Have you been curious why I quit coffee? I’ve talked about it before, but this is my first time going into detail about exactly why I quit coffee. I’ll share the good, the bad and the ugly about my love of the cup of joe.
Disclaimer: This podcast does not constitute medical advice. You should always speak to your doctor before changing your nutrition or exercise habits. And definitely if you think you might want to quit coffee!
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WHY I QUIT COFFEE – EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Why I Quit Coffee… seriously, who would quit coffee?
Ooh, friends, we have a hot topic today in more than one way. Hot because it’s interesting and hot because it’s about a hot beverage because I am talking about coffee consumption with you guys. And oh, gosh, can I just start by saying I love coffee, and I totally get the obsession with it. I did not drink coffee until I became an adult. I started working in the fitness industry and I had to be up at four in the morning every day in order to catch the subway in New York City and be ready for my first client of the day, which was at 515 in the morning.
And guys like I am not built to wake up that early. It just did not matter. I tried everything. I tried taking melatonin and making myself go to sleep at eight at night so that I could get enough sleep. I could not do it. So it just so happened that there was a Starbucks right across the street from the gym that I worked at. Shout out to Equinox Columbus Circle. That was the first big gym that I worked at in the tier four program. And I became addicted to my Mocha Lattes. Yes, guys. I was still at the point where I was drinking Mocha Lattes. That’s the chocolaty, delicious espresso drink. And I became a coffee drinker. That lasted for a little bit. And then for some reason, I can’t even remember why I decided to quit drinking caffeine again, around maybe like 2010. And I was caffeine free for two years.
I got pregnant with my oldest. And then as soon as having kids hit, I was right back onto coffee because I just felt like I could not get through the day with sleep deprivation which is so common, right? If you guys have listened to the last two episodes of the podcast I was talking about when your kids won’t let you sleep and what living with that is like the choices we have to make. And then the second episode was exactly what happens to your body when you have sleep deprivation or sleep interruption. So I was living that and coffee was just like the natural way to survive, right and through it being a natural way to survive. I slowly worked on cutting down from the milk, a latte drinks, I stopped having anything sweet in my coffee, I eventually got to the point where I could just have coffee with a little bit of half and half. But my friends I I fell in love with coffee. I fell in love with it. It became like, like a third person in my marriage. And just like such a happy part of my life. It’s funny, I was talking to somebody the other day about how because I eat so well.
I eat a fairly balanced diet and I don’t restrict foods or have good foods or bad foods or anything. I still kind of felt like coffee was the last thing I had left. Like it was my only advice like I don’t smoke. I drink a little bit but I don’t really drink. I don’t eat a ton of junk food. Coffee was like all I had left. But I was reaching this point where no matter how much coffee I had, I was still exhausted at the end of the day. I eventually got to a point where I was having about three cups of coffee a day. Again, I was sleep deprived during all this, but it just wasn’t helping. I was exhausted and I felt terrible. So I had known for a long time. Because I use your daily journal, which is my mini course that helps you learn what works for your unique body in life. I knew that I had been trying a bunch of stuff to get my energy level up and nothing was really working. It was really really frustrating. I had been diagnosed with Hashimotos hypothyroidism after having actually while I was pregnant with my third child, so I thought maybe it was just from the hypothyroidism but I was eventually able to get off my medication for that and all my thyroid levels return to normal and I was still so tired. So I, I asked my doctor about caffeine. And he was like, well, all the research studies show that in moderation, it’s fine. And so I tried to get back down to one cup a day, which I did. And I still didn’t really feel better, right? Trusting my doctor. But I also recognize that everybody reacts really differently to things. So I was open to the fact that maybe coffee was something that I needed to cut out still. And then on top of that, I just started to recognize that we as women really use coffee as a tool to mask our lack of self care.
And when I realized that, I realized that the scientific research might not necessarily be picking up on the impact that coffee is having on women. Because yes, like when we do correlation statistics, and we do research on coffee, nothing is coming up is statistically significant. Because what really could be happening is it’s that the coffee is allowing you to stay up later and get less sleep, the coffee is allowing you to push through all these stressful tasks that are making your heart rate pump up and your cortisol pumped into your bloodstream, because you’re on this caffeine high of productivity. So you don’t stop yourself and ask for help. Or you don’t set boundaries at your place of work or set boundaries with the commitments that you make for yourself, because coffee will just get you through it right? And how exactly are you supposed to measure the statistical significance of lack of boundaries? On your energy level?
Actually, you know what, psychologist if there’s any psychologists out there, I think you could do that. But what I’m trying to say is, I think that when we look at the research on coffee, and for our health, that is an aspect that is really not considered. And then on top of that, there have been some research studies that have shown that coffee consumption is beneficial for avoiding certain health outcomes. And that’s, um, I can’t remember exactly what it was off the top my head, but I feel like it was trying to scroll through one of my tabs here, it was something like a decreased risk of certain types of cancers, liver cirrhosis, and but I want you guys to know that when you hear research studies about these things, these are not randomized controlled studies there. This is something where they have to do correlation statistics, and look for associations. In general associations are not the best gold standard type of research. So I would need to dive more into the controlled studies.
