Kicking the Caffeine Addiction

Amongst the many changes that falling pregnant has had on my life, one of the big ones has been quitting my coffee habit. That in itself was not too hard, I pretty much stopped wanting to drink it anyway. But along with the coffee itself, is the whole caffeine culture. Going out for coffee, getting a takeaway for the road, and the day that you know is going to be good because you throw out other plans and have another coffee instead.

I've been addicted to coffee for a very long time. My habit started when I was about 10 years old [please don't judge] when I loved to snuggle up in the house during winter with a good book and a cup of sweet milk coffee [made with warm milk, instant coffee granules and sugar, mmm]. Was I old before my time? From there, it got me through the late nights of high school assignments, then college assignments, then university exams. And early starts at my part time job. Going over to a friend's house would involve at least a few cups of coffee. Every day started with coffee. It was not something I thought about. And it became a ritual.

A few more years into the journey, and I had become a mountain biker/road cyclist. This only intensified my caffeine addiction. Did you know that a strong coffee before you exercise changes the way your body burns fuel, switching the pathway from using glucose stores in your muscles, to using more of the fat stores on your body as fuel? Massive double win. So now not only was there the morning coffee, and coffees during the day at work, but before every training ride, the ritual involved a mega strong coffee to get me going. Not to mention the post-ride coffee. And I rode in a crit team that was sponsored by a coffee shop. Mmm coffee.

Living in the country has certainly helped in easing out of the coffee culture that is such a part of city living. For starters, we don't really have any desire to 'go out for coffee' because, well, there isn't anywhere in our town, and if we head into one of the bigger towns around, I can tell you, you don't really want to drink the coffee anyway. I refuse to hand over good cash for a bad coffee. So coffee at home had to be of a good standard. We have a little red coffee machine, that we would lovingly caress into providing us with a good coffee, with a good crema, and we'd froth the milk up nice and glossy. Love.

And then I stopped drinking coffee. And within a few months, Charles also stopped drinking coffee. These days we're more likely to be found sipping on hot water with a slice of lemon in it, or a herbal tea, although Charles does still have a thing for an iced coffee every now and then. And my body feels amazing for the change. I don't experience the ups and downs of caffeine high, then dropping back, and repeat. I never realised how much caffeine 'heats' your body and dehydrates you, until I stopped drinking it, and when I think about having one, that's the association I feel in my body. Heat and dehydration.

I will say this. As much as I have no plans to start drinking coffee again, and Charles also, we can't quite bring ourselves to put the coffee machine away. It still takes pride of place in our little kitchen, on the off chance that just maybe, maybe today, we'll make a coffee [at Christmas with family around, we did fire up the coffee machine and make coffees, and we both had a stand off with said coffees and didn't drink more than a few sips]. Recently in Melbourne we realised how much on the outer we are, when paying the bill at a cafe, the person serving us enquires with raised eyebrows 'no coffees?' with only a hint of 'what the heck is wrong with you people?' in the tone.  

And the point of this story? There isn't one really. I've just got coffee on the brain. I could so go a coffee right now.