confession

i am drinking a coffee right now. and this isn’t my first cup in a long time. i have been drinking coffee for almost two weeks now. it all started when i had to go on a business trip and the hotel i stayed in had free in-room coffee. it was sooo tempting. i told myself no one would ever have to know… ha.

and the worst part is that i’m not sure i’m going to go back to coffee-less-ness. for a couple of reasons. 1) because i like coffee. 2) coffee actually has some nutritional value – antioxidants and whatnot 3) because I was craving more and more sugar as a replacement for coke and caffeine and gained nearly 10 lbs since I quit drinking cokes 2 months ago! since I started having a cup of joe every morning i have since lost almost 5. As superficial as it may be, I can deal with headaches and cravings… but not with extra pounds.

so, the coke thing still stands and I will continue to donate my savings (even the savings that I would see if I quit drinking caffeine). but for the foreseeable future, i’ll be drinking coffee.

and just for fun… hurray coffee and 15 things you should know about coffee

and another reason….

A colleague sent me a link to this article explaining how coke affects the body. I will add it to my collection of reasons why its better not to drink coke.

» read this before you reach for your next coke

The First Month

I almost forgot that we even took this picture at the Dave show in LA last month. But I remember now wanting a picture of me enjoying my last coke.

All in all, I guess the no-caffeine-thing has gone okay. I have stuck with the plan (with the exception of the coffee fall I took a few weeks back) and I do think that a lot of good things could come from this whole idea.

One question that my husband keeps asking me and that I haven’t really found the answer for yet is “how long am I going to do this?” I know it’s not realistic to say that I will never drink caffeine again ever. At the same time, I don’t want to throw in the towel too early. Perhaps a year?

A phased approach

Two weeks ago, I returned from a vacation where I had seen DMB in concert. I had vowed to be caffeine free after that point. Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned. I have not had a single drop of coke and I think that may be getting easier. I have had a lot of caffeine, however.

Tomorrow night, I will be attending another DMB concert. After that, I plan to kick the coffee habit too. Although it wasn’t planned this way, I’ll call it my phased approach.

10 things that I would rather quit

I have not had a drop of coke in the past two weeks. In that time, I have done a lot of thinking about things I would rather give up other than caffeine:

1. Pack my lunch
2. Eat breakfast at home
3. Movie rental subscriptions – Other than the one this weekend – there really haven’t been that many good movies come out anyway.
4. Save on Gas by staying home more
5. When we do leave the house, drive the hybrid rather than the SUV (good for the environment too).
6. Steak dinners – they are wonderful, but we may
7. Eating out – cutting out 2 dinners each week could save some serious money.
8. Canceling the unused gym memberships – after all, running with the dogs is free and kills two birds with one stone.
9. Cut the HBO package – it is rarely watched.
10. Household projects – they really take too much time and effort anyway.

I guess I’m going to stick to the caffeine thing though – if for no other reason other than this site would be somewhat irrelevant if I didn’t.

Whoops!

I have heard that you can determine if you are an alcoholic by whether or not you can stop after just one drink. Well, I guess the same could be true for caffeine addicts.

After having a caffeine splurge on Saturday, I broke down yesterday. I decided that in order to save my sanity, I MUST have a cup of coffee. Not only must I have a cup of coffee, but I must go all out. A large white mocha with an extra shot of espresso, whole milk and whip cream was the only option. Today, I didn’t even fight it: I started the day with a modest small cup of coffee. The only good news at this point is I still have not had a coke.

So, where does this leave me? Over the past week and a half, I have come up with numerous other lifestyle changes that I could make with the same result but less impact on my daily routines and habits. But I can’t allow myself to give up quite so quickly. Maybe I will resume the fight tomorrow.

Day 7: falling off the wagon

So, I had quite a bit of caffeine on Saturday. But, it was not in the form of coffee, coke or even red bull. It was in the form of gu. My dad and I were racing in Raid the Rock, and gu is essential to maintain strength and endurance. but if you have ever tasted a Gu packet, you will know that there is no danger of me fulfilling my caffeine http://forthepriceofacoke.org/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=55&message=1#edit_timestamphabit with these nasty little packets. Because while they are amazing bursts of energy during races, they are possibly the most disgusting combination of carbs, calories and caffeine ever.

There were a few surprises for me this week. 1) Giving up caffeine was not as difficult as I had imagined. The headaches were not nearly what I was expecting. 2) I was surprised at how cloudy I felt. Apparently caffeine has a major effect on my concentration levels. 3) I was surprised by the fact that I actually missed and craved coffee more than I did coke. Perhaps this is because it supplies the largest caffeine boost in my daily routines. But, all-in-all, I would say this was a successful week (as long as the surge of caffeine on Saturday doesn’t set back my withdrawal symptoms)!

Days 1 & 2 of caffeine freedom

Yesterday was my first caffeine free day. Today was my first caffeine free day at work. And, surprisingly, the second day has been easier than the first. Despite having to get up early after a long vacation on a dreary Monday morning without coffee, i haven’t been yearning for a coke as badly today as yesterday. Hopefully this trend continues!

I have been thinking a lot about what to do with the money that I am saving and paying much closer attention to charitable causes i happen to run across. I haven’t made any decisions yet, and there are a lot of great and noble causes out there. I’m going to go month-by-month and donate my savings. suggestions for this month?

And by the way, the Dave show we saw last week was pretty awesome (in case you were wondering)

The countdown is on

I am approximately 2 weeks away from eliminating caffeine from my diet. All of the cokes in the pantry are gone and have since been replaced with new 24-packs of coke. I suppose I could entertain the idea of slowly weaning myself off over the next few weeks to try and minimize the trauma my body will take from caffeine withdrawals. But what would be the fun in that? Nope, instead, I’m trying to savor every last drop.

my stomach: acidity

So, my husband has been trying out a new gym and the athletic trainer/owner of the place has been lecturing him on the appropriate pH level of the human body and how certain foods and drinks (read:coke) are very acidic and lower that optimal level.  At the same time, the guy is trying to promote his high-pH water.

So this morning, Brad is filling a water jug full of water from the filter in our refrigerator and I ask him to hand me two cokes, one for my morning commute and one for lunch.   He  proceeds to give me a hard time about it and after telling me I was hopeless (which I took a little bit of offense to, seeing as he knows about my little side project here and such remarks makes me believe he doubts my efforts) he said, “your stomach contents are so acidic you could sterilize medical equipment.”  which i thought was just hilarious.

not for long.