Goodbye Juan Valdez, My dear sweet friend.........

I have officially given up coffee. (That should be followed by a huge gasp from anyone who knows me). I have loved coffee for years, I have a special coffee pot that I drop the beans into, then it grinds them for me fresh that morning, drops them into the hopper and brews me sweet nectar of the gods every morning on demand. I have special mugs, favorite coffee travel mugs so I never have to miss it. I travel with that pot on vacation, it is the one constant in my life, its always there every morning waiting to jolt me back to life like a morning defibrillator.... and then I met this guy named Dr. Feingold....

I read his book, about how additives in our food (colors, flavors, and preservatives) are made from crude oil (okay yuck) and how some people are just "sensitive" to them. (oh BTW, I will update on the kids diet in another forthcoming blog.) But then he talked about salicylates, and people who are sensitive to them, and coffee is one of the strongest salicylates... so I decided to try to go without it and OMG!!! I feel so much better... I sleep easily, I have a much higher frustration threshold, anxiety is WAY down, plus I haven't had any joint pain, migraine headaches or congestion since I quit at all. Now to be fair I have also been doing the rest of the Feingold diet, but WOW. Weirdly enough, I feel more awake all the time.

Call me a doubting Thomas, but I always wonder if its a placebo effect, or am I just seeing what I want to see. So I had asked Brian if he noticed a difference and he had said yes. Then, this morning we were talking on the phone and he asked what I was doing, and I said, "oh nothing just having my coffee" out of habit, I was really drinking tea and he was sooo funny! He was like no, no coffee for you!!!!! Sooooo, I'm guessing he really has seen the same difference I have and wasn't just saying it to make me feel better.

Whats sad is, I feel like such an addict... LOL. The SMELL of coffee makes me want to drink it. I actually watched a friend of ours drink coffee, and I think I had a little drool puddle on the table. I'm wondering if there is a Folgers Anonymous Support Group (not that I ever drank folger's, I had a MUCh more expensive habit)? Now that I have admitted I have a problem, is it time to turn it over to my Higher Power?