Misdirection and Phasing Out: How I Kick a Coffee Addiction

I cringe at the word addiction. Partly because it sounds so serious, and also because I would like to remain in active denial that I am craving a daily caffeine fix.

How did this happen?!  I’ve conquered this…over and over ….and over again.

Realistically, one cup of coffee a day is hardly a serious problem. However, even just one cup symbolizes the neediness and dependance I feel for it, and that is what I don’t want. Truthfully, I’m not sure I’m fully physically addicted, but I have drunk coffee for enough days in sequence that I’m now drinking it mainly because I don’t have time to have a headache later (in case that would happen).

Plus: I love Starbucks coffee.

Across the street from my current home, I can get coffee at Starbucks or Bruegger’s (via the drive thru when I’m not presentable enough to exit my car). Or I could go to Max Market…or the 0.24 miles to Wegmans…or even hop the fence and get it at Monroe Diner or Friendly’s (…I’d have to be really desperate to do that). My point is that there are ample opportunities for me to fill my possibly fake need for coffee each day. And I have been.

Of course I’m overreacting a bit…but I’ve been reading about the issues with food we have in our country based on overabundance. Between 1900 and 1960, the government was recommending that people Eat More in order to enhance health, and then the tables turned as food became more convenient, processed, and cheap. Now our culture promotes that we should Eat Less in order to prevent disease.

Enter: A Negative Perspective on Food, and Feelings of Deprivation and Guilt.

Coffee is my current guilty pleasure, and I’m planning to oust it, but I would rather focus on what I can Eat More of so it can be phased out positively and painlessly.

Coffee is the pothole I’ve been falling into lately (and loving every sip!), so my plan for replacing it includes:

Do you have guilty pleasures you want to oust? Or maybe you just want to stop feeling guilty about them?

I’m all for taking the positive perspective and adding good things to my life…not stressing about the potholes I’m falling in…and gradually noticing that the vices become a smaller part of my life when I’m not feeling intense about them.

Hope you have a great week!  I’m officially on Summer Break from teaching face-to-face, and can teach online from anywhere (which is probably why I have 4 trips planned this summer!).  Tomorrow I’ll be checking in from Florida, and I have a great conference to look forward to in a couple weeks—Food As Medicine. On a side note, I’ve been asked to design a course for an online master’s program, and I get to choose the topic (Lucky ME!)—I think Food As Medicine may just be my topic.