Tag: coffee

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No Sweetener

Photo: C. Drying

Experiment: Give Up All Sweeteners for a Month

Ok, so why…

  • Here’s the (sweet) T. I currently use stevia or monk fruit extracts 3-5 times every day. In the past, I’ve given up alcohol and caffeine for long enough stretches to prove to myself that I can at any point. Sweeteners are the one other extraneous thing I consume daily that I wince at the thought of giving up. This is how I know it’s the right choice for an experiment.
  • Stevia and monk fruit are both natural extracts that have been used for centuries, originating from South America and Southeast Asia, respectively. However, while generally considered safe for consumption, little research currently exists about the long-term usage and side effects of commercial sweeteners containing these plant-based extracts. So even though I plan to continue using them after this period, I like the idea of reducing my consumption until more research about them emerges.
  • Like some of my past challenges, especially giving up caffeine and starting keto, this one is daunting. I’m a kinda nervous about it. But I’ve found that when I am scared about doing something, it’s usually worthwhile.
  • Little challenges like this over time help me strengthen my discipline muscles. When I return to using sweeteners, you know what else I’m expecting to find in my beverages?Gratitude… and relief.

Uh oh…

  • I’m betting my creamy keto coffee* will be fine, but my regular coffee in the afternoon with no sweetener is gon’ be rough.
  • My afternoon apple cider vinegar drink will be rough.
  • My evening keto hot chocolate may be rough.
  • My potassium citrate supplement—a powder electrolyte supplement I take while doing keto—will be nose-plug-and-chug bad.
  • No more using monk fruit to make tasty, sugar-free cocktails like my naturally sweetened versions of the Old Fashioned and Margarita.

About that…

  • *Keto coffee is a rich, high-fat concoction that helps you become a fat-burning machine as part of the ketogenic diet. It’s also an uber decadent morning indulgence with coconut cream (thicker than coconut milk), coconut oil, and ghee (clarified butter). I also add collagen powder, cinnamon, a lil sea salt, and some stevia. Needless to say, it’ll be nice to cut one ingredient out of this list for a while.
  • While I can enjoy things that already contain a small amount of sugar/sweetener, e.g. White Claw, I won’t go crazy with these.
    • I’m trying to build willpower and reduce dependency on sweeteners—particularly in beverages—not trying to be a total asshole to myself.
    • We tried Trader Joe’s Kyla hard kombucha this month and dare I say that just may be our new replacement for White Claw! Sorry, girl.

I betcha…

  • Like coffee and alcohol, I’m 99.9% sure I will want to resume using sweeteners after this month.

My hopeful expectation is that I will adapt and need not dump small truckloads of stevia into my coffee anymore.

Week 1-2: The Struggle is Real…

  • The coffee tastes flat—even my beloved keto coffee. It’s like what I imagine fries without any salt taste like. Flat and meh.
  • My joyless plain afternoon coffee almost makes me want to just take caffeine pills instead, a la Jessie Spano. But we all know how that worked out (yikes)…
Im So Excited Saved By The Bell GIF
  • Almond or coconut milk, natural flavor extracts (e.g. peppermint, orange, rum), pumpkin spice seasoning, and sea salt all help make this a bit more tolerable.
  • While my daily beverages don’t taste wonderful, the implementation could not be simpler. As I do whenever I’m giving something up for a period, I say to myself, “Self, I am not a person who uses sweetener right now” at the beginning of the month. This simple internalization is all it takes.
    • The lesson I keep learning through these experiments and in life in general:

Dread lives only in your head… and only when it’s fed.

Week 3-4: Sweet Surrender…

  • Drinking beverages like coffee without sweetener feels similar to having a reduced sense of smell, like when you have a cold. The general flavor is there; it’s just a bit less satisfying.
  • By week 3 though, I started to appreciate the natural flavor of coffee more.
  • Temperature matters. Similar to how a warm rosé or white wine is a travesty, one should not subject themselves to cold, bitter coffee. It tastes much better to me when adequately warm, especially without the support of sweetener to prop it up.
  • Adding some cacao powder and orange extract became my favorite alternative. Terry’s Chocolate Orange vibes, anyone?

Where I Failed…

  • That cute thought about simplifying my beverage prep by cutting out the step of sweetening coffee, keto hot chocolate, etc. did not pan out. I found myself spending at least as much time trying to add other natural ingredients (e.g. peppermint extract, vanilla extract, cinnamon) to make it less offensive to my taste buds.
  • I stopped making my keto hot chocolate altogether because it was so dismal unsweetened.

Where I Won…

  • The winning combo I found to make coffee great again—or acceptable, at least—is a splash of almond milk, a few drops of peppermint extract, and a tablespoon of cacao powder. Mix it up, don’t think too much, and enjoy the minty hot chocolate sensations.

What Surprised Me…

  • I typically have an ACV (apple cider vinegar) drink in the afternoon. In addition to ACV, this health elixir includes lemon or lime juice, flavored sparkling water, and normally some sweetener to balance out the acidity. Surprisingly, this beverage was far easier to drink without my normal stevia than expected. The palatability ranges a bit depending on the sparkling water brand and flavor. The winners have been Trader Joe’s pineapple-flavored sparkling water and La Croix Mango.

