Hello, fellow coffee lovers!
Coffee seems almost essential at this point in my life. From Dunkin to local coffee shops, my love for coffee has only grown as the years go by. But, lately I’ve found myself relying on coffee and have had comments from my friends and family about how I’ve become “addicted.” (Maybe a little!) So, I decided to embark on a week-long journey of ZERO coffee. Okay, so a week might not sound like a long time, but baby steps! I journaled each day of my coffee-free week and I’m here to share my experiences with you!
Monday: Day 1
The struggle is REAL. Going cold-turkey from coffee, my body already seems confused as to why I have stopped feeding it insane amounts of caffeine. One of the reasons I also decided to skip out on coffee for a week is because of the effects it has on your skin. After six months of Accutane, my face typically no longer breaks out, but I’ve recently found random blemishes on my skin. I looked up the details about coffee and acne, and it turns out that too much caffeine puts your body into “stress mode” causing your skin and body to act out. Since today was my first day, I obviously don’t see any differences yet with my skin, but we’ll see how that goes. Once college started, I began taking naps more frequently, but this semester I haven’t really found the time nor the need to nap. HA! Oh, how times have changed. Without my caffeine, by body craved some type of refresher so I decided to take a 30-minute nap which turned into a two hour nap. It was much needed.
Tuesday: Day 2
Today wasn’t too bad. I went to Einstein’s Bagels this morning, where I’d usually get an iced latte, but instead, I ordered an apple juice. Looking at a menu full of coffee was difficult to pass up, but overall my apple juice tasted surprisingly refreshing! I headed to class and managed to have a decent day without my usual latte before class. There was no nap time today. Instead, I hung out with my boyfriend who, above all, hates my coffee addiction the most. Hanging out with him definitely got my mind off of my taste buds craving some caramel coffee; however, we did decide to grab some ice cream tonight.
Wednesday: Day 3
Day three is about half of the way there, and it was most definitely my hardest so far. I worked all day today and instead of continuing to fill my mug up with iced coffee, I settled for an iced tea and some water. Nothing seemed to perk me up today as I felt rather sluggish. The only thing that got me through my work day was grabbing a Munchkin here and there throughout my shift. Have I mentioned that I work at Dunkin Donuts? Well yeah, being around the aroma of coffee for five hours was as if I was just torturing myself. After work, I tried studying for an exam but found myself super sleepy and decided to once again take a nap. This time, I forced myself into only taking a 40-minute snooze to help me feel refreshed and ready to focus on school work. The irritation in my skin seems to have subsided in the slightest.
Thursday: Day 4
Full disclosure: I cheated today. Let me explain myself…I had an exam today. On every exam day, I treat myself to an iced coffee from Dunkin and use the first half of my morning to drink my coffee and prepare for the exam. In this case, coffee wasn’t used as a want, it was used as a need. Okay, so that’s a little dramatic. However, the coffee gave me an extra boost before my exam and helped me to feel more prepared, as crazy as that sounds. I won’t be journaling the rest of today.
Friday: Day 5
Back to reality! Yesterday was a day of weakness but today I am back on track and forcing myself to steer clear from coffee. Waking up today to go to work at 7 am was not fun. I’ve noticed my skin still has no change to it, so I am thinking that cutting coffee isn’t really a big issue in clearing my skin. However, I definitely have noticed today how I woke up immediately craving coffee. I pushed those cravings aside and opted for a bottled water instead. Something that sucks about not having any coffee is that I become hungry more quickly. Coffee is known to suppress hunger and allow you to get through the morning without needing a decent breakfast. This kind of stinks because I am a huge snacker, and without coffee my body has the urge to snack more on meaningless food items.
Saturday: Day 6
Something I’ve noticed so far is that each time I take a ride to get coffee, I am more compelled to buy a bagel or donut along with my drink. Of course, I’ve made a few trips without having to get a food item along with my coffee, but I never noticed how naturally I’ve allowed myself to spend so much money at Dunkin or other random coffee places. Instead, I am opting for a banana and peanut butter rather than my cream cheese bagel. I am finally realizing I have one day left of my journey. I haven’t absolutely craved coffee yet, which is a good thing.
Sunday: Day 7
The last day of my journey. Overall, it wasn’t too terrible to cut coffee out of my life for a bit. Minus my cheat day, I fulfilled my coffee detox decently and am definitely ready to be sipping on some iced coffee! After this week, I’ve decided that I am going to try to limit the amount of coffee I drink each week. Instead of having coffee every day, I am planning on becoming more aware of how many cups I have each week and how much money I spend on coffee itself. Below I’ve attached some coffee facts for you to take a look at whether you yourself want to try out giving up coffee for a week or just want more information on why I decided it was a necessity to try it out for myself.
Negatives:
Caffeine can increase the risk of heart attacks in young adults –caffieneinformer.com
Increased risk in breast tissue cysts in women –caffieneinformer.com
Decreased fertility in women by 27% -caffieneinformer.com
Positives:
Coffee helps protect your risk of type 2 Diabetes –medicalnewstoday.com
Lowers the risk of liver cancer by 40% –medicalnewstoday.com
Two cups of coffee decrease post-workout muscle pain by 48% –medicalnewstoday.com