About a year ago, when I first started working as the general manager in a deli/café, I decided I needed to do a coffee tasting. Coffee is a huge part of the business and as I hadn’t had any coffee for at least 4-5 years, I wanted to get an understanding of what it is that we sell. So I tried a decaf espresso, which was full-on.
FROM HIDEOUS TO REALLY TASTY
I hated it. Espresso, which is pure and neat in its extraction of the coffee, has nothing to disguise it and my reaction was immediate, as if my taste buds were saying to me: “What are you doing – are you crazy? This is hideous!”.
I then tried the espresso with some soya milk and this was not so invasive but still full on… I only managed to have a couple of sips of each and that was it. Then, an hour later, a headache appeared and my stomach started to feel weird.
The one thing that really shocked me though was the quick change from “What the heck are you doing, this is hideous” to (after a disguised, milky, soya flat white and a few sips of that) going “Hmmm… this is actually really tasty”.
How quickly it started to grow on me! It reminded me of when I first started to drink alcohol and started smoking. They were both naturally hideous and my body didn’t want to do either, but I overrode what I really felt so I could fit in, be accepted and look cool!
UPPING THE COFFEE ANTE – I GET SEDUCED…
My ‘romance’ with coffee didn’t end there – recently I had to choose a new blend of coffee for our customers.
So the coffee tasting began… I was having a look at the crèma, which looked perfect, and the smell was alive with lots of different scents – liquorice, almond and chocolate jumped out at me!
At that point I was slowly getting seduced all over again and I thought: “I’ll try it – I need to know what the coffee I have chosen for the deli tastes like.” Isn’t it interesting how the mind will quickly justify an action to make it OK to do! This was the start of the override again…
There were two types of blends so I had a couple of sips of each espresso and then another couple of sips of two flat whites.
By the end of the second espresso I could start to feel the change in my body… and by the end of the second flat white I was starting to like it, enjoying the flavours… I stopped there, knowing which blend was going to work best for the deli and the customers…
FEELING THE IMPACT OF COFFEE – THE HARD WAY
But for me, it was too late – by the end of the second flat white I was really starting to feel ‘off the wall’ and super-racy! “Oh my goodness! What have I just done?!” I’m thinking. It felt like I was on drugs big time… really bad speed, or something like that! My head felt really strange – like it was going to pop or explode. My heart was going super-fast, and I was completely off the wall in my behaviour – all the deli assistants were laughing at me, as they could all see the change in me.
It lasted for quite some time – we’d started the coffee tasting at 10.30am and I was still feeling traces of it at 8pm that night – and the following two days I had these really intense, full-on headaches that were hideous. I could see how people can get hooked – if I’d had another coffee, all those symptoms would have disappeared instantly.
This week I had another trip to the roastery, but this time I decided that I would spit the tasting – my body thanked me for this!
I LOVE MAKING COFFEES, BUT WHY WOULD I BE ANYTHING ELSE BUT ME?
I started making coffees when I was 15. I love making coffees, and I still do.
I love the smell of coffee and I still do, but I don’t like what it does to my body so I don’t drink it any more. It’s like some foods and how they taste and what they do to my body: I have decided to leave them out of my diet because I don’t like how I feel after I’ve eaten them, even if they taste amazing at the time – it’s not worth it!
However, this most recent coffee tasting experience really confirmed for me that I just don’t want to feel like that anymore. It also confirmed for me what happens when I let my mind override and ‘explain away’ what I’m really feeling in my body and know is right for me.
I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!
I’m at a point in my life where what I have chosen is SERIOUSLY AWESOME and I feel SERIOUSLY AMAZING for it. I feel so clear, on to it, light and consistent. I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.
Inspired by the Awesome work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
By Natalie Hawthorne, London, UK
Overeating must be one of the most frequent ways we override our body.
I have never drunk coffee, nor tea for that matter but I have had my vices that I know aren’t good for me, still do in some forms. Energetically there’s a disturbance in order for me to accept and like the taste of something that isn’t supportive physically. I can’t stop a certain food or a behaviour until I address the underlying energy.
Being open to feel our bodies, changes everything in our life, and the ensuing effects that take place can then be put into a True relationship to our health and healing as you have shared Natalie.
It is amazing how willing we can be to override our body’s clear communication about certain toxins that we are tempted to eat or drink but the more we are willing to listen the more it becomes clear that it is not worth sacrificing feeling awesome for a quick taste fix with unpleasant consequences for us and those around us.
Natalie this is such great blog exposing the not so good and wonderful side of coffee, blogs like these need to be more in the public eye for so many people in our society are addicted and think that it is normal.
Shocking how caffeine has been incorporated into the fitness industry, as in its now quite normal to have coffee before and after training.
It was a revelation for me to understand that when I used to have a mega latte after a gym class that this speedy hit from the caffeine combined with the mellowed out feeling of having exercised was a specific altered state that I was wanting. A kind of bombed out mellow feeling with a kick. All perfectly legal and because of that no one bats an eyelid. And also because I was so used to taking my body up and down, that what I was doing never really registered but if I was to do that now I would feel like I was on drugs, hang on a minute, I would be, just legal ones!
When we stop any addiction, we have put on/in our bodies and have overridden the bodies first reaction, could it be the bodies painful withdrawal is an amplified reminder of what it told us in the first place?
When I stopped drinking tea and coffee I was sick for two weeks as the toxins left my body, I swore I’d never drink them again and here I am 25 years later, very grateful for my choices to follow through on that. I’ve never even been tempted to drink them since.
I can remember experiencing the same ill effects when I stopped eating sugar. I was incredibly ‘ill’ for six weeks as decades of accumulated toxins poured out of my body. It was shocking to feel but at the same time it made so much sense; the toxins we feed our body, whether it be food, drink or chemical substances do build up, as our bodies are simply not equipped to deal with them. Six weeks on I began to feel so much more alive and energetic than I had ever felt in my life, so to continue to live sugar free was a no brainer, as the saying goes.
I gave up drinking coffee while going through menopause, as each time I drank some my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. So, I changed to decaf and had no further heart jumping issues, until one day within 10 minutes of finishing a cup in a local café I started to feel the old symptoms arise. I was shocked to say the least, until I realised that I had not been given a cup of decaf coffee but an ordinary caffeine filled one. A most unpleasant experience but at the same time a great confirmation of the ill effects of coffee on my body, and the last time I ever drank any sort of coffee, decaf included.
Having cut foods such as coffee and chocolate out of the diet and not having them for some time, is really a shock to the system if they are then introduced some years later, as you so clearly experienced Natalie. When the body is used to a clean simple and light diet, it becomes very quick to send signals to tell us something is not right when a food or substance that is no longer eaten or drunk is reintroduced. And it is this clarity that enables us to feel so much more, on so many levels.
It is so true how we can find exactly the right flavour to hide and override the bodies natural knowing and wisdom.
When we start to acknowledge that our body is a vehicle of expression, to express who we are, what we put in starts to change too. We all know coffee can be tasty in our mouth but what does it do with the quality we want to live in and the effects is has on our sensitive body.
Our body has actually all the wisdom we need. Some things might seem a great idea, might look and taste good, but what they actually do to the body is not supporting, This can be food, drinks, substances but also behaviors and thoughts. The world would be a different place if we all honored and treasured our body.
Our mind is more than willing to compromise the body and to close our hearts, just as it is super quick and easy in justifying an action where the body actually says ‘no, please, don’t do that. And the more we have made these choices the more difficult it is to hear the voice of the body loud and clear, although if we want to we can always start to listen again.
There are so many ways to be seduced in life textures, tastes, smells, visuals and sounds and yet the being wants to experience and experience life in its many variations.
One of the best ways to permanently have more energy in our life is not to have any caffeine and to live a lifestyle that makes this possible – the transition period is not easy but the energy levels are worth it.
I agree Christoph, it certainly is a process of being open and willing to feel and explore a different way, and when we choose to be all of who we are then Boom with out fail we are full of vitality and joy.
When we are stressed we tend to drink coffee but that only serves to make us even more stressed. What is required in those times is to allow ourselves to be still rather than racy.
I have never ever considered the effect of caffeine on those around us until today. We all know that when someone lights up a cigarette, that we all inhale the smoke but we don’t discuss the effect of a person’s caffeine intake on those around them. Ok, so it’s not quite the same, as in those around a coffee drinker don’t somehow imbibe caffeine too but whilst I sat with someone today, who had had a few coffees, I was very aware that it felt quite an assault on my body, I felt energetically bombarded by the intensity that they were speaking with!
When we have a foundation of love in our body, it is easier to listen to our body and honour what it is telling us. Thank you for sharing how your body was with, and then without coffee, our body is so wise.
Correct Lorraine our bodies are very wise and when we surrender to it and let go what it is communicating to us is gold.
What a gorgeous example of how certain food and drinks have a negative effect on us. Which we one day will no longer take based on how we feel from it more than its pleasant taste.
What I love about this writing, is how sensitive your body was to the caffeine, because you allowed it to be so.
Correct Shami, it has always been sensitive but going through the motions of life and growing up I shut down that sensitivity. So it has been a process of letting go and through it I am able to feel the things that are not supporting me also.
Thanks for sharing this – I dont think we appreciate as a society the extent to which we need coffee. It has become an industry that is like wine – where people seek the best. And are totally hooked. In fact, it can be seen as a hangover cure to lots of wine the night before, It goes to show how we can get really sucked into things and addicted.
It can be really intense and full on when we stop taking a poison that we have been drowning ourselves in. To be able to come to the surface and breath our own breath again instead of the influence of the poison feels em-powering and life changing not only on a physical but also on an energetic level as well.
The smell and atmosphere in coffee shops is very alluring, it goes with dark chocolate and beautifully presented pattisseries it’s no wonder that we are drawn to the drink. The sad thing is it is a drug like any other which took me years to finally give up.
A great exposure of how we so quickly normalise what is not true for us when we override and dishonour the truth we initially feel. And so, with all that is abusive in this world, how we are with ourselves and what we have allowed to be normalised, what is so beautifully shared and offered here is the way we can restore a loving and honouring way of being and living for ourselves and together through honoring our truth, the truth we feel in our bodies.
Very good point. We numb part of our experience so that we can then enjoy that sharpness of the kick and the raciness of the experience rather than feel it as a big disruption for the body.
Carola I love your use of the word ‘restore’ when you talk about ‘restoring a loving and honouring way of being’ because I feel it’s so supportive for us to remember that we have all lived this way before and therefore it is simply a matter of ‘when’ we return and not ‘if’.
The worst drug for our bodies is the way our spirit controls us so we need to have the ‘off the wall in my behaviours’ episodes and raciness with no physical drugs needed just the manifestation from our spirit, which feels absolutely terrible in the body creating some of the worst hang-over ever.
I have been making a lot of coffees at work recently (I haven’t tried it because I know I’d also be very unwell!!) and it’s something I really enjoy, but I can really feel the seduction of coffee, the rich smell and the the creaminess – you can a 100% tell it’s a drug. It feels amazing when we begin to put the quality we feel within us above our desires for food or drink that may alter that quality.
I love and agree with your suggestion ‘to begin to put the quality we feel within us above our desires for food or drink that may alter that quality.’
I agree Meg it sure is super cool when you come to a point within yourself where you know that the flavours, textures and deliciousness of certain things are just simply not worth it any more.
So many people don’t have a connection to how amazing they are within, so reaching for foods, drinks or experiences to bring a sense of stimulation, distraction, excitement, etc, is a way to fill the void of not being connected to ourselves. Once we reconnect to our essence and feel who we are again there is nothing outside of ourselves that can be greater than the feeling of who we are, so letting go of anything that is harmful or not supporting us becomes much easier, we just cannot help loving ourselves. That’s definitely been my experience.
Yes that is what I have found Melinda, it becomes a lot easier when we are coming from a place of truly loving ourselves and experimenting and listening to how our body responds to things. Making a loving choice from here and honouring what the body is communicating to us.
We can still be tempted for a long time whenever we feel low but gradually raise our minimum standard so we are damaging ourselves less and less in the process.
Yesterday at work I had an amazing conversation with my work colleagues about coffee and how the industry has grown so fast and how supermarkets are using it as a leverage to get customers by giving away free coffee. Maybe next time we could go the next step and talk about what it does to the body and why we drink it.
Julie yes that would be great, I have had several conversations with my customers, ones that are up for understanding their addiction and it has been awesome how honest some can be, I know for me at first I didn’t want to look at my exhaustion because I knew I would have to look at my choices. Today though the felt marker of making choices that are self-nurturing and feeling vital from not holding back and contracting the thought of putting coffee into my system is an absolute no way ho say.
Its a beautiful picture – with the heart shape in the froth. And we have so many ways to disguise it, the flat white, the Americano, my favorite – the Mocha, or with sugar, syrups etc. But when you get to the bottom of it, caffeine is a drug that is used to treat exhaustion… the number 1 epidemic in the world!
Yes Simon no.1 epidemic in the world yet we are the ones that are demanding such volumes and variations. What if we stopped felt and looked at our exhaustion.
Giving up coffee is basically impossible if you are exhausted – how would you work otherwise. However, if you are really well, then coffee feels like an aggressive intrusion and not drinking coffee is much easier.
It is such an aggressive drug, like A class drugs, once you are taking it there is the roller coaster of being up and then the massive drop of feeling down, so you reach for the pick me up and so it goes on. Sugar and alcohol is also the same… they are all exhausting and which we don’t want to feel and avoid the emptiness inside that is what we are longing for. How twisted and corrupt is that yet so easy to get sucked into. Breaking these cycles and behaviours are needless to say life changing which comes from us making the choice to break them and not be locked in them.
This is a brilliant blog about how coffee affects our body. I learned a lot reading it so thank you.
Like any drug that slowly gets a hold on you, coffee is something that we can become quite dependant on to get us going but the trouble is the body being the most amazing thing that it is will try its best to rid itself of something that is foreign to it, so it is not long before you need more and more. The more coffee that we drink the more we need because it exhausts us as well as everything else in life that is not true, so it becomes a vicious circle that we just don’t need in the first place.
It is an interesting mix – the most active, alive and vibrant people I know are the ones that really look after their diet, the way they live. They treat themselves like a high performance car, taking deep care, the right inputs, regular servicing and the results are clear to see. This is quite the opposite to forcing our bodies to do what we need them to do, throwing in whatever we think will keep that force going.
It sure is a vicious cycle as you say Kevin and what is crazy also is that we have accepted this as a normal way to be where it is so far away from being our normal, vibrant and harmonious selves that we are. But with the force and impact of the caffeine you can’t even truly feel or connect with our inner truth.
“I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!” The statement is so cool Natalie — its a statement that says to me this person is a person who is truly successful.
Yes Sam. I never would have thought that this would be what we could base success on but the reality is if we have this honouring and loving relationship with ourselves then of course this is absolutely a successful way of living.
It is lovely to return to this blog knowing that the desire to drink coffee has completely gone from my body because that racy feeling that I once lived with is no longer something I am interested in feeling in my body.
I had that the other day Fiona with Sugar, being offered some and not an ounce in my body was wanting any as I simply prefer feeling steady, still and relaxed in my body.
A great confirmation that the habit has not been broken but the choice to bring more love to the body has.
Exactly Nattalija, as tempting and as inviting as it all looks, body love is way more my focus and now for me it doesn’t even look tasty or inviting. Such a great transformation and honestly not an ounce of me has considered what weight I was and over sheer will power would I not eat it. It has come over a period of time Loving myself more and more and bringing more awareness, so when I did eat it I couldn’t handle the effects that it had on my body. This I have noticed is changing and deepening as well so we can never feel we are at a point of mastering. Simply always checking in and feeling how the body feels and the quality of your being after you have eaten.
Yes, this is becoming stronger for myself too. I can only handle very small amounts of sugar because if I eat certain foods where the sugar content is too high I’m left feeling nauseous and exhausted both of which are feelings I don’t enjoy and I’m valuing how I feel more over the quick fix of the sugar. I am also feeling that my body actually prefers the taste in foods which are good for my body, it’s like my body craves for greens if I’m not eating enough and even the taste of cakes and sweet delights is far less appealing.
It is simply life changing when we come to the realisation that what we have been eating and drinking has been harming us, the next step from this realisation is to then take action and to say no to that type of abuse – this can take time but is so so very worth it.
Yes Sam it can take a while and what I have come to appreciate is when we deal with the issues as to why we go to such foods then it can be truly healed and naturally without any force or trying you let go of the food or drink that doesn’t serve the body.
It sounds like coffee is an easy addictive. What is addiction? Something we can’t let go because it makes us feel a certain way. The fact is we want and choose to be addicted to things that keep us away from feeling and being our true selves. Why would we not choose to be addicted to being and feeling amazing instead? It’s actually more simple.
I remember those headaches all too well, especially when I would come off the coffee and try to detox, then start to feel better and then the thought ‘one won’t hurt’ – then back to square one.
Overriding is the beginning of every slippery slope and dodgy decision I make. Instead of putting focus on how incredible it is that our body knows exactly what it needs and is good for it, we focus on what we think we will get out of the override. That can range from a moment of tasting something sweet, salty, stimulating etc. to fitting in with the crowd.
It sure is Elizabeth, and what I find fascinating is that everyone knows how it is having an effect and that it isn’t great yet to consider why we want or need it. We know that if we start to look deeper there is actually a lot more going on than we care to admit.
We often hear people say that smoking is not good for your health and that too much alcohol is also bad for you, but rarely do you hear people putting the effects of coffee in the same category. It’s very telling when we as a humanity have gotten to the point where we cannot function without our morning coffee but isn’t this showing us how exhausted we are, and that coffee can be an addiction. What is not common knowledge, is the long-term effects of drinking coffee and what it does to our bodies.
Yes, because coffee doesn’t leave the obvious physical traces the other two do as permanent exhaustion is too common for people to realise the connection with coffee (or because doing research that involves giving up caffeine is too hard?).
It is extraordinary how we can adapt… Even to the constant ingestion of a proven psychotropic beverage!
I gave up my coffee addiction over 20 years ago and I have never ever looked back. Caffeine is so poisonous that I found the 7 days of withdrawal worst than that of giving up cigarettes. I gave up because I no longer wanted to be a slave to an industry that profits off such things or partake in a substance that dictated the movements in my day. I was claiming myself back. Some years later I came upon Universal Medicine and realised that I poison myself even more than any substance with denigrating thoughts that keep me down, so from then, there has been a whole new poison to discard of and replace with the knowing of the grandness of who I innately am and I tell you this process has taken a lot longer than 7 days!
Yes, our addictions can come in many forms not just food and beverages though these are easy to relate to. When we do not deal with the source of our addictive behaviours such as negative self-talk being one, we cannot truly address the behaviours that are born out of these untruths.
Thank you for exposing how the mind plays tricks on us so that we easily slip into starting to justify our actions when if we only listened to our bodes messages then it is loud and clear that even having a sip or two is a slippery slope into disregard and abuse.
It is the same with emotions- when we don’t observe how we are feeling and what is going on for us but instead go into the emotions it can have a similar effect on the body- of feeling like something else is taking over. I am learning to be much more honouring of what my body feels so that I can be more aware and not allow myself to be taken by the emotions of events in life.
So true and I can feel how I have used this in the past as an escape and wallowed in my emotions as a way of avoiding feeling empty.
It is interesting to observe the impact on society of coffee today. It has become an additional extra to our daily dress. Clothes, shoes, coffee to start the day. Could it be possible that coffee is driving our day and sustaining our levels of energy?
Yes there are coffee shops on every corner a bit like petrol stations, and if we fill up with the incorrect fuel much like our cars the body will eventually break down.
I had a decaf coffee recently and it resulted in a sleepless and anxious night and a very difficult day at work afterwards. As delicious as that coffee was i know I never want to feel that way again. I haven’t been tempted to try it again since.
Leonne the temptations are always there and sometimes we fold and go with it, tastes pretty good usually and then as you say bam the body cops it. The more I listen, honour and respect my body the more I feel vital, joyful and alive.
It really is quite something when the body says… ‘I can no longer eat this anymore’ and whilst the taste buds and ‘smell buds’ might be in disagreement the body does have the last word. Making myself feel ill, racy or bloated is not worth the yummy taste for 2 moments compared with a week of feeling not great.
Lies grow on us not by attrition but by us negating and overriding what we have felt. Our spirit has free reign once we have ignored what our Soul has to say. Thanks Natalie for brewing this blog up.
Love the pun Joseph, but that is exactly what is happening and how the spirit is brewing up an illusion that your body is doing well and functioning. So awesome to crack the veil.
“I love the smell of coffee and I still do, but I don’t like what it does to my body so I don’t drink it any more. It’s like some foods and how they taste and what they do to my body: I have decided to leave them out of my diet because I don’t like how I feel after I’ve eaten them, even if they taste amazing at the time – it’s not worth it!” – Natalie, this is so beautiful to feel how you have been able to bring in the strength of self care and self love to say no to something that does not support your body! I love how you shared the details of your experience too – Very inspiring indeed!
Many year ago I gave up coffee, three years ago when I went out with friends and had decaffeinated coffee it had a racy affect on my heart and whole body. So thank you Natalie, for sharing about your experience with coffee, and the funny thing is that when I gave up coffee I also gave up sugar and sugars and sweet fruits have a similar effect on my head and body as coffee.
Yes Greg I too noticed the different levels of effects sugar was having so the process of not taking that into the body was a transitional one. From sugar to honey and maple syrup and that was much better than refined sugar but then over time it became a place when I would just get strong headaches. So now it is nothing and it feels so much better. We are always refining and tweaking to where we are at and it is just a matter of listening to the body.
wow this is so exposing of how easily we are attracted and even addicted to things that harm us – isn’t that weird? Points to something else going on here. It seems we have different openings with similar results. For one it might be coffee and for another it could be relationship, food, gambling, certain thoughts etc etc. Might find a clue here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/unimedpedia-spirit.html at Unimedpedia Spirit!
Awesome thanks Nicola such a support to get a better understanding on how habits, patterns and behaviours can dominate our lives. How simple it is and it is just a choice.
How do we learn? From feeling the impact of the choices we make on our body. So if we remove these feelings we have you can see how we stunt ourselves from any growth at all. This is the harm of substances like coffee that take us away from feeling the truth. But it really can apply to anything we use to stimulate us and escape from reality. Thank you Natalie.
Well said Joseph, all substances take us away from feeling the truth which is a representation of how we don’t want to take responsibility for our choices. When you start to address the checking out and the numbed way of living, life starts to become a lot more enjoyable.
Caffeine is a poison the coffee plant puts out to kill bugs. The body responds to this dose of poison with a spike of adrenaline and this is what people do to themselves to kick start themselves in the morning and of course what peaks must drop and so the yoyo effect with the nervous system goes on. Even decaf has traces of this poison so I am not surprise at your body’s reaction.
Then we add sugar, which could be concluded to be even worse than caffeine?
That’s what I have also started to appreciate and get that if our bodies are clearly telling us that something doesn’t agree with it then we have to respect and honour what the body is telling us. So many times in my life I have overridden what I have felt to keep up with all those around me. It is such a point of return when we say hey I know what is best for me and my body and that’s why I am choosing it.
The taste, smell and flavours of food can be so seducing but oh so momentary whilst the after effects last way much longer.
It is absolutely the consequences of our choice and how the body is not able to avoid such outcomes of what we chose.
It is so amazing, a science of its own really, how our bodies continually refer to us the truth of our choices, and the effect our choices are having on our body and being. And what an insidious trap it is to engage the energy of overriding this truth, as it is what leads us to accepting abuse to be normal. And yet when we honor the truth in our bodies, our being is freed to shine the amazingness of who we are, of which there is nothing in this world that can compare to this feeling.
So beautifully shared Carola and yes an insidious trap we can get sucked into of overriding the truth. When you say no to this and honour our bodies as you say it truly is beautiful and the more you confirm this the more power we are.
It is so common nowadays to drink coffee that we forget that it is deeply toxic to the body. This is a very convenient forgetting on our part.
So true Elizabeth, there is no denying the toxicity of coffee, as the body is constantly reflecting this truth. Yet in our indulgence in overriding the body’s intelligence, to avoid responsibility we continue to find ways to mask this with flavours, sweeteners and blends, with our bodies left feeling far less than vital and free.
Correct Carola and Elizabeth, the avoidance of the responsibility that a) we got ourselves to a state of being that is exhausted and b) that if we were vital what could we then be capable of living. We know deep down that there is so much more but keep paying so much less and it isn’t actually that much fun at all, yet those moments of taste sensations and pick me ups are what we call a high. How lost are we really?
It’s interesting that when coffee is stopped how there is a detox to go through, aches, tiredness, exhaustion, headache, I have experienced this myself and seen it in others, it speaks for itself that it is a poison to the body, and then If tried again the effects on the body can be clearly felt and we get to feel the true impact it has on our body.
Yes Ruth it is unquestionable once you go through the phase of having the poisons leaving the body it is a very tangible experience. This is what has been the final confirmations when stopping coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, sugar.. The more we let ourselves feel the truth of what the body is communicating to us then the more you feel what is harming the body.
I used to love mugs of seriously strong black coffee during the day. After stopping drinking it for several years, I was offered a coffee that was infiltrating the air in the area with a powerful and evocative smell and I was seduced into deciding to have one small cup to see how it tasted again.
Seriously ill choice – which my body left me in no doubt about – within less than 5 minutes, my adrenals kicked in and I could not stop shaking from head to toe and for a while even unable to sign my name on a document that needed to be completed.
A while ago I had an operation which I needed eight weeks or so to recoup but being self employed I went back to work after about three. I had absolutely no energy so I turned to my old mates caffeine and sugar, bad move! I started having the odd decaf and over a period of time became quite dependant on it to the point if I couldn’t get a decaf, I would have a full on coffee and then it got to the point where decaf wasn’t cutting the mustard so I was mainly having the real McCoy and I have to admit it felt like I was fully addicted and something I would have trouble stopping. Caffeine is a drug and no matter what anyone says it is not good for you in any amount. At the end off the day I always felt knackered. Into the second week of kicking the habit again I started to feel normal and had energy left at the end of the day and I am feeling so much better in general. What is crazy is the amount of coffee places that have popped up everywhere over the last few years. The thing that people are using to cope with their exhaustion is only making their exhaustion worse.
That’s so true Kev, the vicious cycle of an addiction you know is not supportive or working for you yet you couldn’t possible imagine your life with out it, and if you did you certainly would panic that it wasn’t there for your next hit. The amount of times I have had customers totally hanging and in desperate need for their caffeine fix they can get a little edgy to say the least.
‘However, this most recent coffee tasting experience really confirmed for me that I just don’t want to feel like that anymore’ Sometimes we may judge ourselves by having fallen in eating something that we know doesn’t support us, but sometimes we need that last confirmation, to definitely close the door to it.
Absolutely Amparo, it was like that with everything that I have stopped that I couldn’t handle any longer feeling out of sorts or totally smashed by what I had consumed. if you do it for any other reason then you haven’t truly honoured what you felt and there has to be a level of imbalance because it truly wasn’t your call from you body saying No More.
As a reformed caffeine addict that had to have my ‘fix’ every morning before I could be even remotely civil to the world, I am now pleased to say that my morning brew is me. That is, when you are that hooked on something, you cannot let go of it until you replace it with something far greater and this greatness is simply us – our true self that has been in hiding for so long. Once this is felt, our behaviours start to shift so that to the best of our ability we do not do anything that stifles our expression of this.
Liane that is exactly what happens and so beautifully expressed. There really is no other fix that is better or grander than being who we are, the beautiful being within that doesn’t need any fix what so ever.
It feels like you have provided a real key here Liane to dealing with habits like coffee drinking. I recently allowed myself to get pulled into the comfort of having a decaf espresso and experienced almost an identical chain of events that Natalie described above, completely overriding my initial response to the incredibly bitter taste that made my stomach tie into knots and had me bouncing off the walls and unable to sleep. So why would I go to a drink that did that to me? Well, it completely coincided with my reaction to some things that were very much disturbing me at my workplace, but that I held inside without expressing and let it roll around in my head for days. Therefore, the coffee was a great way to avoid feeling what was going on for me and dealing with it. Only after working through this with honesty and staying open to the individuals involved in the workplace issue without holding back how I felt did I easily let go of the pull to drink something that would take me out of my normal feeling self.
Yes it’s amazing how we turn to food and drink when we don’t want to feel what is around us or going on in relationships. So cool to call it out for what it is.
I never liked the taste of coffee but was shown by work colleagues to make it into a milky coffee with lots of sugar, and before I knew it, I was drinking several a day. Then slowly the coffee got stronger, and the milk was reduced, and the cups turned into mugs. Now I am thankful to say that I kicked the coffee habit and now will say I like the smell, but I know I will not like the bitter taste.
It’s amazing what we would have said to be fine and normal over times becomes all about the people and your connections. Th ekey is to make it about this first and then all of ourselves follows.
Our body does not like things like tea, coffee, smoking, alcohol when we first try them for a reason … because it is a poison to the body and this is what it is saying. However, as you found out just how quick is the spirit to override this and go ‘actually this is quite nice!’ hence now we currently have at LEAST 3 coffee shops of if not more on every street or every side of the street. Supermarkets are now also even giving shoppers free coffee when they are shopping so we walk around doing our shopping drinking coffee!!!! It seems there is not a moment we can do without this. SO. What are we wanting to avoid if we are so desperate to override our body the whole time?
It was amazing the other night I was out with some work colleagues and I didn’t drink any alcohol along with two other ladies at the table. One who was said ‘well yes it is a poison’, and then proceeded to share a bottle. I totally remember being aware of the assualt and harm it was causing in my body but over rode and ignored it. It has to start with us looking at what is it that we are not wanting to feel and deal with that leads us to that point of abuse.
To know what feels how in our bodies is an absolute gift. How amazing to have that process and not just follow suit by hearsay. And to be able to feel the effects confirm our clarity and to honor this, is love built and deepened with ourselves, so much to appreciation.
Yes Adele so true once I stopped walking through life as a robot so to speak and doing what I had been doing my whole life and what others around me did, I then gave myself the opportunity to feel that possible somethings didn’t actually suit me. That I had immune myself to things even thou they had a massive effect on me. One by one I have slowly played around with and experimented what things have been doing to my body and being. It has been a fascinating process and one that is forever continual as we are constantly evolving so things can change over time.
To actually come to the point of being able to feel the effect of this substance in your body, and then to have the presence and inner strength to be able to not actually swallow… Now that is amazing, and inspiring 🙂
Yes Chris that is totally amazing, what I find fascinating still to this day is in the morning when I am dealing with the coffee machine to make sure it is all on point I can tell by the smell if it is too sour or too bitter, just from the nose you can sense exactly where it is at. Just like anything you get to feel it and then you know where it is at. The thought or desire simply is not there because I know what it will do to me. It will shutdown all my senses and everything becomes totally disjointed and disharmonious. No way can I do that again, that is my solid foundation that is super cool.
When we have the will to make change all will be revealed to simply make the change.
Yes Rachel that persistence is interesting as I had that with smoking and alcohol where in the initial experience it was hideous but kept on with it. For me one of the main reasons was to be accepted by my peers and to be cool. Not thinking I was enough to start with.
I always loved the smell of coffee, but on the tasting of it never liked it… I added copious amount of milk to change the taste, so much so it became a milk drink with a dash of coffee. I wasn’t a coffee drinker for long as there came a time when I felt sick drinking it… so stopped pretty soon afterwards. The question to myself is… if I didn’t like it why persist?
The persistence is driven by a force of ignorance of not wanting to be willing to truly look at how we feel and why we are exhausted. The vicious cycle of ignorance deeply encourages a road of distraction. Sometimes obvious other times not.
I could only every drink coffee if it was super weak and full of sugar syrup to disguise the taste – and then, coffee never gave me a buzz (although i did only ever really drink decaf) it just make me super tired – like the effort of processing it through my body was just exhausting!
