Better, but not perfect

I've significantly cut down on my coffee consumption this semester. However, i've also realized that I will probably never be able to quit coffee completely. It isn't so much about addiction as it is about comfort. Sometimes coffee just calms me down. I've made it a point to drink decaf, and that makes the caffeine addiction better. But some mornings I need a little bit of a kick start, and that's okay with me.

Next year i'm going to med school. i'm prepared for crazy sleep patterns, even crazier study schedules, and i know coffee will be a part of my study process. maybe i'll substitute hot chocolate some days and decaf others, but somehow i'm sure i wont be able to completely kick the coffee.

weeeeeeeeeeee!

I'm back to one cup a day. I have been trying to switch to decaf whenever possible, but i'll be honest...it's only on the weekends. I am currently running off sheer willpower. My cousin, who is just like a sister to me, is getting pseudo engaged this weekend (it's like part 1 of 18 of her indian wedding extravaganza), and after that my entire family is flying in from different parts of the world for graduation mania (i'm graduating and my older cousin is graduating med school). did i mention papers, projects, presentations, and finals yet?

And I am trying desperately to hang on to the few months of social life I have left before med school. Oh yeah, I have to take two classes and a practicum this summer in order to finish the program. And i refuse to party less than 3 nights a week until school starts in august.

needless to say, coffee is the least of my worries at the moment. i've got a million other things going on and i'm all over the place. if i want my espresso, i'm gonna get my espresso, so help me g-d.

Statistics

American Coffee Consumption Trends
(http://www.coffeeresearch.org/market/usa.htm)

1. Coffee drinkers spend on average $164.71 per year on coffee
2. 54% of the adult population of the United States drinks coffee daily
3. The average coffee consumption per capita in the United States is around 4.4 Kg
4. Among coffee drinkers (i.e. not per capita) the average coffee consumption in the United States is 3.1 cups of coffee per day
5. Per capita men drink approximately 1.9 cups per day, whereas women drink an average of 1.4 cups of coffee a day

More websites:
http://www.coffee-statistics.com/coffee_statistics.html

http://www.herbal-home-remedies.com/blog/?p=113

http://www.instah.com/health-updates/health-hazards-of-coffee-drinking/

Websites

These were fun to read:

http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/12/03/how-i-quit-drinking-coffee/

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-give-up-coffee/

http://thedailymind.com/health-at-work/give-up-coffee-how-to-quit-coffee-with-meditation/

Not really sure I can ever really quit completely, but I'm definitely not dependent on coffee as much as I used to be. I can get through the day with tea, and switching to decaf is totally working...I didn't know I could fool myself so easily.

xoxo

Support

Not surprisingly, some of the most support I've gotten in my endeavor has come from fellow MPHers. Since I love to hear myself talk, I've discussed our class projects with all my friends in the program, and they've been great at monitoring and talking to me about my coffee intake. They judge me when I walk in with starbucks, and although that may seem like a bad thing, I think about their dissapointed faces when I'm standing at line ordering my complicated beverages. Since it is all of my peers that I have to face every morning, it helps when they call me out on my excessive coffee intake.

On that note, have you noticed what awesome people public health attracts? Gotta love it!

Quick Update

This week: Two midterms, one quiz, Tess's project, facilitation.

So the thing is, even though I've greatly reduced my coffee consumption, coffee still makes me happy. I look forward to the days I let myself have coffee (like I'm happier driving to class Monday mornings because I know I'm going to starbucks). I feel like in order to have sustainable change, I have to not be emotionally attached to my coffee.

But the smell, the taste, the way "Grande, no whip, zebra mocha with three pumps white, two pumps mocha" rolls off my tongue...how can I resist?

At the same time, I'm not dependent on coffee as much as I used to be. I can make it through the day without coffee. I'm definitely meeting that goal of 3 cups of coffee/week. Now to see if I can take those 3 cups down to zero. oh, it hurts to even think such thoughts.

Difficult Situations

Last week, I was blacklisted from United Airlines. My flight was canceled, and since I had an interview the next morning I freaked out. After waiting in line for 40 minutes, being told that I couldn't get on a flight I had a boarding pass for, and subsequently being told that I had to fly standby no matter what later flight I chose, I lost it. I called the supervisor incompetent and told her that she should have been the first person to be laid off since she didn't know the first thing about customer service (I may have also said some other things about the degree to which she was incompetent, but we'll save that for a rainy day). I flew Southwest that evening.

I was exhausted, physically and mentally, so I had coffee on the plane. It was gross, and I should have just had water, but my caffeine demons were whispering sweet nothings into my ear.

The moral of the story: Don't fly United, they suck at life.

Inspiration!

Who inspires me to change? I have to say, I don't know that I have an answer for this one. Perhaps my reasoning is a little convoluted, but I'm hoping that by being able to change my own behavior, I can inspire some people who are very important to me: my dad and my brother.

My father has been a smoker since he was a teenager. He quit for a few years, but recently started up again. And my brother started smoking late in high school (he's 19 now). I've been trying to get them to quit forever. And I've always resented the fact that they say it's too difficult. Isn't anything possible if you have the will to do it? With this project, I'm learning how difficult it is to actually change habits...and I'm not battling a nicotine addiction.

I'm hoping that if I can show my dad and brother that I can let go of my vice, they will feel more empowered and try to let go of their vice. I've researched a million option, including drugs like Zyban, that help with nicotine addiction, but I feel like I've more of a right to by insistent if I've demonstrated that behavior change is possible.

I'd also like to add that I went to Starbucks today. I had a hot chocolate. I never thought those two sentences would be juxtaposed in anything I wrote. Such a rock star right now!

Chai!!

