Hello. My name is Jill, and I'm a coffee addict. I admit it. I LOVE coffee. I love the smell of it. I love the taste of it. I especially LOVE the caffeine. So, why in the world would I give up my coffee?
I gave up coffee so I could have more energy. Yep, you read that right. I am a busy mom of 4 young kids (10 and under, including a 2 month old baby). Trust me, I need energy. I also have hashimoto's hypothyroidism. That means that my energy is taken away from me quicker than most people. I'm usually in a constant state of tired. It's a tired feeling that doesn't go away, even with a good night's sleep. It's just one of the many side effects of having an autoimmune thyroid disease.
I've always relied on coffee to keep me alert, awake, and functioning. The trouble is, it never really worked too well. I started off drinking one small cup of coffee a day. Then, it became one large cup. Next, I ended up drinking 2 large cups. And, before I knew it, I was up to 3 large cups of coffee every single day, and I still felt like a zombie. So why was this happening? Why was the caffeine not working? I felt like I was being lied to by the coffee industry. I felt like my gold membership at Starbucks was worthless. I felt like my Keurig had betrayed me.
For me, it was the cream in my coffee that had to go. Many years ago, before I knew better, I used to use Coffee Mate or International Delight creamers in my coffee. I poured those bottles with reckless abandon into my coffee cup every morning. My coffee tasted more like a dessert than a morning pick-me-up. Then, a few years ago I switched to using Heavy Whipping Cream in my coffee. This is the stuff that you use to make your own homemade whipped cream. It's thick, it's creamy, and it doesn't have sugar or carbs. It's a coffee addicts dream come true. Except that it's not. It's still dairy. And dairy is HIGHLY inflammatory. That means it causes bloating and intestinal discomfort. And, sadly, unless you buy the fancy expensive organic stuff (which I don't), you still have chemical additives like carrageenan and polysorbate 80. So, you've basically swapped one chemical ridden creamer for another. For many people, dairy causes fatigue. And, I am clearly one of those people.
Alas, what is a girl supposed to do? I can't stand drinking my coffee black. Sorry, it's just nasty. It tastes like gasoline. I've tried using organic coconut milk, I've tried making my own creamer, I've even tried that whole butter in your coffee craze. Nope. Not having it. Nothing else tasted "right" except for the heavy cream. But, I also knew that it was counterproductive to my health. It's making me tired and bloated and I can only imagine what the chemical additives are doing to my insides. Not to mention that the price of heavy cream has skyrocketed lately. It now costs $6 for a quart of the same heavy cream I was getting for $3 a month ago. And, let's be honest, I used A LOT of them in a month's time.
So, I decided to give it up cold turkey. I drank my last cup of coffee on March 7. Since then, I've only been drinking plain green tea (and water of course). I've noticed that I have a lot more energy now. I'm not exhausted all day. I don't feel like a zombie who needs to reach for that cup of coffee to survive. I've lost a lot of the bloat around my belly and my pants are fitting much better. I never thought I'd give up my coffee. But, then again, I never thought I'd be a chronic label reader and be very picky about what foods our family eats. I'm a firm believer that doing better for yourself and your family starts when you know better and want to make a change. I've known better than to drink coffee with cream for a while now, but I had to WANT to make that change. And, now that I did, there's no looking back.
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