That’s super interesting Rebecca and just goes to show how each and everyone of us our bodies respond to things in different ways. Just a confirmation that what ever it is if we aren’t feeling connect, steady and vital from the outcome of what we ingest then we have the opportunity to review and change things around and make different choices.
The speed with which we can change our mind on something that is not true for us is quite something. I have found the same throughout my life. I have been sure that I would not do something and the next moment finding myself doing exactly what I knew I would regret and feeling kind of pleased about it. I love the example you share with the coffee because coffee really does taste hideous neat and yet we quickly overcome that, telling ourselves it tastes good or masking it with milk in order to get the quick hit that most of us need to get us through the day.
The taste and flavour of coffee can be seductive so to be able to be honest and say why your turning to it is the biggest step you need to take in returning to our natural harmonious state of being
When I realised that coffee, even decaff coffee was making me feel more tired it made no sense to drink it any more.
I agree Fiona, what I did find tricky at the time was cutting the habit and patterns of having a default mode of just doing what you have done for so long. It is a vicious cycle so to really say no to that is say yes to the amazing beings that we really are and capable of.
The true marker of the body that is so often overridden by the stubbornness of the mind. A familiar experience for us all.
I walked into a coffee shop recently, it is one that I used to go to regularly and it was lovely to feel that no part of me wanted to have a cup of coffee any more.
Yes Fiona it is very liberating when we are free from something that has had a hold over us for a long time and has contributed to not being able to connect to who we truly are.
I had a similar experience this week with food. I had stopped eating a lot of foods that made me feel sluggish and then one afternoon chose to eat some of it again, the next morning I woke up and it was like I had to drag my body through the day.
It is such a real experience when you feel it in your body. You can’t deny it especially when you take it out of your diet and then reintroduce it. That happened with me when I stopped eating gluten, boy did I feel the sluggishness, the fogginess bloated from eating it. When I felt how full on it was, I immediately stopped and my quality of life on a consistent and daily basis has been incredible.
We can be so waylaid by our senses of smell and taste and yet when we feel the impact of things like stimulants like coffee we have another layer of information to listen to which really lets us know how we might be draining and exhausting ourselves.
It is fascinating this process and what I find even more fascinating is how we can go on ignoring this for quite some time until our bodies have to make it loud and clear that it can’t and won’t continue like that.
There is something about coffee itself that has an effect because even when I’ve drunk decaffeinated coffee, telling myself it’s got no caffeine it’ll be fine, I wasn’t myself and felt slightly crazy. I didn’t want to see anyone because I knew they’d know I was not myself and I’d feel a bit embarrassed that it wasn’t all me that they were talking to. I was shocked at the effects. During this time I was still giving up coffee for good, I often contemplated drinking decaffeinated coffee. But I knew I would lose my connection with myself and feel terrible later. More recently I thought I fancied a cup of tea as I’d not had one for a good year. There was one last decaffeinated Earl Grey teabag but after 3/4 of a cup I started to feel very nauseous which lasted for hours! Very clearly not for me!
Don’t you just love how honest and direct the body is and how it communicates this to us. I love how your awareness of the effects were becoming clearer and then it got to a point you just knew you couldn’t do it any longer. Some times we can draw out the process on something that we instantly know but what I love is we get back eventually one way or another to the truth of what support us and what doesn’t.
Coffee shops seem to now be the new pubs and it never fails to amaze me at the people queuing at starbucks, costa etc and I often wonder why people pay more for their coffee and wait in queues instead of making it themselves and probably get a better quality drink. Is the energy of these places part of the addiction?
Great question. I’m noticing lots of drive through coffee places like you’d get drive-through fast food chains. Here I notice it’s the speediness of grabbing a coffee to keep you on the go that’s replicated in the can’t even stop to get what you want. Taking the time and care to prepare a coffee at home doesn’t fit the on the go image of ‘I’m too busy to stop’. Perhaps preparing a coffee with love would introduce too much of a pause, a moment to feel how the coffee is actually making them feel and then they may question how they are in a repeating pattern with being tired and then needing a pick me up.
Great question Kev and I know exactly what you are saying as you can see how people flock to them and that they are now fast becoming on every corner of the street if not more. They wouldn’t be there if the demand was not so what is it that people are seeking, is it the coffee and yes of course that is part of it, but is it because they have a false sense of community from it possibly? But when you look in it doesn’t feel like people are connecting it looks like everyone is totally disconnected and in a daze.
When I gave up caffeine about 20 years ago it was such a horrible experience . . . not unlike coming down from a highly addictive drug, as it is a toxic drug!. For about a week I was rocking holding my knees at night, had night sweats and I was not menopausal at the time and suffered a headache from hell as well as aches and pains in the body. Once it was out of my system I never ever ate even the smallest piece of chocolate as this also has caffeine in it and I have never looked back. I wasn’t even that big a coffee drinker, just 2 a day but I drank a lot of black tea.
“I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!” This is the information we need to be exposing our children too, real role models who know what they are talking about.
It is absolutely crazy to think that advertisements get away with what they do – when here is a statement from a woman knowing herself and saying it how it is – now thats true inspiration we need more women like you and more statements like this so our children can grow up with a better chance to know themselves too.
Hear hear Samantha imagine what the world would be like if we all had this around us and that the younger generation had a real reflection of what is truly possible. At least they have the opportunity to make a choice to either be this now and live the truth of who they are or keep looking for a way of being that is not being responsible for who they are and what they know to be true.
I’ve never drank coffee, it never really interested me. But I can say I experienced that same “Yuk!….wait…..ok this is quite nice” with other things like cheap hummus. It was so stark how quickly my mind was saying that it was acceptable the more I kept eating it. That experience has stuck with me ever since and makes me wonder about the things we accept or can’t do without – if we did cut it out and went back what would the result be? could we return to the original message from the body and further back what was behind us eating/drinking/behaving in that way in the first place.
Leigh it is seriously interesting how we are prepared to compromise and lie to ourselves about what we original felt to be true. There are so many things in life that we have this relationship with so when we start to call some of them out we actually start to see how many we really have. What is it that initiates such lies?
I was talking with a friend the other day about how I don’t drink caffeine because it completely changes the state of my body, thoughts and movements. I shared with them how I made myself get used to drinking coffee and later on enjoy it when I first started working. I would make a coffee with powered milk and sugar and then pinch my nose and swallow, just like a child taking medicine. I poured so many cups down the drain until I persevered and eventually could drink with everyone. I now imagine what else I could have been doing for my body instead of forcing it to consume caffeine.
I had stopped drinking coffee and any teas with caffeine In it for years when one afternoon after a lunch with friends I had a couple to cups of green tea not knowing it had caffeine in it. Well, after a short time of drinking it I felt quite racy and tipsy and this went on for at least 4 hours. I never drank green tea again. And to think at a time in my life I would drink up to 10 cups a coffee a day
I know what you mean Mary-Louise to have the reminder of what feels full on crazy in the body and then realising that it just can’t be done again.
In the end we can override our felt sense and go for a moment of pleasure in terms of taste, smell and texture all at the expense of our bodies who have to deal with the disharmony we put ourselves in.
I know for me I didn’t clock the disharmony in the body because I had become so immune to it and had accepted that as my normal. So when I finally was being honest about this did I have a starting point to address what was going on and make new choices.
Brilliant blog Natalie. You really show how quickly and easily our mind will overrule what our body knows and what the repercussions then are. So easily and quickly we become addicted to something that is seriously harming – which in the case of coffee is also hugely endorsed by society and even the medical system itself.
Yes Katerina it is phenomenal the speed of the override with what we know and can feel is not great for us. It is like we have already decided that we are going to do before we have actually got to that moment to do it. An energy we allow in is running our choices and by no means is it honouring of the body when we have chosen the source that is not loving and honouring of ourselves in every aspect.
It is gorgeous how you can say that you love something, how you can love the smell of the coffee, the way it looks and to make and serve it, but equally you do not wish to have it in your body with complete contentment and knowing that it simply is not for you – without judgement or need for anyone else to justify this to, just a simple fact that you’d rather not drink it.
I still love the smell of coffee and can appreciate the look of a well made coffee but would never drink a cup as I know my body would not cope with the effect of the beverage. There are certain behaviours I will never go back to no matter how low I drop as I have a strong foundation built that we would never allow me to go below. For instance I would never consider having a drink or taking any type of illicit drugs
Yeah I noticed that Doug when I transitioned over to Decaf, at first it felt that there was nothing happening then over time I started to feel the small % of caffeine that is in the Decaf and my body started to react accordingly. I still pushed through for a while thinking oh yeah it is way better than what it was, and yes to an extent it was but the more I became aware of the disharmony in the body the more I didn’t want this anymore.
Amazing blog Natalie that clearly illustrates how deceptive our addictions can be and how they can sneak back up on you like a stealth bomber that takes you back into the zone of that addiction in the blink of an eye.
It is insane how you can be still hooked on it for quite some time after not having the addiction but when you have a weak moment bam you don’t know how but your back on it. Its when you keep coming back to how it feels when your on it is the reminder or why not to go there. But also the healing of the hurt within that is going to foster more self-loving choices.
I went out with a guy quite some time ago and we met at a cafe as you do, he ordered a Latte and proceeded to tell me how much he loved coffee and that he has to have it every morning. I asked him, was it the coffee that he liked or the creamy milk and sugar that went into it? He stopped for a moment, and then he said, actually your right, the combination is what I like.
I find it is also the feeling it gives us that we like, the smoothing over of the intensity of life and/or the stimulation so we feel ‘alive’ and ready for the day.
I get what you are saying Aimee, I see daily how people cherish this time of the day, what ever time of the day as usually there will be a couple of times. That moment with a coffee you feel like life is all good then you kick off and get going on what else is needed for the day. I started to clock how I felt not connected to myself after coffee.
If we truly understood and felt the impact of some of the things we consider ‘normal’ we would go out of our way to never ever do it again.
Yes Samantha because what we have chosen to be our normal we have become immune to what it is actually doing to our bodies. When we are in it, it is so hard to see past it. But really we do know deep down that it isn’t our normal, dosing ourselves up on caffeine because we are exhausted and the one way to make it all ok is the appreciation of the fine coffee that is available. The different notes we can taste of different roasts. All a big disguise to not feel it is not our normal to be needing something to keep us going.
“All a big disguise to not feel it is not our normal to be needing something to keep us going.” I like that Natalie. When I was growing up I thought this was why people drunk coffee: because they liked it and that it had a whole fine coffee appreciation that was important with experts etc. (very similar to wine and alcohol!). Yet it is true when we go into this and make this the focus, we don’t wonder why we do need a substance to not feel tired or, in the case of alcohol, to take the edge of the day.
Yes absolutely Lieke the amount of wine trips I have been on for work and designing wine lists – I was a firm believer that to match a glass of wine with the right food it was like a marriage. The depths of the tasting and notes to what they offer is absolutely a disguise to not look at why you need the wine/alcohol. What I clocked is once you start drinking it, it starts to numb what is there to feel. I found it interesting that it all is set up for us not to really feel what is going on.
Make something out to be unique, special and fashionable and it is amazing how quickly it takes off.
What I find interesting is how our initial reaction to say smoking, alcohol and coffee is always one of disgust and yet after only a short space of time, we are hooked, and actually saying we love it. Personally I did not drink coffee until I was eighteen, even though my parents had drank coffee from the 70’s onwards – I started because people at work were drinking it with all milk, so the taste wasn’t so bad, but then I got hooked onto it and ended up drinking about 6 cups a day, which gradually got stronger and stronger, and less milk. It is easy to see how so many people are addicted to it, and why the need for the coffee to be stronger has increased.
Julie it is so true the strength of which coffee is drank at. At work we make every coffee two shots and it is super strong and is loaded with loads of caffeine. Some are so tired they say can I have an extra shot as i need it today, even though they know the body is going to feel totally out of whack they still go for it because they feel they need it.
Coffee is such a potent drug and like all drugs the more you take them the more the body can tolerate them to a certain level before they all start to seriously effect the different organs of the body. I have had a similar experience as you Doug getting a full on coffee when I ordered a decaf and another time when I was working doing gardens at a business park a woman came out of a building and gave me a coffee which at the time I thought was a good idea and it made me so anxious and racy it ruined the rest of my day.
Yes Kevin I totally agree how the body can tolerate and start to become immune to the effects of what drugs do to our bodies. I find it is fascinating how the body does this and have come to realise that is a mind and will that takes over for this to happen. Eventually though the body says no to the abuse.
Choosing to not do something because of a love for yourself, how gorgeous is that! No matter what the treasured rewards are, no matter what the pleasures and the treats offered – self love reigns. this is truly remarkable in this day.
Shami absolutely and those moments of pleasure, satisfaction or relief only last a very short while until you are seeking the next where as the love for yourself just keeps building and getting stronger and stronger.
Today I heard on the radio that extensive studies have shown, and it is headlines in some newspapers that coffee helps us live longer. There may be some truth in this but so what? Do we want to live longer at the expense of the quality of that life? Do we really want to live on our nerves which is what coffee does to us? It seems that as a race we have lost the plot and bigger and longer equal better, a belief that has grown up and is being fostered by the media, at our peril.
Elaine thanks for sharing that and this is seriously disturbing and the question as you so rightly ask what if you live longer but at what expense to the quality in which you are living if you are constantly living on your nervous system. It is such a full on drug with the ups and downs you would be on a constant roller coaster, now that will be exhausting.
How can something that the body rejects (bitter tasting) then become something the body craves and gets addicted to? Alarm bells go off as I ponder this.
Absolutely Nikki serious alarm bells. When we look at the food and drinks that are available to us and how much artificial ingredients that are in them to encourage all those stimulants we’ve got no hope in saying no. Once I decided that my body was my everything and that what ever I put in it, it will respond to the chemical make up of it and also the quality of how it has been prepared. I have always loved cooking and creating in the kitchen and how it is a lifestyle that I am committed to that feeds me back the love and nurturing my body deserves.
I can relate to letting the aesthetics and my senses over riding what my body is loudly communicating to me.
I have started to really enjoy strong lemongrass tea, I find it so delicious and it is really good for you, I often find my body responds well to this drink, and I feel more naturally alert and hydrated.
Nature has supplied us with some amazing healing ingredients – coffee which is anything but true healing is defiantly not one of them.
I too love lemongrass teas Samantha and feels super supportive for the body. It is usually one I go for in the afternoon and it is just perfect for that time of the day. Sometimes I feel like another herbal tea and each one has their beneficial qualities so depending on where I am at my body feels like different ones.
Oh my I do like the smell of coffee, yet I would never ever again put it anywhere near my lips as I know full well the racy, anxious, hyperactive state I feel afterwards.
Nothing that tastes good in the mouth is worth it if your body is going to suffer afterwards.
I know Samantha nothing is worth it and even thou there maybe moments that you give in for the taste sensation it is blantley obvious it does not agree. The more I can appreciate how much I am loving, respecting and nurturing my body the more I have those moments and I just say no.
The smell of coffee is so alluring, I have not drunk coffee for a really long time, but still when I walk past a coffee shop I do love the smell and I do usually want to go and have one. But I just have to go to the feeling in my body where I know what would present if I did relent and have one. I do not regret having given up at all, but I can understand how hooking it can be.
Last year I had an operation and needed time to recuperate but I couldn’t afford the time as I am self employed so went back to work pretty exhausted and struggled to get through the day. I resorted to buying a decaf coffee and some gluten free apple pies which I feel were just loaded with sugar and that gave me a real pick me up, rush and I was able to make it through the day but that decaf led to another and then another and then I was getting them to put another shot in it and before long I was a drug addict once again. I don’t mean I started injecting heroine or anything but the caffeine really had me hooked and I realised how addictive it was and the massive culture there now is surrounding people and their coffee.
It is really interesting to see the history of coffee, how it started out as a sacred drink only consumed by religious holy men in the middle east so they could stay up all night. The way coffee is used now is so very different to this.
The many levels of addiction in our society are often over looked, as we only consider the obvious addictions of alcohol, smoking and drugs to be a point of concern. Yet how quickly, as you have pointed out, we can become addicted to caffeine for example, and other facets of life like sports, exercise, food, behaviours and sugar (to name but a few), in order to fulfil an emptiness that we feel as a result of a lack of connection to ourselves. When our alone minds lead us, in disconnection from our bodies, it does so in disregard of our bodies. When we over-ride what we feel we are over-riding what our bodies are telling us, as such ignore the harm taking place. Through developing a loving relationship with our bodies we discover that in honouring this connection, we know what feels amazing is our connection to ourselves, which far exceeds what any addiction attempts to offer.
I used to love coffee, the smell, the taste, but when i decided to give up coffee, I was still drawn to decaf, even though I could usually still feel the affects of the decaf in my body. I used to tell myself that it was not there, instead wanting to indulge my senses, my tastebuds, the smell, but then I would have to deal with the aftermath in my body. I’d get headachy, feel nauseous sometimes. I did it again and again, which is just crazy right!! But it happened time and again until I connected with my body first, not my head, to ask ‘was it worth abusing my body’ just for the taste sensation? The answer was eventually no.
It sure is crazy Raegan how we do override what is so blatantly obvious and makes us feel out of sorts but we still go there. What I also find fascinating is once you do make the choice not to abuse yourself it becomes a very strong choice and our awareness becomes strong and we see what else is not loving.
Needing to convince or talk ourselves into something is a sure fire sign that it is not our body asking for it.
Absolutely Kylie and what is totally fascinating is how the mind within a split second totally justifies what it is doing. It really exposes the energy that we have chosen to align to and what that is actually seeking. the amount of nervous energy you go into from drinking coffee totally takes us away from the stillness that resides within and is a great escape goat for not wanting to see how exhausted we are truly and why.
We will accept almost anything when it fulfills a need…. And yet, when we are free from that need, we get to see the full extent to which we compromised ourselves in order to keep it.
Yes Kylie it is extraordinary how we are completely consumed by the need that we don’t see past it but when we do break through you do get to see what we have compromised towards ourselves for living with those needs. Getting to the root cause of the need is what supports such habits to stop.
My coffee consumption went up as my exhaustion increased and I thought it was because I loved the taste!…As time went by I became particular in how the coffee was made just to feed my addiction and stimulation- amazing how the mind played tricks so my body can be ignored.
It has been many years since I last had a coffee and I don’t miss it or the repercussions of it either. Yet coffee or tea drinking is the norm in society and I have observed countless coffee shops popping up with long queues in the mornings and no one questions why they are feeling exhausted – it’s part of their daily routine now.
Yes I have noticed this too, coffee shops appearing allover the place, and serious chains like Costa and Starbucks now appearing in stores, even our local small town Co-op. Villages too are changing their Post Office cum Convenience Store to make way for a coffee and tea drinking area as big, if not bigger, than the produce area. And how many times do I hear that’ I can’t go without my coffee in the mornings’ It really is becoming an epidemic. This has so many more people living off nervous energy and then resorting to alcohol or dense food or even pills to calm themselves down. We are a species, it seems, that makes problems for ourselves so that we can make solutions and the whole thing just keeps going round and round. Awesome when we can jump off the wheel and start to live a life that chooses to renounce a lot of these ‘vicious circles’
It has been staggering how many coffee shops that open and what I have noticed is how it doesn’t even have to be good coffee, look at the likes of starbucks or costa they are literally every where and their coffee in the coffee world is very poor but they are constantly busy, with people waiting to be served. It is like it doesn’t even matter if it tastes good, people just want their fix. Some don’t even like the taste and cover it up with flavoured syrups.
What I find really interesting today is how a lot of the younger today are consciously more aware of what it is they are choosing – how clarity is the only real way to more forward.
Having moved to London from the countryside about three years ago, what has really stood out is how many coffee shops and mini-marts that now sell coffee – the market is inundated with them, and yet there must be a supply and demand for the places to stay open, especially with such fierce competition. After all there is still the staff to pay and the overheads of stock and premises rent, and yet they still make money.
It seems that coffee has become the top selling commodity of the world.
I was speaking to colleagues last week and they explained how they needed to have coffee each day otherwise they would get a headache. It is so interesting how the same symptoms can present themselves no matter if you are starting up or withdrawing. At the end of the day it says the same thing – that coffee changes the natural state of he body and can be quiet addictive.
Thank you Natalie for your sharing, it is amazing how the mind can justify an action especially when the senses like the smell of coffee, but the body has its own story of which we get to feel afterwards, giving us the option to say no and choose to honour the body. It is interesting and insidious how after a few coffees the pain the body is feeling becomes covered up with more coffee.
It is fascinating how we can let the thoughts take over and we choose something that we know is not doing us any good. Yet before we know it we are right there having it. What I have been able to see over time with this awareness is that you can totally see that there is an energy that we are choosing which allows this to happen. Breaking free from these habits has meant a dedication to choosing what feels right for my body and making that my priority.
I’ve never liked coffee, and I have never chosen to drink it. Something was different though when I was given a bag of white chocolate covered coffee beans for Christmas one year. My love of chocolate at the time led me to eat most of these chocolates all in one go, completely forgetting that they were actually coffee beans. My experience was similar to yours in that my heart raced so fast that it nearly burst out of my chest, and I was graced with a whopping headache for at least 2 days. It’s amazing how a drug like coffee is one of the most acceptable drinks in the world and no-one blinks an eyelid. Most people accept it and get hooked on it and can’t live without it. The withdrawal symptoms of coffee are a give away that it is in fact a drug. It’s interesting how many of us accept this as the norm.
Self- appreciation, allows us to observe life and the many ways we can sabotage that which is precious to us and not get caught or compromise our bodies in any way, shape or form.
Yes Francisco being able to observe with out any judgement our choices and then be honest enough to say what is loving and what is not, what is honouring the body and what is not is a fantastic place to be at. Always open to refining and the evolution of where one is at.
Self appreciation and self care are huge, I still do not appreciate enough the power of appreciation. It is something I am learning to explore and I can see more and more that it is what supports me to make more loving choices.
“but I overrode what I really felt so I could fit in, be accepted and look cool!” How often do we do this for so many other areas in our life also? For me it is so as not to be seen. If I can stay in hiding I do not need to be responsible.
It is outrageous the level of avoidance we are prepared to go to and not be responsible just so we can continue something that makes us feel comfortable in.
This was a big part of the reason I drank coffee, I wanted to fit in, I wanted to be a part of something and I felt the particular coffee shop I went to meant I was still young and could carry off looking cool. Going back there recently and not feeling any of this ‘need to fit in’ knowing that no part of me wanted to sit down and have a coffee felt amazing.
It’s quite incredible that we are prepared to ignore our body’s reaction to food, caffeine or alcohol in favour of looking cool, fitting in or using it in some way to suppress our emotions. The more we eat or drink the thing we are using the more it seems we dull the reaction to it…yet the reaction is happening never-the-less.
When you share it like this Rachel you can’t help but wonder is there something else going on that is creating such a manipulating situation that is keeping us away from being how we naturally without exhaustion, emotions and ideals. I know when I stopped such influencing habits the clarity that came was crystal clear and it couldn’t be ignored. We see what we want to see – making the leap to truth is worth it in the end.
It is amazing when we start getting more clear in our body and can feel what different food and drink is doing to us. The more clear I become the less and less things I feel to consume and as a consequence I feel much healthier and more vital.
Sometimes it can take a bit of discipline and perseverance to drop a food item that I become aware is harming me because it has been fulfilling some kind of emotional need or I have cravings for it (dead giveaway) but boy oh boy is it worthwhile for the benefits once I am free of that.
Those foods we hang onto because of emotional needs can be very hard to let go of, this is where having treatments with an Esoteric Practitioner has been extremely supportive. Bring awareness to these emotions and to why you are choosing to go into these emotions requires a lot of honesty and sometimes having support with this and healing techniques release this and then you feel free from them.
I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable! Feels fully claimed…. love to read this blog today for the powerful message it delivers; it simply is a matter of ‘choice’, we either choose to truly nourish our bodies or we harm them.
It really is a choice and it also is being willing to look at what it is that we are covering up. Seeing the root cause of the reason why we go for such things that abuse our bodies gives us a little more understanding. When we heal those issues then the substances that we would turn to are not needed any longer.
It is interesting that people talk of having a ‘shot’ of coffee or having a ‘fix’ of coffee exposing that they know they are using it as an addictive drug.
Yes Mary most do but there are some that are in complete denial as well. I used to be like that drinking 6 cups a day while making them all day long and ignoring completely the fact that I was exhausted and drained from the way I was choosing to live. It seems so much easier to not look at it. I am so grateful for Universal Medicine whose teachings really supported me to see, feel and understand it is essential to have relationships with ourselves that is honest and looking at key things that get us caught up in the chaos of life!
How amazingly precise our bodies are. Only a few sips of coffee has a hideous affect to it. But also how horrible our thinking mind actually is as it tends to like the taste and in that completely overrides that what our body is telling us. Being more aware of the fact that I was always more led by my mind than my body reveals to me that there is a completely different way of living possible when I can let go of the control of the mind and instead connect and surrender to the guidance of my body.
There is a clear fact that when we choose such stimulating things like coffee, sugary drinks, sugary foods etc we get a buzz and are excited, and are avoiding being still. I have I am so much more productive without having sugar and can focus on the tasks at hand, the question is, why are we avoiding being so present and alive with what is truly going on?
‘Isn’t it interesting how the mind will quickly justify an action to make it OK to do! This was the start of the override again…’ It’s true – we can justify and reason almost anything. As soon as justification comes in it’s definitely a sign that we know differently – and so the reasoning is an internal persuasion before it is anything else.
If we persist long enough and listen to our desire to have something over our body, we can convince ourselves of anything. We need to listen to that first loud voice of the body and stop there, rather than wanting to be cool or fit in with everyone else.
It is interesting how the smell of a freshly made coffee can be so good, there is just something about its deep and textured aroma that appeals to our senses. It is also comforting in a way, and then when we add milk and sugar it becomes the ultimate sweet and satisfying drink. And, it is this rewarding satisfaction I suppose that has enabled coffee to become such a huge part of daily life.
I used to be very addicted to my coffee, needing it to get me through the day. I remember trying one after I hadn’t drunk a coffee for some years and I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest. It was enough for me to say never again as the feeling was awful. Its interesting to look back and see how my body adapted to and got use to this racy hyper state.
This is the normal reaction of a body to coffee. If people don’t feel this reaction (as I never used to when I drank 6 coffees per day) they have effectively suppressed their bodies natural reaction over time. We wouldn’t think twice about giving coffee to a baby, as we know that the side effects are strong and the body is too pure. When do we decide its ok to pollute our adult bodies?
” It also confirmed for me what happens when I let my mind override and ‘explain away’ what I’m really feeling in my body and know is right for me.” I know this mind and thinking about it if we let this happen is only because there is something we do not want to feel or be responsible, at least that is my experience. It is great to become more and more aware of when these ‘reasoning’ comes in and consciously choose to stay feeling myself instead of numbing the hurt or thing that I don’t want to feel.
‘Isn’t it interesting how the mind will quickly justify an action to make it OK to do! This was the start of the override again…’ Yes it is and it’s something I see time and again in myself with regards to food choices – the justification and the overriding. Food’s a tricky one as, unlike coffee, we do need it so can’t eliminate it all together. It seems we can use food for everything but the sole (soul) purpose for which it’s intended – nourishment.
I agree Victoria and as you say we need it for nourishment and I can speak for myself this hasn’t always been the case because the whole taste sensation, textures and flavours are so good that we don’t stop and check in to see where the body is at and what is best for it at that given moment.
Natalie this is so true ” ” Isn’t it interesting how the mind will quickly justify an action to make it OK to do! This was the start of the override again…” it takes seconds for the mind to override and then we are on a downward spiral. It really is about staying firm and know what we do is either harming or supportive for us. I experience the same as I work in hospitality and new dishes are being made all the time.
We can be tempted so easily with many things particularly food and drink because of the instant satisfaction we get from the taste and the texture. When we let these sensations be the one that is in the driving seat we are left with a body that is dull and depleted. Staying firm as you say Amita and know what certain foods and drinks can have on you and saying no to this is a very self-loving way to be with ourselves and our bodies.
The coffee epidemic is only going from strength to strength, I see so many people in my day who really are a slave to their coffee. There is a need for one as soon as they get up, then another when they get into the office, then another mid afternoon as they can’t seem to ‘get through’ the rest of the day. It is quite extraordinary that they really need a stimulant just to get through the day, but that is many many peoples normal these days. It isn’t a great indictment of our health and wellbeing.
Great blog. I have either read or heard this so many times from other people and also experienced it myself that when first trying something like a cigarette, tea, coffee or alcohol it taste absolutely foul but instead of listening to our bodies and not doing it any more we found it far easier to override this and carry on with something that we did not originally like until it becomes an addiction! Someone looking at us from another planet must think we are crazy and to some extent we are!!! Why is it easier to do something that is not loving instead of what is? This is also a great point that you made ‘If I’d had another coffee, all those symptoms would have disappeared instantly.’ in how if we continue taking the same substance over again it ‘hides’ what we truly feel. So gosh what would everyone feel like at first who drank coffee then stopped it! And what are we suppressing by drinking coffee?
Yes what are we suppressing Vicky good call. I know for me it was the exhaustion and that was the first layer but as I kept with it the exhaustion had arisen from living in contraction of who I really Am and by not living his having a constant tension. To cover this up I turned to a racey way of living anxious and nervousness had become my normal. Coffee was just adding to what I was already living. A vicious cycle until we are prepared to look underneath what we know is not a true way of living.
We actually don’t think that coffee has that much of an effect on us. But it is when you really stop that the impacts can be felt. How much you can use it to keep you awake each day so you don’t really feel how tired you actually are, this is very much the most common use of it. But our bodies feel everything, even if we don’t think it does.
I can totally remember this Reagan, that I used to think that the coffee was not having any effect on me. It just exposed how disconnected I was. So when I started to take the time to connect to myself then I could start to feel the impact of what the coffee was having on me even though I did really know anyway I just didn’t want to look at anything.
on one hand it’s quite amusing really… Sort of innocently so to speak tasting the coffee, and then the real feeling the real effect… What is really really extraordinary is that people drink so much of it and are seemingly uninjured to its effect.
I never liked coffee myself, but recently I have been reflecting on other stimulants I use in exactly the same way in truth. Being angry for instance, or stressed at work are familiar tastes to me and take me away quite rapidly from what I’m feeling inside. So I love the point that you raise Natalie, how what is naturally repellant can quickly become our habitual friend. Now having read this blog, I’m picturing a coffee type shop selling brews of toxic emotions instead of beans, and myself going in and saying deep inside, ‘no, this substance and taste is not for me’.
What a great example of how we can be seduced by food and override those signals from our body crying out ‘no don’t do it!’
I can see how this override happens in so many situations, with food, drink, relationships, work, every where there is the potential to choose to ignore my body and listen to dis-connected thoughts instead. The wisdom of our bodies however, is universal, something we can all trust and follow each and every day.
It is amazing how normalised substances are that have the same impact on our body as illegal drugs. I was recently observing some children playing video games and I spoke to other staff about the impact of this when they come off these games. What I shared was downplayed but sure enough when the kids were asked to hop off these games the massive meltdowns and violent outbursts happened.
It’s great that you expose how the mind can so easily justify an activity that we know is intrinsically wrong, or, in truth intrinsically harming. Developing a loving relationship with ourselves whereby we honour the awesomeness and amazingness that we are is our saving grace.
It really is extraordinary what we can ‘get used to’ … more to the point, how we can de-sensitise ourselves on such a grand scale.
I totally agree, it really doesn’t take long at all before what ever the symptoms of something starts to become our normal and we start to have that as our marker of being well. As we don’t have anything serious going on. I find it fascinating how the mind can override and talk you into something that you istantly know doesn’t feel right in the body and how it effects the quality of your being.
A great blog with a great picture which makes it very clear how coffee can have a ‘play’ with people, a ‘play’ where we choose to not feel or override the consequences it has on our body.
