It's the Coffee

I've been drinking a latte almost seven days a week since I was about 16 or 17 which makes that 11-12 years. Despite my obsession with healthy living, I have not seriously examined the potential impact of consuming a mild drug every single day for over a decade.

I remember when the coffee craze started--when all the Starbucks' opened up in the suburb I lived in and all the other ones nearby. I didn't care much about the drink at the time, just that it was a place to hang out when you are young, can drive, but don't want to be at home with your parents and are too young for the bars. Our local Starbucks turned into our hangout, and we would pass hours and hours there gossiping and maybe doing the occasional homework assignment. It was our favorite way to sit in the sun in the summer since there was always outside seating. I have countless cherished memories of sitting with my best friend Laura, summer day after summer day, during this bonding ritual.

This habit extended perfectly into college where the coffee buzz helped us all get to our 8:00AM classes or study for hours on end. After that, going to the neighborhood coffee shop just became my daily retreat where I would go to read for a while. It was a way to get out of the house and be around some people when I lived alone where it could sometimes get a little too quiet. My husband didn't drink coffee when we met, but I quickly converted him and convinced him that $8-$10 a day was worth it for some unhealthy drinks and a sugary snack (oops).

The habit has become so ingrained that I have rarely questioned it seriously, despite the fact that I read health information daily, and hardly an article on nutrition is published that doesn't include coffee in the list of no-no's (the others are sugar, alcohol and sometimes dairy). I have always had a really strong stomach, no real food sensitivities, and no food allergies. I thought I was immune to practically anything.

A couple of weeks ago, however, I was driving with my husband back home after having coffee somewhere, and I was just feeling so stressed out and irritable. I was in a big hurry to get back and do some things before work. I was feeling like I was fighting the clock. I suddenly snapped out of my head-spinning anxiety and realized, "I felt great all morning before we got our coffee. And I always get antsy right around this time of the day, which is after we go to coffee." Sometimes a new perspective suddenly jolts you, and you don't need to do any research or lab tests to confirm what you have just realized. My occasional crankiness wasn't just my personality.

So I undertook a very easy and very difficult experiment. Cut out coffee for a week and see how you feel. (I luckily never have withdrawal symptoms from removing caffeine.) I researched how much caffeine is in chai since I like chai lattes. There's approximately 1/4 to 1/3 the caffeine in chai. Not too bad. Decaf coffee has only a few milligrams of caffeine compared to around 150 per cup of regular coffee. Looks like I could have an occasional chai and decaf and probably still conduct the experiment. Don't have to totally give up my ritual....yet.

After only a couple of days, I noticed a huge difference. I was absolutely AMAZED. Rather than freaking out before work, running around, I was completely calm. I was calmer in the morning, afternoon, and evening. The calmness just seemed to snowball into downright...peace. Now, I also do a lot of other healthy things that probably contribute such as almost-daily meditation, exercise, and healthy eating. I now realized that coffee was completely tripping all this up. I had wondered why the healthy stuff wasn't having a bigger impact, and I now seemed to have my answer.

Everything from comic strips jokes to cafe humor, to whatever--depicts the average person as barely awake, barely functioning, and totally grumpy until they've gotten their morning cup o' joe. Yet what's really true is that coffee can ruin your mood. This treasured beverage was actually having the exact opposite effect as what it is promoted as having, and in a big way.

How much does caffeine prevent us, as a population, from being the naturally peaceful people we are meant to be?

How many distractions do we need to get us through one more day??

What I have learned is: examine everything. ESPECIALLY things you do daily or almost daily. These are the things that add up in huge ways. Learn for youself, and don't trust everything you read. I have read lots of downsides to caffeine but none convinced me to give it up, being that I am still young and healthy. Something may be affecting you in a way that is either not common or not yet discovered or advertised. I am so thrilled--and peaceful!--to have figured this out.