{"id":7354,"date":"2010-01-26T11:45:20","date_gmt":"2010-01-26T16:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=7354"},"modified":"2020-01-28T11:02:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T16:02:28","slug":"quit-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/quit-coffee\/","title":{"rendered":"My Randomized Plan to Quit Coffee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or, really, to quit drinking caffeine.<\/p>\n

\"CloseThe “why’s”: <\/strong>Making lasting change starts with having strong enough “why’s.”\u00a0 Here are mine.\u00a0 Caffeine is an incongruous part of my otherwise healthy way of life.\u00a0 I try hard to stay away from acid-forming foods and to eat by the principles of Thrive<\/em><\/a>, where energy comes not from stimulation but from nourishment.\u00a0 I want to maximize the energy I have available to create an exciting life, and coffee, in the long-term, only robs me of this energy.<\/p>\n

I’ve tried hard to quit coffee in the past—I even went a month without coffee<\/a> a while back.\u00a0 But I keep coming back to it.\u00a0 I come back to it because I have this idea that it helps me think better.\u00a0 I enjoy reading books and doing math more when I drink coffee, and I think I come up with better ideas when I’m caffeinated.\u00a0 But I know that’s not true.\u00a0 The type of thinking coffee helps me with is a very linear kind, a proficiency at checking items off a list or even of recombining old ideas in a new way.\u00a0 This isn’t real creativity.\u00a0 Real creativity is nonlinear, the creation of truly new ideas that haven’t yet been conceived, not simply the reordering of old ones.<\/p>\n

The supplies:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

One pound regular coffee beans, one pound decaf coffee beans, and a bunch of little baggies.\u00a0 And oh yeah, a randomizing device\/wife.<\/p>\n

The plan:<\/strong> Here’s the deal.\u00a0 A standard weaning-off isn’t going to work.\u00a0 I know this because I don’t have a problem going a day without coffee or caffeine.\u00a0 I never drink it before long runs, so I think that one day off per week has kept me from developing a physical addiction.\u00a0 No; my problem is that on gut level, I believe that coffee makes me happier and more creative.\u00a0 This is what needs to change: I need to convince myself that my thinking is just as vibrant, or more so, without coffee.<\/p>\n

I’ve often wondered how much of the caffeine high is a placebo effect.\u00a0 What if, I’ve often imagined, I were given a cup of decaf that I thought was the high-octane stuff?\u00a0 Might I experience the same mental fireworks, completely of my own accord?\u00a0 My belief is “yes,” and it’s on this notion that my plan is based.<\/p>\n

So here’s how it works. I use five scoops of coffee beans each morning.\u00a0 I gave Erin (my randomizing device) the amount of beans that I’ll use this week, three-fifths of which are regular, two-fifths of which are decaf<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"Bowls<\/p>\n

I’ve asked her to put five scoops in each bag, but here’s the kicker: I had her randomize the number of caffeinated scoops and decaf scoops<\/strong> I get each day, and not tell me the amounts.\u00a0 The only rules were that one day must be all caffeine; one day must be all decaf.\u00a0 The rest of the proportions are to be whatever she decides.<\/p>\n

I make no secret of my love for gambling, and my hope is that the “gamble” each morning, the chance that I’ll hit the jackpot and get the fully-caffeinated version, will keep the experiment alive.\u00a0 What would be really special is if I find I can’t identify which days are hi-caf, or even better, if I find that I’m happy no matter what, but on the hi-caf days I get unpleasant jitters and fatigue later in the day.\u00a0 That would go along way to changing my gut level associations to coffee.<\/p>\n

\"Zip<\/p>\n

So this week is three-fifths regular, two-fifths decaf.\u00a0 Next week will be the same randomization process, with two-fifths regular and three-fifths decaf.<\/strong> The next will be only one-fifth regular.\u00a0 I’ll keep it in this proportion, knowing that on any given day I might be drinking a fully-caffeinated cup of Joe, until I’m convinced that caffeine doesn’t make me any happier than I can make myself.<\/p>\n

\"CaffeineMy biggest concern is that I won’t be able to make that gut-level change of the emotions I link to drinking caffeine, and to that end, I’ve ordered a book called Caffeine Blues: Wake Up to the Dangers of America’s #1 Drug<\/a>.\u00a0 I found this book thanks to Mel, one of the coolest bloggers I know, who mentioned it on her blog She Runs Brooklyn<\/a>.\u00a0 (Yet Mel still drinks coffee and loves it more than most.\u00a0 Could that be why I think Mel is cool? \u00a0 Hmm…)<\/p>\n

So here I sit, Day 1, Week 1, with my cup of java.\u00a0 I’m pretty sure it’s not the jackpot.\u00a0 If I had to guess, I’d say it’s an even mix.\u00a0 Or maybe it’s the all-decaf, and the little buzz I’m getting is my mind’s own doing.\u00a0 And that’s exactly the point.<\/p>\n

\"1<\/p>\n

iHerb.com shopping spree winner<\/h2>\n

While we’re expounding on the virtues of randomization, it’s time for a lottery draw!\u00a0 There were 103 comments, and we’ll leave it up to the goddess Fortuna to bestow upon the lucky winner the $50 iHerb.com shopping spree.\u00a0 Here we go…<\/p>\n

\"\"#21 is Anne, another starving grad student, who said she would buy lots and lotsa chia seeds and coconut oil!\u00a0 Congrats, Anne, enjoy your $50!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or, really, to quit drinking caffeine. The “why’s”: Making lasting change starts with having strong enough “why’s.”\u00a0 Here are mine.\u00a0 Caffeine is an incongruous part of my otherwise healthy way of life.\u00a0 I try hard to stay away from acid-forming foods and to eat by the principles of Thrive, where energy comes not from stimulation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motivation","8":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Quit Coffee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My new plan to quit coffee and caffeine, using a standard weaning process plus an added gamble: on each day, you might get a full cup of regular coffee, a full cup of decaf, or a combination of the two.\" \/>\n<meta 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