The impact of coffee on the body is not just like a drug, it is a drug.
It certainly is a drug and just like any drug when you come of it your body starts to freak out as it gets withdrawals from the very thing that is taking over the body. What is ironic is that most people that drink the coffee are all aware that it ‘pick them up’ and thats the very reason they need the coffee. As a human race we seek solutions but rarely we want to look at the real reason behind things because it starts to question our choices. Once I got over that and realised nothing will change unless I make them did things like coffee not make any more sense to put into my body.
I love that point Natalie: “As a human race we seek solutions but rarely we want to look at the real reason behind things because it starts to question our choices.”. It is true that we all know that coffee picks us up and that many of us are depending on coffee to even get through the day, yet it is not alarming at all to many. But it is. We are not naturally build to live a life with coffee to get through… in our most healthy state we can live and feel vital without coffee easily.
The fact we can become so desensitised and that we blindly continue to drink a substance that is harming us shows us how lost we are are as race, never mind we can send people to the moon and back if we can not listen to what our bodies are telling us we have no hope in truly evolving.
Great point Samantha there is such a focus on achievement as a race that it comes with a sacrifice of our own bodies. Once I started making it about my body and listening to what it communicates to me then and honouring this, this became the best achievement of all.
Such a great test to do with oneself, that is to give up something that you are struggling with letting e.g. coffee, for a number of days, weeks, then have a full strength one and see what your body tells you. I know from experience it was only when I did that, that I really realised the impacts of what I was consuming on my body.
A beautiful example of how the mind can take over what is initially felt in the body. I happened to have a conversation about the mind yesterday. We both expressed how we had been fooled by our thoughts into thinking that another knew more than us. Our minds can take over in any situation if we allow it. It is up to us to discern as to where these thoughts come from.
It is very true, the mind will find a justification for just about everything; after all, it is super clever and an instrument of whatever goes in to then reflect that same quality back in our thoughts, spoken and written words, our intentions and deeds. It (the mind) actually presents itself as the whole package when, without the heart, it really is not and never will be.
That is beautiful Gabriele, that it is the choices we make and behind that there is actually a package that we have already aligned to that is making those choices for us – really our actions are just an out play of movements that have got us to that point. Looking back I started to look after myself more and care for myself in a way that I had done so in the past and from those choices I was able to look at the choices I was making, like drinking coffee and see and feel that I didn’t want to do this anymore in my life.
That a psychoactive drug is the mainstay of many of our societies is, to put it mildly, and interesting reflection of humanity in general
Chris indeed a very interesting reflection of where humanity is at. The question is do we really stop and consider what is being reflected or are we all too happy not taking that responsibility and demand rectification from governments for example. The question is are we really happy? And what is the definition of happiness, could there be something more and we are settling for much less?
It is so easy to be seduced by the flavours, smells, textures and taste of food and drinks, all for a short momentary pleasure and then we have to endure the impact it has on our body which is not so nice or easy to digest.
It is so easy to get hooked onto that feeling of satisfaction with all of what you mention Jenny, still to this day I can catch myself going oh thats right it is so yummy! But now it is more important to stop that and remind myself that really it wasn’t all that and my body really didn’t like either. Now I feel amazing and to get seduce and fall for what ever it is seriously is not worth it. I now know that I am worth more.
I was well and truly seduced by coffee. It has now been about 4 years since I had a coffee and in my head I still think I like it even though the reason I stopped drinking coffee was a decision I made led by my body. So I was pondering on how I could still think I like it when it was my body that rejected it so strongly that I had to listen. So much so that I am not even tempted ever to drink coffee. By no means do I crave or even want a cup. I still don’t know the answer to why I think I like it only that I was seduced many many years ago and that still lingers.
The seduction and ritual it brings is very strong, I too remember my body telling me and finally listening when I could feel the raciness and put up with it but in the last stages I as getting diarrhoea and stomach aches. Then I know I couldn’t do it any longer.
When I was trying to give up coffee, I found it really hard, because I had let go of alcohol which had been incredibly social and then not being able to go have coffee with friends and colleagues, I felt like it was another thing that I couldn’t do. But what I soon realised was that it didn’t have anything to do with the coffee (if I didn’t allow it to) that when I made it about connection and me connecting with people first, the how and where became secondary.
So true Reagan, it so isn’t about how and what we do but the actual time that we are spending in our relationships that matters the most. Once we make the choice to let go of habits that alter our state of being what we realise is that the quality that we are having within our relationships are richer and deeper because we are more settled and content in our own bodies.
It is worth considering that we maybe never give ourselves a chance in this day and age to truly feel the natural vitality of a well rested well nourished body. But we have so many impacts of stimulants, depressants, sugar, drug effects, not to mention the daily assault of news stories, emotional dramas… what if the body were left alone to be its natural self, how would it affect how we think and feel? There is a scientific experiment worth investigating.
I have never been a coffee drinker directly due to the taste. I was often surprised at people’s relief when they had their first sip or commenting that it didn’t taste that good to start with but you just get used to it. What is interesting about this blog is exploring beyond the tasting and drinking of coffee and delving into the belief and social trends that would see many fit into the accepted norms
That is so true the relief that can take place when having a cup of coffee. Because it has become a normal substitute in the body and the caffeine when it gets low in the system we desperately want another kick to pick us back up. Just like any drug there is a clearing out of the withdrawals.
It is amazing how much foods like gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine and a few others affect us when we didn’t have them for a while. Like being hit by a blunderbuss as you so beautifully describe, Natalie.
Yes Christoph it is super interesting how when we do take a break from something that we eat or drink and feel the impact that it has on the body is incredible. For me it has always been pretty obvious what the changes are but it becomes even more obvious that I can’t ignore it when I re-introduce what ever it was and feel the immediate effects and how this seriously effects the quality of my being and how I feel.
You have hit upon the secret here Natalie, trying to deprive ourselves or give something up that we know is bad for us, doesn’t truly work as we either do it by willpower alone which eventually either crumbles or we substitute for another habit to achieve the same result. But if we reconnect to ourselves and to a way of living that allows us to feel so ‘seriously awesome’ and ‘seriously amazing’, so light and clear, than we simply do not have any impulse to bring ourselves down with harmful choices.
The coffee tasting as described would be many people’s idea of ‘heaven’ rather then the reality of an selection process of multiple psychoactive drugs to set up supply for peoples addictions
Yes Chris – I know I was in complete denial when I was deep in my caffeine addiction and I would have been totally caught up the precision and character of the coffee itself and not listening or willing to see how much I was actually avoiding.
Enjoyed reading your blog Natalie and relate to the different ways one can get seduced into drinking somehting that is damaging and counteractive for our bodies. I grew up drinking coffee and still enjoy the smell of a good blend but there is no way I will compromise the level of stillness in my body that I experince now for honouring my body.
Natalie I love what you say here “I’m at a point in my life where what I have chosen is SERIOUSLY AWESOME and I feel SERIOUSLY AMAZING for it. I feel so clear, on to it, light and consistent. I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.” You know what you say is utterly inspiring, so many people are not willing to take responsibility for their life choices, you have and it shows! Thank you for inspiring us all. Who needs fake stimulants when you have seriously awesome friends like you.
The way coffee is marketed these days does bring the lure and an image of days ago when smoking was considered good for you and a healthy way to socially interact with your peers. It is interesting to read that the body reads loud and clear what this substance was doing to its delicate form and how often we override this in order to get the “fix” or to socially fit in.
Yes I totally agree the marketing for coffee continues to go into much more detail and the speciality brands are always pushing the boundaries to take it to another level. Like many things in life that we can’t be content with what something offers us so we have to go to the excitement and stimulation of bigger and better. From my point of view we are out of control as a society and we let the media and marketing dictate to us our quality of life instead of looking within and find what feels true to us from within. I’m so thankful to have made this change in my life and I feel so much freer.
I love the smell of coffee and have fond memories of how much I used to enjoy coffee. So giving up coffee may have seemed like a hard thing to do. But in contrary it was easy, I didn’t even try to and it just slipped away. I don’t even remember my last cup. All I did was grow my own love for myself and after a while that love was much stronger than any perceived love I had for coffee.
Yes Nikki that is how I found it too after switching to the decaf it just became a less and less thing to have and started to really enjoy loving myself in way that I had never considered was possible. I never felt hard done by because how I am feeling is way better than a coffee high and low.
“I love the smell of coffee and I still do, but I don’t like what it does to my body so I don’t drink it any more.” I havent drunk coffee for years, but never really liked the taste so would drink it with lots of milk and sugar – all equally harming to my body. I got hooked onto mochas for a while – the chocolate / coffee combo. My body really thanked me when I stopped.
More and more are waking up to the real sensations they are experiencing with caffeine consumption, the poor sleep, raciness, headaches on withdrawal and agitation. but what is interesting is how we managed to get ourselves hooked on such a powerful drug in the first place. For me it was the false propping up of a body in absolute exhaustion, which of course is complete delusion as it only makes us more exhausted and more seeking of desperate stimulus to keep us going. But if we understand how the body can be our best friend and ally, and learn to live and move in a way to support and bring out its true quality of being, then we can return to a true way of living that we will discover was inside us all along just waiting to come out.
So true Annie once I started to let go of habits that were imbedded in my life and feel what was going on I started to feel a quality that I hadn’t noticed before. There I was feeling more alive and fresh on the physical but also I got to feel that within I had a stillness that I hadn’t felt before. This essence has become stronger and stronger the more I connect and listen to it.
Awesome blog because you clearly show what coffee does to the body and how harming it is yet billions and billions of cups of this stuff is drunk every single day! And how quick the mind can be to justify something ‘And at that point I was slowly getting seduced all over again and I thought: “I’ll try it – I need to know what the coffee I have chosen for the deli tastes like.” Isn’t it interesting how the mind will quickly justify an action to make it OK to do! This was the start of the override again…’ The overide stops us from truly feeling and being honest about what it is doing to our bodies. I was exactly the same as you, when I first tried cigarettes or alcohol I thought ewwwww why? Why do people do this and look like they enjoy it it’s horrible but went from feeling that to then smoking and drinking for years! Crazy! Thankfully I love myself enough to no longer do this ✨
That’s is it Vicky, once you start to realise and see how disregarding we have been living and how dismissive of what our bodies are telling us then we start to feel the honesty of what is going on. All these seemingly harmless habits actually have an enormous impact on the body.
I agree, they strongly interfere with the body and when the body is harmonious, it feels very aggressive. Once the body is disharmonious, the discomfort can also go away.
The affect of coffee on our bodies is clearly different for everyone, but what strikes me in this is how that is used as a justification to drink it. If one is not affected by it as much, can sleep that evening after it, then it is a given that it isn’t doing the body any harm. Yet is that really the case, or is the body hardened to the effects, and the feelings Natalie has described in her body, which I know only too well, the extreme reaction may not be taking place, but the harm is still occurring regardless of how you feel after it.
This is so true Stephen that the quality we are prepared to live with is an illusion of what is really going on underneath the surface that we are avoiding to feel. I know for me it took a very long time to feel the impact of what caffeine had on my body. This started by taking time in my day to stop, connect, breath my own breathe gentle so as inspired by The Gentle Breath Meditation taught by Universal Medicine and this gave me an opportunity to connect much deeper than the surface level and feel much deeper within. So anything that was not of this deep connection started to show its face so to speak and I could feel the impact it was having.
Amazing how the mind overrides the body and gives it justifications to do what it knows the body is saying no to. And how quickly this happens! Great to have this understanding to know not to listen to the mind’s disregarding of the body.
“I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!” This is so beautiful a great confirmation and inspiring, that when we connect to this, we know nothing else matters and what we feel in our body is what we need to honour.
Absolutely Amita and when we are honouring of this we then have space to see where in other area’s of our life are we choosing certain things that is distracting us from feeling how amazing we are.
Great blog Natalie, this can really relate to any substance that we know alters our physiology. Lately I have been acknowledging I use a lot of extra strong chilli in my meals to give me stimulation and to wake me up when I am a bit tired, once I nominated this I have become more careful as to how I use it. Any stimulation we use to cover up and mask how we are truly feeling ultimately does not work and only leads to more of the same. In my case the chilli was masking the tiredness but not getting to the root course.
I love what you share here Samantha it is so easy to reach for something that tastes great and get caught up in the sensations of eating than to look at why we are going for these particular things that seem great at the time but ignores the fact to what is going on. Exhaustion is huge and what you say about chilli being for you a disguise to what you are really feeling is so interesting. Thanks for sharing.
A revealing article on the effects of caffeine and interesting that caffeine is an ingredient in many over the counter medications.
The impact of coffee on the body can be quite profound as you have experienced. It’s amazing how we as humans, fool ourselves by adding a little sugar or milk to make something appear to be something we like, overriding the disgust that has a purpose of letting us know that what we consume is actually harming us.
My work environment is currently having a staffroom upgrade. It was interesting when they asked for staff suggestions. A few comments where made in a humorous banter on employing a full time barista (noting the high quantity of coffee consumed) and a built in bar! A reflection on the addictive behaviours that fuel our exhausted work environments.
It blows me away how much coffee I used to drink in my ‘normal’ day – I ‘needed’ double shots a plenty, or I wouldn’t be able to focus properly, I’d feel down and a whole other range of symptoms…And yet, despite the intensity of my addiction, I was able to give it up in a day and never go back.
It goes to show, addictions have nothing on us when we connect to the ‘more’ that we are.
The last time I had caffeine, after many years of having none it really surprised me the strength of the effect… not only did it keep me awake and make me alert (which is the reason for its popularity) there was also a feeling of being wired and stretched thin. Its these last two that we would prefer to ignore, but there is a huge physiological impact that takes us away from who we naturally are… and keeps us away. Fundamentally its enormously damaging.
Sight, Smell, Touch and Taste can indeed be strong seducers, for we often favour them well above our own knowing and bodies innate wisdom. We are all too happy to dull the sense that will deliver us the most understanding whilst focusing on the senses that often take us way off course.
The body is very wise; I am learning to listen more intently to it these days. I would tell myself I loved coffee, but my body was more honest, it did not agree.
Coffee stopped for me some years ago now – and these days I am wondering what all the fuss was about that I made when imagining not having it anymore. The day my body said no, there has been no desire or thought around it whatsoever.
I notice how much people rely on coffee. Surely this is telling us something if we are relying on artificial stimulants to get through our day yet very few people question why this is so. Perhaps it is time to start questioning?
This really shows how sensitive we naturally are, and how addictive substances take away our sensitivity – they numb us with their appeal – we want more and more which gradually increases our threshold until such time that having a drink, smoking or having coffee is totally normal and we don’t think it changes the body at all. But the fact is it does, and Natalie this experiment highlights just how sensitive we truly are and what these things do to us.
The thing about addictive substances such as coffee, alcohol and cigarettes is that they alter the body in such a way that it overrides the natural response. This is why the first cigarette, glass of alcohol or cup of coffee is horrible but soon the alterations in our body will distort the message and make us wanting more. The only reason we go for the second one is because other people do it, we see it as normal and ‘what you should do to fit in’. Imagine if no-one used these substances, then the first taste of it would be enough to say no. See here the responsibility we have as a humanity to our next generations.
My 20s and early 30s were all about coffee – it was part of a daily ritual, a way to wake up. Finding a trendy, independent coffee shop was something I prided myself on and something I could tell my fellow coffee lovers about. But in the back of my mind I was aware there was a dependency. One morning after a strong coffee my heart began racing and it really freaked me out, so I decided to switch to decaf. And about two months later decided that even the decaf had to go.
As much as I love the smell and taste, I got to a point where it just didn’t serve me. In effect, the decision to give it up was surprisingly easy. But Natalie’s experience also shows how easy it is to get hooked back into drinking coffee, how the mind wants it but the body doesn’t. And the huge increase in coffee shops here in London and elsewhere demonstrates that ‘hook’, but it also reveals that we have an exhausted population using caffeine to prop us up.
Coffee is hiding the fact that as a society we are all exhausted, caffeine is a deeply harming substance that allows us to bury our dishonesty further.
Hello Natalie and as I have commented before I love the smell of coffee but in no way does it make me want to taste it. I remember trying my first coffee and it was so so bitter that I needed to put sugar in it, a lot of sugar. I know that people have different tastes but that’s how it was for me. I could never drink a coffee without sugar and when I first started drinking it whether it was the first time ever or after a period of not drinking it I didn’t like the butterflies feeling it gave me in my stomach either. There was no upside to drinking coffee for me and it would also make my vision go a little blurry as well. Now that I write about it I’m not sure why I started in the first place and understand why I only drank it for a few years.
Great question to ask ourselves Ray, why did we start drinking coffee? From my experience it was the cool thing to do, go to a cafe, hang out, order a coffee and that pretend you like, eventually over time you do come to like it. The desperate need to fit in and be ‘normal’ wins over what the body is telling us,
About 20 years ago I gave up coffee as I didn’t like the racy feeling in my body anymore and interestingly my sleep patterns started to change and the quality of my sleep definitely improved. I was very clear never to return to coffee after this, but there are still certain foods that lure me back in at times, even though I know the effects on my body I still override it at the time with all sorts of excuses – it is never worth it in the end.
There was a time when it was my norm to have 2 to 3 coffees a day. Morning, mid morning and afternoon, they were well timed to prop me up through my busy working day. However, we can only prop up our bodies with false fuel for so long before they begin expose the truth of our choices
It is amazing how we can be so easily seduced by a taste in the mouth and forget the feeling and effect that is then left for the body to process. This really goes for all additions.
Your article has certainly got people relating, there are loads of comment! I have been making coffee since I was 17, now at 33 years of age with the help of my business partners we have opened two successful cafes and a bakery. When we set up the first cafes I felt I had to try the coffee, I had a few sips and was up all night, heart beating, like I was on hard drugs. Everyone laughed at me too! There is a few circumstances unfortunately that I have to taste coffee in my profession, as you know, but spitting it out is the only way from hear on in!!
There is no doubt about it in the future they will look at our crazy addiction to coffee and see it for the legalised drug it is.
Hear hear Samantha, it sure is a harmful drug at that. But because it is accepted as normal no one considers it to be anything that is dangerous and harmful. What else have we accepted as normal that is destroying us?
There is such a proliferation of coffee drinkers, I know I too was seduced by the smell, the need for one in the afternoon to help me get through the day. But I also started to feel the affects on my body. I stuck it out for a long time, ignoring how the caffeine would make me feel really racy, but would drink it anyway, until it got to a point where it actually felt so uncomfortable, that I did stop. I don’t feel the urge anymore, even when I can smell it, as the feeling it gives my body is not longer worth it.
But coming back to my former point, we really have become so exhausted and run down that coffee has become a welcome relief to the way we feel… and when we consider what it does to a truly vital and healthy body, this is a serious state of affairs we need to start addressing. Coffee now being one of the highest traded commodities in the world is saying a LOT about our current state of health as a humanity.
It also reminds me of a time when I got myself hooked on expresso’s, sweetened with sugar of course, otherwise the taste was disgusting. After never drinking coffee at all, to drinking sometimes 2 a day several days a week, I found myself with a headache on the days I didn’t have any and feeling lousy. It didn’t take long to put two and two together and that was the end of my foray into coffee drinking.
Natalie thank you for bringing this to light, the real impact of coffee on the body is drastically underplayed as it takes a super clear and healthy body to register the changes it causes. Once we are run down, the impact is relatively minimal and hence we can be easily hoodwinked to thinking it is not only harmless, but delicious.
I had an incident one day at work when a lady from a coffee shop came out and gave me a coffee for free and said that looks like thirsty work, as I was mowing a big lawn. Instead of saying no thanks I don’t drink it nowadays, I stupidly thanked her for her kindness drank it. Oh my God it was seriously bad and effected me really badly for a really long time with loads of negative thoughts coming in and anxiousness. It is a serious drug that the nation if not the world is hooked on.
‘The one thing that really shocked me though was the quick change from “What the heck are you doing, this is hideous” to (after a disguised, milky, soya flat white and a few sips of that) going “Hmmm… this is actually really tasty”.’Natalie your words really made me realise how often we ‘water things down’ to make them more acceptable even when we already know they are not good for us.
Oh, the seduction of coffee! I got seduced well and truly once upon a time. The thing is that even though I haven’t had a coffee for about 3 or 4 years the seduction still has me. I do not want to drink coffee as I can no longer stand the effect it has on me, but I love the smell and can easily reminisce about the flavours and how I used to drink it. Recently when I was in Vietnam I even convinced other people to have coffee with condensed milk after going on about how amazing it tastes! The seduction is strong.
Coffee is an interesting drug to explore (meaning of drug here being that of a substance that alters the body and body chemistry in some way). Coffee has an instant effect whether most people are aware of it or not. Interestingly those that have poor liver clearance tend to suffer the effects of coffee longer. In other words if the person’s liver cannot clear or detox the caffeine from the system then it stays active for longer in the body and hence can build up and affect sleep and other normal body habits and needs. I find it fascinating that even though coffee can affect the body so strongly it is still advocated for Doctors and other professionals as a means to keep ‘alert’ and get things done – but little is there consideration for the persons actual well being and the state of their liver or quality of sleep etc. I might have to ponder on that one over a cuppa 😉
When I was in my late teens and early twenties I was drawn to trying out coffee – I liked the smell of it, especially the fresh coffee beans! And so I tried an expresso. I found the taste rather intense but something in me liked it somehow and so I had a second one about 5-10 minutes afterwards. So that was all simple. However the rest of my day, and the rest of my nigh and in fact the rest of my week was a disaster. I could not focus on anything, nor could I sit still. I felt really agitated and I also felt my emotions go up and down. And forget about sleep. There was no way I could put my body to sleep and I struggled for several nights until finally on night 3 or 4 I fell into an exhausted slumber. After that I pretty much never wanted to have a coffee again. I did try again under peer pressure to fit into the coffee drinking group and had another coffee once or twice again afterwards. But both times I experienced the same thing. So essentially it was not difficult to give it all up! And so it is not difficult to give up something that does not feel good in the body especially when you register it that strongly!
It’s only when we decide for ourselves that we don’t want to feel the effects of a substance, a foodstuff, a drink anymore that we’ll make a true choice not to choose it for our bodies. It’s at this point we switch to beginning to honour the body and those signs and signals it gives us constantly in the form of feedback whenever we disregard what we already really know but have chosen to ignore.
Great blog Natalie – we have no idea about the impact of something in our body when we are full-on into it, when it is a regular part of our day. When we give our body a break and clear the substance, whether it is coffee or some other substance and then reintroduce it – the truth can be felt. This feels like when we are in the middle of a situation or drama we can’t see what is really going on because we are lost in it but someone not related can give a more accurate and objective view. Clearing coffee and other substances out of my system has brought me into a new and more honest relationship with my body and how amazing I am – I agree with you, I am not prepared to trade this ‘magic’ for anything.
Christine, you are spot on – sometimes I find it hard to tell if or how something is affecting me (food wise) and so I have found it quite effective to do little experiments such as having larger amounts of that food/drink for a while or on the contrary cutting it out for a while and then re-introducing it to feel if there is a difference. This is the way for us to learn and the body does speak loudly when given the chance…and it speaks to us all the time if we just choose to tune into the whispers as well.
Natalie, what you have shared is key – the seducton of things like coffee or cigarettes or alcohol. It is clear that these things are awful to the body and in the body, yet we choose to override this and want to see it as something that is OK. I recall once confiscating a packet of cigarettes off a boyfriend years ago and telling him he was awful to kiss because he smoked. But then I went home and decided I would try one cigarette to see what it was like (I had never tried smoking before). I took one puff and gagged and threw out the whole packet, found myself feeling really sick to the stomach, but then something in me was wanting more…from that moment on I swore never to touch cigarettes again. But I can so recognise the seduction you talk about Natalie, and how quickly we can get sucked into such destructive habits.
I still like the smell of coffee but to drink it would be pure abuse for me as I know I would spin out and the repercussions would last days. I am not going to put myself through that.
Just re-reading this again today brought back memories of drinking coffee/tea and those fast, racy feelings just pulsing through my body. I’ll just stick to liking the aroma. My body does know without hesitation (even if my mind does not) what is healing and what is harming.
That is so true Marion our bodies do know what is harming and healing. That is why our bodies react in the way that they do when we ingest them. It took a while for me to listen to my body but over time I have come to be very respectful and loving with my body. Makes such a difference in how I feel and what I am living with on a day-to-day basis.
Coffee is not something that I liked to drink, but like you I loved the aroma, and for a couple of years I had a decaf soy latte but that still had some remnant of effect on me. Having given it up completely I have on occasion been silly enough to have one decaf when I have been unable to get a Dandelion tea with the same result.
Coffee, Wine, Chocolate, Fine food …. They all carry an allure of the rich and subtle tastes and textures that can be found and one can be easily seduced. But, only when we leave the body behind. When the body is felt in all of its magnificence, delicateness and simplicity, unaltered and connected to everything, it is the best feeling I’ve ever had and not worth deviating from.
It is so interesting how quickly the mind latches on, when you give it an inch it will take a mile. If I allow any opening, any ‘if’, ‘but’ or ‘maybe just this once because it is a special occasion’, then my mind instantly goes ‘oh this is really ok’ and then I am seeking it the next day and the next and the cycle begins again, taking me out of my body and into my head. The only thing that really works is the absolute resolve of connection to my body and then it is a clear choice.
I began working in hospitality straight after school and enjoying the flavours and experience of café lattes in funky Melbourne cafes! It has been a slow process of weaning myself away from them onto soy, decaf, dandy and chai, then to almond milk, caffeine free ….. and finally to let them go. To let go of the allure of the taste and experience to truly honour the delicateness and aliveness of my body and how these drinks subdue this vitality. To re-claim the steadiness that is me is oh so worth it.
We humans can become so easily addicted, and we dabble in so many things and before we know it, the small pools that we were playing in have turned into raging currents progress along and down, whether it be substances, money, whatever it is, and whatever we use to assuage the hurt that is never healed until we take full responsibility for our lives and our connection with our inner hearts
Recently I had a night of very little sleep and I felt exhausted the next day so I made up a story in my head that would justify why I needed to have a coffee. Once I had justified why it was not only OK but important that I had the coffee so that I was fit and able to get on with my day I had one. Somehow, one just wasn’t enough so I had another. I could feel this horrible sensation of raciness building in my body but what I really noticed was just how exhausted I felt afterwards. I was quite shocked that coffee has the same effect as sugar, a quick high followed by a quick low. I never would have believed that coffee could leave me feeling far more tired than if I had never without feeling it for myself in my body.
It is awesome Fiona when we listen and learn isn’t it! Sometimes my mind can be stubborn and make up all kinds of excuses as to why I should eat that or have another plate of food. Lately I’m a listening to my body more but has been a gradual evolving process and one of constant refinement.
Yes Samantha I too have found it is an endless relationships with ourselves, our bodies and being willing to listen to what it is telling us. It sure is a constant refinement and watching when a particular pattern or behaviour that we go into can so quickly take you out. Being aware and on top of this is key.
When I discovered how hard I was finding it to stop drinking even decaf coffees I realised that there was much more to it than the coffee itself. I didn’t want to give up the coffee culture, I wanted to fit in with everyone else who were equally desperate for their coffees and I did this all at the expense of what I was doing to my body. At the time I could not feel the impact that decaf coffee had on me and it was only after I stopped drinking it for long enough that I became aware of the raciness in my body. I am now fully aware of what decaf instead coffee does to my body and as you describe Natalie, like I have taken drugs.
The world is in thrall of coffee and addicted to its ability to mask exhaustion. I was in a major city a few weeks ago that I previously visited 15 years earlier, it was striking how virtually every third shop was a coffee shop and many were doing roaring trades. It is the opium of the masses, highly addictive thus highly profitable. And with profit there will always be research produced that extols the benefits of what is a quite hard drug.
Yes Stephen I know exactly what you are saying, they used to say for every street there was a pub in England now it’s coffee shops that are popping up every where. It saddens me to see this as I realise the detrimental effect this is having on all those people’s lives and all those burnt out adrenal glands = not nice at all.
Correct Stephen when there is a supply for demand and that it means profits absolutely there will be so called evidence as to why such a harmful drug is actually really good for you. What is scary though and I have been there in the past is that we actually believe that it is true. But ultimately deep down I have always known what is actually not good for me but didn’t want to stand out as being different or weird.
Your experience with the coffee tasting exposes something about how we all can numb ourselves to what food and drink actually feels like in our body. By having a break from coffee and then trying it once again, the impact on your body was as clear as a bell and it could not be denied. This has been my experience with coffee, sugar, dairy, gluten and alcohol etc as I have let go of them, over the last 10 years or so there have been times when I have decided to give them another go to see what they are like before finally saying ‘Good bye’, they have resulted in me clearly feeling the impact they have on my body. This is very confirming concerning the decision not to consume them, the effect can not be denied. For so many years I had been consuming them and they and built up in my body and I had just got used to feeling tired, bloated, buzzy, a bit queasy, or sluggish. The more we honour what our bodies share the more we feel, it is a priceless exchange to move away from being numb and unaware of how I felt and what I experience to feeling more. What is felt is awesome I have reconnected and rebuilt a relationship with myself. Being aware of what we consume is vital for our health, it does also however offer us a much deeper, true connection with our essence, our soul.
Coffee is everywhere. We drink it when we get up and we drink it before we go to bed and in between we drink it. We have become so used to it that we hardly question ourselves: am I addicted? We don’t drink coffee because we like it, we drink it because we cannot get through our days without it. Simple truth, yet hardly anybody admits it.
I find it fascinating how the taste of the coffee is evidently influenced by the stimulative effect it has on our bodies. You were not needing a coffee at all and the coffee actually tasted hideous yet this changed so quickly. Shows how much our taste is influenced by many other factors, not just the food or drink itself
Know this one well – being seduced by a taste/flavour of food/drink. Instantly there is a rush of more please. Like a flick of a switch the effects ripple through the body. Exactly as you share with us Natalie “even if they taste amazing at the time – it’s not worth it” That’s the truth of it.
That seduction is such a hook and once you are in it you really don’t want to let it go.. and oh how it tastes so good. I love though Marion how you so rightly say like a flick of the switch the effects ripple through the body. As much as we don’t want to feel it sometimes it is happening whether we like it or not.
There are so many things having very strong impacts upon our life. And we simply don’t notice it, or have become numb to its effects. This is another example. Quite a telling one in that coffee is one of the, if not the, most traded commodity in the world.
It is very telling and that coffee is potentially the most traded commodity in the world shows how far gone we are in a society to be having such demands. From what I have witnessed whilst working in the deli/cafe I would say that at least 99% of the clients are in need of the coffee as they are exhausted. It would be great if we stopped and looked at the way are living that is creating such exhaustion.
Absolutely Natalie and you are best placed to ask these much needed questions working in the environment you do. Exhaustion keeps us down and just able to do life, just managing it, just getting by, till the next stimulation, be that coffee or another sugary treat, or drama or a thrill to buzz us up and drive us through. With vitality and a vibrancy in each day, life is so much richer and magnificent. Just imagine how life could be if we all got really honest about the levels of exhaustion we feel instead of covering them up. Coffee shops for one, may start to look very empty.
Such an awesome article Natalie, this would be great in a printed version left in coffee shops around the world! I love this line
“I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!”
Thank you for not accepting anything less and inspiring us all to see that we are all so more then our quick fixes – quick fixes that always ultimately lead us to feeling less than the amazingness we so naturally are.
Samantha it would be fantastic to have as you say this out and about in coffee shops – not that many of them would want them in there! I find at the deli when I am just me embracing the awesomeness that I feel customers clock this and start to ask questions on how come I am always so alive and up! Then they get the real answer. I share my lived experience on all the different substances that I used to take and slowly over time when I started to take time to listen to my body I got to honestly feel what I knew already wasn’t working in harmony with my body. They are always super intrigued and inspired. Some have changed their choices from this and some have just naturally felt to change them anyway. We can all be the article in the coffee shop, everywhere we go!
