Thursday, April 30, 2020

Catpuccino Time

       



Coffee, caffeine, soda and I have had a long and complicated history, it's true. 


Back in high school and college, I used to use caffeine in the form of soda to keep me up late into the night finishing assignments, getting me through all-nighters and keeping me running through exam weeks and final project deadlines.  I continued this trend into adulthood, but alas drinking 2+ coca colas a day didn't keep me running like it used to, so I started adding in a stronger assistant, espresso.

Espresso got me up at 4 am to get to the train on time, and fueled me up when I failed to be able to prep-sleep for my overnights at work, pushing me through that 24 hours-awake mark.  

Now as you can imagine, filling myself up with high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and increasing amounts of caffeine on a daily basis does at some point hit a limit, and mine hit with increased heart rate and panic attacks. 

Since about 2ish years ago, I've scaled back — a lot.




It's kind of miraculous that in the last couple years I've gone from needing at least 2+ cans of coca cola and 2 espresso drinks a day (sometimes three or a Venti if I knew it was going to be 'a DAY'), to a cola and one coffee drink a day, to present day.

Today I have one latte when I wake up and that is it.

I successfully weaned myself off of coca cola— I only really get it when we eat out now (which in the current state of things is never!), or once and a while ordering a 2 liter with our pizza.  For a while I was drinking San Pellegrino sodas because they had lower sugars and no high fructose corn syrup — but now I don't even have those daily!  Honestly, my favorite 'special' drink now is a sparkling strawberry juice from Trader Joe's, and that only has 15g of sugar!  Honestly, the old me would not even recognize the person sitting in this chair right now.




Modcloth Flats  |  Forever 21 Tote + Pants  |  Tabitha Cardigan



And to be truthful, Andrew and I really do love coffee.

I just feel that my relationship with it now is so much healthier than it used to be.  I used to use it as a catalyst to force myself to get moving, dragging myself out of bed and trying to be the energizer bunny...

Now I view it as a happy morning ritual that comes accompanied with greeting the day and celebrating a pastry, or up until about a month and a half ago, tapping into the community aspect of visiting our little local coffee shop.   Now it has become my favorite way to say hello to the sun, without any grief or hesitation.

What's your favorite way to greet the day?



    



Until Next Time, 



— The Lovely Red Fox




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