Whoomp, there it is…

  • The first day after this experiment, I put on some Ariana Grande sweetener and celebrated!
  • Fortunately, I added just 1/3 as much stevia as I used to add, and my taste buds still rejoiced. That was plenty to make it way more satisfying… so I’d say this experiment was successful. (Yes, I’m a grande Ariana fan.)

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment with any feedback and/or what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. Daily Journaling
  2. Daily Affirmations, e.g. writing out by hand a mantra 15x/day
  3. Read 20 minutes everyday
  4. Breathwork, e.g. Wim Hof Technique
  5. Your suggestion?

Re(Sources):

https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/monk-fruit-vs-stevia

https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/stevia-side-effects

https://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/a19546604/monk-fruit-sweetener/

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Buzz Cut Results… What Happened When I Had 0 Coffee for 2 Months?!

It was easier than I’d ever imagined… but not permanent (duh).

Week 1-4 Notes:

  • Switching from my 1-2 cups of coffee/day to just a cup of green tea or yerba mate in the morning was not nearly hard as anticipated… so much so that I reduced the weaning period to just 1 week.
  • I discovered here that there is a supplement you can take to greatly reduce the effects of caffeine withdrawal. Phenylalanine is a simple and inexpensive amino acid supplement that can help. Here’s how:
    • In short, chronic caffeine usage depletes the brain’s stores of tyrosine and phenylalanine, amino acids that aid in dopamine and adrenaline production. Supplementing with either can make recovery quicker and easier.
    • Phenylalanine is likely more effective than tyrosine because tyrosine is synthesized from phenylalanine but not vice versa.
    • I started using this just after week 1, when I shifted from green tea to herbal tea (i.e. no caffeine) and I felt it helped make the transition smoother. To determine just how much it helped, I’d have to do this all again without the supplement, and I’m going to take a hard pass on that for now, thank you.
    • The one thing I would change: I would have bought and started using Phenylalanine sooner, i.e. during the first weaning week. While the 1st couple days of the coffee-to-tea switch were not too bad—just a slight dragging—they might have been even better with the phenylalanine supplement.

  • The 2nd key strategy I’d read about and used was changing my morning habit. Psychologists and behavior economists agree it’s easier to change a habit than to break it. This was my experience too. By switching 1st to green tea and then to herbal tea, I maintained my satisfyingly warm and aromatic morning indulgence, just with a fun new flavor profile:
    • Naturally, I took this as an opportunity to sample the full Trader Joe’s herbal tea selection.
    • My top pick: Yogi Ginger Tea. It smells and tastes warm and delicious, with ample ginger spice.
    • As an added benefit—especially helpful when giving up coffee—it aids in digestion so, you know, it keeps other important daily habits on track too.
    • Want something a little less gingery? Try TJ’s lively, fruity, and herbaceous Red Refresh tea or their Organic Detox Cleansing Blend, which is much tastier than it sounds.
    • Much like with coffee, I’d occasionally spice it up with some cacao powder, cinnamon, or vanilla extract. Cacao is known to have similar mood-boosting properties to coffee, without all the caffeine. (Some cacao or cocoa powders have trace amounts of caffeine but not enough to really register.)
  • Side note: I actually got a buzzcut during this 1st month… keeping it cool for the summer, okkurrr?

Week 5-8 Notes:

  • I still occasionally get what feels like mid-afternoon narcolepsy but overall, I experience fewer peaks and valleys, with a more even-keeled, sustained energy. I also fine myself a little less nervous, less prone to getting “on edge.” So, the effect of caffeine is basically the opposite of the edge-softening effect of CBD oil. Maybe a combo of the two would work well…
  • While I’m fortunate enough to be a good sleeper—till we have kids, at least—I undoubtedly fall asleep quickly more consistently than before this experiment. I bet it was the semi-regular afternoon cup and its half-life that was keeping me up at times.
  • It can feel tough to not have the “safety net” of caffeine if I’ve stayed up a little too late or made a little too much progress on a good bottle o’ wine. Because of this though, I’ve been better about getting to bed on time and not drinking too much… except maybe during SF Pride, but that’s day-drinking, so we’re good, right?
  • There’s something psychologically satisfying when you’ve had a productive day, morning, or even hour that was purely fueled by your own inherent focus and ambition, completely unaided by that magical brown elixir we’ve grown so fond of.
  • On weekends, I wistfully glance at passersby clutching coffee concoctions and have a mixed reaction. On the one hand, I acknowledge that I’ve moved on from my daily Joe, like an amicable ex that’s just not part of my regular life anymore. On the other, part of me remembers how good it can be—it wasn’t that long ago that I was holding, smelling, and savoring its richness as it touched my lips. Between this and the fact that I’d been literally counting down the days left in month 2, I know this is just temporary… not the end for me and my sweet coffee.

