Giving Up Coffee

[MysticTree]

I'm13 and a half months clean of diet coke :)

[RawLibrarian]

I stopped drinking coffee in 2006, when I started a yoga teacher training course. I started drinking chai made from green tea at that time, and still do. While it does have caffeine, it has far less than coffee, and green tea has antioxidant qualities.

[delmar]

I'm13 and a half months clean of diet coke :)

I quit that and all artificial sweetener around the time I came here in February. Still doing coffee though. I have sort have been doing the one change at a time thing.

[lynch]

My mother is also a diabetic person and she always wants to drink coffee instead of meat, but the doctor says that it can make your blood pressure high and as your blood become high your sugar would also increase.

[phak-i-tu]

I am thoroughly hooked on coffee and unless it's an espresso, I always drank it with milk or cream. (or a spoonful of vanilla ice cream...) Since I've gone raw, substituting that milk with rice or nut milk has not been difficult and that works with tea too. I'm thinking that the longer I stay raw, the less I shall need it. I never liked it 'warmed over' and would always rather do without it than drink instant. It's in the mornings that it's become such a ritual. For most of the years of my marriage, my husband and I made it 'cowboy' style, where one just stirs the coffee into boiling water, turn the heat off and let it sit till it clears on top. That morning ritual, combined with the smell of a morning wood fire and the dew-laden plants on the open desert around us, for almost 30 years, is one of those 'ordinary things' I needed most when I became a widow, to keep from going bonkers. BUT, the drink itself can be replaced with another some day, if it falls off on its own. I am already drinking much less of it. Now, from the perspective of the 'low income,' (which gets you the same reaction these days as if you'd said you have an STD) 'de-caff' is too expensive and tastes yucky, 'Roastarama' is too expensive as are other possible replacements or in my case, in the rural Southwest, can't be found anyway. So, I'm just going to stay raw and let the path itself fix whatever needs to be fixed at it own pace. I'm sipping a Cafe Bustelo now, with a twist of lemon. I can actually do it without the sugar now, which is victory enough for the first month raw.

[happylife]

I am going to try the Roasted Dandelion tea. I have been hooked on coffee for at least 22 years. Thanks

[rainwaterd]

Personally, I feel something is off with coffee. I love it and had an intimate relation with coffee in the past. With just one cup of coffee in the morning I know my sleep patterns and resting heart rate are affected. Very subtle, but I can be very sensitive and aware of things. Giving up coffee was more difficult than quitting smoking, which I quit about 40 years ago. I start every day now with an 8 ounce galss of water and a 12 ounce glass of orange, beet, carrot juice. I've heard that orange juice has very small amounts of caffeine. This juice is more energizing than coffee for me, without the let down. I think they use coffee enemas for Gerson cancer treatment.

[RawTruth]

The reason you feel "energized" after that juice is because it is extremely high in sugar. Fruit sugar is still sugar. All three of those ingredients is super high in fructose.

[Mary Kay]

I was thinking the same thing, RawTruth, about all the sugar in that juice. But at least there's a glass of water with it to cut it a little. I just can't do that much sugar any more myself.

Rainwaterd, I'm very sensitive to coffee too. I still love it, but only indulge on rare occasions. Best of luck,

Mary Kay

[RawTruth]

Yes, certainly lots of water is what our bodies need.

It's just that so many raw vegans (especially in the beginning) go crazy with fruit, which is really not healthy. Somehow, we think (or are told) that because it's raw and natural, it's okay to eat as much as we want.

Then there's the 80-10-10- people, but I won't go into that!

The fact is that sugar should not make up the majority of our diet and it is actually harmful in the long run if it does.