“I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.” This sentence sums up the whole blog for me. I know that there is no taste that is lovelier than feeling joy and harmony in my body. My mind gives me loads of reasons to choose something sweet or tasty over this harmony and I am likely to go along with it if I do not allow myself to feel my hurts and address issues that come up for me on a day to day basis and take care of myself. My coffee cravings come back if I let myself get tired! If I allow myself to feel the tiredness instead of blocking it out with a stimulant it helps me to make better choices to avoid a repeat of the behaviour that led to the tiredness in the first place. It is infinitely more empowering to address the problem in full rather than reach for a quick fix that keeps me in a cycle of stress and dependence.
What truth you speak when it becomes absolute empowering when we deal with our hurts first in full then there is no need what so ever for a quick fix and those ‘pick me ups’.
Great blog Natalie! It seems that the addiction to coffee keeps growing in our society with more and more place selling coffee and obviously finding a demand for their products. I can certainly relate to enjoying my coffee in the past even though I was never a heavy drinker, nor did I like the taste of strong coffee (which was already telling me something about how my body reacted to it). I couldn’t tolerate it when I was pregnant but invariably went back to drinking it after giving birth – oblivious to the messages my body was giving me. I still enjoy the smell of it and occasionally miss having a cup but I’m aware that at these moments that my mind is trying to pull me into over-ride mode and I know that it’s not worth it.
I still love the smell of coffee and so want to drink it, but then i feel into my body, feel what it would be like to drink it, allowing myself to feel what it would be like after I had drunk it. It usually makes me feel differently when I do this. I am don’t want the soy milk or any other milk in my body, knowing that will dull me. So in going through this process, I am able to choose differently.
Just like you Natalie I too have memories of when I first tried them all I actually had to force myself to drink coffee, alcohol and smoke because they all tasted so ghastly. But I thought they were such a grown-up thing to do and if everyone else could do it so could I. But like with any addiction once your body gets used to something it grows more tolerant to it. So the hit of sugar in the alcohol, the hit of caffeine that is sugared enough to drown out the coffees natural bitterness and the rush of nicotine sadly become what motivates you… and then all of a sudden you realise you feel ghastly without them. The mind boggles with this fact.
Wow Natalie, awesome that you chose to listen to your body and choosing to be amazingly connected to yourself. I also love the smell of coffee but I was never able to drink it. My body was highly sensitive to it. I tried drinking coffee because everyone raved about it so I thought to try it. My body reacted straight away, I felt heavy, irrigated, very, very sleepy and my stomach ached with a burning sensation and I’d have to run to the toilet. I tried it another time and the same thing happened, so I opted to listen to my body. I never got to experience a boost from coffee, instead I felt the complete opposite and got what felt like a ‘kick’ in my stomach and felt drained. I just accepted what my body was telling me and stayed clear of coffee. It’s amazing what our body knows and if we choose to listen to it, it will lovingly guide us through life.
“Isn’t it interesting how the mind will quickly justify an action to make it OK to do!”….yes it is very interesting how we know that what we are doing is not right for us but the mind – like a magician pulling out a rabbit – quickly pulls out lots of justifications so it appears almost impossible to refuse.
Yep, I have definitely done this, allowed my mind to run the show with justifications to entice me to do things I know is not so good for me. This happens especially with food and at times is does feel like it’s impossible to refuse to temptations.
yes, it’s quite extraordinary how we can know so very well how bad something is going to make us feel but with a short amount of justification we have turned the whole scenario on its head an even (in my case) convinced myself that it might even be good for us.
That convince it is good for us as you say is seriously extraordinary, like something takes over us and does what it wants to do. Getting to that point when you know it has to stop is such a great step to make. I know when I stopped smoking had moments when I drawn back into it. Still thou I managed to follow what I knew was true for me and stop a destructive habit.
Great blog Natalie. I remember a very long time a go when I had been macrobiotic for some years and had not eaten a crisp in all that time. When I did choose to have one my mouth and whole body was reviled and disgusted by it. It felt like someone had put a mix of poisonous chemicals in my mouth and this was supposedly an innocent slice of deep fried potato and salt.
Wow it is incredible what we immune ourselves to. This way of eliminating things out of our diet and then re-introducing after a period of time after not having them is such a fantastic way to feel what it is truly doing to our bodies. When we start to love and respect our bodies our tolerance levels become less and less until such time that the love we feel and have in our bodies is far superior to any ingested temptation.
I was staggered at how strong the stimulant in coffee (caffeine) actually is. I used to drink a lot of coffee and would have said that I enjoyed it. After stopping drinking coffee and having any form of caffeine for a few month I was served a caffeinated coffee when I had asked for de-caf. I knew within the first sip pf the error they had made. From that alone I could feel my heart rate increase, I began to feel nervous and over stimulated by my environment – my whole body changed. Over time I also got to the point where de-caf coffee would give the same effect so I no longer drink any coffee.
It is interesting how much we can feel when we choose to listen to our body. It naturally guides us to know exactly what food and drinks to consume, when and the quantity. So by connect to our body and listening to its messages we will be able to feel naturally amazing, healthy and energised.
Thank you Natalie for a great blog, and even greater is your observation of how coffee affected your body and the decision to not allow the coffee to grab you. You can enjoy the smell but not what it does to your body. I have never been a great coffee drinker, it never sat well with my body.
“Why would be I be anything else but me?”. What an awesome question. Why indeed would we?
I gave up coffee when I had my three children for each prengancy and breast feeding period and reading this blog makes me realise that I chose to do it for my children so easily but it took a long time to do it for me.
Heidi, it is a classic scenario I can name several ways of living that i changed when i was pregnant that I reverted back to once the pregnancy was over. The pattern of putting myself last began before my kids were even born!
That is so interesting Heidi and something that many other women would agree that is how they stopped. Crazy that we can do it so easily for others but when it comes to ourselves it seems to be a lot more difficult. When I worked on my self-worth then I noticed that this all became a lot easier. Now it is not even something that I have to consider… Sometimes there is an odd moment but so few and far between it is a remarkable difference in my life.
Great point Natalie; Working on self worth = easier to make loving choices. Thank you for the sweet reminder here, it was a dose of this that clicked for me when I read it this morning. Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate, builds a strong foundation.
Heidi your not alone on this one, many woman will make changes for others but when it comes for doing it for ourselves our own Self-Worth is non existent so we struggle to make these changes that are more Self-Loving.
I used to work night shift and would consume coffee after coffee all night and never thought twice about it.
Its amazing isn’t it how we can become so used to stimulants that they no longer have the same, if any effect on us. I remember times when I was drinking caffeinated drink after caffeinated drink and I would not feel any difference from one to the next.
This is gold Natalie, this is absolute truth how you shared about looking after your body and no longer compromising it with your body’s needs. That feels so true. I find it so easy to go in my head and make choices, based on pleasures, believes, faiths, thoughts, emotions.. But I am now experimenting in my life to make choices from my heart.. well this has raised something different for me: Are we able to make choices all of the time that are loving?! My mind said no, but in truth my body said Yes! And I know my body knows, as it is the vessel that goes through life and experience all the effects of choices in life, therefore I let my body speak, not my mind. This is simply practicing.
It is such a massive turning point in health care when you start to say no to foods and beverages because you / your body feels so amazing that you do not want to jeopardise it.
I agree Fiona, it’s huge to put how your body feels first. It’s loving yourself so much that you want to feel the grandness within and not make it about what you taste for a few moments in your mouth.
Recently, I allowed my mind to take over and tempt me into the idea that it was a good idea to order myself a decaffeinated soya late. At the time this was not enough, so I had a second decaf coffee to take away. I remember the sensation of anxiety and raciness that I felt in my body afterwards. Just as you describe Natalie, my heart was racing just like I had taken drugs and I started to regret it as I knew it would be hours before the hideous sensation would subside.
The way you talk about the smell of coffee is quite telling Natalie…. The connection of our olfactory sense..( smelling) and the emotive and pleasure parts of the brain, all sense of chemicals are released triggering feelings, addictions, we are a chemical minefield, UNTIL we start to establish a new baseline of awareness, and what happens then is we start to be actually free of the addictive pull of the seductive smells of the things around us, and can make more qualitative choices of what we do, and consume.
It makes so much sense what you are saying Chris that we get drawn in by the smells that have reminders of something in the past and this brings up some emotional context that you are hanging onto. If you are able to heal and cut these then those tantalising smells don’t have a hold over you any longer and you are free to choose what it is that the body is actualling asking for.
This is very interesting Chris.
I find it fascinating that while you don’t like what coffee does to your body and choose not drink it yourself, but it is part of your job to sell it. What a blessing to have someone who is so committed to be honest with their body and make self-loving choices serving a cup of coffee. It feels like you are actually offering your customers, while being totally unimposing, an opportunity to feel the truth and make a different choice.
Not only does the coffee come with the addictive flavours, it comes with the image of cafes and travel and sophistication. These are very seductive images and to overcome this pull the best thing we can do is to feel how completely awesome we are which means we need to not mask how we feel with any foods that cover our feelings. Then we don’t need any image that comes with being sophisticated, or romantic, we come as our own gorgeous package.
I totally agree Amanda the whole picture of what the coffee experience offers is a complete distraction from feeling our absolute Awesomeness that we are. As we accept this as our natural state of being then all the foods and drinks and what ever else in the world will never be worth indulging in. To be our Glorious selves we don’t want or need anything else.
Imagine if ALL the coffee ran out today… what would people do? All around the world there would be an uproar. It would be on every news bulletin and the headaches would be collectively tsunami levels.
Caffeine rules the world and many of us haven’t even admitted to ourselves that it doesn’t do us any good. The high… the low…. the palpitations. The addiction. THE EXHAUSTION that runs beneath the urge.
Coming off coffee is not easy. It takes time and the side effects are unpleasant. But until we begin to look at WHY we are needing our fix the world will continue to crave its PICK ME UP.
Coffee is the world’s second most valuable traded commodity, behind petroleum.
Is it time to make some changes?
Awesome blog Natalie thank you. 🙂
Kathryn you bring a great point to the thread – “Coffee is the world’s second most valuable traded commodity, behind petroleum.
Is it time to make some changes?- My answer is yes and it is a big one. It has such a control over people and we can become so reliant on it to make us function through the day that it is a serious health issue that is at play. Being ignored completely by a drug that is destroying our bodies slowly but surely.
Yes it is time we started to make some changes.
Kathryn, you ask a great question. The turmoil and mess we would all be in if coffee was no longer available is huge. We absolutely rely on it to function, it is so entirely acceptable that we have long forgotten it is a drug. Personally, I have used many substances in my life, including coffee, and it is one of the, if not the, hardest to let go. It has an amazing allure with the coffee culture image and those enticing aroma’s.
Awesome Blog, Natalie, and so true. I can absolutely relate to your words about all our justifications for doing something that we know is not good for our body. To be honest, I justify quite often what I eat… definitely something to ponder on… I drank a lot of coffee before I came to Universal Medicine and it took me more than a year to stop it. I still sometimes have decaf with a lot of soy-rice milk but I feel that it`s more the comfort of the milk that I need because I would rather not drink coffee at all than having it without milk. I feel more and more that I want it to fulfill and not feel a need of more true intimacy in my life. Crazy how we feed our needs with food instead of healing them….
Yes Eva-Maria very crazy how that is where we instantly have the ‘GO TO’ for not dealing with what every it is that comes up. It is much easier to dull and numb what ever it is that is coming up with food or drink, getting seduced by the flavours and enjoying the buzz that you get afterwards from it. When we start to look at our stuff and heal what is going on then we naturally stop these behaviours with food and drink. It feels AMAZING when we start to take this responsibility for ourselves and our actions.
It’s quite remarkable how intense and undeniable the reactions are in the body to substances after the body is clear of them for a period of time. Although unpleasant it is great to have such a clear message of not only how it affects you but deeply confirming how committed you are to not lessening yourself for anything.
Sam the body sure is incredible and how cool is it to speak so loudly when it doesn’t feel good to the body. The more Self-Love that we have for ourselves the more we start to listen to it.
Coffee stimulates our adrenals and gives us the appearance of an energy boost when in fact it is depleting our energy and we find ourselves more exhausted hours later and needing a top up. I remember first trying coffee and feeling it coarse through my veins and stimulating my energy – it felt like an invader in my body but I liked the stimulation for I didn’t have to feel how tired I was – already exhausted as a school student in my final year. We laughed at study time as many students would chew on chocolate coated coffee beans to get through the exam period. There was never any consideration of how we were living to be so exhausted – it was all about finding solutions and a quick way forward without changing anything about the way we were living.. We are using stimulants like coffee to in fact not be honest about how we are living – ignoring the fact that at the end of the day it is our body that bears the brunt of our choices.
i can absolutely relate to what you’re saying here Sarah especially with the coffee stimulating our adrenals and giving us the illusion of an energy boost. I would have an espresso pre exercise class to keep me going – four years later I’m now recovering from stage 3 adrenal exhaustion. It’s so vitally important that we listen to the messages that our bodies are sending us and to rest when needed rather than artificially stimulate it and pushing it beyond where it naturally wants to go.
A great blog that not only exposes how addictive caffeine is, but how easily we override what the body is telling us. The response of ‘yuk’ from the first taste should have been sufficient to know that it wasn’t right for the body.
A little while ago I bumped into an old mate and we decided to go for a coffee, I could have had a herbal but decided to have a black decaf instead, he made a wise crack about me having a decaf and I said I haven’t even had a decaf for a while so this will probably effect me quite a bit. After one we were still talking and decided to have another. OMG! I was racing and felt really bad, I then remembered the last time I had done this and wondered why I had yet again done it again. It was as though my mind had conveniently forgotten the effects until I did it again. When will I ever learn?
Natalie it’s great to hear how you clearly exposed the subtle addictive effects of coffee and the power of self love to say no to it, especially in your own business where it is so easy to let your mind override what your body knows as true.
Natalie you make a great point in this article, that we need to honour our body’s first response to an experience, for very quickly the mind can begin to justify and the experience can draw us in and we no longer have that clear gauge of the effect the experience has on us, it then becomes easy to indulge more and we are left with a longer process of clearing our bodies of the poison we have consumed.
“I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.” The love Natalie has for her herself and her body is palpable and it is deeply inspiring. Thank you Natalie for sharing.
Natalie thank you for your sharing. Even when I gave up certain things coffee included, there always seemed to be a period when I would try it out one more time just to make sure, although my body had told me so many times!
Natalie, thank you for sharing, I love the smell of fresh coffee too, I am sure they must spray the aroma out in the street to entice you in. I remember giving coffee up, and moving on to decaf, telling myself it’s decaf it’s fine, but it still had the same effect really. I stopped when I heard my body shouting loud enough that it couldn’t handle any more, yet I had overridden it so many times before.
Yes Sally decafe is a great way to take yourself off the hard core caffeine fixed coffee. I was on decafe for at least a year or so before I really started to become honest that it was still effecting my body… Didn’t want to give up something that tasted so good. But making that choice not just with coffee but with other foods and addictive drugs like smoking etc I came to a point that my body deserved more than this.
Thanks Natalie for sharing; the Lure of fresh roasted coffee is still there for me even though I resist, it’s a hard one to break. But your so right about how we override our bodies and after a few it numbs out any voice of “Don’t Do It”
I was a huge coffee drinker and coming off caffeine was like coming off a strong drug, the pain I felt in my body was intense for at least 10 days, that was enough for me to never drink caffeine again.
Thank you for sharing your writing on this, it was informative but a lovely lightness to it too.
It is certainly a hooking drug with all the social connections that you get when drinking coffee. Saying no to how it feels in our bodies is one step which feels incredible when we do. Also checking in to see if we are using it to numb the loneliness we have with ourselves that we are seeking with others is fascinating to observe.
There’s so many things I over-ride, most notably having extra mouthfuls of food when my body says NO! Reading your blog has left me asking ‘Why do I do that?’ Also the justification. This is a really good blog Natalie which lets us see that some of our behaviours are not really want we want to do!
“I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable”
What a wonderful awareness Natalie and your level of self responsibility in choosing not to drink coffee (even though you make a “mean” one) is so self loving and supportive of You.
More and more I am hearing people share that when they have coffee’s they are finding they are feeling jittery and more anxious. Recently I was listening to a woman sharing that her partner had started to have involuntary spasms in their arms and limbs, mainly during sleeping. This increased so much that it also started to occur during the day and while with others. This guy was drinking coffee regularly throughout the day and it was suggested that it could be the coffee. He stopped drinking coffee and the tick like re-actions stopped. How’s that for the effect coffee is having on people’s nervous systems these days!
Our bodies tell us so clearly what is ok for us and what is not. It’s amazing to read how you won’t settle for anything less than awesome!
Our bodies are simply amazing! When we choose to connect to it, it’s divine.
I find our bodies extraordinary in the way that it communicates so loud and clear with us, exactly what feels true or not. Once we build this relationship and honour what it is telling us then it is incredible how it feeds us back.
I agree Brooke, if we are prepared to listen our bodies speak volumes.
What I am noticing too is that more and more headache relieving pills contain caffeine. Is it possible then that although there could be an apparent quick fix to the headache there is more that the body has to cope with that could leave us further away from our connection to ourselves than ever and create other problems internally?
It is like some of the skin care products also have caffeine in to stimulate and make it more alive… By doing so you never get to feel the simple yet natural sensation of your own skin because of the stimulation that you feed it. So it that is our basis of stillness we are actually very far off from recognising that there is an innate stillness with in. Once I connected to Serge Benhayon’s Gentle Breath Meditation and applied this to my rhythm with life I realised how much the caffeine was really effecting me as well.
I still love the smell of coffee. It’s a truly aromatic drink whilst being brewed. I shall never drink it again, mind you, for I know the damage it does to my energy levels and physical degradation that it causes when consumed, especially regularly. Most of all though, my body is experiencing more stillness or harmony and that’s priceless, the last thing I feel like doing is messing with this. it would feel like throwing a 50 cent piece into a running air turbine.
– Oliver I love your analogy it makes no sense to do something like this. I was like you once I was building a level of stillness and steadiness in my body and being the concept of introducing coffee or any other stimulant totally counteracted to the stillness that I had connected to within myself. This stillness is where I feel confident, sure of myself and no matter what is going on around me or comes my way I feel like I am able to deal with it. When I am racy and in nervous energy anything else that comes my way is to much to cope with and everything starts to become complicated and hard. All our choices actually have a massive impact on how our lives pan out.
It is amazing how when we develop a deeper connection with our bodies, the truth we feel is undeniable and the antics of the mind become more and more insignificant.
It it’s interesting that we get caught in this cycle of survival and that anything that seems to give us a boost is will do. But it is wise to ask ourselves is this it? Surely there is more to life than this and there is – Serge Benhayon has supported me to see and understand that my choices creates my reality and this is down to everything in life, there is no exceptions.
Too right about how we can convince ourselves that something tastes OK after a couple of sips or chews, particularly when additional diffusers of the acrid taste – amongst them sugar, dairy or salt – are added to make it palatable and in turn money-spinning. How to cope with what my body communicates to me about the impact of a certain foodstuff when society and culture are telling me the complete opposite? A coffee house on practically every street corner of every major town in most developed countries and in the emerging ones given pride of place in the best real estate areas. When it’s such an integral fixture in our petrol service stations, cinemas, bookstores and shopping centres, it takes true commitment to honouring our bodies not to get sucked into this consciousness, where a cup of coffee is so normalised that by contrast you’re deemed abnormal in not choosing it.
Drinking coffee to me now I would regard as abusive to my body, but I did drink it with the unawareness that this was abuse. It makes me consider the other things that I still do or a way I live that could be abusive and I’m not realising yet.
Mathew that is a great point you make. When I was drinking coffee deep down I knew it wasn’t great but I absolutely chose not to see this and ignore what I felt. Then years of drinking coffee caught up in the illusion of it, then finally I decided or should I say my body decided that things needed to change. But there was still an element of me that didnt care until I knew I couldn’t go any longer with that abuse. So yes the abuse of coffee was hidden for a while, and yes I too wonder what else I am choosing that is abusive but choosing not to see right now?
Drinking coffee has not been my thing however I would drink half a cup of black coffee for breakfast every morning before going to high school. It was the only liquid and food that I would put into my body in the morning; I remember I didn’t even like the taste of it but ignored it and thought it’s better than having nothing at all! I wasn’t aware that I was abusing my body at the time so Matthew makes a great point to ponder on… what else am I doing in my day where I abuse my body by overriding what I truly feel and am not aware that I am doing it?
Great Blog Natalie, thank you. The effects of and addictive nature of coffee is quite incredible, but what’s more cunning is how we do over ride our initial response to it, and alcohol. After reading your blog it made me remember my initial ‘yuk’ reaction to coffee and alcohol, but then still going back to have it again… This highlights how persuaded we can be by outer influences that encourage one to over ride their initial responses to things, and how important it is to stay true to self.
I remember my first taste of coffee was a definite YUK but used t when I did m high school exams to get through all the study and became addicted to it without even knowing it.
Well said Johanne the importance of staying true to one self is massive. What is beautiful about society is that we have free will to do what ever we like except for those boundaries that are called law which will pull you up but not always. So no matter what ever our choice may be if it is not staying true to ourselves and what we know to be the truth it will always eventually catch up with you, some where, some how. This leaves the responsibility in our own hands of our own lives, and all those around and all those that you don’t see but absolutely are effected by your choices. Playing it big is really where it is at, not just for ourselves in our own bubble.
I grew up with the smell of coffee in the mornings and toast, the two smells seemed to go together, I liked lying in bed listening to my parents going about their morning getting ready for work. But I never liked the taste until I was enticed by a milky coffee when I started work and gradually the coffee got stronger and the milk got less. Then I spent years detoxing myself off of coffee only to have one and find myself back where I started.
Now however I have not drank coffee for several years by slowly weaning myself off by going down the de-caff route and then I got to the point where I wasn’t enjoying it anymore – still love the smell but I know my body would not want to drink it.
WOW Natalie. Not willing to compromise your body anymore is HUGE! what an inspiring commitment you have made to yourself.
Fabulous Natalie. I love how you share the process of how easily you, one, can get seduced to over-ride what our body is feeling. I know how I over-rode my first responses to alcohol, cigarettes, strong cheese, to mention but a few things, and how I came to love them. I would go so far to say I was addicted to them. Fortunately like you, “I have decided to leave them out of my diet because I don’t like how I feel after I’ve eaten them, even if they taste amazing at the time – it’s not worth it!”
Natalie, your blog brought back memories for me of when I was 15 and had my first real taste of beer. It was foul, and yet in time I grew to like it to the point where I actually used to say I loved it. Our body is amazingly adaptable, and it is amazing the types of foods that we can learn to live off. However, this is not to say that these foods are necessarily right for us, and I often feel that this is where we go so wrong. We confuse the amazing ability of our body to be adaptable as meaning that what we are doing to our body is natural and true. And so, we miss out on the potential of just how truly vital our body can really be, learning instead to live with a compromised way of being.
I used to drink ‘megalattes’ basically a bucket of coffee. The intersting thing is my body rejected coffee by making the tatse of it awful. Every coffee that I drank tasted almost burnt. I tried really hard to keep drinking it but I simply had no choice but to give it up. Amazing how the body can at times over ride the mind.
Excellent blog Natalie, and quite shocking for me to hear how only a sip or two had such an effect on your body. I am still a daily de-caf coffee drinker so I don’t feel the effects like you, though I admit to a pleasant feeling, and an internal buzzer that tells it’s time for the next cup. I do observe that I need the soya milk, black coffee is not pleasant to me, and am well aware of the comforting ritual of my warm milky drink. At times I have chosen to go without for a few days but it woos me back, and I can see how it is my mind that keeps me in this holding pattern, as it is definitely not needed.
Reading your blog reminded me of a time I drunk green tea that had caffeine in it. In the past I would not have noticed any thing different as I was so used to the racy feeling. At this stage in my life I had stopped drinking coffee and any caffeine drinks and after drinking the green tea I felt like I was drunk. We get so used to living with a raciness we do not realise how much these drinks are affecting us.
Yes Green tea is an interesting one as many people have the way of thinking that it is good for you because of all the antioxidants, I used to. But fortunately I never liked the taste of this either and didn’t go down this road. But the times that I did have it I could feel the caffeine in it and the buzz that it gave me.
Thanks Natalie for highlighting the dishonesty around coffee – how it takes away the symptoms in our bodies that are actually there for a reason -showing us the choices we are making. Perhaps even before it becomes a conscious choice to get a coffee, we have already felt those symptoms and made a choice to stimulate and numb ourselves so we can get on with a life in a way that dishonours of who we really are. De-programming this way of being, simply means listening or observing our bodies (quite scientific really) and responding in a way which allows it to not only be symptom free, but also to feel great. How worthwhile is that, even if at first it means stopping and re-evaluating how we are living?
I grew up with expresso coffee being the norm for adults. I would love the smell of it. As a teenager my mum would let us have a small amount to dunk biscuits into it. I remember feeling the strong stimulating hit in the body, but overrode it – saying it was ‘yum’ to feel grown up. Then as an adult I drank cappuccinos 2-3 a day- I became addicted to it.
It kept me going or overrode the exhaustion my body was feeling. 5 yrs ago I decided to stop drinking it when I started to get heart palpitations, hand tremors and felt on edge/ racy all day, and couldn’t sleep at night.
I now feel amazing without needing any pick me up drink.
As I come back to your blog I remember drinking coffee many years ago all throughout the night on night shift as a nurse. It would be nothing to consume 5 and up cups of coffee thru the shift. Not consciously had to keep going, just because I did. Something for me now to reflect on.
This is a true inspiration for me to read Natalie, thank you. A true inspiration, not for coffee, but with food. I can sometimes eat things that don’t agree with my body but I love how you shared
“I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!” a lovely point for me to consider.
It can sometimes be all to easy to go with something that tastes so good and not worry about the consequences. The thing is though you get to feel the consequences anyway sooner or later. It’s just getting to that point where you know it’s not worth it any more and that we a worth so much more.
I come from a southern background where coffee drinking is culture. So I started to drink black coffee when I was 13 years old. I would not say it tasted, but with a lot of sugar I could drink it. Drinking coffee at that time was socializing, having something in common and a break in the day. And we had a lot of breaks..
In my late teenage days and early adult years I had regularly my morning coffee with milk and sugar as a starter into the day. But every other cup throughout the day made me feel ‘dried out’. I got uncomfortable in my body and racy as Natalie described well. Even starting to drink only de-caffed coffee with soy-milk and maple syrup had the same effect after a while. So I decided to stop drinking coffee years ago. And I never tried again. Sometimes I like the smell of coffee, but honestly speaking at that times – I feel a bit exhausted and a coffee would be a quick but not lasting push up.
I no longer drink coffee, but I certainly remember the effects of drink coffee. I recall after a couple of mouthfuls how ‘speedy’ I became. There was a real anxiousness in my body. I recall talking incessantly after having a coffee and then having a cracker of a headache for 2 days if I didn’t have a coffee. I could just feel how going through this was not good for my body, so decided to stop. I’m amazed at the difference having no coffee has made to my energy levels. No more up and down energy levels, only a constant energy through my day. What’s amazing with all this now is with the coffee culture we live in is how coffee is sold as something that is good for us, which if we observed the effects on our body that coffee has, we may reach other conclusions.
Thanks Natalie, I remember on the outback farm I was brought up on, percolated coffees was the “adult’ drink that I wasn’t allowed to have until I was much older. I also always loved the smell, and I couldn’t wait til I was allowed a taste. The day came and I couldn’t believe how foul the taste was . I didn’t come back to it until university days, and yes I was seduced by the dark side, and didn’t give up coffee until around 13 years ago, when I allowed myself to feel what was actually going on in my body. A couple of weeks of headaches and I was finally free. Phew!
‘Oh no what have I done’ sounds familiar. When there was a weak moment in the giving up phase, there was no erasing the effect of the caffeine, I just had to ride it out and it was unpleasant.
Matthew it’s a great one to keep feeling as we do it more regularly than what we realise. So when we keep feeling the truth of what is going on then eventually we come to a point that we don’t want to do that to ourselves anymore.
Natalie this is such a great line “I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.” this is super inspiring, thank you for sharing
I agree Samantha, it’s awesome.
I feel exactly the same Samantha and Natalie, it just feels awesome these days to be in my body and honouring what it is telling me.
It sure does Karina, what I have come to realise is that over a certain period of time from committing to myself like this I feel a deeper level that my body is calling to and then what was acceptable can become something that my body does not agree with so I am constantly refining what it is that I feel is honouring my body and being.
Yes I can relate to the coffee addiction and overriding our initial distaste of it. There was another aspect, coffee was a flavoured carrier for the milk and the sugar in it. And that raciness that masked my uncomfortable feeling that being still brought up. A companion that masked my loneliness.
I love everything you have shared here, it amazes me how we can override drugs like coffee, sugar, etc even when we know they hurt our bodies and our energetic bodies to a point where we no longer feel us anymore. I love it when I get to a point that my body tells me loud and clear “you can no longer abuse me in this way” its like the thing disappears there is no fight to not have it, it just no longer appeals or holds anything over me.
Yes Vanessa, our bodies certainly do speak loud and clear and sometimes very loud as a physical symptom or a strong feeling. Even though my body can speak to me very loudly it is surprising what I can come up with to not feel it; the excuses from not wanting to upset someone, saving time, not to mention the more sneaky excuses like ‘well maybe the situation will help me to evolve’ etc can be quite shocking!
Coffee always got me because of its amazing smell. My way of knowing what coffee was appropriate for me was to eat a bean, never to try a coffee. The smell was amazing, the taste of the coffee bean I chose was fabulous, yet the real coffee was never attractive to me as such. Over time, I realised that I could only have a coffee in the morning if I wanted to sleep at night. Leaving coffee for me was super easy. No headaches, no abstinence syndrome. No nothing. What I realised was how much steady my body held during the whole day without it. That made perfectly clear that who needs coffee? Not me.
Good question Eduardo, who needs coffee? If we are honest about it when we say we like it its because we are either exhausted and needing a pick me up or we are feeling empty and bored with life and need stimulation. I was addicted to caffeine for years and looking back I can see it was to avoid an emptiness that I did not want to feel.
It is quite shocking what we can override when we do feel the truth in our bodies first. Whether it is food, situations, coffee, friends, family, we all can feel truth but depending on the situation, how you are feeling, how connected you are feeling with yourself in a given moment, will determine the depth of that override or to stay true to oneself. This is where it does come back to being about a choice, something we don’t necessarily want to take responsiblity for, that the outcomes and our lives are a true reflection of how we are and or treating ourselves and others around us. We can be loving or we can make other choices that are not going to be. It’s quite simple really.
Natalie, what struck me about what you have shared is how easy it is to override what we feel in our bodies- how we justify an action in our minds. Fortunately ,as with you also, our body will give us another chance as it reflects back to us our choices in the post symptoms which occur. We are given every opportunity to make good choices but the choice is always ours!
A fascinating article Natalie. I too remember that when I first tasted coffee I found it bitter and disgusting but I too “overrode what I really felt so I could fit in, be accepted and look cool!”. As I grew older dinner parties always ended with small cups of very strong black coffee which I drank because it was part of the accepted social scene but I always regretted it as it badly affected my sleep – not helped by the alcohol and excess food I had eaten at the meal. My body now belongs to me and says “cool” as I say ‘yes’ to the food and drink that supports me.
Mary there is such a ritual that has been created around food with the certain aperitifs then onto three course meal with matching wines and as you say topped of with a double espresso – I remember I thought I was so sophisticated when I jumped on the band wagon. But the body was screaming at me to stop it. Finally when I started to honour my body things felt a lot more amazing. The sleep I get these days is of such a great quality that it makes my day a joy.
What I find interesting is that when I decided to give up alcohol it was gone within a day. The coffee (and caffeine) addiction took much while longer for me to wrest myself away from.
