Addicted to Coffee

I’ve had a coffee addiction for most of my adult life. When I say addiction, I mean ADDICTION! Once I start my first cup in the morning, I can’t stop. And I can’t drink weak coffee. I like high octane, dark roast, light a fire under your bum coffee. I’m not one of those people who can have a cup of coffee and then lay down for a nap. In fact I can’t drink coffee past 2 pm, or I’m up all night. This is a problem, since I already said once I start drinking coffee, I can’t stop.

I’m very committed to being healthy and consuming healthy foods. I tried to convince myself that since I drank organic coffee, it was healthy. I loved reading those studies about how coffee is good for you because it’s high in antioxidants. But, in the back of my mind, I knew better. Any health benefits were canceled out by the stress it caused my adrenals and kidneys. That all too familiar shaky feeling, the need to remind myself to breathe, the irritability.  While I can completely blame all of my irritation on my husband, the short temper with my kids was inexcusable.

So I finally hit rock bottom.  Coffee was making me way too manic, and my body way too acidic. My jaw was always clenched and my neck tight. I knew what I had to do. It took me months to finally make the attempt. I really didn’t think it was possible, not for me anyways. I had tried to stop in the past and it just didn’t work. It didn’t matter if I replaced my morning cup of coffee with tea or juice, I just wanted COFFEE!

Then I tried Teeccino. Teeccino is a non caffeinated coffee alternative made from roasted herbs. I had tried it in the past and it didn’t work for me. This time I was a little more committed and Teeccino had come out with different flavors. I tried their Maya CafféHerbal Coffee and after my first sip, I knew kicking my coffee habit was possible.

I weaned myself off the caffeine. I started out doing 3/4 coffee, 1/4 Teecino for about 3 days. Then I went down to half coffee, half Teeccino and so on and for 2 weeks until I had completely eliminated coffee. No headaches, no mood changes.  I had a little bit of brain fog for the first couple of weeks but it eventually subsided. I probably could have avoided the brain fog if I had weaned myself off the caffeine slower. It’s been about 2 months since have kicked my coffee addiction. When I get up in the morning my head is clear and I feel great. I still go straight to the coffee maker to brew my Teeccino, but that’s just psychological. My body is thanking me.