Why I Quit Coffee
My Coffee Drinking Habit
So, let me start with a little background. I’ve been drinking coffee since I was a teenager, before I could drive, actually. I vividly remember a Starbucks opening in my neighborhood, and it was SUCH.A.BIG.DEAL. I would ask my dad to take me before school (and sometimes after as well), and I would order a Venti Caramel Frappuccino, translation, a gazillion calories of sugar blended with ice and a few espresso shots. So yes, I didn’t start out with the most distinct coffee palate, but my love for coffee escalated over the years, and I learned what good coffee actually tasted like. So I’ll do the math and tell you that I’ve been drinking coffee for nearly 20 years. Never missing a day, and typically having anywhere from 2-3 (or more) cups a day.
I want you to know that I LOVE COFFEE with every part of my soul. I feel like every time I read an article or blog about someone talking about not drinking coffee, they were never really a coffee drinker. And I can’t respect that! So I’m here to tell you that I’m on your side. I was a skeptic. I tried quitting it multiple times and always failed, because my ‘why’ was never strong enough.
Why I Cut Back
Back in November, after months of very painful and heavy periods and physical PMS symptoms, I read a book called WomanCode by Alicia Vitti. She talked about limiting or avoiding caffeine as it can prompt fibroids and cause painful and heavy periods. While I had zero intention of cutting coffee, I decided to scale back. I limited myself to one cup of coffee a day, while also taking her advice on some nutrition recommendations as well.
My very next period was significantly lighter and not nearly as painful. It wasn’t perfect, but it was leaps and bounds better than what I had been experiencing for the 6 months prior. I was satisfied, and went on with my life.
Then April rolled around, and this same, amazing woman posted an article on her blog called, “3 Secret Reasons Women Shouldn’t Drink Coffee”. I’ll be honest, I scrolled past it with every intention to pretend I didn't see it, but I just don’t subscribe to the whole, “what you don’t know won’t hurt you”. I love science and I love studying the human body and nutrition, I had to know her reasons. And to credit what I said earlier, I figured she was probably never a coffee drinker anyway so she doesn’t know.
I was wrong. She was, in fact, a coffee drinker. She quit cold turkey after a doctor telling her that coffee could be causing the cysts in her breasts, which she initially feared was breast cancer. I read the article and had my last cup that morning. Which, I’ll have you know, had I known it would be my last cup I totally would have had something better…it was sadly, Starbucks, as if a funeral of my birthplace of coffee drinking.
So instead of just linking you to the article to read (which I will most definitely link below because you SHOULD read it if you’re a coffee drinker), I want to tell you how the article impacted me, why it made me quit immediately, and how I managed quitting a 20 year habit cold turkey and I’ve stayed coffee free for 109 days and counting (as of this post publish).
Why This Article Impacted Me So Much
I’m pretty skeptical when it comes to health and wellness advice, hence why I became a health coach. There’s so much misinformation and people trying to make a $ that you don’t really know who to trust. I followed plenty of bad advice before realizing that I possessed all the tools to know what I should and shouldn’t be putting in my body. I don’t need to label my diet, I don’t need to cut out food groups, I don’t need to exercise a gazillion hours a week. I need consistency, I need lots of green vegetables, I need my healthy fats a lot more than I need lots of carbs, I need water, I need to lift weights, I need a lil cardio, and I need a LOT of self-care and quiet time.
As confident as I am in my personal health prescription, I also know that sometimes things in my body change and I need to adjust my diet plan. Whether it’s my hormones changing as I get older, the seasons changing, or sickness or discomforts, I am always open to researching and guiding my body down whatever new path it needs to get back to wellness. I don’t like feeling bad, and I refuse to ignore my body’s warning signs.
I respect Alisa and her advice because she’s been working with women and helping them fix their hormones, periods, and fertility for YEARS, with tons of testimonials, including herself. So when I saw her article, if felt like a gut punch. It was one of those, “I know I have to read this but I really don’t want to because I know the result" moments. And I was right.