I can relate Natalie, I also loved the taste and smell of coffee and became a coffee snob. I remember as a child of 5 years a neighbour making a cup of what smelt like a vile tasting concoction she added 3 teaspoons of sugar and then it tasted alright. That coffee lingered with me for days it was all i could think about was to get back to my neighbor’s house to have another one. My mother found out and put a stop to it pretty quickly, but the fascination had begun.
Fast forward 26 years a I decided to wean myself off coffee and for a couple of years had decaf until I noticed that it made me feel racy as well, then I moved to hot chocolate until I figured that made feel racy as well. It was as if my body had to go through a desensitization process, to realise what it natural and true state rally was. One thing I notice is also the phenomenon of coffee breath it is really not a very nice to smell second coffee smell on someone’s breath i remember my kids complaining very loudly if I had coffee breath.
It’s crazy isn’t it, how we try something that doesn’t even taste very nice and “condition” ourselves to like it? I did this with both coffee and alcohol, having sugar in the coffee to take away from the bitterness and starting on the sweetest wines and wine coolers to be able to have alcohol. It didn’t feel negotiable to me that I would drink alcohol, it was a given if I was to fit in as I wanted to. Cigarettes though – I just couldn’t get there thankfully!
I can relate Natalie, I also loved the taste of coffee and would rarely go a day without a visit to the café for at least one, more often than not two. But now my body tells me in no uncertain terms that it does not like it. And I certainly respect that, no matter how good the taste is.
Wow – wouldn’t it be amazing if we could have this detachment to all addictive substances – an understanding that they are not needed to make us any more than who we truly are.
Almost everyone I meet has some sort of vice they won’t let go of because that is their reward and they deserve it – but what if being completely aware in our bodies and being open to every single thing that happens is a much greater feeling than ‘reward’ will ever be?
I agree Hannah there is no reward that comes anywhere close to the feeling of honouring, supporting and loving our bodies and beings and knowing that nothing is needed to try and prove who we are. That we are complete without any vices.
This is so true Vanessa: “I love the smell of coffee and I still do, but I don’t like what it does to my body so I don’t drink it any more.” It takes true love for your body and yourself to be able to make this choice. I do not drink coffee anymore but sometimes eat foods that I just know make me feel heavy and wow how strong the thoughts are to have it again the next day. At the moment I really choose to not have it, I suddenly can clearly feel the joy of being me without the heavy making food. So this is a great new marker of supporting my body to be feeling amazing.
This is really beautiful Natalie, to feel your self respect and self worth. I recently tried a decaf iced coffee, telling myself it was ok because it was decaf, and I was on holidays so it’s ok to try different things. There was no milk and a little sugar and most of it was froth. At the time I totally enjoyed it, and looking back I did feel a sense of excitement or stimulation after, besides it being caffeine free, but the stimulation only lasted 30-45 min and within 60 to 90 min I had this intense need to sleep, and so I did, I passed out cold for about 30 min and was exhausted when I woke. The funny thing was that the very next day I wanted another one, I was totally seduced, as you had said, I even tried to tell myself that it was the sugar that put me to sleep, or the fact I had had a bid day and that if I had it with no sugar it would be ok. However, when it came to the crunch I could feel deep down that it would do exactly the same thing to me and that I didn’t want to feel this way. Looking back I see that sugary food and caffeine has always had this upper and downer effect on me, but in the past I did not care, as I had no self love or self respect or no idea of how great I could truly feel with self-care. I too am so appreciative of the opportunity to feel the power of self-care, as inspired by Universal Medicine.
That’s a great additional sharing Danielle, so amazing how your body responded in an irrefutable way. I also appreciate how much we can give licence to our body to reflect back to us our choices, by being willing to be sensitive and listen to them and be honest about how they respond to our choices, as you have. Yet we have the capacity to override it and no doubt that’s what drives addiction to coffee in the name of enjoying the coffee and even telling us we feel great and it’s good for us. I have met many people who share that it was only when they had to escalate their coffee strength and frequency of ingestion that they realised they were addicted and questioned whether it was good for them.
Great comment Danielle, thanks for your honesty. A really valuable point you make here is that in the past we did not know that we could feel so different with the choice to self-care, we didn’t care. But there is a way to feel amazing and not need the little kicks that caffeine and sugar provide, self- love and self-care.
Danielle it is absolutely with appreciation that I know have a level of self care and self love towards myself that any form of abuse to the body is not ok. Universal Medicine has been a steady rock that has supported me to understand how important it is to self care and self love in all that I do.
This is amazing Danielle. I remember that I used to not sleep very well at night and my first go to thing was to have a coffee as this would help me to sleep. It sure does have that upper/downer effect.
I never knew that about coffee, I’ve only ever experienced it’s stimulating effect but once the body is over that part, it makes sense it would collapse with exhaustion from all that overwork to a possible already tired body.
Natalie, I can completely relate to this blog, but for me there are certain foods that I still eat which make me feel so sick and dull but every time I eat them I had convinced myself that it was fine, that this time it would be different. And then I spend the next two days clearing it out of my system. Why on earth would I continue this ridiculous cycle? It just goes to show how our thoughts do not always work for us in the best way, sometimes they need to be put aside with real self worth made far more important.
Absolutely Natalie when I read your line here, the nail was hit firmly on the head: ” It reminded me of when I first started to drink alcohol and started smoking. They were both naturally hideous and my body didn’t want to do either, but I overrode what I really felt so I could fit in, be accepted and look cool!” I think this applies to so many of us doesn’t it? And what’s sad is that we start this pattern early on in life, and continue to override our body not just in activities or foods, but also override our feelings too about situations, people, jobs, and so. When we learn to honour the body’s ‘communication’, we learn to honour our feelings, which builds confidence and trust in oneself.
It’s inspiring reading this Ingrid. I was never a coffee drinker myself as I didn’t like the taste and even when I tried to drink it because everyone around me was, I could never tolerate it. I felt totally wired after so it was easy to never start. ‘I learnt to feel and appreciate my body more than a cup of coffee.’ I love what you write here as it can be applied to any drink/food or way of being. It’s just the reminder I needed this morning after eating my children’s granola yesterday when my body clearly didn’t need it and was simply tired. Stimulating it with something sweet was not what it needed, just an opportunity to honour what it was saying to me and act accordingly.
Amazing the addiction to coffee. And hardly any coffee drinker would admit it. As I did not – untill I tried to quit.
I have been addicted to different drugs and foods but the addiction to coffee was nearly the hardest to give up with splitting headaches and the constant wanting of ‘just one cup’. With the help of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I learned to feel and appreciate my body more than a cup of coffee.
That is awesome Ingrid and as tough and as hard as it may seem at the time the more we build and love our bodies and how incredible they actually are do we start to realise that it is our choices that effect the body. Taking responsibility for ourselves like this is extremely beneficial and self-loving. Serge Benhayon presents such Love for oneself is the medicine we will ever need to heal such illness’s and disease’s in the body. This means getting honest with oneself and being prepared to go where you have never gone before. To truly Love is to heal all that we have created.
This is a great example of how we can allow our mind to overlook what we feel within our body as true. It shows how easily we can succumb to a belief that all will be ok and how quickly we can go into developing habits that don’t support the body. It’s amazing that even after our initial feelings we override this truth for taste or comfort and how most of us have done this in some way throughout our lives. Thank you for sharing your experience Natalie it is a timely reminder for me.
Hi Natalie, I used to drink sooo much coffee, all day long and slowly my body started showing me it really did not like coffee and I stopped drinking it. I love the blog and wonder where in my life I still try to eat foods or do things when my body is saying no thank you! Something to ponder on.
Coffee and even sugar and many other things are strange – you can only enjoy them when your body has a certain level of numbness. Hence the first taste has just an awful effect on the body but, once we are a bit poisoned and numb, we can enjoy the tremendous taste and smell and the effect of caffeine etc on our now-numbed bodies.
Seductive poisons – overcome the first horrible experience and you will Really enjoy them!
Yes I agree Christoph, it is strange that we ignore the very obvious first signs of rejection from our bodies of the poison we have just ingested, and that we continue to use said substance until we can no longer feel the effects. What is also strange is the fact that we actually come to believe that we enjoy whatever it is we are doing, giving no consideration to our bodies, regardless of whether it is coffee, sugar, cigarettes, or so called harder drugs. I have consumed all of these poisons, some over very long periods, and when I look back I cannot believe how incredibly abusive I was to my body but also just how numb I let myself become.
Hello Natalie, the ‘love’ affair with coffee. I was a late bloomer to the coffee arena. I didn’t start drinking it until I was in my late 20’s. I couldn’t stand the taste but loved the smell. My coffee drinking became more of a social thing and then a ‘trendy’ thing because all my mates were drinking it. I found it hard to handle how I felt after it but like other things after a while you became more and more use to it. For the first time in my life I now own a coffee shop and in the process of opening a second but I don’t drink coffee. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the smell or enjoy making coffee but I don’t like how I feel afterwards. I haven’t had a coffee in years and some may think it’s weird to own coffee shops and not drink coffee but I am one that not only doesn’t enjoy how it tastes but more importantly I don’t like the ‘race’ it gives my body, the butterflies in the stomach for hours etc. I enjoy the social aspect that comes from owning coffee shops and being around coffee shops because of how it feels and I no longer drink or even taste coffee because of the same reason, how it feels. Thanks Natalie, maybe we could do a swap?
Great blog Natalie. What struck me was that the de-caf coffee was repugnant to your taste buds, but enjoyable when soy milk is added. This is my experience too. I am still highly attracted to the decaf with soy even though I know it does not serve my body – I feel it’s all a ploy to have more of the comforting soy milk experience in my case.
Yes it can indeed be comforting to have milk of any sort and we usually go for it when things are full on and everything seems to much. I know I used to do that and it most certainly made the decaf more palatable to drink.
Yes, I agree Anne, the ploy for the comfort of soy milk, I’m well aware of this one because when I did drink coffee I used to have it plain black so the milk has been a definite substitute, makes me feel full – i.e., so i’m not feeling the emptiness inside – ouch!!
Gosh it is so easy to override what our bodies are saying so loudly whether it be with food, rhythms or what we buy.
Recently I have been staying with my parents for a few days. They always have the TV on in the evenings and as they are elderly it is often quite loud. On the first night I sat up with them longer than I would normally stay up and I could feel anxiousness in my body from the noise and the fact that I was not winding down as I usually do in the evenings. I could have gone into another room but I chose not to so I could spend time with them. When I woke up the next day I felt headaches and a real thickness in my head which was with me most of the day. Overriding my body is not a good idea!!
“I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more”. You tried and felt the consequences of the coffee drinking and decided to abandon it as it did nothing for you. When we start feeling deep in our body the consequences of our choices we have the choice to take another route. So let the body be the judge not the mind. Thank you Natalie.
Well said Patricia, we always have the next opportunity to make another choice and most definitely let the body tell us what works and what doesn’t – it sure knows best what makes it tick.
What I loved about this blog is that there was no self judgment or recrimination in the way you told the story. There was -“oh that didn’t feel good in my body” and just seeing the experiences as part of a learning process. This felt very powerful in reflecting to me what learning is about – how new choices can be arrived at that can be life changing when we do honour the sensitivity to feel how things affect us in our bodies and not go into guilt or expectation around what we have done or need to do in future – but stay with the simple truth of what is being revealed.
As I read this, I could truly relate to feeling Amazing for a few days in a row this week, and, I know that how I have chosen to live was the reason for that feeling. I have recently really stepped up my level of self-love in all areas, including going to bed earlier and refining my diet as well as taking supplements for additional specifically tailored support for my body. However, for the last day or so, I can feel that I have ‘dropped’ from this feeling of Amazingness! I was looking around attempting to point my finger at something Or someone outside of myself…but the truth is, I can trace it back very clearly to eating a few sweet treats. Sure, my mind can tell me (and you!) that it’s ok because they where free of gluten, dairy and refined sugar, but, as has, again, been made evident from this blog and the comments following: The body does Not lie!
‘I could see how people can get hooked – if I’d had another coffee, all those symptoms would have disappeared instantly.’ That can happen to us with other foods – we get a physical reaction in our bodies but numb it by eating or drinking more. The effect hasn’t gone away – we just can’t feel it. The damage we do to our bodies with food is immense, but it may take years or a major disaster like a heart attack for us to truly listen.
That is so true Carmel, that we do actually feel the original reaction from the body but by having more of the food or drink it just numbs the symtoms and then we are numb to it as you say. Until such time when the body lets us know loud and clear that can’t keep going the way it is has been treated.
Natalie how strange in a way that we push through our bodies natural aversion to substances in order to be able to have them. Our body is our guiding light and yet we over rule it time and time again until we get to a point where we are actually not able to ignore it.
Hey Nat, you nailed it! It is so amazing to go through that process of wanting something so badly, looking through the mist of deceit and finally embodying the freedom from something, that was abusive to the body.
I never really was a coffee drinker but I drank it because I felt I ‘should’ like it and did get drawn into the seduction of a decaff-soya latte but only if it had other additions like a shot of maple syrup to take the edge off. This in itself showed that I really did not like the coffee at all as I tried to disguise it so much. The last one I had I remember feeling so sick that I made a choice never to have it again despite its tempting and seductive smell which played on my senses as I would walk past a coffee shop. I bet if we did a survey and asked people if they felt they had a caffeine addiction there would be many that said no but if they stopped drinking coffee I wonder what their body would do as I know a few people who have reported quite extreme withdrawal symptoms when the caffeine was stopped.
For years I lived in the arrogance that I did not need or have coffee. But, what I was not honest about was the three cans of coke and chocolate bar I was having each day, which not only contained caffeine, but a huge amount of sugar, which also served to pep me up. For many years I lived in a daily cycle of energetic highs and lows that was the byproduct of my diet. So many of us think that coffee and sugar serve to give us energy, when the truth is that they actually sap us of our natural abundance – thus its addictive nature. Many years ago I had a carpenter who worked with me, who prided himself similarly on the fact that he had only one cup of coffee a day. I challenged him, and he took coffee out of his diet for a week. The headaches were so intense for him, that I suggested that he should perhaps go back on coffee and come off it slowly, but he was so shocked at how his body reacted, that it made him all the more determined to see it through. And what he could not believe some months later was how his concentration levels improved and his anxiety eased once coffee was removed from his diet, which is contrary to what we like to believe about coffee.
I felt the same way Vicky, when I first tasted coffee and cigarettes I thought the taste was horrendous but I persevered and overrode those initial reactions. The cigarettes became an occasional thing but I could tell they were becoming something I would go to when I felt stressed, so I was able to knock them on the head in my early twenties but the coffee was a lot more insidious as it was not as obvious to me as to why I needed it.
I could really relate with what you have shared, especially here ‘How quickly it started to grow on me! It reminded me of when I first started to drink alcohol and started smoking. They were both naturally hideous and my body didn’t want to do either, but I overrode what I really felt.’ That is exactly what I felt like with my first cigarette and alcohol, they tasted horrible but I completely ignored this and what I felt and carried on until eventually they became a way of life. How crazy is that to do something and keep doing something that not only is bad for you but that the body does not like!
Your words, ‘I just don’t want to feel like that anymore’ struck a note with me. I have never been a coffee drinker, my vices were drinking and smoking which had simliar and different responses in the body. The important point being, I enjoy being with myself and feeling who I really am, rather than masking myself with a variety of false stimulants. Thanks for writing about your experience Natalie.
Thank you Natalie for not bringing in the judgement angle on others, when expressing what you know is not good for your self and allowing people to come to their own understanding in their own time. Just because you don’t consume coffee does not mean you must retire from being a barrista, otherwise how else will people get to see, ‘life can be normal without coffee’.
Andrew that is super important, who am I to judge if I have been there and making those same choices and couldn’t see any different. I have the most interesting and honest conversations sometimes with people and I love it, sharing how what I thought was normal isn’t actual normal.
I loved reading your blog Natalie – the message was so clear and concise and uncomplicated. So often I over ride what my body is telling me that it feels like a default setting rather than a choice. This feels as though I have abused this option so often in the past that my body isn’t sure of what I am doing or where I am going. As I learn to honour my body more I can feel the difference and it is awesome – to feel my body after what feels like so many lifetimes of over riding.
Isn’t it interesting how accepted coffee drinking is when it has such a huge impact on the body? More and more people are consuming greater and greater amounts of caffeine. Sooner or later we really need to ask WHY this is the case.
It sure is heading that way and the consumption of coffee is going through the roof, and our bodies are doing the same thing bouncing of all the walls and flying out of the roof! We certainly do need to stop and ask the question why is it the coffee one of the most highly traded commodity? How are we living that is causing such a demand?
I can totally relate Natalie. I let go of coffee some years back but would occasionally have a decaf if out with a friend who was a coffee drinker. There was an old belief that to connect with a coffee drinker you need to have one too and after all, it was just a decaf soy latte (which is not a “real coffee” in the eyes of a serious coffee drinker) so surely I’ll be fine. Nope… almost every time without fail and within minutes of having it a veil would descend over my head, my eyes would feel heavy, my mind would become fuzzy and I would feel icky in my body. It took a dozen or so attempts over a couple of years to finally accept that despite the exotic allure of coffee, decaf or not, it was not something I could ingest without feeling lousy and not to mention losing the ability to truly connect with the other person… which of course defeated the whole contrived idea of having the coffee to connect with my coffee drinking friends. Oh how the mind can run away with seemingly meaningful justifications.
Love this question”Isn’t it interesting how the mind will quickly justify an action to make it okay to do”? The spirit is very quick to get in and to tempt us with the things we know aren’t good for us. Although I have never had the same appeal for coffee as others, I have been very good at sabotaging myself by overriding and justifying different foods or behaviours so I don’t feel what I need to deal with or even more crazy to stop feeling how amazing I am.
“I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!” – I so love this sentence. When our ‘normal’ consists of stimulating/numbing our body with substances or activities, there’s very little chance of us truly knowing what ‘just being me’ feels like.
That is it Fumiyo we are so caught up in what we’re doing or having that we actually have lost sight of what it feels like to be our natural state of being. It starts at such a young age with an innocent piece of chocolate which isn’t really at all. But it tastes so good and it leaves you wanting more, but keeps you away from who you naturally are. Starting to be open and look at these stimulants have lead to a cleaner and more full life not needing or wanting any stimulants. It is AWESOME.
Over twenty years ago I could drink a full percolator of coffee, about six cups of full blend coffee and then go off to bed and get a sound nights sleep (shows how exhausted I must have been). The other day I was out to brunch with some friends and really felt like a decaf, I had one and enjoyed it so stupidly had another, this was at 11am, by 3am the next morning my mind and body were still buzzing and I couldn’t sleep. I usually have no trouble sleeping at all. This was a powerful reminder of how much of a powerful drug caffeine actually is and what the poor old body has to put up with when we override what it is trying to tell us.
Thank you Natalie, I could really feel the way you have connected to the fact that no delicious taste is worth the disconnection you feel once the ‘treat’ is consumed and begins to impact the body. I was pondering whether to eat a sweet treat while reading this and could feel the desire to do that slip away when I read your words. It is very powerful to connect to the lived experience of others and feel the truth.
Leonne the ‘Treat’ you talk about is such a strong one… Always so tempting and in the mind so justified but in to body not.
Thank you Natalie for sharing your blog, having been an avid coffee drinker and lover of bread I have come to an understanding the smell of coffee or bread is awesome – from then on the taste and effects are all downhill until the crash when it is no longer possible to say I love coffee or bread.
Thanks Paul that is awesome that you have felt the downhill effect of bread and coffee – something that is not worth it any longer.
Awesome article Natalie. I overrode my body for so long in regard to coffee. It was the social thing – meet for a cuppa a chat. I certainly was aware not to drink coffee after 4pm or I would be awake at 2 am in the morning. And yet I still overrode the constant harm it was doing to my body. Thank goodness I listen to my body now.
Like you Natalie, I used to love coffee, have not missed it, but can still appreciate the smell of fresh coffee beans.
Me too Kehinde – I am also not missing it yet still appreciate the smell of freshly roasted coffee beans or brewed coffee. And it does not in any way make me want to have a cup of coffee.
What an interesting article to read. Considering that coffee is such a normal and accepted way of life for many, what you share here is very revealing Natalie. Particularly those initial signals that our body shares with us. I remember that with alcohol and cigarettes too, my body repelled against them. You sum it up beautifully with “I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more”. I whole heartedly agree.
Why do we override what the body is telling us? I have never enjoyed coffee but I used to ask for a cappuccino when going out for “coffee” with colleagues so as not to be different. This way I belonged, I was not perceived as fussy by asking for herbal tea. I don’t think my colleagues cared about what I drank but my body certainly did. So body of mine always let me know what is best for you.
Thanks Natalie for doing all that tasting for me, so glad that I don’t have to. I had a similar experience in Japan when having given up caffeine for some time I was taken (as part of a tour) to a venerable green tea shop and invited to partake of tiny cups of connoisseur macha tea. Wow I only had a few sips and I felt euphoric and then speedy for hours. It was fascinating as I had been a dyed in the wool black tea drinker for decades before I abstained and I was so habituated I had never really felt what it was doing to me so clearly.
Josephine yes sounds like a very similar experience to the one I had. Caffeine is caffeine if it’s coffee, tea or chocolate they all do the same thing. The body goes into over drive and raceyness so you have a high and then with everything that the body unnaturally goes through it is exhausted from the stimulant.
Natalie, I’ve been feeling the similar effects to coffee, tea, sugar and chocolate in another type of stimulant of late – drama. If I choose it, it can keep me awake at night and then I’m exhausted. It is stressful on my body and then I don’t feel it’s natural cues of when to eat which adds more stress to the body. I feel entertainment is another form of stimulation. If I go to watch a movie and get absorbed by it it can keep me up. No wonder people are so tired each day and then reach for a coffee to get them through. It’s a merry go round that I’m getting off in honour of me.
Gosh, can’t we all relate to this. I know for me, I have this same experience with foods. I might eat something sweet that tastes delicious at the moment it’s in my mouth, but not long after I feel the effects of the sugar kick in, usually its a dull or fuzzy head and possibly a sick feeling, which goes away the moment I have anoter bite, and so on and so on….so before I know it, I’ve consumed the whole thing. It’s like something else takes hold of me and I feel compelled to finish it rather than throw it out. I will always end up feeling rubbish and then try and reverse what I just did by eating something ‘clean’. So crazy, and so not worth it. These moments slip in when I’m feeling a bit flat or down on myself about something. The ability to say no to foods I know will take me out is much easier when I am feeling good in myself.
Elodie this is so spot on and I can imagine many people have this experience. It is such a roller coaster we are on that it sometimes takes a sudden stop to make us get of. Becoming aware of how things feel in the body is essential to supporting a wellbeing that is full of life and energised. It doesn’t have to be just food or any consumption it can also be emotions we choose to live in as well.
Awesome Natalie – I can totally relate to this blog. I was a coffee ‘addict’ for many years – in the truest sense of the word and eventually gave it away as my body really revolted with it. I then went back to having ‘one or two’ around a particularly stressful time and it was so interesting how I could so easily go from one…to the next… to the next as I started to enjoy the feeling, but it was actually my body becoming dependent on the exhaustion/caffeine cycle. I know caffeine does not agree with me, and it’s great to be free of that addiction, and exhaustion!
I still remember the day 6-7 years ago when I took a mouthful of my decaf long black espresso and felt instantly sick. After years of drinking coffee and being a bit of a coffee snob my body was clearly telling me enough. And that was it – no more coffee. I have found the same response to many foods and drinks I used to consume now that I make a daily commitment to listen to my body. I have learned that it definitely knows what feels good or bad and what actually supports and nourishes it, and choose to the best of my ability to honour that.
Shows us just how much we do override our bodies natural signals in favour of something else. But we don’t generally question, why it was our body was telling us that in the first place. Could be a good reason it was mentioning that to us.
Yes Josh, so easy to rationalise why we might need something our body doesn’t want at all. My thoughts can be very sneaky and under the radar while the body is simply innocent without sophisticated tastes.
A great blog Natalie, I gave up coffee about 18 years ago as I could not stand the raciness I felt in my body. I used to drink coffee back then as I was a shift worker and it felt like I needed the ‘fix’ to get me through the day. The interesting thing was when I finally gave up coffee my sleep pattern was much deeper and I felt more refreshed as a result, there was no need for any stimulant.
Awesome blog Natalie, coffee is one of those drinks that is seen as so ‘normal’ that we hardly stop to feel what it is actually doing to our bodies. I still really enjoy the aroma of coffee but after giving it up years ago I’ve realised that even the caffeine in dark chocolate has an effect on my body that stops me from feeling like me – and as you say, why would we want to take away from just being our amazing selves?!
Growing up in my family we had a saying that we were ‘weaned on to the teapot’. The family sitting around a teapot or two each morning, afternoon and evening was very normal. After being caffeine free for a year or two I remember having a cup of caffeinated tea with my sister. I immediately felt the ‘zing’ of the caffeine. It came with a warm comfort also but I felt altered immediately.
This is fabulous Natalie, we can try to override things, make excuses and justify our way through – but the body never lies. As you have so beautifully claimed – why would you (we!) want to be anything other than the amazing beings we are?
Brooke that is exactly it – why would we, and trust me when I say daily I am surrounded by many temptations of lots of different foods and drinks but when it comes to the crunch and well yes at least a few times going there realising that as much as it tastes delicious it really makes my body feel bad. Getting to a point that what was no longer is and that this keeps changing the deeper I go with myself and honour what feels good is such a great place to be at. Life is worth living when it is like this for sure.
The way we can get lost in the taste of foods and how it will feel a couple of minutes after eating are enormous. I can feel that I do get lost sometimes in one of those foods doesn’t matter, but after these couple of minutes I wil always feel awful. It feel almost like a sabotaging mission for myself, I know I won’t feel good after eating them, but I will still do it just for the relief it gives it gives in these brief first minutes..
Natasha has described so clearly the ability of the mind to override the body’s messages that it is so constantly communicating. I can especially relate to doing this as a teenager with cigarettes, whilst they tasted awful and made my head spin, my need to belong with peers and appear cool allowed me to override those very loud messages and kept on smoking until I became addicted. When I eventually let go of cigarettes it was necessary to address how cigarettes had become my very best friend, always there to numb any difficult feelings like stress, loneliness and hurt.
So true Jenny, as much as our body detests these vices, its like they become a crux and a way of dealing with life and all that we feel. We use them to dull ourselves down so we don’t have to feel as much or deal with what is there.
Jenny yes that is exactly what goes on when we reach for any type self medicated coping mechanism. When we have a habit like smoking or drinking coffee that becomes second nature and even though we know it’s not good for us the having to cope with life is full on. When we hold onto hurts as little as they may seem this is the foundation of not wanting to deal with life and the best way to avoid it is to check out and numb it. Universal Medicine has been the turning point for me of wanting to go there – look at my stuff and heal it and naturally habits that I held onto dearly have become redundant as there is no need to numb it any longer. It feels great and it was definitely a process and what I can say is it is the best road back to who I Truly Am.
It is so true what you shared about ‘How quickly it started to grow on me! It reminded me of when I first started to drink alcohol and started smoking. They were both naturally hideous and my body didn’t want to do either, but I overrode what I really felt so I could fit in, be accepted and look cool!’ This has taken me back to when i was much younger. I can actually remember saying to myself ‘how am I going to do this?!’ as my initial feeling when trying these was repulsion. I had chosen to force myself to think that I liked it, but what I was liking was being accepted and fitting in. With coffee I loved the smell and taste but not how it affected my body, it mostly left me feeling racy, grinding my teeth and experiencing palpitations, so it wasn’t difficult for me to stop drinking coffee. I also agree that it is just not worth it. I love honouring my body now and do not want or need any substances to take me away from that, from the love that I naturally feel from within.
Natalie I can so relate to overriding the bodies initial impulse, I have done this with many things such as cigarettes, alcohol and caffeine to name but a few. When I did give up caffeine I went on to green tea which was initially ok but I soon became addicted to the caffeine in that too, preferring to make it really strong and sometimes having up to 15 cups a day. I had to go cold turkey when I came off that and felt awful for days but it was well worth it. The realisation of how crazy and racey caffeine made me feel and the quite dreadful side effects means I I would never go back to drinking it never again!
Samantha it is quiet an eye opener once we realise the affects of the caffine. For us to have been taking it for long periods of time and in large quantities it is quiet remarkable that we functioned for so long on it. I love not having any simtulants these days and having the space to just be able to enjoy feeling steady and still.
After getting a true feeling of how caffeine actually feels in the body I’m continually amazed at how the majority of society actually drink coffee daily and several times a day and can function normally and even manage to be joyful at all, as from personal experience, I know caffeine stops you from feeling yourself in a big way.
I wonder Kate, whether people are just so tired and exhausted from living on nervous energy trying to get everything done and be everything to everybody that coffee provides the next rev up for them to keep going.
Wow, that’s pretty cool Natalie, the fact that you now have this marker of feeling awesome and being able to say that nothing else is acceptable is inspiring, thank you.
I gave up coffee about fifteen or sixteen years ago and I still remember it to be the worst week of my life as the withdrawal was so intense. I imagined it is because it has such a stronghold on the nervous system. It was so much more intense than giving up heroin which I did when I was young and self destructive or nicotine which was harder to give up than heroin. So you are correct Natalie, coffee is a very additive and poisonous drug.
It’s so crazy that it is considered a sophisticated drink that has all these wonderful flavours and aromas when really the fact of the matter is it is a drug. That has a massive impact on the body… So great to be free of it and letting it dictate how you are going to feel.
Its interesting how what we know is not good for us and we have committed to not having such things in our diet we are able to justify a possible loop hole in our reasoning to allow an exception.
I have a similar experience with having excess amount of fruit.
The reasons that can come up are:
-I haven’t eaten a lot today and I need to much sure I have energy for my day.
– I’ll be doing exercise today so it won’t matter, I’ll work it off.
– I’ll be working hard and one more piece won’t matter.
There is nothing wrong with the reasons above they are all logical points.
However when asking myself why would I want to compromise myself to not feel light, clear and amazing…
well the answer becomes very simple.
All this talk about coffee reminds me of a time when I used to drink lots of it, even late into the evening. And each year I would go off coffee for one or two weeks and the headaches were huge. And then one time, about 15 or so years ago, I started to feel how acidic my body felt after drinking coffee. I then tried drinking lots of water with and after each coffee, but the message about the acidity kept coming back. And then one day I just gave up drinking coffee – it was super easy and I didn’t even get the slightest hint of a headache, its time was up.
Great blog, Natalie, thank you … I’ll be sharing it with my daughter who is also a barista and has only started drinking coffee in the last year or so, I suspect to ‘fit in’.
Last time I had a ‘full-strength’ coffee was accidental and it was awful – it absolutely spun me out – the top of my head spun off, I was unsteady on my feet, my blood was racing, I could hardly hear anyone. As you say, it’s was as if I’d taken some drug. Shocked me to the core. This was after not having coffee for several years – if it had happened prior to that, these effects would have not been noticed. Thank goodness I’m not numb to my body like that anymore.
An interesting Blog Natalie thank you, how you have stopped Coffee and then tried it again, and with much awareness observed what it actually does and how it feels in your body. I feel if people were to do this more with alcohol and cigarettes etc., these things would naturally drop away.
Thomas I agee, however I feel the change is happening as more and more of us reflect this, others are feeling and making these changes. I have witnessed many people over the last year who I have regular contact, started to make these choices. A lot have reduced or given up alcohol and cigarettes.
A great example of the effect of coffee on the body, Natalie. Isn’t it interesting how the mind can lead us to just ‘have a little sip’, then a little more etc. The result for you was so clear in what it did to your body.
