It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I've been feeling rather unmotivated, definitely unfocused for a while now. (Hmmm... no blog update recently... any correlation?) My friend, Lisa , suggested this book . It basically identifies four main types of mood issues, and then suggests the appropriate amino acids and dietary changes to cure the problem.
According to this book, I am probably low in the catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, and adrenaline). People low in the catecholamines tend to substitute other stimulants for the lack of catecholamines. (Thankfully, I substitute coffee and not cocaine!) There are foods that help the body manufacture these catecholamines, and then there are foods that inhibit the production of the catecholamines. Soy is one of the latter.
Why is that important?
I cannot even remember how long it has been that a soy latte has been an essential part of my day. And, I mean essential. If I didn't get it early in the day, then I'd have a decaf soy latte later in the evening. I'd already had plenty of regular coffee at home. It used to be a tall latte. A year or two ago it became a grande latte. At CHA, I was jump starting those early days with a TRIPLE grande soy latte!
The impetus to go caffeine free did not just come from the book. Looking back, I realized the time that I was most energetic and productive was when my children were babies. For the 4 1/2 years or so that I was pregnant/nursing/pregnant/nursing, I was off of caffeine. I was drinking tons of water, and I was eating religiously healthy. I think there's something to that.
For now, I'm concentrating on the caffeine. I'll work on the water and healthy eating in a bit. I think I am past the worst part of the physical withdrawal symptoms. Today was the first day that I did not need to take Motrin for the headaches. (I did have the headaches, but they were gone by the time I got back home to take the Motrin.) Tonight is the first night I wasn't ready to go to sleep before my children's bedtime. Geek Husband is somewhat surprised (and relieved) that he hasn't sustained any physical injuries during this whole process!
But the psychological part is so much harder. I like the taste of coffee. I had my little morning routine of drinking that first cup of coffee while I caught up on my favorite blogs. I felt so trendy walking out of Starbucks with my white cup with the green logo in hand. I loved knowing the lingo (triple grande soy latte, please) - it's like belonging to a secret club. Other than that four year detour, I've been drinking coffee since I was fifteen!! Ummm... that's almost thirty years by the way! (And it's the nuns' fault that I started drinking coffee at fifteen, but that's another story.)
For a few days, I was thinking that it might just be an experiment. If it didn't work, I'd just go back to my lattes (just maybe scale down a little). But I'm somewhat reassured tonight. This may just work.
I've made an attempt to keep the content of this blog art/scrapbook/crafts related. While this post isn't about art, it is about what has been a huge block in the productivity of my art lately. I promise to post art tomorrow!
