Wednesday, September 7, 2016

I Now Drink My Coffee Black

I now drink my coffee black? What kind of a title is that? It means what it says but there is much more to be said and recorded onto this online bookshelf of blogged memories about a day in which I decided to get clean with my coffee sipping. So this page of musings revolves around the time that I took my determination to a whole new level and began to drink my coffee black.

It was July 1st, in the Summer of 2016 when I decided to give it another shot in the dark. Another? Yes I've quit the highly desired, beloved cream and sugar many times in the past, but never lasted more than a week or two. It's amazing how cravings never truly go away. They just get pushed back into the very depths of your mind where your hypothalamus, that part of your brain that loves to tell your body it has to have something when in fact it just likes to lie lie lie all the time, decides to sit back and let logic step in and say, "Why?" Why do you think you need it? Is it beneficial?  I had to learn to get past the lies and see the freedom in ignoring that darn craving and replacing it with something else.

Why was dropping this habit of cream and sugar so important to me, one may ask. Well those who know me know about my love for this popular high octane drink. I've even been known to have a slight hinge of disappointment after meeting someone new and thinking we could be great friends, then to find out  the discouraging news that they don't...drink...coffee...gasp. Sorry, this friendship would never work. I say this jokingly of course.

My fellow coffee drinking readers will relate when I say that it is this very drink, that comes from a tiny bean, that helps put a bounce in my first step out of bed in the morning encompassed by the excitement in knowing it's time for coffee and Jesus! I love mornings. I love to get up and have some time to talk to God and sip on my rich hot drink, before the little minions awake and the rat race begins. The only problem with this crazy habit I bestowed was the dairy and sugar that I also had been consistently consuming daily.

Prior to kicking my habit I had become aware of my need to cut back on my carb and sugar intake, creating a cleaner approach to eating. In the event of doing so I realized that I was not going to achieve a day without sugar if I indeed started my day with a spoonful of sugar. There are really two types of coffee drinkers; the ones who just have to have something in it; and the ones who drink it black and would never go back. Well I've been both of these people, obviously or I would have no credibility in writing about it. One thing that is so interesting and unexpected, is how I now crave it in its pure and natural flavor.. after extracted from the bean and mixed in water of course, but this is now my preferred way to drink it! After achieving this goal I am finding there are other things that I can go without. Things that I have had all my life but I am realizing I am better off without them. I feel better, I think better and everything tastes better. I'm not entirely gluten free but I'm seeking out ways to cook without it. Bread is a real treat but I find that I'm not craving it like I once did. It all had to start somewhere, and coffee was the first step so I'm reminded every single day, of the accomplishment of giving up something I thought to be impossible, as I begin it with a cup of black coffee and a whole lot of Jesus who really was the key to making it happen. I'm now presently on my third month of this clean drinking frenzy and I think I've created a habit in which there is no turning back. Even now after writing about it, I have set an accountability of online viewers that are sure to keep me on the black-coffee-drinking-bandwagon. Otherwise I just become a hypocrite of my own writing.

I share this blog not to brag about what may seem to some as a "silly trivial accomplishment," but in hopes that it may help someone struggling with a food addiction of any kind. It all starts with the first step and the determination and will power to do it. If you don't believe you are strong enough then that's where the power of God steps in and fills in the gaps. He is the cream and sugar in my coffee every morning and it's never tasted better!





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