But anyways, for me, I can see how people can get really confused about caffeine consumption, because you are hearing all these different perspectives. Some people are saying it’s super good for you. And then some people like me are saying I quit coffee, and it just is really confusing. So I always believe in just testing things for yourself. That’s what I teach in your daily journal. That’s what I’m passionate about. And that is what I ended up doing. Now, I will tell you guys, that it took me a long time to be ready to really quit. And then once I was really ready, I had a very hard time sticking to it. The only reason that I was really able to stick to it this time is ironically, we got COVID. Actually, I’m the only one who tested negative for COVID. But everybody else had COVID around Christmas time. And so I assumed that’s what I had to because I was exhausted for two weeks straight. I was just like sleeping. That was it. Luckily, my husband was home too. So I was able to get some rest.
But during that time, I was not drinking any caffeine because I was sleeping so much. And I took it as an opportunity to take advantage of how much I was resting and to keep not having it. So I started drinking green tea and white tea instead in varying amounts. But I will tell you guys, the first 30 days, were so freaking hard. Drinking tea did not feel like it did anything to my body at all. And I was just so tired for that first 30 days. But then I hit a point after that first month where all of a sudden it was like my body came back online. And my energy level returned. It was crazy. So I am on three full months now of having no coffee, only having green tea and white tea. And my energy is totally different. I’m also noticing that the way I show up in the world is different because I didn’t realize like I felt like I had a racing heart all day.
And I just felt like I was on edge and very almost anxious from the coffee consumption and now I have this video very steady, deep, grounded feeling throughout the day, which is really, really amazing. But it took me that whole time of committing to it. I also noticed that I have less puffiness in my face, my husband noticed my skin tone improved, I was kind of looking really pale and sickly. I thought it was just because we no longer live in San Diego. And it was winter here as like, I haven’t been getting a lot of sun. But no, it was actually when I stopped drinking coffee, my skin became vibrant again, and I had that sort of glow that you really want when you’re looking healthy, right? That glow that only comes from the inside out.
On top of that, I noticed that my belly didn’t have as much fat distribution. Usually I store a lot of fat in my belly that’s just genetically like what my shape is. But I noticed once I had kids, and once they started drinking coffee that I that area was kind of more squishy than usual. As I mentioned in the last episode about sleep deprivation, there is scientific research that excess cortisol release can cause women to store fat in their abdominal area, right. So I noticed that change, which was pretty cool. So all of these really, really great benefits from it once I was able to stick with it. And then on top of that I am in tune with when my body needs to rest now, like today is supposed to be a gym day for me. And I’m just feeling like, my energy is low, I’m not tired, but I can just tell that my body wants me to do something more laid back today.
So if I had been having coffee, like I usually do, I would have pushed my little bunny self over to the gym, and he would find me on the step mill just tearing it up. But today, I’m able to actually tune into my body signals. So that I know that today is not a day, I’m going to do that I’m going to grab a book and I’m going to go get a cup of tea or decaf coffee because I will have decaf occasionally and sit at my favorite coffee shop and have a book or take a walk in the sun because I am actually able to tune into my body signals, which I was just blasting over before with coffee consumption. It’s really, really powerful.
Another thing that I noticed is I crave alcohol less, because I think what was happening is I was putting so much caffeine into my system, my heart rate was racing, I was giving that up that I needed something to help me come down again. And so I would want a daily glass of wine or a daily glass of something. And I was disciplined enough that I often wouldn’t give it to myself, but I was noticing the desire for it. And it was I wouldn’t say it was concerning me a little bit. But I was considering and curious what it meant for me, right? I do have a history of alcohol abuse in my family and just always in substance abuse in general. So I’m just always like conscientious about my responses and cravings around that, right. And I have noticed since I quit caffeine and quit coffee, I shouldn’t say quit caffeine, because I didn’t quit caffeine, green tea does have caffeine in it, and so does white tea, but the amount is different. And so I think it impacts my system a little bit differently. But since I quit coffee in particular, I no longer have that consistent craving for an alcoholic beverage at the end of the day. It’s really, really interesting. So again, like I’m not a doctor, I’m not here to give medical advice.
And you know, my doctor said that this shouldn’t have made a difference. But this was my experience. And it just really cemented further. Why I believe in what I believe in, which is helping women to stop jumping from diet to diet, and to find what works for their unique body and life because everybody’s body is so unique. And the fact of the matter is science and scientists do not have it all figured out yet. I always used to say that, like science can’t always catch up to practical application. Like oftentimes, what people are experiencing in the real world is what inspires scientists to research things and to study things. So if we don’t test what’s happening in our own bodies, and experiment with things, we’re gonna be waiting forever. We’re waiting forever for science to catch up with things that may actually be helpful for us.
So that was my experience with getting off of coffee. Now. I was massively addicted. So if you’re having a panic attack, listening to this podcast episode, I understand where you’re coming from. You do not have to do this right now you do not have to do this until you’re ready. You in fact do not have to do it at all. I’m just trying to open people’s eyes to all of the dimensions of our coffee consumption and exactly what it is could be doing to us. So yeah, I hope you guys find this helpful. I am really interested to hear the feedback on this and which things were aha moments for you.
So make sure you tag me on Instagram and go chat about it over in the Facebook group because I really want to hear how this impacted you if I’ve created like this revolution of people who all want to stop drinking coffee we can get a little support group going on in the Facebook group. So communicate with me I want to hear your thoughts about this episode and about how caffeine and coffee is impacting your life have you joined the rock your wellness podcasts official Facebook group? If not, what are you waiting for? It is the best place to continue conversation about these episodes and get to know your fellow listeners. If you’d like to do that the link is in the show notes for this episode. I can’t wait to see you there.
Thanks for listening to “Why I Quit Coffee!” Remember to share with your friends who might want to quit coffee.