Why I Don't Drink Coffee

Natural energy is the best kind of energy. I believe that most people would change their lifestyle if they knew how much natural energy they could have.

Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug. A temporary fix that you're relying on daily to get a fix. So many people, especially Americans rely on their daily coffee. What if I told you that you don’t need coffee in order to have energy and “wake up”? If you eat well, exercise frequently, get enough sleep you will have so much more natural energy! Unfortunately, no one wants to do this! It’s always justifying foods with “oh, it’s not that bad for me” or “oh, it’s okay I’ll have a salad later and it’ll fix that junk food mistake I had earlier.” Or “I’m tired from working.” Try to go for a 30-minute walk before work so you get it out of the way and don’t have to think about it at all. You’d be surprised at the benefits of walking for 30 minutes. You should run too, but doing something EVERY DAY is much more important, even if it’s just walking 30 minutes on the beach. I’ll try not to dive into the diet and exercise tips too much.

5 years ago I started community college.

I started drinking coffee my first year of community college (Cuesta College) due to partying and staying up late, then having to wake up for music theory class at 6:00 AM I think? That was rough on me so I thought I had to drink coffee for that fix. It probably would have been better if I didn’t drink any coffee at all and I would gain that natural energy 30 minutes to an hour after waking up. Everyone has a waking up period after sleeping through the night. For me it takes maybe 45 minutes to an hour. Then I’m all set and I fast until lunch (I didn’t then, but now I do. Read up on fasting benefits, it’s not unhealthy and burns excess fat as a fuel source).

Fast forward a year to my new college in Boston, MA. Berklee College of Music...

I started drinking more coffee since I was stressed out with my new surroundings, thinking to myself: “I need to work really hard my first semester and be present at all times.” I was also anxious living in a city for the first time coming from a beach area in southern California. Due to my dramatic life change, I started drinking more coffee and more potent coffee. Which led to me having panic attacks for the first time in my life. I didn’t even know what it was at first; someone had to describe to me what a panic attack was. I stopped drinking coffee and whad’ya know? Panic attacks gone! I understand everyone is different and reacts differently to things. However, you’d be surprised at how many things affect your life in a negative or positive way once you take those things away. Once you separate and detach, you become more self-aware, conscious, and in tune with your body. You realize how things affect you because you’re not caught in the lifestyle of what you once called “normal.” Many believe they’re supposed to feel the way that they feel with an unhealthy lifestyle because that’s all they know. They don’t know how to feel differently, how to feel good. They’ve never changed their ways before and experienced the other side of the spectrum or they have forgotten how they felt before. I’m not one for Astrological signs, but the Libras are known to be balanced and I do think that represents me well, though it could for someone born in January too, doesn’t really matter to me.

Self Test!

The easiest and hardest thing you can do is lower the dosage of coffee you drink then quit completely. Once you’re past the withdrawal state and are in an overall better place with your lifestyle after a while (these things take time), you will notice how much better you feel and you’re natural energy rising.

Withdrawal from Caffeine/Coffee

Many people don’t want to quit drinking coffee and feel that they need it for their day as a booster. When you stop consuming caffeine after drinking it daily for an extended period of time, you’re going to have withdrawal symptoms: headaches, migraines, and so on. If something has this effect on you when you stop consuming it and have any sort of withdrawal symptoms, it can’t be good for your health or energy. My issues is people believing what complements their current beliefs: “video games are good for you brain” even though you can achieve those same benefits from doing a different activity and get more out of such activity. Yes there are known benefits to coffee, as there are with many things. The all too common: “wine is good for you, it has resveratrol.” Guess what? You can get that from grape skin! With more added benefits in the fruit! “Olive oil is good for you! It has healthy omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids!” Guess what? So do flax seeds, salmon, and other foods with added fiber and protein benefits whereas the oil is just a concentrated extract with no fiber or protein benefits… Do you see where I’m going with this? Just because something has benefits doesn’t mean it’s good for you. It may be a better choice than say a soda, or a bag of chips, but that’s not saying much. Wouldn’t you rather fuel your body with what is 100% good for you? Rather than making all of these justifications in order to make yourself feel better about your decisions? I’m not trying to shame. I’m just trying to make others self aware. Something I lacked as a teenager.

To Consider

You need more sleep after consuming caffeine. That is not a good thing. It doesn't balance out. You need more sleep for that temporary fix. Making your adrenal glands work harder than they should to push out the bitter toxin that is caffeine, coffee, or dark chocolate. You'd feel better with natural energy and require less sleep and will feel way more rested when waking up with less sleep. Natural energy is what you want. Just because it comes from the earth or ground doesn't mean it's good for you. Every once in awhile, fine. I choose not to though.

What to Do Instead

I prefer drinking 100% decaf organic teas, mostly herbal tea, which really isn’t even tea. It’s just herbs heated up in water. After maintaining a healthy diet and exercising frequently, the tea will wake you up now. Tea might not have had this effect on you before because you haven’t experienced natural energy before or in a very long time, maybe since childhood. Occasionally I will have green tea with caffeine at a Japanese restaurant or at home, but that's 40mg of caffeine every now and then compared to 100mg in coffee EVERY DAY! That’s more than half in a cup of caffeinated tea. I don’t drink it every day, usually before a meal after fasting or in the winter months more, especially in colder areas.

Wrapping Up

Discussing food and lifestyle are similar to discussing politics and religion. Which is understandable considering it is what they hold true to their heart; something they eat and drink every single day. That’s kind of a big deal. Please don’t take any of this personally or as an attack to coffee drinkers. This is just my perspective and what I have experienced and noticed in others as well. How do you know unless you’ve tried it? I’ve experienced both lifestyles.

This is an article is coming from a male perspective. I know typically it’s women that are involved with health, but men need to take care of themselves too!

Peace and love.