I was never brought up to coffee, when I was young my mother very occasionally would have some weird concoction that was supposed to replace coffee, as it was so expensive in those days. I think she kept it in for visitors. Then in my teenage years I worked in an office where the windows opened onto a laneway where opposite was a famous coffee and chocolate maker. We used to get the aromas in through the window on many days. Most fellow workers loved it, and used to buy their coffee (and sometimes chocolates) there. I succumbed to the chocolates very occasionally, they were special and very expensive. But I absolutely hated the smell of that coffee and as in those days I also did not like tea, I was quite happy to drink water. Others thought I was boring in this.
But as I grew older, with more social activities, I learned to occasionally drink coffee, but I never, ever liked it. I used to sip and shudder, I hated the flavour and effect in my mouth. Then I eventually discovered cappuchino and chocolate sprinkles and was able to quite enjoy my coffee. And it was only very occasionally, I would never just want a cup of coffee, it was purely to be sociable. But much later, I realised it was mainly the chocolate that I was enjoying. If they put cinnamon on as happened occasionally, I had a big problem with it.
Then after I experienced the teachings of Universal Medicine, and the sharing of Universal Medicine, I was no longer drinking dairy products, and moved to soy milk in a decaffe cappuchino (still with the chocolate sprinkles). Then one time I had one with friends, out for lunch, and it was so awful and milky with the soy, I found the end had come. I could no longer face coffee at all, decaff or not. Actually, it feels quite a relief to me to now say NO to any coffee in my life.
Ha! Yes, how great we are at tricking ourselves into why we should do something when we know it will serve no purpose whatsoever! I can safely say I do this with food all the time! I bore myself with the complaining afterwards, but I do it anyway!
It is craziness when we stop to think about it, we know it’s not doing us any favours and makes us feel really uncomfortable afterwards but we go there anyway. Not very intelligent for a supposed intelligent species!
My experience with coffee started when I was in my early teens, dunking biscuits into Italian espresso coffee, made by my mother. It tasted disgusting- very strong and bitter but with the sweetness of biscuits I overrode my feelings.
Then in my early 20’s I drank coffee to override the exhaustion I felt with working 10 days straight, before getting days off in nursing. Later, when I got married I stared to enjoy the cappuccino experience trying different blends of coffee beans. However, once I started attending Universal medicine I began to honestly feel how my body felt after coffee. I was experiencing heart palpitations, hand tremors and raciness in my body. I definitely knew it was time to give it up. I started with decaf coffee, with cows milk – then I started getting excess mucous production from the milk. So I slowly changed from cow’s milk to soy milk . This felt better.
Today I no longer need a cappuccino to start the day, to drink as a reward, drink for comfort to fit in, or drink to please others. My health and well-being is more important, and I am feeling so much more vital, and still from not drinking coffee anymore.
Giving up coffee – first full strength and then decafe, was a hard one for me to stop as I haven’t really ever felt any strong side effects from coffee and especially not the strong reactions other have mentioned above. I didn’t drink coffee regularly and but loved an occasional cup when I was with friends socially. I realise that it was a type of comforter associated with relaxation and socialisation and it is this aspect that I have had to deal with more than the actual symptoms of the coffee on my body. Natalie, what I really take from your blog are your words ‘I feel so AMAZING when I am just me …’ These words remind me to stop and really appreciate myself, regardless of where I am and what I am doing – thank you.
Yes Helen, Appreciation is a big one that is so often over looked because we think we need to be somewhere else rather than where we actually are.
I have never been allured by the taste of coffee – it was too bitter to me. But a few years ago when coffee really started to take off, I was seduced by the coffees with sweeteners to make it palatable. That was the start of a rash on my back that would tingle the moment I walked into a coffee shop, knowing I was about to order one; the rash persisted as I persisted in drinking what I knew to be hurting myself, but couldn’t yet get rid of in my diet. The moment I decided my health was more important than the taste of this sugary/coffee combo, my rash faded away, proof to me that my body works for me, not against me, which is very cool.
Awesome blog on coffee Natalie – and I so agree with how strange it is that on the first sip we can find a food or drink awful yet when we persist, it becomes something so tempting! I love how you have chosen how awesome you feel over and above the tastes of coffee or other foods! So inspiring! Thank you Natalie!
I hear what your saying Henrietta. We have that first sip which is awful and yet we persist. Why is that so?
Thanks Henrietta and enjoy listening and honouring what your body is telling you.
Natalie your story about overriding your body’s knowing, and how coffee sneaked in under your natural defences and became OK then desirable, is interesting in so many ways. I’ve been utterly repelled by both the smell and taste of coffee since I first encountered it as a child inside cream-centred chocolates. Sensible me, I refused to get into it even though people said you develop a taste for it! But then at uni, missing a few weeks study due to illness, I was freaked about an imminent exam. Friends said: drink coffee, that’ll keep you awake and you can study longer. Oh….kay… I had one small cup just to test their ‘theory’, though it smelled and tasted foul. And I spent the next 24 hours vomitting every 15 minutes. The group opinion was it must have been a tummy bug, anxiety or something else, and that I’d like coffee if I persevered with it. Why would I persevere with something that makes me sick? Amazing how people like to justify their habit by getting others to do it too! Not into peer pressure, but being a biologist, I had to put it to the test once more at a later time to assess the truth for myself. Same result of endless vomitting. My body sure knew this stuff is poison, and that was the end of it for me! I hear many people say that it doesn’t have a negative effect on them, so it must be just that some people like me are allergic. My response to that is, it’s bad for everyone, but many people’s bodies have their ‘tongues tied’ by toxins and ‘can’t speak’ to let you know that something is bad for you. Clean up your body, and it will speak loud and clear!
When I moved to decaf from full caffeine, I remember an expert barista telling me, in answer to my question about why I could still feel my heart rate go up with decaf coffee, that ‘coffee is a wonderful thing, it contains so many chemicals other than caffeine, that are still untested – it’s a wonder drug’. For me it was certainly a drug – a double espresso before the gym sure had me beating my ‘personal bests’ day after day. It increased my strength and endurance no end, but it did that because it was actually numbing me so I couldn’t feel the pain/pressure/fatigue. Once you tune into it, you simply can’t ignore what it’s doing to your body. Big thanks for this reminder and confirmation, Natalie.
Awesome sharing Natalie. I was into smoking, alcohol, drugs and coffee the most part of my life. I quit everything easily, but coffee was the hardest. I spend 15 days with horrible headaches and exhaustion, sometimes was not even able to go through a whole working day. I would literally fall asleep at my desk. Thats when I noticed how toxic coffee is, when you drink it you don’t feel it, but when you don’t it hits you hard, the addiction is massive.
Addiction is massive and when you in it you don’t tend to realise how damaging it really is. Being able to break free of such hooking drugs you start to really feel where you are at. The best feeling ever as you claim your power back and the freedom that this offers.
Great blog Natalie and how strong those wonderful messages are that our body continuously
passes on lovingly to us. I never liked the smells of coffee so that saved me from even trying the different choices.
This is a blog brewed with experience, served with love and topped off with a sprinkling of delight. The taste it has left for me is that our first feelings are so often right. Thank you Natalie.
What a fantastic comment Joseph!
Awesome read!!
This article is very revealing of how we can choose to allow our mind to trick us into doing something that we instinctively know is not good for our body.
I so agree Fiona! There are many things that we tend to over-ride what our bodies are either whispering of often shouting at us about! For me, this not only applied to drinking coffee, but most memorably also alcohol. In both cases, I can now recall that often the first sip tasted either terrible or not so good, but within a few sips, I no longer recalled how the first sip even tasted! For years I over-rode the impact on my body, and in fact did not even really stop to consider that my body was speaking to me when I drank either of them… It was only when I began to be much more honest with my body, that I took much more notice of what my body had been saying (and continues to say) all along.
Your blog highlights what coffee is really doing to all of our bodies. It takes not drinking coffee to be able to feel the impact to the degree that you have. Otherwise we are seduced by the smell, taste and temporary ‘up’ it can give to a tired body. No wonder so many people are so exhausted when the thing they are using to give them energy is doing much harm to their body and causing much drain on their vitality. It is great to catch out the ‘clever mind’ and the games it plays to override our body.
The ‘clever mind’ is exactly that needs to be exposed and it just shows that it’s not really that clever after all since is is abusing that body that enhouses it.
Very true Fiona. In the case of addiction the mind over matter overrides what the body is trying to tell you via the game the mind is playing on us. Anything that makes us feel so ghastly when you don’t have it obviously cannot be healthy for us when we do have them so its quite fascinating that the clever mind does not see or understand that.
Me personally I never had a love affair with coffee,it was quite the oppositeJust the smell would make me feel nauseous with an instant headache thinking that I would pass out, not so pleasant if only I listen that well when it came to alcohol!! So reading about someone’s take on it puts another perspective on it for me, to understand where others are coming from when they talk about coffee, cos lets face it, some people are really passionate about coffee and I just never got it.
‘Isn’t it interesting how the mind will quickly justify an action to make it OK to do!’ This comment reminded me Vanessa that whilst you drank coffee and felt the impact immediately, there are so many things that we can justify in our mind and then let our body’s follow. Eating that tiny bit more, staying up later than we know our bodies want, staying engaged in a conversation when we feel to end it.. and so on. This is a great reminder for me, to honour more deeply, my body’s communication. Thank you.
Yes a deeper honouring of what we no to be true for ourselves is the way forward. Not letting things slide and pretend it doesn’t matter.
I know of people who have more than 8 cups of coffee a day plus 2 teaspoons of sugar in each cup AND energy drinks on top of that. Given the effects ONE coffee had on you Natalie, one has to ask what is truly going on? Why do we need so much energy?
Good question Joshua – what are we doing with our own natural energy, that we need to substitute it with false energy from coffeine? Why are we so exhausted? If we chose to be honest we could discover that not living who we truly are, but who we think we need to be to get acceptance and recognition takes a lot more energy than just being ourselves?
A great sharing Vanessa thank you I too like the smell of coffee now but as a child I hated it. I never really came across coffee until I was studying for my university exams and decided I needed to keep awake and stay up later at night to revise like others did and that this was the thing to do. Well I made my self a black coffee with lots of sugar to be able to drink it and sipped away although it was disgusting and you can guess the result ,i felt very ill and sick and lost myself completely and panicked through all my exams ! many years later away on holiday I had two iced frothy coffees as they looked delicious but I felt very ill again and woozy and I woke in the night thinking I was having a heart attack as my heart was leaping out of my body and my head pounding and nearly ended up in hospital ! it took days to recover and I learnt a big lesson about coffee and my body. I also see the results of those addicted to it and the constant need for it in the day with some people and it is such a strong stimulant but you get used to it .I am very glad I have not wanted it however I do find that I have been addicted to sugar and this has been my weak point also and my support to keep going but now find it makes me woozy and sleepy also and is the opposite to the support I thought it was.I also know how comforting sugar and coffee is and the enticement of it everywhere despite the harming for our body and more awareness of this is so important to counter the advertising and culture out there for our own health and well being.
It has taken 5 years to finally stop drinking soy chai lattes with honey. I would have 6 months off them but one day I would buckle and that choice would lead to drinking more chai’s, sometimes for months. I used to say they were harder to quit than drugs. The last time I had one I felt so bloated, racey, ill and light headed for days that I finally said no more. The lovely taste isn’t worth compromising the lovely feeling in my body. On a deeper level I began looking at why I had such a hard time quitting the chai’s. Being aware of why we choose something that takes us away from our true connection enabled me to truly break the pattern and underlying issue. Quitting caffeine without understanding the true choice behind why it was consumed doesn’t fully heal what is taking place. This process has helped with many other areas of my life.
That is so true Tracey, it is one thing stopping what ever habit you are doing but looking at why you are choosing that habit is another thing all together. You most definitely heal the cause if your willing to and have support and from there the chances of returning to the habit is next to none, but always a choice.
Natalie this is awesome to read and such a great example of what food can do to us and how easily we can get hooked by it. I love how you allowed yourself to do this ‘experiment’ with so much honesty and self-awareness.
Esther I have learnt that doing an experiment actually gives me the opportunity to feel how it is in my body and an opportunity to feel the truth. It was like when I took out gluten for a couple of months then re introduced it and then I actually felt what it was doing to my body and being.
I remember the same experience with Coca-Cola – as I did not have it often, my taste buds at first were honest and many times I noticed how the first half of the can or glass tasted awful, but then something happened and it not only started to taste good, I felt compelled to keep drinking it.
I had an interesting experience with coca cola in Thailand – super hot day and there was an ice cold bucket of cokes. I hadn’t had any caffeine for a few years and decide what the heck. My goodness same thing as the coffee but even worse with all the sugar – I went so hyper then crashed big time.
I was brought up on drinking tea, not any old tea but Chai which is very milky, sweet and aromatic with spices, so really you could not taste the tea as it was hidden beneath the flavour of all the extra ingredients. I started to drink coffee when I was in the equivalent of grade 12 because all my friends were drinking it, I hated the taste and bitterness, so I used to add a lof milk and sugar to mask the taste, again hiding the flavour so it tasted sweet and milky. So this is how I drank coffee for the next 20 years, hidden as a Latte or cappucino,never really liking the taste or even the smell of it but drinking it anyway, not because I felt I needed the caffeine hit but just because it was a sociable act.
Natalie what you wrote so clearly in your blog is awesome. It shows how easy we get seduced to things which are not good for our bodies with overriding the symptoms so easily. I by myself stopped drinking coffee in the year 1992 because I was soooo racy after drinking coffee that my colleges all react to me in a way that was not so enjoyable. After I stopped drinking coffee I felt so much better (I then appreciate the reactions of my colleges) but that experience did not allow myself to feel in other things as well e.g. alcohol – We as human beings are not very clever or intelligent.
Ester we do have a strong spirit that likes to disguise, deny and avoid any form of exposure wherever possible. But once you commit to feeling and listening to your body as it is the marker of all truth then this awareness supports us to make new chooses that are Loving.
hahah great story! It’s funny how sometimes we choose to learn the lessons the hard way but what a great story to share. Thank you
It has been many years since I had a coffee and in the end I was only drinking decaf as I too was affected by the feeling of being racy and not with myself. I was a late’ drinker and using soy milk but in the end I found that I would become very phlegmy and sick in the stomach after drinking one so I got to that point where my body said enough is enough.
Mick yes that is what I started to feel with the Soya latte which got down to 1 shot was making me feel sick and unsettled in the stomach as well.
I never liked the taste of coffee and so couldn’t drink it. I even remember a friend who worked at a cafe making a coffee for me thinking that the ones I had tried weren’t well made. It still tasted awful. What is interesting is that while I didn’t like coffee there were other foods/drinks that I could easily eat that would have a similar affect to coffee such as chocolate or processed sugar in any form. So while we may not have certain substances for whatever reason, we can’t necessarily think all is ok.
I can relate Vicky. I never got into drinking coffee or tea either, but sugar was my vice.
Thanks for sharing your insightful romance with coffee. I can relate to what you said about how in the beginning you get a sense of what it does to your body, it feels awful but then after sometime it lures us in with its taste and smell. This was my relationship with coffee as well until about 10 years ago. I gave it up because although I loved the smell and taste I didn’t like how I felt afterwards. I would always have a feeling of anxiousness in my body and I figured it just wasn’t worth it. I had a similar experience with giving up alcohol, finally deciding that feeling out of it and not clear even for days after drinking one drink, was not worth it. I too now enjoy just being me (with no added extras).
Awesome Donna, I totally agree – I feel so much better since I have let coffee go. And it helped me become more honest about how I’m truly feeling – how tired I really was and that I needed to make further changes in how I supported myself through the day.
When you make choices to listen to your body and stop stimulants from running you and just naturally be who you are – that clarity you say is so strong and you feel amazing. It’s so refreshing, I’m definitely welcoming the change.
This is such a great blog Natalie – the body is truly amazing at letting us know straight away if we are ingesting something that is harmful and how quickly we can over-ride those truths in favour of comfort, numbness, etc. It comes down to how honest we can be in the moment.
Yup, totally agree Shelley. I took a couple of bites of a banana yesterday and instantly felt bloated. I listened, and gave the rest away…my body thanked me for it.
I love the smell of coffee not so much the taste but the smell seems so good. I have tried drinking coffee a handful of times. My body rejected it big time. When I tried it I thought, well I can get used to this, look at me drinking coffee like the adults. But my body quickly processed it to get it out of my system. I felt the opposite to high or uplifting, I was feeling heavy, low, agitated, pains in my tummy and wanted to crawl into bed. I would feel so unwell that I wasn’t myself until I visited the toilet. I certainly didn’t feel any positive effects from drinking coffee at all. I decided earlier on that my body rejected coffee and I was cool with that because I didn’t want to go through those symptoms again. I am very glad I listened to my body back then because I wasn’t aware how harmful coffee is. With food it’s a different story, I seem to have less awareness with food because I use food for comfort. Because of this I would override any uncomfortable symptoms. Now I have changed my diet and gradually fine tuning it to support me more and more.
‘I’m at a point in my life where what I have chosen is seriously awesome and I feel seriously amazing for it. I feel so clear, on to it, light and consistent. I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.” Beautiful reflection, Thank you Natalie for this awesome blog.
It is very telling how the body tells us straight away whether something is actually to be ingested or not. When you don’t smoke tobacco for just a short while and then light up again, it just about knocks you over it is so strong and nauseating. Same with alcohol and with many other substances. We only think we are okay with these things because we have them regularly and override what our body is signalling.
Thanks for sharing Natalie, it ‘s so amazing how quickly we can override our body. Caffeine is such a trick for our mind, such a false sense energy that ends up exhausting us more then when we started. I too love choosing food that supports me to feel my body.
It is amazing how loudly and clearly our body speaks to us if we just but listen. This makes me wonder why we don’t respect our bodies and listen more often as they are much smarter and more honest than we are!
Indeed!
They are indeed more honest than we are. Once you start to listen you get to see that there is many layers to which you can listen to.
Well done , seriously awesome Natalie! When we know and feel THE way, a little side stepping is just not worth it, cos the body now reacts so strongly! Or, said another way – we now actually LISTEN/FEEL to what our body is saying.
It’s hard to imagine now looking back that I used to drink 15 cups of coffee a day. I used to tell myself it was because I liked the taste and the ritual of grinding the coffee and percolating it on the stove in my traditional Italian coffee pot.
However, I knew I only drank coffee for the caffeine hit as if it were for the taste I would have drunk decaff.
I needed 15 cups of coffee to get through my day and then would be so buzzed that I couldn’t sleep without having a few beers.
I was totally out of my body on stimulants by day and needing a come down to sleep in a state of exhaustion at night.
It was not until I started to look at why I was so tired and getting drained during the day that my need for so much coffee reduced and that drinking it made me feel so shaky and ill that eventually even trying to substitute it for decaff made me feel headachy and out of control.
When we are able to stop and feel our body we can get honest about how we are living and I thank my experience with Universal Medicine for opening my eyes.
It is so interesting that with that much coffee in your system and being in a constant buzz that you then needed beer to unwind at the end of the day. A vicious cycle that I was caught up in, maybe not 15 cups but at one point 6 or 7 double shot flat whites so enough to feel how full on it is. I’d go for a wine at the end of the day. Coming to realise that this isn’t a harmonious way of living with the support of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine has been life changing.
I love coffee, the look, the smell, the allure… but I don’t love what it does to me; speed me up, burn me out, leave me exhausted, so I don’t drink it anymore. By extricating myself from the vicious loop of feeling tired, drinking coffee, feeling tired again, I have come to really feel and appreciate that our bodies have their very own built in energy source that if not tampered with, is far more stable, constant and true and with none of the peaks and troughs of our synthetic friend. Ah, if only we could bottle this…
Our natural state of being with out any artificial stimulants and emotional ones most definitely allow us to have a stable, constant and true way of living. So our bodies our the bottles and our natural essence is always there.
Great article Natalie, I can’t even drink a de-caffe coffee anymore, it sends me into a spin.
For me that was my step away from caffeine and yes after a while I got to feel that even the decafe had an effect on me – over time it started to become really obvious and just had to stop all together. A day I will appreciate for the rest of my life.
I love the last line you wrote Natalie…’I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.’ This is what it came down to for me too…I was never a big coffee drinker and it was always instant coffee for me which I am told is not real coffee anyway…but back in the days I did get into caffeine teas a couple of times a day. They would always give me a ‘pick-up’ when I was tired…but the deal breaker began when I started to be really honest and notice the downward spiral I had hours later where I felt more depleted. It can be a viscous cycle that you can easily get trapped in.
Instead of giving up caffeine, I decided to address what was making me tired in the first place so that I didn’t need the pickup…one of the many great choices I have made to respect my body and not compromise.
Marika that is exactly what needs to happen looking at what is causing the disharmony in the body in the first place. When we can become honest and truly heal this then there is no need for any kind of stimulant to keep us going and manage life.
I like the realness of your direct experience, Natalie, living evidence not clever words. That is how it worked for me as well – to be honest with what the body feels and honour it. Simple.
Alex yes it really is that simple, to have your own experience that clearly shows what it is doing to your body is the only way. It’s your body and no one else can tell you what it is doing. To develop that close relationship listening to what works in harmony or not really is amazing and in that you naturally want to honour what it is telling you. I know my body loves me for doing this.
Oh I so relate to the alluring taste and pick up effect of drinking coffee. I liked it neat and strong, as it overrode my fatigue from sleepless nights, so that I could get through the day. Your description Natalie of the “off the wall” behaviour is classic. I occasionally indulge in a decaf to be social and for old times sake but even this can induce the now unpleasant racy daffy duck effect. It’s so much more self loving to respect and listen to to my body and not override it with the mind.
Kathy as much fun as it is to watch Daffy Duck its not what you want going on for yourself is it!
Thank you Natalie, for sharing your experience, I can so relate to all you wrote here.
A few years ago I attended a workshop with Universal Medicine. In the workshop Serge Benhayon talked about the density of the body and how this affects our connection to our inner self, our Soul and its’ communication to us. As he said that, my thought was straight away – ‘this is the coffee with me’, as that was the one thing I had not yet chosen to let go of. My normal routine would have been to drive past the coffee shop, have a cup of coffee, read the paper and then start my day. However, this time, the very next morning after the workshop, as I was about to leave the house, I walked to the door thinking – ‘how will I do this now’? As quick as I had that thought, I received a reply – it was not spoken, I perceived it like a banner slowly gliding across my forehead on the inside – I saw it in my mind (sorry, I have no better way of explaining this). It said: “All you have to do is drive past the coffee shop”. So I did, I drove past it and did not stop, I can’t remember if I even saw it. Later in the day, I got the headache, I knew it would come, but it was not severe. By the next morning, all thoughts and desire for coffee were gone. There was no craving, no missing it, not even a thought about it. It was just like-“how awesome, my body has done it as I couldn’t do it with my ‘will’ to do it. I quietly continued the sentence on to what I felt it meant to say: “All you have to do is drive past the coffee shop – and we will do the rest.” I felt myself fully supported from all aspects within myself in truly letting go of something, by just having followed the suggestion to just drive past. Since that time there has never been another wish to just have a cup of coffee again. I feel so much calmer, sleep so much better, can take my time with myself, with people around me and in all I do, as that raciness is fully gone.
I can relate Natalie, after I had given up coffee and was on the decaf and had been for a while the wrong coffee was given to me, a full strength one, and yes, the effects was a dirty racy feeling, quite awful. Once we truly let go of something that isn’t living, our body just rejects it, quite a lovely thing to feel. It’s a great confirmation from the body of the choices to self care.
For many years before I became a student of Universal Medicine, I reduced my coffee intake to where I couldn’t drink it after about midday or it would keep me awake at night. Strange how I thought that was OK and didn’t consider if it was any good for me at all. After not drinking it for years now, I don’t miss it and the desire left long ago as well. Not so long ago, I was visiting family in Sydney and a young man I had just met, ordered himself a coffee, no big deal. What was a surprise was the change in him once he drank it, speech, mannerisms, etc. all became so fast! It was really something to observe. I must really be like someone from the country to a coffee drinker.
yes I know that feeling – when I did the tasting all my staff were absolutely laughing at me because it changed me so much – it really felt like I was on speed or something like that – wasn’t fun!
It is great that you highlight here the effect of caffeine on our central nervous system,…what that looks like…the impact of that change in mannerism ,speech etc …felt by everyone and everything!-brilliant, thank you Mark. And thank you Nathalie bringing light to the ‘normalisation’ of a coffee culture.
This really is a great blog Natalie and you are a great inspiration with your dedication to self. Although I’m way better than I used to be I am still too easily tricked by mind and spirit and fall into old traps if I’m not careful..
Natalie, I enjoyed reading your blog, your words “I have so much respect for my body and myself and I’m not prepared to compromise anymore” made me smile because I can feel the truth in them. I got caught out by coffee recently, overriding my feelings and had a de-caff soya latte. Something I NEVER do, apart from the soya milk making me feel queasy I also had a reaction to the coffee, making me super silly and not feeling like me at all, this lasted a couple of hours at least. Needless to say, I won’t be doing that again.
It’s great to have these moments when we realise that it’s not what our body or being what’s and then honouring this. It feels super empowering and the body most definitely loves it.
It is so stunning to what extent we are able to manipulate and override our feelings.
I have been addicted to coffee. I thought it was a treat during my turbulent working days to stop and take the time for myself to have a cup of coffee. I ignored the headache afterwards but jumped on the craving for sugar that always followed some time afterwards. When becoming tired after having had to much sweets this was the perfect excuse for having another cup of coffee.
And I never ever would have realized this vicious circle if I had not attended the presentations by Serge Benhayon and Universal medicine which inspired me to check for myself what each food and drink I take into my body and observe when and why I would be craving for what. This brought amazing changes to my life. Today I simply cannot believe that I once loved the flavor of coffee as now its smell for me is only bitter, sharp and very dense and numbing.
I have to agree with everything you have shared here Michael. For me coffee, alcohol and smoking seemed to bring a pause in the intensity of the day and was the perfect excuse to disconnect and what I was doing and have a time out. But the timeout was actually my body craving these substances to such a degree that I just had to satisfy and alleviate them beyond anything else or else I would get physical symptoms that were absolutely intolerable such as agitation, anxiety and even panic. If anything gives you such an enormous reaction it obviously cannot be healthy for you!
I love how you lay bare how coffee affects your body, and that your self love and self care is stronger than any need to fit in, enjoy a flavour, or put up with what it does to your body. There is really nothing more yummy than feeling connected to your essence in a body that supports that and feels at ease. I also love the feeling of nurturing myself with choices that work for me. Self love is really delicious!
Self- Love really is special and through gaining a better understanding and willing to try things in a different way that is more loving to me and my body. Now if I make a choice that isn’t loving it stands out like a sore thumb.
I love your description Natalie of the seduction of coffee. How many of us have fallen for that one?! And that the symptoms will go away if we just have another coffee. You have exposed coffee so beautifully. Funny thing is, I haven’t had a coffee for over a year but I still have fond memories of the taste. And to this day I still say that I like the flavour of coffee, just not what it does to my body. It seems I’m still under the seduction!!
It’s interesting how the seduction is so very easy to have its way with you… All the little factors like the smell, the taste, the ‘catch up’ become a daily ritual. Without even a consideration as to why we are so exhausted in the first place. I never realised I was exhausted until I started to reduce then move onto de-cafe. But it really didn’t come to light until I finally stopped and could see that other factors had an impact on my exhaustion. My sleep patterns, my emotional and sympathetic way of being I was choosing all added to my exhaustion. At that point I could see it was my choices creating this.
I used to love coffee, having drunk it from about 11 years old or so.. or I thought I loved coffee, but really, by my late teens it was just a prop for me to cover my exhaustion – I could have 6-8 cups a day, and more through my twenties! Now, I still kind of like the smell of a cappuccino but I have absolutely no desire to have one! I had discovered I didn’t really feel ‘perked up’ … I felt raciness, nervous energy and that actually, I didn’t like it. I haven’t had a coffee for about 5 years and feel SO much more vital without it. I have peppermint tea now – but not as many cups a day lol! and find this very refreshing 🙂
I love the smell as well but yes not that much I will go the whole way and have one. I love herbal teas and feel 1 million times better when drinking them.
I also loved coffee and the smell and still have craving for a decaf soya sometimes. Off course always when I want to comfort myself. For me the coffee was actually harder to quit then smoking. I sometimes still say to a friend: Let’s have a coffee together, as this is so ingrained in our culture to be together and have a cappucino! The word coffee is so embedded in our language and related to ‘cosy being together.’ Crazy.
I totally understand what you are sharing Simone, a lot of the time it is with friends or family but it is becoming more and more common to go have a business meetings over a good coffee. All the while keeping people stimulated to get on with there day and their work load and not look at their exhaustion.
I too had a love affair with coffee. I started drinking it as a child and increased my daily quota as I got older until I was drinking as many as 10 cups a day (sometimes more). When I was in my 20’s, my Mum & I decided to give up coffee and went through a week of severe headaches and nausea – it was a shock to me at how dependent my body was on coffee. After this initial cleanse, I continued to drink coffee, but more strategically – no caffeine after 10am otherwise I couldn’t sleep, so I mostly drank decaf which I reasoned was okay. But even decaf coffee made me racy and jittery, so I finally had to be honest with why I was drinking coffee and that I truly didn’t need it and in fact felt a lot better without it. I still love the smell of coffee but have no inclination at all to punish my body when I feel much more amazing without it.
When I was drinking coffee on a regular basis and then decide or realised that it wasn’t any good for my body, I remember cutting back and getting it down to one a day, then decafe – bit more of a gentler approach that worked for me. I got to feel the different stages of the impact that it did have on my body; so when a thought to have one came back in I remember back to how it felt. Couldn’t go back there again- nothing is worth that feeling.
Hi Melinda I totally can relate to what you share here. I loved the ritual, but I also really liked the smell of fresh coffee. And I still do like the smell. But like you Melinda, I started to feel how coffee really affected me, making me racey and anxious. So once I realised that I switched over to decaf. I enjoyed that for quite some time – until I could only handle a ¼ strength soy/decaf and that was all my body could ‘tolerate’. A barrister once asked in gest: “Or shall I just wave a coffee bean over the top?” Haha, ok, time to let that one go – and I so enjoy the clarity the peppermint – or other herbal tea leaves my body and my mind in. And I feel I’m fully there with the other person – and not for the coffee – really connecting with them, rather than the cup of coffee.
I totally get what you are saying Esther – when I was drinking coffee all the focus was on the coffee. If you had a bad coffee that would bring you down and the catch up that you were having is tainted by the fact you had a bad coffee. Herbal tea just lets you enjoy your time with the people you are with and tastes great but most importantly I feel freshed and supported.
I can totally relate to this article … The ritual of making a cup of coffee was a joy for me … the freshly ground coffee beans, the traditional european screw-top coffee pot on the stove, I loved the ritual … I also loved being served a coffee in the laneway cafe’s of Melbourne, or the beachside cafes of St.kilda, or amidst the funky street scene in Fitzroy, the list goes on … but as I gradually became more and more aware of what was actually going on in my body I could no longer deny that coffee made me racy and if I didn’t have a couple of strong ones I developed a headache. I didn’t like the hold coffee had on me once it was clear so I went through the withdrawal and switched to freshly ground decaf … eventually I noticed that there were still effects and from that moment it was not difficult up give up coffee completely and replace with loose leaf organic peppermint tea which I had always loved anyway. So I have still have my ritual and many cafes serve peppermint tea, but most importantly I have me.
Oh yes Melinda the lists go on with the amazing vibe coffee offers but as you say a lot if not all serve peppermint and these days – you can get some stunning herbal blends that are delicious and supportive for the body.
Yes Natalie we have some awesome blends here in Australia too. Many cafe’s are really onto it, offering a lovely variety of choices of herbal blends, fresh or dried.
Great what you shared about the first feeling, the alluring moment in drinking coffee (especially through adding more – also not supporting – ingredients to hide the original taste) and the reactions of your body. There is so much “more” we associate with coffee that for me it is a fully-fledged social accepted drug.
