Most of us couldn’t imagine their day without their cup (or cups!) of coffee. The beverage fits perfectly in our busy lifestyles, helping us to wake up in at the office the morning after a late night or to get us over that afternoon slump. The ritual of drinking a frothy latte is just so comforting that many of us wouldn’t want to live without it.
While it gives you that energy spike first thing after drinking it, the coffee “hangover” a bit later is inevitable. Depending on your tolerance level, the caffeine can leave you jittery, unfocused and anxious. Sometimes we don’t even make the connection between those states of being and our coffee consumption, but believe me, it has such an impact!
While I have never been an excessive coffee drinker, two lattes a day were a mainstay for me for a long time. I loved having one mid-morning and then after lunch to keep me going through the afternoon. When I got pregnant, I stopped drinking coffee all at once. The first trimester I felt so nauseous, I couldn’t even bear the smell of coffee, so it was a natural transition. My doctor also recommended not having any coffee at all during the first time because caffeine tightens the blood vessels and that can lead to the placenta not being supplied with enough oxygen. In the second and third trimesters a cup a day should be fine but I didn’t feel like having any for the entire pregnancy. After she was born I slowly went back to one cup a day, to help with the sleep deprivation and just because I loved the ritual of having a latte so much. It wasn’t until I got more sleep a few months in that I realized what even one cup of caffeine did to me. I have always had to deal with anxiety but I noticed that on the days I didn’t have any caffeine I was feeling much calmer. I decided to switch to decaf and after a few days I felt so much better! I even had more steady energy than when I used to drink a cup with caffeine because there was no dip after. Ever since I never looked back, stuck to decaf and never felt calmer and more energized.
Reasons to cut down on the Joe
- coffee is acidic which increases inflammation
- coffee disrupts sleep (increased cortisol levels)
- coffee leaves your energy crashing after the high
- coffee can increase anxiety (increased cortisol levels)
I think as long as something is consumed in moderation it is totally okay. We all have to live a little and I wouldn’t want to miss my daily (decaf) latte. Everyone metabolizes caffeine differently, so we each have a different level of tolerance. But all of us would benefit from doing a caffeine cleanse once in a while just to see how our body works without caffeine. You will most likely find that you have better energy, more mental clarity and better sleep by reducing your coffee consumption.
How to reduce coffee intake
- Often, it’s not even the coffee that we crave but the ritual of a warm comforting beverage. The best replacement is herbal tea.
- Don’t quit all at once, so the withdrawal won’t be that sudden, rather reduce slowly.
- Stick to it at least 30 days to get over the withdrawals and see how you feel without caffeine for an extended period of time. Better sleep, less anxiety and better focus are in your near future, I promise!
When incorporating caffeine back into your diet after the cleanse, it also makes sense to look at the source of caffeine you are taking in. Choose organic if possible, as coffee crops can be heavily sprayed with pesticides or try an alternative like Matcha which has a ton of antioxidants and doesn’t leave you crashing as much. Warm elixirs like golden milk with turmeric or the above mentioned herbal tea are also wonderful replacements for caffeinated beverages.
Benefits of coffee
How to reduce your caffeine intake
