I quit the coffee habit ☕

I've stopped drinking coffee - again. It's been a long time coming, I knew it needed doing and I'm glad it's no longer going into my body every day.

When I went through the quitting phases in the past I'd feel the need to substitute, but this time round I've been so focused on feeling hydrated and enjoying that feeling instead, that substitution wasn't a requirement.

Until the weather changed!

A subtle shift to just a few degrees cooler in the morning and the memory of a hot black coffee has come flooding back.

But I realise it's not the coffee that I want. It's not the surge of adrenaline, the constriction in my blood vessels, or the anxiety-induced fake high that I'm seeking, it's just something hot to warm me.

A hot lemon water would absolutely suffice, and it will, no problem but the weekend feeling of "relaxing the rules" has crept in a little, and I decide there's no better day than to experiment with a coffee substitute 🤷🏼‍♀️

Recently I've been exploring carob. If you know me you'll know much of my health practice has involved chocolate, cacao. It's been a huge support to me over the years.

In recent months though that has changed too. I now view it as another stimulant that, like coffee, seems to lead to wanting other things, or gets used as a means to covertly "treat" myself when underneath I'm really punishing myself (masking over tiredness, procrastination, emotions etc).

I haven't purchased any chocolate in ages and the supply of raw cacao in my cupboard is now at an all-time low, almost ready to be discarded rather than used up. That'll truly be a first for me!

So, thinking about how I might like to experience a warming drink or a sweet treat occasionally in a more healthful way, I got myself a bag of carob. And despite it tasting absolutely nothing like chocolate at all 🤣 I'm happy to have it in the background as a go-to in place of the cacao.

Listen, I'm never saying never here. It is early days, but the shift has happened, the new normal has changed and I'm just grateful, and a bit scared, to be venturing ever closer to the real, raw me - physiology unadulterated, unpoisoned, and finally mine again.

No judgement by the way if you drink coffee. There's plenty of research that says it's "good" for you, right!? People have been drinking it since forever, right!? And low and behold, Tim Spector - the celebrity professor who’s built a whole brand around gut health - is now promoting we all drink 4 cups of coffee a day, even if it's a shit high street coffee shop one! According to him it’s all about “feeding your gut microbes". Well if that doesn't set alarm bells ringing then I don't know what will 🙄⏰ For anyone curious here's the link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/diet/gut-health/tim-spector-coffee-health.

Seems like I got out in the nick of time 😂

So, back to carob and my desire this morning to have something hot and wet in my mouth 🤪

Hmm, how about carob espresso 💡

A quick view online and, yes, it's a thing!

Not yet being a fully converted fan of the carob, I dug out a bag of Noffee from the cupboard, a previous coffee-quitting substitute I tried but failed with. Nevertheless I figured perhaps a blend of both might do the job, and I'm pleasantly surprised to say they did! 🎉

A spoonful of each in my little coffee press and hey presto, a hot cup of dark richness was now passing my lips. It actually tastes really good! And I feel warm and satisfied. Job done 👍

I don't believe that coffee is good for our health. It might have some benefits when tested in a laboratory, but these types of tests only look at the effects in isolation.

It's important to look at the big picture and on an individual basis, because everyone's health is unique to them. Telling someone that drinking coffee daily will support their health, when they know nothing about what's going on behind the scenes, is not health advice, it's a sentence to death ☠️ Sounds dramatic? It isn’t. Here's an aricle - Fatal caffeine intoxication: a series of eight cases from 1999 to 2009 - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24502704/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24502704.

Of course, we know it's not just the coffee but the caffeine within it that can be problematic. But these days, with all these coffee shops and their high sugar, high fat coffee-based concoctions, to wash down their additional offerings of highly processed, high fat, stodgy sugary or savoury treats, coffee in this context cannot be hailed as healthy. Or is it just me? Even the big reviews admit caffeine isn’t harmless — here’s one worth a look - The Safety of Ingested Caffeine: A Comprehensive Review - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5445139/#B208](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5445139/#B208.

At the end of the day, it’s not really about coffee, or carob, or whether something tastes anything like chocolate (because let’s be honest, it doesn’t 🤣). What it is about, is actually paying attention to what we really need - hydration, warmth, rest when we’re tired, and being real with ourselves instead of running on quick fixes or fake highs.

That feels far more satisfying than any buzz in a cup. It's also more empowering to make these choices without the disruptive noise from so-called outside authorities who seem to know best but actually create confusion and even more stress, further poisoning our bodies and our minds.

Our health is our priority — mine, yours, OURS. It belongs to us, not to outside authorities. It’s ours to explore, to understand, to experiment with, and to experience fully. And the only way we get there is by stripping it right back to basics.

After all, you weren't born with the requirement to ingest caffeine. No one’s body is designed in such a way that they need coffee to survive. And the same can be said for many other things that we accept as "healthy" and "normal" when the truth is they are far from it. Jason Christoff is a great resource for unveiling some hard-to-deny facts: Article Regarding Coffee's Toxic Effects - https://bit.ly/3bcnRbd.

I guess the message is: take a step back and look at all the things that you do in your life, be that the food you eat, the supplements you take, the activities you partake in, and ask yourself:

Is this my truth or someone else's?

What is mine? And what is right for me? 

When we strip back the filters and stimulants, we get to meet a clearer, calmer, healthier version of ourselves, and with that comes the ultimate gift: true health autonomy.