office, around 10:30am, after lunch, and at night around 7pm. Then, there was another random coffee session or two. I felt like Bilbo Baggins.
I had to quit cold turkey. I am not of the type who can just stop.
Day 1
Consumed a copious amount of water -- about 1.5 gallons of water to relieve the need to have coffee. It was the hand to month habit that I had to fill. Eyes got heavy around 3pm.
Day 2 - 3
Continued to consume an amazing amount of water. Began to have headaches that felt like someone pressing a 2x4 into the front of my brain.
Day 4 - 5
Clarity to my brain returned. With the amount of coffee I was consuming, I had lost something, some productivity, some ability to focus and think. When I sat down at work the Monday after I quit, it was like my brain was fresher than it had been in a while.
Day 6
Brain clarity continued. Refrained from coffee. Headaches were gone, and continued to drink water in quantity.
Day 7
Reintroduced a small mid-afternoon coffee. Didn't finish it.
The week without coffee was a reset on my body, my brain, and my habits. As a friend put it, "it wasn't that I was drinking coffee, my problem was I was drinking coffee excessively."
Thursday, January 17, 2013
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