I love coffee!  Nothing is more soothing than a cup or two of fresh coffee to start your day. Generally, I grind my own beans and set my coffee maker the night before. I love to wake up with the aroma of fresh coffee filling the air.  Once or twice a week, I will stop and pick-up a coffee on the way to work.  On my route to work, McDonald’s is the closest and most convenient, so I will often opt to pick-up coffee there.  This allows me to enjoy my cup of coffee for the entire duration of my 40 minute drive to work. I love Tim Horton’s as well.  In fact, we used to go to there so regularly that my son thought Tim Horton’s was called “Double Double” when he was little.  I am proud to announce that neither my husband or I are “Double Double” drinkers anymore, we set aside the sugar and now both drink double cream only. (And yes I said cream, I will have milk when that is the only option, but will always choose cream when available.)

Coffee Options 101

I am not a coffee snob and am certainly not much of a coffee connoisseur. I love my coffee, but rarely go for the speciality drinks.  I enjoy a simple cup of coffee  and am not too fussy, as long is it is not too strong.   I can’t say I don’t enjoy the specialty drinks, it is more a case of not understanding what anything on the menu actually means!  I must admit that Starbucks and other specialty coffee shops stress me out.  I take one look at the menu and feel like I’ve entered the Twilight Zone.  I just don’t get it, and frankly don’t have the time, energy or interest in learning the coffee lingo and figuring out what the items on the menu actually are.  Over the years, I have tried a few drinks that I enjoy, but since cutting the sugar from my coffee, even those I enjoyed in the past taste too sweet for me now.  I recently had a pumpkin spice latte and had a hard time finishing it as it just seemed overly sweet. (I would never have noticed this a few years ago.) So, I generally stick to the basics and order a simple cup of coffee with two cream.  If you are like me and don’t really get the lingo, you might enjoy this little video highlighting various beverages made with coffee.  It is very good and informative, but still seems like a foreign language to me.  I don’t think I could ever keep it all straight, so will probably continue to order my staple cup of coffee with two cream.

Caffeine Cautions

How much coffee is too much? Click the image to read the article.

In May, I went through a three day cleanse and as part of the program, I had to eliminate coffee from my diet. I knew this would be a huge problem as my body does not do well in the absence of coffee.  I generally make 5-6 cups in my little coffee maker, which translates to two regular size mugs of coffee (or one large McDonald’s or an extra-large Tim Hortons’s) per day. So, basically I am accustomed to about 16 ounces of coffee per day. I only drink coffee first thing in the morning and never throughout the day.  Not an outrageous amount, but I can tell you without it, I am a mess. It starts with a slight headache which slowly progresses to a full-fledged migraine complete with vomiting and a feeling of impending death.  Day one of my cleanse left me throwing up into a grocery bag at my son’s soccer game – nice!   A real proud moment.  I made it through the three days, but felt like I had been hit by a semi-truck.  When the three days ended, I could not even look at a cup of coffee.  I didn’t touch it for 14 days and then slowly it began to lure me back into its clutches.  Since then, I have reverted back to my same routine, but I purposely abstain from any coffee 2 to 3 days per week.  This has allowed my body a bit of reprieve from the caffeine and I don’t have the headaches and nausea when I don’t have my coffee. This was not my first episode of severe caffeine withdrawal, many years ago while working nights on a summer job, I started drinking obscene amounts of coffee to stay awake and then was unable to sleep during the day due to the caffeine in my system. I decided to stop drinking coffee, so I could get some sleep and got so sick I landed up in emergency.  Again, not one of my finer moments.

I am so glad that I have found that balance and can still enjoy my coffee, but also know that I can cope just fine on my days without it!

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