I've been really good this week. I had coffee once Monday (9am Environmental Epi = Garima in a coma), and then not again until Saturday night (it was cold and we were watching a chick flick, coffee was comforting). And the reason is that I'm rediscovering really amazing Indian Chai!

You see, you can make Indian style tea (black tea) in two different ways. One is what we call the "British people way", and the other is real authentic Indian Chai. The British ppl way is when you boil water and let the tea infuse and add milk. It really only floats my boat if I'm in a hurry. But I find it's just not satisfying...and I ultimately crave coffee.

So, I'm going to give you my secret recipe to make the most amazing cup of Indian tea ever! And brown ppl don't measure things, so its sort of a surprise every time. Shhh...don't tell anyone!

1. Boil water in a saucepan (like 1 cup per person)
2. When you start to see bubbles add loose leaf tea (black tea), cardamom (cardamom powder is best, but you can just open the clove and leave it too), and sugar to taste.
3. Let the tea & cardamom boil with the water, you can turn down the heat too. Wait like 3-4 minutes to really get the flavor in.
4. Add milk (the amount depends on how watery you like ur tea, I decide by looking at the color of the tea, see picture)
5. Wait until the tea boils again with the milk added before you turn off the stove. Enjoy!

As you can tell, I don't know anything about recipes or cooking or kitchens...so i hope what you get at the end of this process is something to the effect of authentic indian chai.

3 Barriers to Change

1). School: I have early morning class 4 days a week, and I'm NOT a morning person. Waking up is the most difficult process in my life. And if you think I'm joking, talk to my family. I don't actually know what 6am looks like (unless I've been up from the night before).

2). Headaches: I have a physiological addiction to caffeine, and if I am erratic with my coffee consumption, I get really bad headaches. With the amount of school I've packed into my day, there is no way I can risk being debilitated by a headache and not get my work done.

3). My Future Profession: At this point in my life, I can realistically sleep 6-7 hours a night and make it through the day without caffeine. I choose not to, and that's what I'm trying to modify right now. However, I plan on being a physician, and I know sleep will become somewhat of a luxury as I go from medical school to rotations to residency and on call nights. Even if I do manage to quit coffee this semester, I wonder if I will simply relapse once I start medical school. Is it even worth the effort to quit right now?

Motivation

My best friend sent me this today...I haven't figured out if she's mocking me or supporting my endeavors. It's probably somewhere in the middle. (love you aisha v!)

Weeks 1 & 2: Failure to comply

It isn't working. I had jamba juice one day, and then I smelled starbucks on the way to class the next day. That enticing smell of freshly ground pike place roast, brewed to perfection, with the perfect amount of steamed milk and two packets of organic sugar. I mean, really? Can you blame me?

The weekend was more and less succcessful, depending on who's story you listen to. I will tell you that I didn't drink any coffee over the weekend. My cousin, who has been monitoring my coffee consumption at home, will tell you that substituting 4 tea bags of strong-ass indian black tea (yes, I mean darjeeling) doesn't count as caffeine abstinence. But what does she know anyways?

The fact that we have an absolutely gorgeous and user friendly tassimo coffee machine at home does not make my life any easier. It calls my name. We have recently acquired an equally impressive juice maker machine thingy. But I haven't figured out how to use it yet. That is my next task. I'm going to try and replace the behavior of making coffee into making juice instead. That way I can limit my coffee at home, and if I need a kick start in the morning I won't feel too bad. At least not while the addiction monkey is firmly attached to my back.

b) My Motivation for Change

I feel like today is perhaps the most appropriate day to talk about change. Watching the inauguration earlier today, I felt an overpowering sense of hope like so many Americans. In a country where more people tune into watch "CSI" or "American Idol" than vote in Presidential elections, it was truly amazing to see our nation's capital turn into a city with 'standing room only.' As students of public health, and as citizens who want to dedicate our lives to becoming advocates of change, be it environmental, behavioral, or political, it was overwhelming in more ways than one to see our fellow Americans gather in millions and pledge to be a part of the change we so desperately need in the coming years. It gives me hope that as we move from our theoretical realm of books and classrooms into the real world, we CAN create positive health outcomes. The new face of our country is a living testament to changing social norms and the audacity of hope. Pun completely intended.*

On to coffee!
Why do I want to kick the habit? I find it's taken over my life over the years. I used to drink coffee once a week for taste. Most of the time as a treat for myself the days I had 8am class. Then I switched from studying at the library to studying at cafes. It kinf of went down the tubes at that point. Coffee became a study tool. Now I'm conditioned to a point that I can't sit down to study without a cup of coffee, even if I'm at home. More than a psychological addiction, it's a physiological one. More than 36 hours without caffeine and I develop the headache from hell. So, my motivation for change is to regain control over my life. I don't want coffee to control my mornings or whether or not I can read a book for more than 35 seconds. And for the sake of narcissism, I don't want wrinkles for my 25th birthday.

*I apologize for needing to throw all that into this post, but I really feel like the knowledge we gain as students of public health gives us this entirely new perspective on how we view the world. This is the first election in my lifetime where I have been completely involved and invested every step of the way, and I think it's because of my studies that it felt so personal. We talk about how difficult change is in general, today gave me hope that we are fighting the good fight in public health and we can make a difference.

a) Goal/Plan of Action

So I've been trying to kick the coffee habit pretty much since I was an undergraduate--that was 3 years ago. Clearly, I haven't been so successful. I can't do cold turkey since I get wicked headaches if I don't drink coffee. So my plan is to switch from coffee to tea (black tea) 3 days a week to start, and eventually get to tea everyday and no coffee at all by the end of the semester. After 8 weeks or so I want to switch from black tea to something less intense--maybe one of those crazy jasmine-white-green-decaf-magical blend thingys.

"Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee." ~Stephanie Piro

-garima