I have often late nights to work through. Sometimes till the early morning. And a lot of the time is waiting time for me. So I easily get tired after a while. I quit coffee about 2 1/2 years ago but one night last November I was so tired that I didn’t know how to get through the night anymore. I was nearly squinting and freezing and my body really hurt because of being so tired. So I decided to have a coffee. That really helped me out in the moment – but after a short while I could feel that my body was going crazy as if I had taken cocain. Just as described in the article. My hands were sweating, my heart was racy and I felt super-nervous. I could’t sleep for the rest of the day even I was craving for sleep. Shocking when I think back of days when I could have two Espresso before I went to bed. How did my body make that?
It really is incredible what the body will adjust to when we override and push through what we initially feel.
Thanks for sharing this Natalie. I know in my practice as a full-time Naturopath, coffee (or caffeine in its many guises) is the hardest drug for people to give up (or maybe an equal tie with sugar). Being clear of caffeine we get to feel the real impact it has on our bodies and minds, the incredible whipping it gives to our adrenals and nervous system…it is amazing how we can so effectively override all of this. I know first hand as I too used to love coffee and the smell… except, interestingly, it smelt like poison during my two pregnancies.
Natalie, when you write ‘The one thing that really shocked me though was the quick change from “What the heck are you doing, this is hideous” to (after a disguised, milky, soya flat white and a few sips of that) going “Hmmm… this is actually really tasty”.’ It tells me just how slender the dividing line is, between the reality of living within one’s body’s, acceptable food intake, and the mind-generated ‘illusion’ that says that serious drugs like coffee and alcohol are in fact normal and harmless. To go from ‘hideous’ to ‘really tasty’ in a few minutes demonstrates the power of this illusion.
Well said Jonathan, deep illusion at play when this is going on.
Awesome Jane that you listened to your body and didn’t keep persevering with such a strong drug that clearly didn’t agree with you. It does smell good thou.
I never liked the taste of coffee or what it did to my body: it gave me headaches. Same with wine: didn’t like the taste and instant headaches. I overrode that sometimes to be accepted and to feel part of the group. Wine and coffee were easy to let go of and not come back to after I had decided I am worth to take care of myself. There are however still foods (with sugar) I use to numb how I’m feeling or to reward myself, that especially brings me down from feeling amazing. A big addiction that kicks in now and then and I allow (and choose) it’s damaging way on my body. A deepening of self-love and self-care will help me to let go of this as well. And just like you write in your comment above: give myself a stop moment with the opportunity to deepen my relationship with myself.
Monika food is definitely another way of numbing ourselves so as to not feel what is truly going on… Like the exhaustion with the coffee.
Fantastic exposure of how coffee really does impact our bodies in such a huge negative way and how easy it becomes to listen to the mind and over ride our first feelings and reactions from the body. So very true what you wrote: ‘I could see how people can get hooked – if I’d had another coffee, all those symptoms would have disappeared instantly’. I had the same experience with sugar, I had gone several months without any sugar whatsoever in my diet, until one day I was tired and took some cake at work for a quick boost, and immediately I had a headache and felt really agitated for the rest of the afternoon. I am now completely sugar free and my body loves me for that.
It is interesting how we lace behaviours around food and drink with rituals. I felt I was doing so much more than just drinking a cup of coffee when I used to choose it, there were many rituals attached to it, looking cool, being grown up, intelligent, people watching, taking a moment out, relaxing…. However I did decide to dump the caffeine which worked for awhile, so decaf latte’s were my thing for some time and then, I realised they were making me feel headachy and a bit sick as well, and so they had to go. What I realised when I said good-bye to the decaf soya latte was that I was removing myself from a cultural consciousness and that in a sense was stronger an addiction than the coffee or caffeine themselves. I mourned the rituals more than the coffee itself! I also have had an experience when I had caffeine when I had asked for decaffeinated coffee after being off it for a few years and the buzz, raciness and headache I had afterwards was awful and that’s just from one sip! Interesting topic – Thank you.
I mourned the rituals more than the coffee itself! I feel many people find it is the ritual and the assocations we give coffee the hardest to give up. For example, a friend shared that she had cut down to one cup of coffee a day, and loved this quiet time in the morning before her busy day started. I know this so well. After a busy and noisy day at work, 2.30pm was my time to sit quietly with my coffee latte made to my perfection, like a ‘coffee meditation’ to seeminly wind down… It is this idea that we need a coffee to sit and relax and be with ourselves… Just as you highlighted it is the ritual and the cultural consciousness that can be as strong an addiction than the actually coffee or caffeine.
Yes the rituals are very poignant and as you say the coffee consciousness that is going on is massive. It’s all about getting the perfect extraction, crema and silkyness of the milk – the origin of the bean for the supreme coffee has a lot to do with it as well. Creating an in-depth process as justification to why it tastes so amazing. When in fact it is all illusion to keep you away from feeling what is really going on, the exhaustion and depletion we are in and need stimulants to keep us going.
Wow Natalie, what an amazing job with great learnings you have. I loved coffee for a long time of my life, and I really enjoyed the expresso’s because of the pure taste i was telling myself. Although I could feel clearly what the coffee did to me it was difficult to stop it, it ended up with one cup of coffee per day instead of the many I had before, that must be possible I told myself. But now I have stopped drinking coffee completely I can feel that I had an addiction to it and that I needed the coffee to get rid of the symptoms you mention.
Nico awesome to feel it once you stop because like any addiction when ever you keep topping yourself up you have no chance of feeling what is really going on.
Oooh how i loved my latte! I used to drink one coffee a day, always a latte and at some point it was a soya latte. I loved drinking this latte from a coffee place and this was my treat of the day. I had to have my latte, it was like an addiction. When i decided to stop drinking coffee, i came to understand what coffee truly does to my body and my nervous system. I was in Vietnam a couple of years ago and i decided to have a latte, after not drinking coffee for over a year. It had a huge effect on me….i was anxious, nervous and almost running around the streets and in the evening i could not fall asleep, which never happens. The coffee was having an effect on my body for nearly 18 hours and this has been a great learning. I had to feel and experience this to really know that coffee is not a supporting choice. I stick to herbal teas and i feel great after drinking these.
Yes Mariette it really becomes a ritual that becomes addictive, not just the ordering or having the coffee – what I feel many enjoy also, is the fact that we are allowing ourselves time to stop and have a moment with ourselves (not all the time but when we do). But that gets filtered down because of all the racey-ness and nervous energy that we are in from drinking the coffee. Choosing to take time to have those moments without coffee and not being stimulated in this way, has given me the opportunity to have an even deeper relationship with myself and I love those moments when I take, to enjoy this.
Yes Lorraine, I know what you mean a lot of people need sugar, flavoured syrups or chocolate/cinnamon powder on top to make more palatable.
A great blog showing the insidious addictive nature of coffee. I was never a coffee fan, being into health and fitness big time. I did try it, but found I needed to add sugar to make it palatable, and to me this didn’t make sense, especially as I avoided sugar in my diet.
This is brilliant Natalie – “I’m at a point in my life where what I have chosen is SERIOUSLY AWESOME and I feel SERIOUSLY AMAZING for it. I feel so clear, on to it, light and consistent. I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.” This is amazing because of that marker you have for yourself of ‘awesomeness’ on a daily basis – any deviation and it is immediately felt. For a lot of people it is obvious that there isn’t that marker there, and so there is just a continuous deviation away from the awesome feeling, so when something such as coffee is introduced, or smoking, alcohol, drugs, etc. it doesn’t have such a (noticeably) huge impact. BUT, what is going on in the background, even if we are not necessarily noticing the effects of our choices?
Absolutely Jessica that these substances do have an impact on the choices that we make. Its a vicious cycle that you get caught in and don’t even see it as being an issue because what ever stimulant you keep taking – that becomes your normal and you don’t remember what it is like with out it. Having the courage to give it a go and look at what I was doing, was the first step – what I realised is that for each and every stimulant or drug that I was taking I actually new it wasn’t good for me but dismissed that initial feeling I had, for beliefs and ideals to fit in with everyone around me.
Yes Jessica, I agree, how amazing what Natalie shares of , “I’m at a point in my life where what I have chosen is SERIOUSLY AWESOME… I am not prepared to compromise any more.” Beautiful Natalie, that you honour your body and can feel any deviation away from your marker of being amazing.
I am sure so many people have had the experience of their first sip of alcohol or coffee and thought – oh how awful. It is a reaction from the body over and above what their mind has told them to try. And then we’re hooked. Because they are part of society, so suck it up.
In my workplace, we have free coffee flowing all day. It is how people start their day because it wakes them up. I know because I did that too, and I genuinely thought function and alertness came with coffee.
It was only when I allowed myself to feel how racy it made me, that I started to remove it from my diet. And of course the fear of me falling asleep on my keyboard came up, but these days, I’ve come to feel more alive without coffee. Of course – no one could of told me to stop – I had to come to it myself – and all I can do is reflect back to others that maybe it isn’t the only answer to feeling alert and amazing ALL day.
That is it, you really can’t be told – it is something that someone can mention but until your ready to look deeper at the awareness of what coffee, alcohol and food does to your body then and only then will you start making more loving choices. This was definitely the way it worked for me anyway.
I love the line “I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!” It is amazing to get to a point where you no longer seek the stimulants that takes us away from ourselves. That consistency is something to be treasured.
It really is worth it .. Those daily choices that I make to support my steadyness and not to succumb to all the delights that are around me is the foundation of the Amazingness that I feel. I’m soooo worth it when I feel like this. What makes me laugh is this is my natural state of being and my whole life I’ve been looking for things on the outside to make me feel like this!
Isn’t it ridiculous when you put it like that Natalie? We spend our whole lives searching for a fix to feel amazing or just a little better when all along the amazing state of being is within us all and all we have to do is be with ourselves without the distractions like coffee that take us away.
Yes Monica, food and exploring where I go into override is a huge… Once I started with letting go of coffee and alcohol, then I introduced my food awareness. As the years have gone on what I used to be able to eat and had no affect on my body, I find today some of them do. It is an ever evolving awareness with food and it’s been awesome to build a deeper connection with my body along the way.
Since giving up coffee and feeling all the benefits of not drinking it, I find I sometimes still miss its thick almost soup-like consistency!
Some of the herbal teas are gaining popularity with me however, one particular one being Liquorice.
Yeah there are some beautiful herbal teas and blends that support your body with their healing benefits. I have a few favourites too.
I have great fun combining various ingredients to make my own blends of teas, changing both constituents and amounts. I have a selection of different types of mint in the garden, sometimes using leaves from one variety, sometimes mixing.
It surprises me how different my various ‘brews’ taste. I don’t have ‘recipes’, my chief blender is my body’s own choice. Sometimes it’s learning what I don’t like that leads me to discover what is appropriate.
Thank you Natalie for exposing the effects of coffee on the body. I have never been able to drink coffee as it gave me strong heart palpitations and excruciating stomach aches. And same goes for alcohol, I was never able to drink it. When I was attending dinner parties and I wanted to be accepted I asked for half a glass and I pretended to drink but in fact didn’t! Now I’m much more honest about the effects of alcohol and coffee on my body, and can simply say openly and honestly that I do not drink them.
That must feel so much freer for you to just be open and honest and say it how it is for you. Really no one else can tell you any different because it’s your body and you know exactly what it is telling you – what works and makes it feel harmonious or what makes it scream at you telling you to stop doing what ever it is you are putting in it. Great honouring Maryline.
Thanks for the very interesting piece Natalie. I think it is highly significant that you could identify when the ‘over-ride’ kicked in. As you say, once you are hooked,all those unpleasant symptoms disappear. It must be a bit like a tee-totaller being in charge of a wine-tasting!
Great point Jonathan I can remember when I was in the process if stopping alcohol and had to do a wine tasting for work. I spat every tasting but still could feel the impact of the alcohol the next day. Even though I didn’t get drunk or even consumed a taster I had a hangover and felt not myself from it.
Overriding the effects caffeine has on our bodies is easy to do because of how normal and accepted drinking coffee is in our societies. It has become a daily part of life for most of us. I found coffee had many nasty side effects and giving up coffee was a small but significant choice that improved my health dramatically.
Rebecca, it is absurd when we continue to do things that make us feel terrible. Only when I started playing with the idea of not doing them and stopping for a while, then re-introducing (which ever substance that it was), I could really and truly feel the affects it had on my body and whole state of being and the impact it had on my days.
Love your blog Natalie. I agree with you that it is simply not worth it to eat or drink something purely for the taste. Often I have overridden this knowing and fallen for the taste and regretted it later. It seems absurd when we can actually feel amazing when we don’t do this. I love your claiming – “I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!” You go girl!
Great blog Natalie and really enjoyable to read your account of coffee tasting. It reminds me of times when I have chosen to override my initial dislike of things and how easy it becomes to acquire a liking for them – it’s pretty absurd when we stop to think about it! I’m inspired by how you’ve clearly come to feel your gorgeousness and that you don’t want to spoil that by giving way to the very tempting and seductive allure of coffee – something you work with almost daily! Awesome Natalie!
Hi Heather, yes absolutely a daily choice. When I started addressing coffee and alcohol it was most definitely a constant choice but now years after stopping I just know it is not even on my radar and I don’t even consider it. Saying that, I now have other foods or substances that I’m constantly keeping a check on, like sugar for example.
It is interesting isn’t it, how we can sacrifice our health and wellbeing and over-ride our natural feelings from the body for a few seconds of pleasure or stimulation or distraction and how quickly and easily this can happen. I too was a coffee addict and just accepted the bloating, the buzziness and wired feeling as normal. Until I stopped drinking it and suddenly realised that it really was not normal at all but some serious side effects of a powerful drug that like alcohol has just become so socially accepted as normal that a blind eye is collectively turned to what is really going on.
It can happen so easily without you realising it and yes all for the pleasure, stimulation and distraction that we can get so deeply caught in. I did realise the impact it had, only when I had overdosed on it for the day and felt horrible – not until that point did I start to question what it was doing to my body.
Now that I can see how much of an impact coffee has on my body after only a few sips, just goes to show how numbingly I was living before that I couldn’t feel it. This is something that I can now really appreciate.
yes Michelle it totally pulls the rug from under your feet – the numbness that is so easily there to be lived. Starting to choose more awareness in my life is so revealing and awesome.
Natalie I love your blog and how clear you are with what coffee does to your body. Coffee is serious stuff! One cup and all those symptoms is quite amazing. To be exhausted, not want to address the reasons why and want a pick me up, I can see the allure of a cup of beautiful smelling coffee – especially when the withdrawal symptoms of just one cup can be alleviated by just another cup. I used to live off black coffee. I wasn’t feeling my body too much then and liked the rush. Now I know I would be off the wall with it and decaf is no different. I don’t drink it because the heart palpitations are scary enough, but most of all I know if I drank it I wouldn’t feel like me anymore. I love, “I feel so AMAZING when I’m just me – without anything else influencing me – and I know now: NOTHING ELSE is acceptable!” Awesome and inspiring. Thank you.
Great points Karin, it really is amazing that not even a cup but only a couple if sips of coffee had such a devasting impact on my body.
Great blog Natalie, working in catering too, I haven’t had to taste the coffee yet and the wine either. But if I will have to face either of those I will definitely spit it out again. The last time I had a decaf soya late was two or three years ago… It tasted great but the result after was as you described it, like a drug and a headache the next day.
It is so like that and until you make that choice to stop having coffee you don’t really get how full on it really is.. It’s like you don’t really want to see it for what it really is.
Hi Natalie. I stopped having caffeine about 5 years ago. I had a decaf coffee sometime in the last 5 years, and I felt awful so didn’t do that again. More recently I felt a bit strange and racey in my body and had a headache I couldn’t work out what was going on, until I realised that there was caffeine in some herbal tea I had bought.
Funny how even the hidden caffeine can be felt in the body once we are open to looking at it.
It’s interesting to ponder how it would be different if Coffee was classified, alongside it’s less socially acceptable comrades, by what it actually is – a mind and body altering drug. Then perhaps we would listen to our bodies and give credence to what it feels and is screaming back at us, rather than over-ride it. So much of the symptoms shared in this blog could be immediately translated to many of the illegal highs. Yet, because we are so exhausted and so desperately in need of this drug, we have accepted it as a society.
This is so true Otto, coffee is a powerful stimulant in the same way as other classified drugs are and with the same addictions yet it is totally acceptable and even trumpeted by some as good for you.
Thanks Natalie. Coffee for me was one of my 5 a day required food groups (or two or three of the 5) My consumption lead to a side affect of over consumption…I started to look like a racoon with black rings around my eyes. I had found out that the area around the eyes have lots of tiny vains close to the surface and copious amounts of caffein plug them up. It was my walkup call, without the coffee so to speak. I no longer do coffee or things that have caffein, I know too well what they can do to my body. I just feel better! I do sometimes smell fresh coffee and it smells nice, flowers also smell nice but have no desire to consume either.
Steve I love how you said “Coffee for me was one of my 5 a day required food groups”… I know what you mean about the racoon black rings around the eyes but I wasn’t aware that it is tiny veins close to the surface and copious amounts of caffeine plugging them up. This reminds me of some beauty products that have caffeine in them to stimulate the area it is applied. Also I remember following an old wives tale which at the time I thought it to be – putting tea bags on your eyes for dark rings under the eyes. I never noticed any difference with the dark rings disappearing. This showed me how I would latch onto something wanting solutions but not really wanting to look deeper at the real reason – what the symptoms were showing me, dis-harmony in my body.
Thanks for this inspiring blog, Natalie. I can relate this to when I used to play a lot of video games. I would stay up late, wake up exhausted and end up late for college or work – say to myself “I’m not staying up that late ever again on a school night” and then do the exact same thing… that same night! If I logged back on and played more – the feelings of exhaustion would dull, because I was distracted. It’s amazing what the mind will do to not feel the body – at the grand expense of the body. Much like how you loved coffee, but did’t like the feeling you had in your body – I used to love gaming but I know it stopped me from feeling my body, so I have taken it out of my ‘diet’.
Wow that is so interesting the hooking and addictive nature that can run us and seriously override what our bodies are telling us. In more ways than we realise. Thanks Cheryl
Lovely to read this and everyone’s comments and be reminded how our bodies do attempt to talk to us. I remember feeling that I was honouring my body when I changed to soya decaff, and then the day when my body reacted to that. I actually convinced myself it was that particular coffee outlet and went on to use a different one! Fortunately my body still gave me the feedback, it didn’t want any brand.
Kathie thanks for sharing, and there are so many brands out there – fortunately you didn’t need to go through them all and you listened to your body!
Susan what a great learning for you and interesting that your body was so straight up about it.
Fantastic blog. I really appreciate your honesty and dedication, Natalie. I can so relate to the mind over-riding what the body is feeling: I can remember my first alcoholic drink, coffee, blue cheese and cigarette and how horrible they all were to me, yet I went on to indulge in them all. Either to be part of the group or to look big and not a baby. I have been inspired by listening to the common sense presented by Universal Medicine about listening to and honouring one’s body. I no longer indulge in these things as I have felt that they do not support my body. I feel so wonderful for the change that my choses have brought about for me in my life.
Thanks for sharing Jonathan, I too used to indulge – so easily getting caught in food and drink as a way of checking out. The taste and combinations you could have with different things. I remember completely convinced that wine and food were a marriage if you got the right combination, and yip they sure do taste great. All these justifications that are at play when indulging in what taste great to sustain the checked out way of being I was in.
Wow its amazing when you look at us as a society and how we override our feelings on such a massive scale. What you are saying Jonathan and Natalie highlights the lies we can tell ourselves and how detrimental this can be if we ignore these very obvious messages.
This is so revealing, Natalie, about the way we become quickly and easily seduced by the taste. I haven’t drunk coffee for 35 years, having felt the impact of it on my body at that time, but I now recognise the same pattern with other substances, for instance cream, butter, sugar and sweet things, and soft, comfort foods! Gradually clearing these things from my diet brings me a greater clarity about what my body likes and does not like, but my mind can still override it, even though I do feel the huge benefit when I do listen to it.
So very true Joan that the pattern can be with other substances and the seduction that happens is same.
Thank you Natalie for sharing this blog. I never really drank coffee, but when I did I used to suffer with headaches. I have had very rarely decafs and you’re so right it’s so easy to override the body when it’s truly saying no and you cover it up with soya milk. I generally cannot even take the smell of coffee, I found it so strong. For me it’s watching that override why do I slip and have that decaf?
Anita that is exactly what we need to do – keep a strong eye in the override as it easily takes over as it is used to having full control with no regard to what the body feels. Great to start catching it when it happens but even better is to look underneath that and see what is driving the override.
Natalie, what I am coming to learn is the override kicks in with food as well, when there is a lack of self worth. Not honouring myself when I should, or not taking my regular breaks as I deserve it, not appreciating myself and how far I have come or indulging in comfort.
I know this one Amita, when I have at times not listened to my body and over worked or have not been appreciating myself I am far more likely to go to foods that are for comfort rather than nutrition.
Great blog Natalie. Like a lot of people coffee was the last thing I gave up, and like Kevin says ‘its only decaff and soya’, so letting go of that one was quite hard. Eventually I did and I know I will never go back to it. What it has also helped with is to look at other foods that don’t serve me in truth and to start letting them go as well. It is a work in progress but one well worth taking.
Tim thanks for sharing and totally worth it and then some!!
Beautifully expressed and another clear example of how our heads chatter way over our bodies’ signals if we do not stop to pay attention. I’m on holiday in Sicily, Italy at the moment and the smell of the oven baked pizzas are something else – even though the smell tempts me and my head says go on just a little – the strength from within is easy, a simple, no way – because I know that I would feel the effects for days afterwards and that is not worth the few minutes pleasure for my taste buds.
It really is a few minutes of pleasure and hours if not days that has the consequence running in your body.
Thank you for this great blog Natalie. I can really relate, I loved coffee. On reflection I feel I loved the ritual more than the coffee. Grinding the beans filling my Turkish coffee pot placing it on the stove and waiting for its distinctive aroma to fill the air. It really is seductive. It was the staring role of my mornings for many years. When I look back at that time now I realise how racy and agitated I always was. I very often had heart palpitations and sweaty palms. At the time I put this down to the break neck speeds I used to cycle. I realise now that coffee had me so wired that I could only cycle at this speed. I have since given up drinking coffee and really don’t miss it. I still have my morning ritual but now I am brewing fragrant lovely light teas. I had a decaf over a year ago and it felt so dense, sticky and heavy in my body. I remember one of my first feelings when I gave up coffee was how refreshed I felt when I woke in the morning. Previously I was always groggy and needed a coffee ‘fix’ to get me going. I love your final words – “I’m at a point in my life where what I have chosen is SERIOUSLY AWESOME and I feel SERIOUSLY AMAZING for it. I feel so clear, on to it, light and consistent. I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more”. Awesome me too. Thanks for the great blog.
I have also remembered that I first started drinking coffee as a teenager. My father was quite proud of me as it was seen as an acquired taste. I was suffering from a hangover at the time, hence why I needed it. Little children don’t want to drink coffee, it tastes awful. Amazing how we override what we intrinsically know to be socially accepted or grow with a rite of passage.
The sophistication that is being put on coffee and then that being increased by the process and higher quality of beans and blends of roast, creates the illusion it is justified to be drinking it. Just like when I went on trips to the vineyards and the in depth process that has.
I love what you have presented here Natalie, essentially no matter how good something tastes, how good it smells or how alluring it looks, nothing in this world is better than feeling truly you and truly amazing.
Absolutely and the first few times you feel like you are sacrificing something but once you feel that constant amazing you – you realise there is nothing at all you are sacrificing or being short changed on.
Helen that is totally crazy! Where is the world at when statements like that are being published and obviously encouraged.
Thanks Natalie for sharing about the insidious nature of addiction and how the mind can trick you into overriding what the body is clearly telling you. I have never particularly liked coffee (or anything coffee flavoured) but remember I worked in an office for a few months where they made really strong coffee and how I got in the habit of drinking it with loads of milk to water it down because I wanted to fit it. When I changed jobs I recognised the affects on my body after one small coffee and made the choice to stop but was much slower to feel how I was equally affected by tea which had always been my beverage of choice and only finally gave it up when I decided to give up dairy.
The other day I read that a research has suggested that coffee might be helpful with reducing the symptoms of tinnitus although they admitted that previously it had been thought to exacerbate them?! How crazy is that?
Yes I totally agree Rachel that we were all to look at the exhaustion as opposed to keep going with the solution of a ‘pick me up’ which is usually brushed off with ‘it tastes so good’ with all the supreme blends that are coming out. It has now become an in-depth process with many factors involved for the perfect extraction… creating a story and reasoning of why it is worth having. Again all these hidden distractions from the real reason why people are having it and the exhaustion everyone is living in. What is causing the exhaustion? It’s a double whammy because you go for the coffee for the ‘pick me up’ and then your body crashes after it – this has twice the exhaustion of what it was in the first place from the chemical affects the coffee has had on the body. All a little crazy if you ask me! Vicious cycle that I was hooked into once.
This is such a good point, and it is sad but true that a large percentage of the world are stuck in this vicious cycle with caffeine and have lost track of what is actually going on in their bodies. Thank you for writing about this important topic, Natalie.
It’s really interesting to hear about your experiences when drinking coffee. I always liked the smell too, but could never drink it as it made me literally feel sick. There was one time when I was travelling in Hungary and the group I was with was offered a ‘special’ Hungarian espresso. They said it was a great coffee and if you were tired it was a great pick you up. Well, I tried the small coffee and in moments my vision went funny like I was seeing things through a haze of rainbow colours, my heart began to race, my head went all light and floaty and I started to feel sick. It’s quite bizarre that there is a whole industry world wide selling this ‘drug’ with such strong side effects and that we ignore the effects in our body, or stop feeling it through the need of a false pick me up when exhausted. Perhaps it might be wise if we looked at the exhaustion in our lives?
A great blog Natalie. I was a coffee addict. I used to drink 6 cups a day and each cup had 2 teaspoons of heaped strong coffee in it, and like Kevin, I could have a cup just before going to bed and sleep. Giving it up was hard. We were going away on holiday and knowing that the place we were going to did not have great coffee, I made sure I brought my own supply to keep me going. Unfortunately for me I was staying with family and they liked my coffee as well. My supply ran out with still two weeks left of the holiday. I felt like a druggy going cold turkey. I got horrible headaches and was grumpy, snappy and miserable with everyone. The rest of my holiday was ruined and I wasted time going to every type of shop looking for a strong coffee fix, but with no luck. When I got back home and had my first coffee, the effect was so revealing. My heart started to pound and I became irritable and agitated and the effect lasted for hours. My body was telling me loudly and clearly that coffee was not good for me. It was then that I finally decided to stop drinking coffee.
Wow Debra what an amazing experience to feel the massive impact it had on your body. I’m sure like me you would never go back to feeling like that by choosing something that stimulates the body.
I used to love the flavour of sweet creamy coffee since I was a child. I loved coffee ice cream and coffee yoghurt. When I got older I actually ended up working in a Starbucks for a short period of time, where they would give all the employees a pound of coffee a week!
But even at that point I was already noticing what happened to my body when I drank it. The jitteriness, and agitation were one thing but what was much worse was the crash.
It got to the point that after having any kind of caffeine I would sink into a deep depression that would last for days and be accompanied by a temper that I’d either try to suppress or I would take out on people around me. So I knew that I just had to stop.
It was one of the first things that I listened to my body about and realised that it simply was no good for me. I am so glad I did!
Naren the depression you experienced is such a distructive place to be in and making that realisation that coffee was a key contributor to this was awesome. How fantastic that something that dominated your life has not since you made that choice.
Thank you Natalie. A great article, it shows how our bodies know and signal clearly when something is harmful for us and that there is then a choice to honour this feeling or to override it.
It is interesting the honouring – because like most I over road it for quiet some time so when I started to make those changes, of a different choice and honouring myself, I started to feel different about myself. Like I was actually worth making those loving choices for. Now I love it, nurturing how I feel and me.
Love the way you have exposed the insidious nature of how coffee can grow on us when diluted from its strongest form and how we delude ourselves when our bodies shout out loudly that something isn’t right for us. And often in the name of fitting in with the crowd and avoiding ridicule. There is nothing more ridiculous than not honouring the truth. ‘It’s doing crazy things to my body!’ I gave up coffee 25 years ago, because I realised it kept me wide awake all night. A moment on the lips, a night-time of insomnia. A no brainer. And ever since, I sleep like a baby. Always.
I love it Cathy – a moment on your lips, a night-time of insomnia… most definitely a no brainer and i’m sure your body loves you for this.
Natalie – I so relate to what you say about the addictive nature of coffee and how if we override the fact that it doesn’t taste nice, you learn to like it. I first dropped decaf some years back, and felt much better without it. I went back to it after quite a bit of time, and then found it very very hard to drop. A short while ago I was feeling much better in my body, and finally managed to drop it again. This time it was easy, as I knew I didn’t want it, and it started to taste simply horrible. This is where it gets crazy. After a while I started to eat some things that didn’t feel so good in my body, and then I had a coffee, and now it has started to taste good again, and I am back to having the odd cup. Crazy. So it is clear, the real taste of coffee is horrible, and if we honour our bodies in how we live, and what we eat, we get to taste that true taste. It only tastes good when we really need the coffee, and the comfort it brings and/or have dulled our ability to discern its real taste.
Crazy as you say Carherine. I really relate to the last part you said about the numbing and dulling of our awareness – when your in need of it to keep you going it becomes something that you love the taste of…interesting how we can twist it all around so we don’t have to look at the real cause of why we are exhausted in the first place.
Awesome Natalie, thank you. I never drank coffee, I really hated the taste, but recently when I started working at a coffee shop we had a taster session for the new drinks and I tried one of the the iced coffees, and on the first sip thought thats gross but like you said it grew on me and I found myself wanting more. Luckily, I also have no desire to drink coffee and have to be scrapped of the walls because of the effect it has on my body!
Rebecca I love it – I don’t wanna be scrapping myself of the walls either!
Ariana that is so true about sugar and the hooking affect it has on us. It can be spruced up with all these other amazing flavours but at the end of the day it is eating away at our bodies… For me I have never really been huge on sugar, it’s in a lot of foods you wouldn’t expect. My transition was onto quality honey in foods that I made and even now I find that makes my body go into raceyness and the nervous systems starts to go crazy. So the choice is steadily loving myself and not choosing to go into [by way of in take] stimulate my body to take me away from my Amazingness I feel when it’s me.
I never liked strong coffee – I worked for a company based in Yugolsavia (as it was then) and they had hideously strong black coffee first thing in the morning with some incredibly strong liqueur – I didn’t like the taste of that at all! In the UK I drank ordinary coffee because it was what everybody else did first thing in the morning and at tea break and after lunch but I avoided drinking it at night because it kept me awake. Feeling that caffeine was bad for my health generally, I went on to decaff, then barley cup and eventually herbal teas. I must admit the decaff didn’t taste very nice and the barley cup wasn’t so great either and in the end I had just herbal teas or hot water with a slice of lemon. I now enjoy buying lovely herbal teas to drink, but mostly just have hot or cold water. Reading the comments above, it’s amazing how our social requirements are given more importance and allow us to override our body’s very clear messages.
Thanks for sharing Carrmel and yes there are some amazing herbal teas available these days.
I have never really drank coffee as I always found it strong. The only time I remember having coffee was when my mum would make a latte so the coffee flavour is reduced. Very rare did I have coffee or decaf coffee, never really had the desire. I have also found the smell too strong too. I would rather prefer a light herbal tea, there are so many available now.