Why I Quit
Reason #1: Caffeine Causes Cyst Formation in the Breasts and Ovaries
According to Alisa, “caffeine can increase the development of benign breast disease” and women with PCOS, Fibroids, Endometriosis, Ovarian Cysts, and Fibrocystic breasts are prone to more cysts.
I don’t know about you, but I do my best to protect my body against anything that could potentially cause cancer or give me a cancer scare. Benign tumors are not cancer, but they can press on blood vessels or nerves and cause other health issues. Also, anything that’s forming a cyst in your body, cancerous or not, really doesn’t belong in your body.
She also notes that for “women struggling with your period, fibroids, cysts of any kind in the breast or ovary, endometriosis, infertility, low sex drive, moodiness, low energy, and weight issues - coffee is making all of these problems much worse.”
After all, you only get one body. This means you should take the best care of it as you possibly can given the resources and knowledge you have.
Reason #2: Caffeine Increases Infertility Rates
I am a big dreamer. I always have been. From the time I was a little girl I have had vivid dreams about my future. I dreamt of living in a big city, I imagined myself having an important job and being the person in charge, and I dreamt about being a mom.
When I read that coffee causes infertility, that was a big red flag for me. I don’t know the status of my fertility as I’ve never tried to get pregnant. But I do know that I want children in the future, and I’m going to take every advantage of scientific research available to me to improve my fertility and my body’s ability to carry a baby full term.
Here’s the stats Alisa shares in her article based off of current research:
- 3 cups of coffee a day consumed by women or men increases the risk of miscarriage by 74%
- Caffeine is associated with suboptimal or suppressed fertility
- Drinking caffeinated beverages during early pregnancy increases the risk of early pregnancy loss
- Caffeine is considered an impairment to fertility alongside alcohol and smoking
- Men who drink 2 or more cups of coffee a day had a lower chance of conception via IVF
- Coffee disrupts ovulation by increasing cortisol levels and stressing the adrenals
- Coffee depletes vital vitamins and minerals needed for ovulation and healthy fertility, and the acidity causes gut health problems
It’s like I was saying earlier, I don’t do “what you don’t know won’t kill you”. If I get to the point that we’re trying for children and I’m having trouble conceiving, or I miscarry, I don’t want there to be anything I know I could have done differently that could have impacted my pregnancy. I’m not naive to think that I wont suffer from infertility or miscarriage for one reason or another, but it won’t be something I could have controlled. I think of it like my old bodybuilding competition preps…I never wanted to get on stage and be unhappy with the way I look knowing that I skipped cardio sessions or I didn’t follow my diet 100%.
What About Decaf?
This is the most common question I get when I talk about quitting coffee. Can’t I just drink decaf? Well, you can…however it still contains some caffeine, although only trace amounts. My biggest issue with decaf coffee is the process in which caffeine is extracted from coffee beans. There is no such thing as a caffeine-free coffee bean, unfortunately.
There is a relatively mild process to removing caffeine from coffee, however most conventional coffee beans that we drink in the United States are not using this method, instead they are using a solvent to remove the caffeine.
These solvents are made from dichloromethane or ethyl acetate, both of which are highly toxic chemicals, according to the CDC. It is said that there is no traceable presence of the chemicals left on the coffee beans due to the high temperature used during roasting the beans, but again, my philosophy is always why risk it?
How I Quit
I never want to tell people what to do, especially my clients and readers. But I do always want to give you all of the information I have, so that you can make an informed decision for yourself and what’s best for your health.
Everyone always wants to know what it was really like quitting coffee. It was hard. Really hard. Not just because of the caffeine addiction that I swore I didn’t have, but also because of the routine of drinking coffee, especially on the weekends. It’s so nice on a lazy morning to just sit on your couch and drink coffee. I also genuinely love the taste and the smell of coffee.
