Confession time…

Everyone has their vices, and believe me I’ve had a few over the years, but the main one for me is caffeine. I was addicted to Coca-cola. I started drinking the brown sugary concoction when I was seven. It was a special occasion thing or when we were out or on the boat; and only then I was only allowed one or two glasses. As I grew older and had pocket money I started buying it for myself; especially when I was at dancing school (all good habits my parents dutifully taught my sister & I went out of the window there).

Coke was the first thing I drank on the way to 6th form college at 7.30am and by the time I reached my final year at Uni, I was drinking roughly 3-4 cans a day. I also drank squash and fruit juice – of course the cheapest you could get – or alcohol. The only water I drank was when I was in the gym. I was always buzzing about doing stuff, if I was tired, I’d have a can of coke, my instant wake me up; I didn’t drink beer, only wine or vodka (which I mixed with coke); so the amount racked up without me knowing. And dehydration, pah, that didn’t effect me – I’d have another fizzy drink.

The Dark Days

It had got to the stage that I could tell which country produced the can of coke I was drinking; for the uninitiated; UK Coke is the least sugary, German & Middle East Coke is the most sweet. Coke tastes best out of the traditional glass bottle, yes, the taste changes depending on the container. I could tell the difference between Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Coke, Diet Coke and even caffeine-free Coke at 100 paces. I even tried the vile the ill-fated Tab but whatever the diversion, my mainstay was regular Coke. In a way, I see it as a good thing I didn’t go down the diet route, I wasn’t flooding my body with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame*, just plain old sugar, the best of a bad lot, I’m telling myself.

I had never thought that drinking all of this stuff might be bad for me. I didn’t drink coffee, tea or any other hot drinks, so I didn’t really know what else to drink, I did mix it up with other fizzy drinks at times, but always returned to the old faithful brown nectar. The bottled water phenomenon was just starting when I was at Uni, I wasn’t interested so didn’t pay any attention.

Instigated by a conversation with some friends over dinner; I realised I had a problem when I was 24. I’d started work at a record company and had the drinks fridge by my desk, which contained a variety of canned drinks. It was for the whole office but as it was next to me, slowly but surely my consumption crept up. On a bad day I was drinking the equivalent of 8 cans, but averaged about 5. My friends were shocked and appalled at this admission, and from that moment on, I decided to limit myself to one per day.

From Coke to Coffee

My strategy worked, for a time, but my consumption started creeping up to a bottle or a couple of cans if I had a hangover which was often a few times a week (the joyous side effects of working in the music industry). So on New Years Eve, 2001 – I declared to my best friends and boyfriend that I was giving it up completely. And so I did. For a while I substituted it for other fizzy drinks; I re-discovered Tizer, Irn Bru, Fanta; but slowly the fascination paled. I started drinking loads more water; but I also started drinking latte’s & cappucino’s. My friend Liz introduced me to Starbucks in Westbourne Grove and I was hooked. On the way to work I’d buy a latte or cappuccino, there was something comforting about this weak hot milky coffee I was clutching in my paws. But it was more than that, imagery coming over from US TV shows such as Sex In The City made the process glamourous & exciting. I couldn’t afford the shoes or the dresses; I didn’t look like Carrie Bradshaw but I could hold my own with my take away coffee, oh yeah. That cup alone was going to take me places, it made me feel important, worthwhile – funny isn’t it how you can be subliminally affected by these programmes that do not portray real life, and how such things can boil down to what you consume literally and metaphorically. Looking back, my body didn’t really like this, I know I’ve never got on very well with milk, but I overrode this instinct as humans often do. Unfortunately this gave me the habit that I’m currently now trying to break. My “one coffee a day” habit.

I’ve been trying to work out what it is and why it is that I drink coffee. I am so particular – I will only go to certain coffee shops, I switched to soya a few years ago and am very particular as not all brands work well when heated. My current favourite is BonSoy – a Japanese brand only available in Flat White & Climpson & Sons. But I also love Coffee @ who use Sojade. Planet Organic or Fresh & Wild/Whole Foods just don’t seem to be able to cut it – but that’s no bad thing as they do amazing juices & smoothies.

Its odd, when I am away I don’t really crave coffee and I never drink it at home; only if its made with a gaggia machine and I’ve paid through the nose for it. I’ve not drunk coffee for 5 weeks when travelling before but as soon as I step back onto home turf, I’m there, like an addict waiting for his dealer to turn up. Its crazy, I waste over £15 a week on stuff that isn’t good for me. In these times, it could be better spent elsewhere. If I want a caffeine hit, albeit a smaller one, why not drink green tea? I’ll get loads of antioxidants as well if I did that. And I do, sometimes, but only if I’ve had my one coffee.

What’s Next?

What’s my plan? I decided when I went away this week that I was going to do my damndest to drop it for a while. I don’t want to stop drinking it completely, as every now and again its nice (especially if I’m in the vicinity of my favourite coffee shop), I’m human, not a nutrition machine… I like being bad every now and again. The issue is that I’ve really drunk anything else other than water for years. A great friend of mine introduced me to the world of herbal teas over the years but it never stuck until this winter, when a combination of working from home, the weather and a dodgy boiler meant that I needed to warm up somehow!

Previously my view of herbal tea was that they tasted of dust or weak nasty flavours. Quite frankly, I hate peppermint, chamomile and fruit teas (which taste like warm squash to me), and with my history of disliking hot drinks, I didn’t want to have to buy a whole box of tea only to find out that I didn’t like them. Luckily now, there are some amazing brands in the market. Of course, I still make mistakes – but I try and palm those off on visitors ;) This winter, I’m currently in love with Dr. Stuart’s Wild Fennel tea, Dragonfly’s Rooibosch Chai & Moonlight Jasmine Green Tea & Pukka Tea’s Chai spice.

No more excuses

So, I don’t really have any more excuses. I have variety of drink options, I just need to break the cycle, in the UK, not abroad. I started this post on Day 3 and due to a massively increased workload I’ve not been able to post until today (Day 7). Its been brilliant, I’ve thought about it, but not been tempted at all. And I even went to Borough market and didn’t crave to join the massive Monmouth Coffee queue. I think I’ve turned a corner, I’ve never got this far before. I aim to do at least 21 days in order to break the habit, which will take me to March 22. I will save £50 from this exercise, now I just need to plan what I’m going to do with the extra cash!

*A 2005 study showed that the carcinogenic risk from aspartame is evident at 20mg/kg of body weight, 50% lower than the European daily intake guideline of 40mg/kg.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/34040.php