Thursday, August 26, 2010

Day 73: Dabbling in Decaf

Brace yourselves, friends. I think I’m going to have to change my coffee to decaf. Yes, me. The coffee-loving, Starbucks worshipping, have-to-have-it-by-10am-or-else… ME. And the reason really has nothing to do with me. Go figure.

For the past week, sporadically, the kids have wanted coffee in the morning with their breakfast. Granted, the mixture I make for them is about one-fourth coffee and three-fourths milk, but still. It’s coffee. And they are little.

I can remember my PaPa making himself a cup of coffee and telling me as I begged for a cup, “It’ll put hair on your chest.” I loved the milk-coffee so much that it was worth the risk, and I was pretty sure he was joking. But I kept close watch inside my shirt, just in case.

I never gave it much thought on the rare occasions when my kids would ask for a cup, which would end up only half-consumed anyway, even when served in their child-size plastic mugs that match my Christmas china (Isn’t that adorable?! Stop rolling your eyes.) As you all know, this dietary change has really made me reconsider everything that goes into our bodies. Here I am cutting out all the petrochemicals, but I’ll feed my kids a cup full of neurotoxins in the morning and think nothing of it? Au contraire, mes amis!

I find it mildly amusing that I now base my consumption decisions on what it will do to me later, rather than how good it will taste now. What a difference that has made! I don’t want candy, I can easily pass up the leftovers in the kitchen at my office, and even restaurants don’t appeal to me as much because I find myself wondering, “What are they really serving me?”

Along the same lines, I consider the long-term effects on my kids rather than what is quick and easy right now. Which brings us back to the coffee, and the shocking news that I’m going to buy decaf next week when I go to the store.

So if you are one of the individuals who sees me before noon each day, and you notice a little change in my behavior, like say, I take on the persona of the Wicked Witch of the West, please bear with me and know it’s the decaf. I’ll be back to normal after a small adjustment period.

No comments:

Post a Comment