No coffee, no problem
My caffeine addiction journey
I have a confession to make. The majority of the posts on this blog have been written under the effects of a stimulant. Uppers...? Cocaine...? B12...? No no sir and madam. I've been under the influence of caffeine the whole damn time. And the first step towards recovery is realizing you have a problem. At least, that's what they say. Who the F are they anyways...?
No but seriously, folks, from about 2018 until more recently I've consumed gallons of coffee. And I go black for the most part. As the saying goes, once you go black...
On the same token:
→ I don't add butter to my toast. Nor jam. Just straight dry bread. Quality bread tastes great.
→ When I cook, I don't add 20 million dried herbs and spices to my food like you see chefs do on that Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives show.
→ I don't dress flashy. Just simple solid color shirts and pants, well fitting of course.
Why am I so basic then...? As mentioned, quality bread does not need butter or jam. Quality meat and vegetables do not need the entire spice rack with 20 cloves of garlic and a whole onion for flavor. Quality health and fitness practices will leave your body fit and trim, therefore not needing to hide it with dubious yet ever so trendy fashions.
Oh, and quality coffee does not need sugar or cream. It's delicious all by itself. And, fill it to the brim mister or miss barista, or I'll bark at you. Affectionately of course.
Therein lies a problem with all of this... I'm not a coffee drinker. Yes yes yes, my mother used to feed me coffee as a child which may have put her in jail present day, but not in the 80's. As I grew older however, I weaned off the stuff. I'm not sure if it was solely due to the stimulant effect. But I may add that by the time I was 20 or so I didn't even like to take over the counter medicine even for a headache.
Problem was, over time, I found myself working from home a bit more. One apartment I had was literally a room full of mirrors and all I could see was me. Which was boring. Nearby this box of mirrors, was a small town I used to frequent. In the small town I met a well mannered, relatively young (early 30's), and effervescent lady from Spain with an amazing backside. She opened a coffee shop in town, so naturally I started going there. Then I learned she was married with child, which made me sad. But I became semi-addicted to seeing people at the coffee shop and walking around town. Oh, and Americano's. So on and off, I would go there once, maybe twice a week.
Then I moved, and stumbled upon another coffee shop in yet another town. So I started to go there quite frequently. At first it was twice a week. Then, I started to write my manuscripts and clock in 3x a week. Then I upped it to five days a week since said manuscripts were showing promise. Then...I started to see people. I started to meet people. All kinds of people. After a while, it dawned on me that I became a regular there and was like... Wha...?
This place soon became my drug den. All the baristas were my crack dealers. That liquid black sorta crack that made me a functioning addict.
Back in the day, I could never understand those that would set up a work environment at a coffee shop. Here and there friends would tell my they did this and I was like why...? Just work from home. There will always be nights and weekends to see new faces. One time many years ago I saw this dude at a coffee shop near my brother’s place (I was visiting his apartment). He looked all disheveled, papers strewn all over the place, deep in thought. Almost like a mad scientist look but he appeared to be not of the science variety. Fast forwards to near present day, and I became a non-disheveled version of this. I became this dude kinda sorta deep in thought sat in front of this very laptop I'm writing this on now. Deep down inside, this was no bueno mi gente.
Let me be clear, the people I interacted with were great. The coffee tasted great. But, I was genuinely not happy with drinking coffee almost everyday. I just don't feel that its great for my health. The antioxidant within the coffee itself are awesome. Adding cream and sugar is not. (For a short time, I added cream. Never sugar.) But really, it was the caffeine bit that was bothering me. Oh, and the aftertaste. Oh ooh ooh, and spending $3.50 for coffee I can make myself. And the odd sandwich + brownie once a week which tacked on an extra $20. Again, all of which I can make myself.
But the effects of the caffeine I did not understand until I quit drinking coffee cold turkey.
By in large, the stimulating effect of caffeine really just gives me the false perception of more energy. In reality, my energy levels were the same but I would burn through said energy much quicker. It is my belief that the jitteriness I would get from coffee was in effect wasting away energy. In other words, I could not keep still. My body and mind would get all fidgety. Thus depleting me energy stores via hollow, non-productive activity.
Also, caffeine is an appetite suppressant. So, my appetite shot up after I stopped drinking coffee which was great since I was actively in a caloric surplus anyways...to gain weight.
My taste buds changed as well. I noticed after not drinking coffee that I no longer had its aftertaste, therefore the flavor of other foods immediately became more pronounced...even water. All of which was a plus in my book.
As far as my sleep patterns are concerned, I think they've been more steady state. As in, when on caffeine five days out of the week, I felt as though I was more susceptible to insomnia having had more bouts of it vs off of it. Knock wood. Personally, I do take in a lot of b12 as a side product from foods in my diet, so I feel like having caffeine perpetually in my system sent my brain over the edge disallowing it to shut off more often. Again, touch wood.
And now for the big one, my physical and mental performance... Oh my... Let me tell you, I know my mind, I know my body. This after nearly an entire lifetime as a wellness practitioner and somewhat intellectual. What my body can do now on low amounts of sleep...amazing. Let me repeat that. On low amounts of sleep, my physical performance is far superior off caffeine than on.
Below is a journal entry of sorts I made early on in my caffeine abstinence highlighting the effects in real time from my workouts:
It's been almost three weeks since I've been off coffee as of writing this paragraph. I had power cleans today, and I did my full routine, up to 184 lbs. Including four reps of a power clean and jerk @ 154 lbs. Lots more energy left in the tank afterwards. This was on less than ~5 hours of sleep (and with ~2.5 mg of melatonin in my system which makes me groggy the next day, all day). The previous two days I only saw ~6 hours of sleep. Nominally I do 6.5 hours. On caffeine I would not be able to complete this power clean routine, let alone have more energy in the bag afterwards. Off caffeine, no problem.
The same can be said about my mental/intellectual performance. My mind is calmer, and can roll through obstacles with more ease. Almost like I can mentally generate more momentum.
In general, my physical and mental performance seems more peaky on caffeine. Off caffeine, or coffee, said performance is more even keeled. Which is my preference.
Let me offer this analogy for further illustration. Back in 2010, motogp, the premier motorcycle racing series worldwide with the most technologically advanced motorcycles, went from 1000cc to ~850cc capacity engines. The larger an internal combustion engines capacity, the more power it makes for the most part. And since it's larger, the more the bike weighs. Therefore the smaller 850cc bikes were lighter and faster through the corners from the previous year. Also, their power delivery was more peaky increasing the amounts of high-sides (see image below). So the regulators went back to 1000cc for safety concerns. Slower through the corners. Less peaky power delivery. Less high-sides. Safer for the riders.
Something about coffee 5, 6, 7 days a week seemed dangerous to my long term health. And I'm a long term sort of guy most of the time. Plus, all the other stuff I mentioned was not great either. Oh, and some medical professionals consider caffeine a low grade sort of toxin. So there's that.
Oh, and I'm not even getting into all the people I know who had serious heart palpitation/panic attack issues even when consuming within the 400 mg/day recommendation.
Oh ooh ooh ooh, I'm not even getting into those that hardly take in ANY calcium in their diets whom drink coffee (which depletes calcium). Or those prone to osteoporosis like peri-menopausal and menopausal women. Or both.
Lets just say that if you fall under any of those mentioned in the above two paragraphs, coffee is not for you.
Coffee is delicious. To me, too much caffeine is disgusting. Find your balance. Or quit it all together like I did. Psst, I'm not the only one whose done this...!
No but seriously, once in a while is ok. But everyday...?!
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