My personal coffee rehab


by Jamie Brazil, Portland
Her blog
Author of Prince Charming, Inc.

Today I’m starting back into the fray, the email, the everything.  I feel like I’ve been away for a week, which I sort of have. Almost six days actually.  Who knew a fifth birthday party in Seattle could send me over the edge?

Yes, 5! As in my niece turned five years old and I landed in a self-imposed detox cycle the next day.

Detox is hell. The first three days consisted of the worst, most debilitating headache of my life. What was I thinking giving up coffee? I love the stuff. It’s my magic elixir. It added a layer of richness to my life, I looked forward to that first sip every morning.

Yet… after three large cups of strong coffee last Tuesday morning, a delicious breakfast, a morning of fun in Freemont, a visit to the aquarium, a ride on the waterfront Ferris wheel, followed by cheese bread, tapenade and toast, and the better part of a loaf of sourdough bread at The Old Spaghetti Factory, downed with endless refills of Cherry Cola… I hit the wall. I didn’t go to bed until 11:30 pm and the next day I woke up feeling like HELL. A rich-foods-too-much-sugar-caffeine-overload hangover.  Did I mention there was ice cream, too?

So I went cold turkey.

And Earl Grey decaffeinated just doesn’t cut. With coffee I had that able-to-leap-tall-buildings-in-a-single-bound invincibility. With tea, I just look at my to-do list and sigh at tasks like, hunt down book reviewers.

 Now that I’ve returned to a version of my former self, I’m staying the course so far.  My cleaned-up diet consists of lots of blueberries, choco-seaweed shakes (Bleech), and salads. The mental fog has lifted, and somewhere, in the distance, I can sense a clear-mindedness I haven’t felt in years.

I miss you coffee.

If you’ve ever tried a stunt like this, and managed to avoid coffee for an extended period of time, I would love to hear your story!

PS- I’m on the final proof of “Oni the Lonely” this week and hope to have it available next week.

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