I was drinking coffee on and off for the past 20 years, about two cups a day, sometimes three but everything changed after I quit coffee.
On my journey to health, I was advised to stop drinking it. I also had my own reasons as well.
I was beating around the bush for months, but finally decided to do it once for good. With the lockdown, allowing me to work only once every two weeks, I thought this was actually the best time to deal with the coffee.
It has been three months since I quit coffee; read below for what happened and click to watch my YouTube video:
- First week was horrible: I spent most of it on the couch, falling asleep and having ZERO motivation. I was taking at least one nap during the day, sometimes two, and was sleeping 10 hours at night. My productivity took a nosedive. I was feeling useless and fought myself a million times a day not to end my misery with a cup of coffee. Doing Wim Hof breathing method daily for 30 days helped me not to give in.
- About two days into this, I started feeling super hungry. I used to be hardly ever hungry before noon, now, I started waking up ravenous. I had to start eating breakfast sometimes as early as 8 AM. My entire metabolism went hyperactive. I am on a strict ketogenic diet so normally the feeling of satiety is quite strong, not this time. I never felt like this, even during my pregnancy my cravings were more manageable. Unsurprisingly, I gained weight…about eight pounds. These unusual eating patterns continued for more than a month.
- After the first week, the fog and the lack of motivation started to lift a bit, though I continued to feel mentally fatigued. About three weeks into it, I added magnesium and the next day I started seeing a big improvement in my mental clarity. Couple days later I also added panax ginseng. My thinking became clearer and motivation began to come back.
- At three weeks, my immune symptoms improved yet again. I am not sure how much lack of caffeine contributed to it, but I noticed the change.
- My sleep became stellar. I sleep long, deep and I have been rested in the morning. I look forward to getting out bed and off to the yoga mat. That’s right, I replaced my morning coffee ritual with 30 -45 mins of Yoga. It was one of the best decisions of my life!
- After a month, the mental fog practically went away. I would still have moments of random tiredness and grogginess, but it didn’t last long.
- I learned to appreciate water a lot more. At first, drinking only water was really boring, but within a few days, my body adapted, and I actually started enjoying it. I noticed that even though I drank a lot more water, I didn’t make additional trips to the bathroom. I felt more hydrated.
- I initially lost all the motivation for working out, and I took a break for about three weeks. When I went back to exercising, my body seemed to have a better stamina and distributed my energy throughout the day more evenly. Running in particular became easier and more enjoyable. Coffee used to give me initial boost for working out, but I would have to compensate with a nap after working out. At this point, I can work out first thing in the morning and I have lots of energy throughout the day.
- My energy baseline changed. I thought that after breaking up with coffee I would feel low on energy and had to battle grogginess in the morning forever. The opposite happened. After two months, my energy in the morning came back and I started feeling energized and happy as if I had coffee.
My journey to break the coffee addiction was painful, long, made me gain weight, but was worth it. Three months free of coffee, I still observe minor changes and improvements.
Do I miss it? Yes, sometimes, when I smell freshly brewed coffee, or hang out with friends in the café. I doubt I will ever return to drinking it regularly due to the role it played in my autoimmunity, as well as the tremendous pain it caused to break free from it.
I will, however, keep it in my toolbox, on occasion, for managing jetlag, or getting something important done while sleep deprived.