Whoomp, there it is…

  • TBD whether I go back to drinking it each morning or just when I “need” or want to enjoy it, i.e. as a productivity tool or a special treat but not a daily ritual.
  • Does 2 months without caffeine sound crazy to you? It did to me before this experiment. The good news is you don’t need to give it up for 2 months to get over a caffeine addiction. You can reset your tolerance in about 9 days. You could do this within the span of a long vacation. Check the links below for more info.

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment with any feedback and/or what you think my next experiment should be:

  1. Sensory Deprivation Therapy (Float Tank) 1x/week
  2. Slow Carb Diet (from The 4-Hour Body)
  3. CrossFit 3x/week
  4. Daily Journaling
  5. Guided Breathwork
  6. Cryotherapy
  7. Your suggestion?

References:

https://medium.com/better-humans/how-to-quit-caffeine-in-one-week-e041892698ec

https://addictionresource.com/addiction/caffeine-addiction/

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Buzz Cut… I’m Giving Up Coffee for 2 Months!

The T on Caffeine:

  • 90% of the world’s population consumes a meal or drink that has some caffeine in it every day.
  • 70% of caffeine is consumed as coffee.
  • America is the largest consumer of coffee (followed by Brazil), with over half of American adults drinking it daily.
  • The physical effects of caffeine we experience are mainly due to the placebo effect.

Experiment: No coffee for 2 months… after an initial two-week weaning period, no caffeine of any form for the remaining 6 weeks (aside from trace amounts in dark chocolate… let’s not get crazy now).

I’m moderately terrified of this challenge, a sign of its worthiness. I have given up meat, dairy, dessert/sweets, alcohol, TV, breakfast, “adult activities,” and social media for periods of time before. Each had its challenges, but none intimidated me the way giving up caffeine does. I’ve thought about giving it up for years but have never pulled the “drip” cord.

Ok, so why…

  • The people have spoken. Thanks to all who suggested I take on this experiment next… we’ll see how thankful I feel when it starts, haha.
  • I’ve become caffeine dependent, even if it’s largely mental, and would prefer to not let any substance hold that much control over my behavior. While I only have 1-2 cups a day, the thought of not having that first cup in the morning is like the thought of not putting on any clothes in the morning. I could do that when I’m working from home and shut all the window shades and maybe it would feel briefly liberating but a) it would be cold—at least in the morning/evening, b) it wouldn’t be super comfortable on furniture, and c) why? The mere discomfort with the thought of giving up caffeine is motivation enough to try grinding it out.
  • This challenge falls right in the Goldilocks zone of personal growth… Tackle something too vast in scope and you can feel helpless and overwhelmed. Tackle something too easy and there’s no real sense of accomplishment or growth. Finding goals in the optimal zone—challenging yet achievable—can be a great source of happiness.

Uh oh…

  • Another reason I haven’t tried to cut the morning buzz yet is productivity. Coffee in the morning feels like my own little fairy work-mother, at its worst clearing away the morning brain fog—and sometimes crankiness—and at its best giving me that glorious, let’s-f’n-go I-can-do-anything-right-now feeling. None of the other indulgences I’ve given up before could have a negative impact on my work, and many benefitted it. Hence my wariness to pull the plug on the electric kettle. But I plan to be a father in the near future (hopefully next year) and the challenge of reduced sleep that parenting a newborn produces will be greater if anything. In fact, this experiment seems like good initial training for that new challenge.
  • Another concern: with Intermittent Fasting, I look forward even more to my morning cup of coffee. Even though I wait 60-90 minutes after I wake to enjoy my first hot cup o’ brew (Why? See this 2-minute clip from one of my favorite authors, Dan Pink), it is often among the 1st things I think about in the morning. How will I cope with this… perhaps herbal tea or some other new reward/indulgence as a replacement?

About that…

Two months… why so long? As my cousin pointed out, it takes some time for your body to adjust to the removal of caffeine from the system. To set myself up for success, I will be phasing caffeine out like an awesome t-shirt you don’t want to admit has stains in it—maybe from coffee? Meta. The first two weeks I’ll be sipping on some green tea or yerba mate–each of which has just 30-40mg of caffeine via tea bags, as a weening period. After that, it’ll be all caffeine-free herbal all the time, baby.

Let’s be clear… practicing discipline builds inner strength and can teach us to want less, which can make it easier to be happy. The less you feel you need to be happy, the happier you are with what you have. However, the goal is not to punish myself or remove something that brings me joy. In other words, the intention is not to give up drinking coffee forever. The goal is to change my relationship with caffeine, i.e. maintain the joy I get from the experience of drinking a warm, rich cup of coffee without the daily caffeine dependency.

I betcha…

After experiencing an initial dip in energy, I’m wondering if this will improve my overall energy. This is my hypothesis and my hope. I’m envisioning a graph showing time without caffeine on the horizontal axis, energy on the vertical axis, and a line resembling a Nike swoosh that eventually flattens out, but we’ll see soon enough… here we go!

References:

https://medium.com/better-humans/how-to-quit-caffeine-in-one-week-e041892698ec

https://addictionresource.com/addiction/caffeine-addiction/

Grayscaling