Days 1 and 2 weren’t bad. I made myself a matcha latte and took it to work with me, and I felt pretty good. Days 3-7 were nightmarish. I could hardly keep my eyes open. I would get home from work and sleep for 3-4 hours. And the headaches, and my mood. My sweet fiancé told me to tell you all how mean I was. Sorry, boo.
I have a very challenging schedule. I wake up at 3:45am most days to train my early morning clients, I usually get home around 9am and work from home on my health coaching business the rest of the day. My 5am client would make me coffee every morning, then we would get refills after our session (as a reward for waking up so early, of course), then I may or may not have had another cup before one of my next sessions. That’s three cups of coffee before 9am. Those first two hours that I would get home were my golden hours for creativity. It was my most favorite time to work. After I cut the coffee I couldn’t even sit at my desk without falling asleep on the table.
I was so disappointed to learn that I was really just functioning off of caffeine during that time. I really thought it was just me and my creative brain going to work, but no, it was me hopped up on three cups of coffee.
There is a silver lining to this story, by day 8 I was totally fine. No headaches, no more narcolepsy (ha!), in fact, I started to feel better and better each day. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that despite my early morning work hours, I actually feel more alert without coffee, and my energy doesn’t dip in the afternoon like it used to. Even with three cups of coffee in my system, I would crash hard around 2pm. Not anymore.
I find that my energy stays pretty even throughout the day, and it starts to taper down in the evening, as it should. By bedtime, my body is ready to sleep. And I sleep soundly and deeply.
My Tips for Cutting Out Coffee
Again, I will not put it lightly that depending on how much coffee you are currently drinking, cutting it out is not going to be easy. You can definitely start by tapering your coffee consumption down, then cutting it out. Or you can do what I did and take your last sip and say goodbye. Whatever you choose, remember to also be patient with yourself for the next 8-10 days.
My best tips for maintaining sanity while cutting coffee:
- Stay hydrated. This is super important. Proper hydration can help fight off headaches, fatigue, sleepiness, and improve cognitive function.
- Make time for rest. You are most likely going to feel more tired than usual as your body adjusts to life without loads of caffeine. Say “no” to extra commitments this first week and schedule time for rest, or heading to bed a few hours earlier than usual.
- Load up on nutrient-dense foods. The more water-containing foods you eat, the more hydrated you will be. You also want to focus on eating a lot of colorful fruits and vegetables. The colors expressed in produce is a representation of the phytonutrients it contains, and these phytonutrients can help replace nutrients lost from drinking coffee. Make a diet plan that fuels you and makes up for lost nutrients.
These three tips may not seem like much, but your body will literally be flooded with nutrients, water, and rest…three major keys to feeling your best, whether you plan on cutting out coffee or not!
Biggest Takeaways
Before I quit drinking coffee, I frequently experienced anxiety, fatigue, mood swings, intense physical premenstrual symptoms (tender breasts, cramping, bloating, breakouts), and sleep bruxism (teeth grinding). While all of these symptoms may or may not have been directly related to coffee drinking, I do believe that the hormonal response my body was having to my coffee consumption was directly related to these uncomfortable symptoms, as they have all subsided since I stopped drinking it.
I still miss coffee, not so much the buzz, but the taste. As for now, I plan on excluding it from my diet for the foreseeable future. I would like to see they day when I could have a cup here and there for enjoyment, but I don’t see that day arriving anytime soon.
I truly feel the best I have felt in a very long time. My stable energy levels alone are worth the cut, but the additional benefits of a mild, mostly symptom free period and no more teeth grinding and jaw clenching make me not want to go back.
If you are considering cutting out coffee, just know that it will be tough for about a week, and then you will feel amazing! You can do almost anything for just a week!
Here is the link to Alisa's article. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. Also, if you cut coffee, share your story in the comments!
To Alisa, thank you for being a game changer and going against the grain to empower and equip women to take charge of their health in a way that is unconventional. I admire your work and I am thankful for your courage and commitment to women's health.