Great blog Natalie! My experience with coffee is that I hated it as a kid and didn’t really drink it in uni. I was brought up on tea. I first had coffee when I became a medical rep and all meetings were in Starbucks or hotels and everyone drank these amazing creamy fluffy concoctions of coffee. I was pretty high from being a professional all of a sudden and at the time was indulging in all sorts of other stimulants, so my heart going nuts was very much accepted and overlooked. I put on lots of weight during this time and sometimes had to take more than my one usual acid reflux tablet per day. When I was living in Thailand I was working such long hours doing a physical job and I absolutely could not get through the day without my 2 coffees… No way! When I was home from Thailand, I was working in the quietist cafe in North Wales, I was literally twiddling my thumbs all day and the day was long – I was missing my BF, wanted to be back in the tropics and was depressed – drinking coffee had almost no impact on me then. When I quit that job and was getting ready to go back, drinking coffee sent me absolutely sideways – like you say it’s like being on drugs, or worse!! So when I was down or tired, it was like a pick me up but when I was naturally high, it made me seriously frantic and helped me ruin the actual good times! Now I haven’t drank coffee for ages but did accidentally have a couple of sips of a normal tea latte (was supposed to be caffeine free soya latte!). It only took 2 sips of the foam before I realised and 5 minutes later I had a banging headache, my head was spinning, couldn’t concentrate… It was so horrid yet this is what I was made to drink as a young child…. And they wonder why kids are a “nightmare”…. In comes ADHD amongst many others! All thanks to caffeine.
Rachel great point about children and ADHD as it’s not just caffeine. Sugar has a huge role on this as well.
Natalie this is a great exposé of how we get hooked and override what actually happens to our bodies with these drugs alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, chocolate and sugar. I remember my last soya decaf as it had the same impact on my body as straight expresso – the heart beating and anxiousness for three hours after drinking it. I couldn’t believe I felt that way after decaf and didn’t have another one for a few weeks then tried again, same thing happened. What stunned me was that I had been drinking decaf for years with what I thought was no major affect on my body, it just goes to show you how much we override so much so that we are no longer aware of how much stress we are putting on our bodies, numbing. And when we are in this place we can defend our drug of choice till the cows come home because we honestly believe it is causing us no harm! It is extraordinary. I couldn’t be happier to be free of all of these drugs, it feels better than any hit!
So true how we defend the drug of choice till the cows come home – when your in it numb to what it is doing to you – you see no differently. Extraordinary as you put Vanessa.
Over the last few days, I have been drinking decaf coffees but feeling the same raciness you describe for hours afterwards, my mind has been blaming the barrister for making me caffeinated coffees but today I triple checked with the barrister and the same thing happened! It feels just like I have been drinking full strength coffee. Yuck, it’s time to go.
I have had the same experience – a racing heart and serious discomfort from decaf! I couldn’t believe it and tried again some time later. Same effect.
It’s amazing how such ‘legal’ drugs are acceptable when actually they do so much harm, I guess the reality is people don’t actually want to feel, as you saying the subtle numbing, the hook, taking the edge of things… as with alcohol, but then it all becomes acceptable because it is legal, we promote it, buy into it and all that too brings, but really when it comes to our body and our being, there is absolutely no difference, legal or not.
Wow Ariana you must have needed those two weeks to let it all clear out of your system and I can imagine it was pretty full on. Isn’t it great how we come to realise that our bodies deserve more love and care – that what we do put in them does actually affect our way of being.
Ariana, it just goes to show that coffee is an addictive drug with associated withdrawals. I continue to let my mind override what my body is saying and dull myself with decaffeinated coffee. Reading your comment has made me reconsider just how harming my so called ‘guilt free’ decaf coffees are.
Ariana, when I gave up caffeine I thought I should understand the symptoms and googled caffeine withdrawal, – I had all 10 symptoms and was also struck with flu like symptoms. It was like the worst hangover I have experienced. And it took months to titre myself away from the insidious stimulant.
It took a few goes to complete but finally got there. I still have the occasional decaf but certainly feel better without them. Thanks for sharing, all I know is life is clearer and more connected without coffee – but it still smells really yummy to smell fresh coffee in a cafe! Part of life’s rich olfactory tapestry.
Andrew it is such an intense process cutting out caffeine and the withdrawals are full on. So the easy way to get over this is to have another coffee as you know that this will instantly to relieve it. But as you say it is worth perserving and sticking with it, and I totally agree that without caffeine there is most definitely a stronger, stiller connection with self.
Wow Ariana, you must have had withdrawal symptoms from the coffee. It goes to show that coffee is a strong drug.
So true Gyl and these drugs, alcohol and coffee are some of the ones we have the most issues with. There consumption is endemic as are their effects. But because we need to use them because of how exhausted we are, it’s hard to see the harm that we are causing ourselves.
Absolutely Gyl, it has been said that sugar, caffeine and alcohol would not pass current standards for food and drink to be ingested if they were discovered and introduced now – but I have a feeling that they would still find their way onto the shelves whilst there is a market for the effects they deliver.
Well said Gyl, any addiction to anything whether it is legal or not is just plain horrid. Its like a nasty insatiable monster that can never ever be satisfied no matter how much you feed it and it will always keep you on the back foot thinking you need more and that you aren’t enough without it. As I said nasty…..
Great blog Natalie. Coffee is such a drug! Years ago I lived in America and one of the jobs I did was to pick up these sacks of coffee from an importer in New York and take them to a coffee house up State where the beans were roasted. This was the best coffee from all round the world and man did I get a taste for it. It got to the point I could drink strong coffee before bed and still sleep. In the morning, if for some reason I didn’t have a coffee first thing I would get a blinding headache (although this took me a while to connect the lack of caffeine to the headache).
Anyway ten years ago to present time. Stopped gluten and dairy first, then let the more illegal drugs go, then stopped the booze, then harder still gave up the ciggies, although had many times when I had the sneaky one. Finally the coffee, my beloved soy decafe late was the hardest of all. How could this be wrong? It’s only decafe it’s legal and a Costa or Starbucks everywhere I turn around. For me it was the absolute comfort of this beverage, the subtle numbing, the taking the edge off effect. Possibly in its subtleness the most insidious of all my vices as it carries the energy of these big companies, Starbucks and Costa the biggest pushers of them all. After a session with Micheal Benhayon and a little push from some other friends of whom at this point I shan’t name, I am finally drug free.
Thanks for sharing Kevin, now that you mention it Coffee was my last drug to stop as well… such an accepted drug that is totally hooking! As you say the subtleties are deeply ingrained that you have to shake off and let go of.
Hi Kevin I can relate to coffee being difficult to let go of, the whole ritual of going to the cafes, chatting with friends over a cup of coffee and the stop moment in my busy life, so it was not just the coffee but all the little things that seem to accompany the drinking of coffee that I felt I was giving up.
Beautifully expressed Kev. Love your honesty. Thank you
A great account of your amazing enfolding Kevin, giving up all these poisons one after the other. I love your honesty and the matter-of-fact way you write.
Natalie, great blog and thank you for sharing, I can relate to this very well.
Hi Natalie, awesome sharing here, I am so with you on this one. I have never been a huge coffee drinker, I think the first time I tried it was my late teens when I lived in Italy and got hooked on strong expressos – maybe I thought it was cool at the time, I do remember bringing back a traditional Italian oven top coffee maker, thick and strong. After that I kind of drank coffee on and off, though I do remember lately, adding soya, flavours and syrup just to add a bit of a sugar hit in there too – and lately as I write this, I don’t even feel it was about the coffee, it was just a social thing, something to do to fill up space. A lot of the time it was like an automatic ‘oh what will we do, let’s go for a coffee, and maybe a cake’, and the culture attached to that, without even really stopping and feeling do I even want one.
After feeling nauseous one day I decided to listen to my body and my purse strings and lay off the coffee. I remember so clearly one day meeting a friend and thinking okay I’ll have a coffee, I’ve not had one in ages, and that was my last ever fully caffeinated coffee! When I left the shop and went food shopping I felt completely away with it, as you said like being on drugs, awful, I felt so high, so jittery, so anxious, just completely away with it, it felt AWFUL. It was so strongly felt in my body, there was absolutely no way I was going to make myself feel that way again, from that day I never touched another caffeinated coffee again.
I dabbled in decaf on and off for a while, but as you say even the first sip tasted disgusting. I too overrode what I felt and got lured in by a few more sips, but every time I went back it still tasted awful – why do we override what we feel? Anyway I gave this up also, I simply said why am I drinking this, it tastes disgusting, it doesn’t make me feel good and my tummy doesn’t feel good, but the big thing that felt so clear to me is, yes this may be decaf, but actually it is no different to putting caffeine in my body – I still feel racy, anxious and my body clearly doesn’t like it, and I’ve never been tempted since…. nor will I ever go back!
Gyl isn’t it interesting how the decaf coffee after a while you get to feel the subtleties how it is actually really intense. I too can remember having a funny tummy after the decaf along with the jitters etc. I wasn’t as bad as with the caffeinated but after a while of that and starting to realise that actually the decaf did the same but my body was so far gone that it seemed like nothing or a lot less than the caffeinated at the time. Really interesting how we can be checked out to what is really going on with our bodies and you choose not to feel the impact of drugs.
I remember that my body told me loud and clear when I was pregnant. Within 24 hours I couldn’t stand the smell of coffee, the thought of drinking it repulsed me. I knew I was pregnant. I couldn’t stand it while breast feeding either. Did I listen? No, I returned to coffee drinking ‘to fit in’ once the excuse of being pregnant or breast feeding had passed. Very revealing and alarming how we allow ourselves to deny the truth of what our body is telling us just ‘to fit in’.
Alarming indeed Mary, the override to ‘Fit in’ to a way that is disregarding of the body and self but because that is now the ‘norm’ and everyone is doing it..
Could the override come from a need? When we are exhausted and tell ourselves we need to function we need to take caffeine. If it comes with comforting dairy, all the better. It feels like choosing the lesser evil – hurting our body rather than feeling exhausted which would be unbearable when there is work to do.
Repulsion is great word for it – this brings back my memories of smoking for the first time, that was repulsive. But pushed on through for all the reasons that aren’t true or loving and smoked for a good 15yrs.. crazy when I look back at it and at the time having no idea, so it seems but we really do know.
Thanks Alison and knowing and feeling what I do know now – there is no going back!
I remember as a child I could never understand why people drank coffee, it smelt bitter and tasted bitter. I love your experiment and how you got to feel how coffee is really no different to alcohol in how it affects our body.
Your last sentence is so true…. “I’m at a point in my life where what I have chosen is SERIOUSLY AWESOME and I feel SERIOUSLY AMAZING for it. I feel so clear, on to it, light and consistent. I have so much respect for my body and myself that I am not prepared to compromise any more.”
Natalie, thank you for sharing this and I absolutely get everything you are saying about coffee. From my own experience the last time I had a caffeinated coffee was 7 years ago when I had a cup at 9.30am and was on a high until around 4pm that afternoon. Before this I had been drinking decaf occasionally so the impact was big but great learning because I got to feel exactly what it did in my body. Also having worked for a well known coffee chain I would often witness how other people change once they start drinking coffee. It affects them in a similar way to alcohol, especially women. Quite often as they moved onto their second or third cup they would get louder and it appeared they lost any sense of themselves or those around them. The fact many other ingredients are added to a coffee i.e. lots of milk, sugar, flavoured syrups, cream and chocolate or sprinkles, to make it palatable, could be a sign that this is not the best choice for us even if we ignore or deny the effects it has on our bodies.
Julia that is so true about all the extras that are added to disguise the flavour and how it affects people. It’s become the norm to keep having them on a daily basis and usually more than one a day.
The problem is that it smells so good, if we are not present or just after a quick fix, it is easy to get fooled!
I found for myself I still love the smell of freshly roasted coffee but have no desire whatsoever to drink it. That is completely gone from my body.
It was my experience Julie, that after a cup of coffee (AND it was decaffeinated, something I never do, it had the same affect on me as alcohol. For sure, I’m not doing that again, lesson learned.
Yes isn’t interesting that when we start to become aware of what it is that is happening to our bodies when we have something we can see the resemblance in the effects of if taking you aware from your body and your connection to inner being.
Hi Natalie, I love your blog; how awesome you are your own scientist, finding out what is harming your body and listening to that. The honesty here is so refreshing – better than any cup of coffee. 🙂 And the evidence is crystal clear – no double blind folded experiments needed here. 🙂 And as you said, if you had taken more coffee, it would have appeared as if the body would have stopped giving you the message through instant pain and discomfort. But the body doesn’t actually stop telling us, but with continuing to drink the coffee, we arrogantly choose to disconnect from our bodies to such an extend that we cannot ‘hear’ or feel anymore what it’s saying at that time. But the pain often comes back down the track a bit further with a diagnosis of some sort as the body again and again has to deal with toxins it isn’t made to deal with.
This reminds me of a time in my younger years when I used to observe men in my life drink beer – it always struck me that the first sip out of the beer bottle they had to literally force down their throat accompanied with lots of grunt like noises (the ones they do it in beer ads, loud ‘satisfied’ AAHHH’s, followed by wiping the mouth with the back of their hand in a large gesture!). It was the same for me when I tried to drink beer, it felt like I had to literally bite the first sip of beer off and could not swallow it straight away. But I would keep going anyway, my head overriding what my body was clearly telling me – that it doesn’t want to let this stuff in. I wanted to ‘fit in’ and ‘join in’ to be accepted, at the expense of my body. The body is always communicating with us if we want to listen, and when I woke up the next day I felt hazy and dull and heavy – as my body, especially my liver, was still trying to deal with and process the poison I chose to ingest the day before – ignoring the veto my body clearly had given to me.
It’s very exposing of our intelligence when we choose to put things into our bodies we totally know are harmful to ‘it’, as if ‘it’ was something separate from ‘us’. And yet at the same time we would not dream of putting the wrong petrol into our cars, for fear of damaging the motor which we know could end up being very expensive. When are we going to treat our bodies with ‘at least’ this same respect with the food/drink we put into it?
Great point Esther about how we would never dream of putting in the wrong petrol to avoid damaging the car and extra expenses, but we tend to ignore the fact that we only have one body and sometimes money can’t buy a cure. For me I decided ok, if I only have the one body then it’s up to me to look after it and love it.
Natalie. Your Analogy and using the wrong fuel in one’s car, also putting the wrong fuel in our bodies, is so true. Both need great care, and looking after.
How true Esther,and it’s ongoing. I am having Chai tea at the moment but some cafes don’t have decaf chai’s and at this stage it’s so hard to not accept. I have connected the experience of having it with the enjoyable cafe ambiance, the great amount of extra admin homework I get done there, the whole experience of being in a cafe enjoying a tea. Ive tried to justify it with all these excuses…but the truth is that I am kidding myself, and more than that, I am over-riding the truth my body is telling me, and denying myself the true experience of the real me…Who would I be if I listened and responded to my true feelings? What amazingness would I experience feeling the real me. I feel I’m too afraid to experience the true, and powerful, glorious me in case I don’t fit in anymore! And in case I end up with MORE responsibility! Ridiculous unnecessary, debilitating struggle.
Wow, Natalie I thought reading this article would be a breeze! Now there is much to ponder and take steps to change. Hmmm I do enjoy a peppermint tea…maybe this can be my first step towards ME. Thank you so much Natalie and Esther for the inspiration and realisation.
It is quite amazing – when we are not poisoned our body identifies coffee as a poison. When we are poisoned already, then coffee is the salvation. The poison that makes being poisoned more bearable.
What a special substance!
Hi Natalie, what a beautiful blog. What really touched me in this blog is that as you said we often override our first feeling of not liking something, like you with the espresso, and then starting to enjoy it after a few sips… which is strange. As you said this often also happens with alcohol and smoking. I never liked the taste of the three of them but in my teenage years I slowly started to try them out and started to ‘like’ it. What I also remember of that period is the pressure of the group/society and wanting to belong was a big reason I kept trying drinking and inhaling something that in the first instance I did not like at all. A feeling of everyone drinks this made me feel (falsely) satisfied.
Luckily my parents inspired me to live a more self-loving life which made me able to feel that I was beautiful just being me and did not need to drink alcohol, coffee or smoke cigarettes to belong somewhere.
Thank you for sharing because this thing around coffee is great to talk about and bring more awareness to!
Lieke, awesome point about the pressure around with social acceptance. It is so full on. I remember when I stopped drinking coffee and alcohol that people were always trying to get me to drink it with them, to make them feel better about the fact they are doing it. This was more with alcohol but very much the focus with friends and family.
Great blog on the effects of coffee – isn’t it amazing how much we can choose to override how our bodies feel?! I know I’ve used it in the past to ‘get through the day’ and in doing that, not look at why I’m so tired in the first place. Thanks for sharing – it’s inspiring to read how much you respect your body, and how that supports you back.
I totally agree Melissa, needing to look at why we are exhausted in the first place is a great place to start.
I can really relate to what you have shared Natalie. I gave up coffee a couple of years ago and have felt much better for it, however now & then I’d have a cup of decaf till I decided to stop at the end of last year. About 2 months ago I caught up with my brother at a cafe and overrode my decision and ordered a small decaf with soy. Big mistake… like your reactions with coffee, I had the same with decaf – shaky, dizziness and feeling vacant (maybe that’s normal). It lasted a couple of hours so I had a green apple and the effects subsided. It was similar to the effects of a sugar hit although it lasted longer. And it was decaf! Two lessons for me – no more decaf and don’t override my feelings or otherwise I’ll cop it fast!
That’s it Rod, we have to keep an eye on that override – it’s a moment of choice.
Hi Rod, I love how you caught when you over-rid what you felt and thanks for sharing the strong effects it had on you! It just reminds me to keep listening to what I feel, whether it’s a shout or a whisper.
You are discovering how delicate and sensitive you are Rod, and always were. 🙂
Great sharing Rod, I have had similar experiences in the past, where before I could have a decaf without noticing the effects it would now have an extreme reaction in my body as it did the last time I overrode my senses and had one. There is such an allure to coffee with the smell and the marketing, yet quite simply if we look rationally at the facts, coffee is not at all good for our bodies, lacking as it does any nutritional value and with a vast range of side effects, some of which are quite extreme.
Hi Rod, I had exactly the same experience too, with a decaf soya latte. Never again will I be caught out by that. For me, it’s honouring how I feel and not get caught up with what others’ are doing, and if it’s OK for them, it’s OK for me, as I have found this is certainly not the case, and disregarding of myself.
Thanks Rod, it is amazing how subtle the ‘hook’ of caffeine can be, from coffee, tea, green tea, even de-caf is not caffeine free just low caffeine…the hooks are still there. I completely relate to the bargaining that goes on to justify why it’s only a little bit.
It’s not until you go caffeine free and try to go back that you notice just how damaging it can be.
That seems to be the key, we will tolerate, if not easily accept some small negative impact for years and find numerous ways to mask that impact. It is truly a deep form of denial.
Yes Joel a very deep and insidious form of denial. When this is questioned we tend to run even further away and pretend we can’t hear what is being asked. Like a little kid with there fingers are in their ears and start singing. They know what is being asked but the consciously choose to avoid it. It’s like that with our own bodies.
Thanks for sharing your blog. I too haven’t had coffee in about 4 years and was recently in hospital and quite constipated from the medication I was on, so I decided to have a coffee, as in the past it had always had a laxative effect on my body. So I decided I wouldn’t just have a weak coffee from the hospital, but to wait for a visitor and ask them to get me a latte with soya milk. If I was going to have one, I might as well have a good tasting one. It did taste good, I so enjoyed every sip and the smell. I had forgotten how much I used to be into it, and I had forgotten its effects on my body. I had the coffee in the morning, and I was still awake at 3am the next morning. My body was racing and my mind was on overdrive. It was not worth it. I just don’t know how I survived drinking it in the past.
Rosie I love how you shared that if you were going to have a coffee then it had to be a good one – all the reasonings of why it is a great idea. Isn’t it crazy how easily we are seduced and we can justify why it is needed or ok to go there! It is incredible after not having something for so long that your body loudly and clearly shares the effects it has on it. What would we do without that honest reflection… one that you have listened and been open to.
I know! that whole “good” coffee thing. I recall having very specific cafés that friends and I would go to, to get the “right” coffee. There was a whole language and ritual to it. Finally my body mounted an intervention and said stop by giving me such severe palpitations that I could barely function.
Good bye special cafés, the fancy language, the rituals and the barrista preferences. My body had the final word and I have listened to it ever since. Thank you body!
It’s true. I imagine it’s much like finding the right drug dealer for your ‘fix’!
When I lived in Italy – I literally lived on coffee. Black shots at every opportunity, and yes, from the ‘right’ place.
It’s no wonder really that I was able to disregard my body so much during this time, replacing food with coffee, I was so ‘high’ I could not even feel what my body was telling me because it was racing so fast on the inside.
It should be illegal to live on the amount of coffee I did – let alone attempt to drive or ride a push bike- but that’s another story!
Beautifully expressed Rachel. In the past I liked the coffee and going into a cafe as well, but as you say, nothing is more important than about being ME. And if the body doesn’t like it, then there is nothing to decide, the body knows what is good and what is not good.
Yep, I know this well Rachel. Here in Melbourne we are known for our coffee and cafe’s and I was sold to it all, the culture is very thick. It did take me a while to break the habit, the morning or anytime of day ritual of going for ‘coffee’. Interesting what we override to keep up a habit!
Like you Rosie, I don’t know how I could have drunk coffee before. I only ever used to have one cup of coffee in the morning because if I drank it later in the day I could not sleep. For some reason I stopped for a week and when I started drinking coffee again I could not believe the effect that it had on my body – my heart started beating faster, my hands were shaking and my nervous system became wired. I couldn’t understand how I had not noticed these effects before – it was obvious that it was not good for my body so I gave up drinking it.
Fantastic blog Natalie. Recently a Doctor recommended I have a coffee every day to improve my blood pressure. I was shocked by this statement, but what is more amazing is that coffee and caffeine are so accepted in society that the addictiveness and impact on the body goes un-noticed. Thank you for this real life sharing!
Yes it is amazing as you say Heather, the ‘addictiveness’ that goes un-noticed… When I was in the heart of my drinking coffee years, consuming between 4-5 cups a day I too was totally un-aware of it. It’s interesting when people are ordering coffee for their morning pick me up they can sense or admit that they need it to get them going but won’t look at why they are exhausted. That’s the hooking of it!
That’s what I notice at work people are generally coming in for 2 or even 3 cups a day to keep them going. On occasion they ask for an extra shot which is on top of the double shot in one coffee because they need even more of a boost.
Back in 1985 in France I was 15 years old and we use to gather in bars and pubs on Sunday afternoon to catch up with friends. We were going for the cheapest item on the menu which was coffee and strangely enough it use to sit well with a cigarette (well not just one but possibly 10). We were sipping one espresso after another all day long and the impact it had on our body was huge. Sleepless nights and completely stressed and anxious all day long day after day…
It is incredible how the need for more coffee takes us up this sliding scale, and we don’t really notice that we are drinking the extra cup, the extra shot, the extra sugar….
For me it was the larger and larger sized cappuccinos, followed by a dull ache in my belly, all morning until the next caul at lunchtime. Years later I discovered I was lactose intolerant…well the belly ache mades sense after learning about that.
I never put two and two together regarding coffee and my anxiousness until my heart did it for me. One coffee started to produce intense palpitations that were distressing enough that I switched to decaf. Then decaf from the cafe started to do the same, so I made my own decaf. That was OK for a while, then it did the same. So I gave up altogether. That was close to 5 years ago. The smell used to tempt me…it was so hard to be around any cafe without yearning for just one, but now I can smell it and nothing is triggered in me…no craving at all in the woman who was once so addicted that my morning coffee was my only reason for getting out of bed.
Yes I remember the days when I couldn’t do a thing until I’d had my morning tea. It was my ‘on’ switch that got me going in the morning – the caffeine, the teaspoon of sugar and the warming milk.
And then meeting friends for coffee and after 1 cup feeling an energy high and then shortly after feeling really tired, so having another cup to keep me going.
Excluding gluten and dairy from my diet was a breeze, but caffeine … Now that was another matter. Even though I only had 3 to 4 caffeine drinks a day I was well and truly addicted.
Cutting back didn’t work so in the end I just had to go cold turkey and experience the nausea and migrain headache for 5 days. But well worth it now not having the highs and lows of caffeine in my system.
Great sharing Alison and really exposes caffeine for the drug that it is. It’s so intriguing how we humans could possibly be attracted to the high and lows of the caffeine-fix cycle over the constancy that a body free of stimulants offers.
I remember you Stevie saying to me years ago – what goes up, must come down – and that really stuck in my head and in one of my stints of giving up caffeine before I chose to to no longer have it, I remember hearing that and going yes, why would I just spike my body for it to come back to this spot again. It does not really make sense.
Alison it’s interesting to read of your experience of caffeine as an ‘on switch.’ I often hear people saying they cannot start their day before they’ve had their coffee. Hello warning sign… We wouldn’t dream of giving a coffee to a baby or a child yet they wake up full of beans everyday, no ‘on switch’ needed there. Exposing just how far away from our naturalness society has gone.
Alison I agree it is so worth the headaches, nausea and feeling extremely tired for those days when you stop. It’s a bit like coming of some hard drugs that you have been taking for a while or years and you get the withdrawl. No difference really an addiction that has a hold over you and you don’t feel you can function with out it.
Interestingly I know people who continue to drink coffee to avoid the withdrawal headache. Hence coffee addiction can become a vicious cycle.
Yes Alison the migraines and headache for the period after stopping caffeine seem minor when you get past them all and start to feel more clarity and less race in the body. It also gives you a chance to stop and feel the exhaustion that you have been living that got you to the point of needing coffee. As well as the the coffee adding to the exhaustion with the ups and downs and your body working over time. So YES absolutely worth every second of it and with out them you wouldn’t think it was that bad for you, it simply confirms how far away to our natural rhythm coffee really is or else the body wouldn’t react in such a way?
I can relate to this also Alison, I was able to let go of gluten and dairy relatively easily, but my morning english breakfast tea, no way, even when I was getting the shakes after having drunk the tea. I had become so sensitive to the caffeine, I even went to missing a day in between so my body had time to recuperate. But the impact on my body ended up being so overt that I did relent in the end. Looking back on the experience now, I am gobsmacked at how indignant I was, how much I wouldn’t listen to my body, crazy!!
Life feels so much more enjoyable without the highs and lows doesn’t it Alison. It is hard to think back what it was like when we used to be fuelled with caffeine. Still to this day I am super appreciative of myself that I know I am worth living a quality of life that is balanced and harmonious than be driven by an addiction that takes over my whole body.
Yes, it is amazing what amount of poison the human body can sustain and even give the illusion that it is not even poison.
Thank you for a beautiful description of what coffee does. It saved me from trying!
I like your sense of humour Christoph. I see the coffee addiction on a daily basis. Outside my workplace, 3 young charming boys have opened a little coffee cart. It is a buzz of activity where students congregate to get their fix, perhaps grab a muffin, catch up with friends, a break from studying. It is now an integral part of college life to walk around with a cup of coffee.
That is so true Christoph ” it is amazing what amount of poison the human body can sustain and even give the illusion that it is not even poison.”
Absolutely true Natalie. I have worked with people who do this very thing, relying on their morning coffee to pick them up when in reality they are exhausted and driving their bodies too hard. Is it not a case of ignoring the signs as it is easier to have a quick fix than to look honestly at your life and take responsibility.
I so remember going for the quick fix but what I still remember clearly is with any of the drugs or poison that I was addicted to, no matter what quantity the thought of stopping seemed like a struggle and long drawn out process. The little ‘monster’ inside craving its fix, once I started to see it for what it truly was the actual action in not choosing it again was a lot easier. Also the dedicated self-loving choices I was making supported this significantly.
I have always had a limit of 2 or 3 cups a day which irked me as I loved the taste of coffee but what I really needed was the caffeine and the comfort from the milk. I could have had decaf or drank it black but I didn’t. It is funny how the obvious (I need caffeine and comfort) could stay ignored for decades and I only dropped it when I had something better than caffeine and comfort which I learned from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.
I totally agree with what you say here Natalie about coffee drinkers… “they can sense or admit that they need it to get them going but won’t look at why they are exhausted”. ‘I love my coffee’ is a phrase I often hear but in truth they’re severely depleted and need it to get them going. Could it be that society has deemed it unacceptable to admit we’re tired because if we do we also have to get really honest about what led us there in the first place, exposing a way of living that doesn’t ultimately work for our bodies? Coffee therefore becomes the solution and the exhaustion continues.
When you are in it you don’t think you are addicted. You just think you like coffee, the flavour, the warming effect or in my case it was a nice, warm, milky drink before bedtime! It is only when I cut down and then cut out coffee that I realised what it was doing to me. Now the thought of having that raciness in my body feels horrible.
Fiona that is exactly what it is like, you have no idea when you’re going for it and having coffee and you block out that the first time you tried it tasted really full on and how it made you feel weird. So when you do actually cut down and the stop you actually realise the impact that it has on your body and how you feel.
Jane that is a really good point the ‘blindness’ you talk about. Its like we chose to turn a blind eye to it because it all tastes amazing but we really know it’s not doing our bodies any favours.
How true Natalie and Jane, how often do we turn this blind eye to many others things we know are doing our bodies no good.
I agree. When I finally stopped my morning ritual of a strong black coffee to get me going I felt absolutely awful and had a shocking headache for about 4 or 5 days. That in itself tells us something is not right. And I feel we turn a blind eye because, like alcohol it is socially acceptable to go for a coffee, a way of ‘connecting’ with people. But don’t we have to ask what type of connection can it truly be if we are putting our bodies into an altered state?
And yet Michelle, it is often the withdrawal symptoms from going without coffee and the tiredness that is initially felt that makes it so hard for many people to stop drinking coffee.
I would guess that most of those scientists doing research on ‘the benefits of coffee’ are addicted to the stuff themselves and quite unconsciously are creating research results that justify their habits.
Paul it does seem rather interesting when you read the distorted so called scientific facts that coffee is a health benefit when all you need to do is honestly feel your body after having a cup and what it it does to you and there is your scientific proof. It would seem indeed that they are trying to justify their habit with these ridiculous claims that are so one sided.
I don’t even remember feeling exhausted when I was a coffee drinker or feeling picked up by drinking it. I think the ‘coffee blindness’ extends to ‘exhaustion blindness’ too. We have normalised racing around and doing too much in nervous energy. In doing so we have lost the marker of how it feels to be still and vital inside.
I agree, it does go unnoticed as to how harsh coffee actually is in the body. When I first gave it up 8 years ago, I had one as a ‘treat’ on mothers day a month later- I couldn’t even finish it, I felt dreadful and racy and ill- I have never been near one since, and don’t miss it, yet I am surrounded by people who drink it daily as a much needed thing, like I used to, its not questioned, just sought after.
Oh my goodness Heather! That is some medicine you have been prescribed. And what are you meant to do about the sleeplessness?
A glass of wine?
You are so right that caffeine is utterly normalised. This week I saw a little girl of 9 who loves coffee and drinks it with mum and dad. That is starting pretty darned young.
It really has become the ‘normal’ thing to do and to start at 9 years of age is starting to become a common thing. At work I have a family that comes in and there eldest 9 or 10yr old is drinking decafe coffee and I can just relate to it when I started to drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and have alcohol I felt like the coolest grown up ever. Insane really that this is what children associate with being a grown up is.
It is actually really shocking what we think our body likes or enjoys, when in fact it is just our mind that has chosen to override what the body is feeling ~ for some bizarre reason.
I can so relate to everything that Natalie has shared here and have experienced the ‘slippery slope’ when having coffee once or twice when I felt I ‘needed’ it to get through. I can unequivocally say now that my body NEVER needs coffee, and never enjoys any of its ingestion, therefore it is never included in my intake. Pure, and simple!
What! Coffee recommended by a doctor…that’s just ridiculous. It’s so interesting the things that we justify as being medicinal and ‘needed’ yet the effect on the body is disastrous. Somehow, studies come out telling us all the benefits of such things as coffee and chocolate, yet the body knows truth and when someone ingests either of these substances the truth is the body reacts and is altered which is far from supportive and therefore in no way a true form of medicine.