Organic Mutant

I think it was about, I don’t know, four or five months ago that I did an herbal digestive cleanse. I used to do these cleanses regularly, many years ago, as far back as my college days (!). Prior to this latest cleanse, it had been probably a couple of years.

One of the reasons I like cleanse - aside from the basic cleansing - is that doing so provides a defined block of time (7-10 days) where I am to abstain from certain things: alcohol, coffee, red meat, starches, sugary foods, etc. Without such a defined justification, I find it hard to arbitrarily give up these indulgences. With it, I find myself always feeling renewed and invigorated, and my natural desires to maintain a healthful lifestyle are stoked.

One of those indulgences which had taken on a life of its own was coffee. I have always had an up-and-down relationship with coffee: it wakes me up, and I have a hard time putting it down. I love Peet’s, especially. Liquid crack, if you ask me. Meaning, it is super-potent, very satisfying, and quite addictive. Last autumn, I had ‘quit’ drinking coffee, except for my trips to Peet’s  on the weekends. Bad idea. By sometime in December, I was drinking Peet’s 7-days-a-week .. sometimes even twice in a day.

Why was I doing this? I needed it, that’s why. That wonderful java-induced morning kick in the ass eventually showed it’s an evil side effect: sleep deprivation. Then, after a night of (caffeine-induced) sleeplessness, I needed that morning brew more than ever. And the vicious cycle was begun.

Of course the joy of a cup o’ joe is more than the caffeine high. The ritual, the flavor, the work break that often accompanies it are all enjoyable moments in an otherwise dull day. Still, after a few weeks of tossing and turning in the dark, I knew I had to do something: quit hanging out with Peet.

So it was, sometime in January, that I suspended my visitation rights to Peet. But rather than going cold-turkey, I engineered a soft landing, as I eased into Starbucks- and home-made soy chai tea lattes. Yes, chai has a ton of caffeine, but for some reason, it flows into your body gently, not with the jolt that Peet has magically engineered into his concoctions.

And since then, I have slowly but surely and completely ended my caffeine needs. Yes, I still enjoy a cup of coffee when I eat out for breakfast, or the occasional cup of tea. But I am no longer physically tethered to my caffeine crutch.

And guess what: I feel much better when I wake up.