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The topic I’m dreading, but only kind of….weaning off coffee.

Here we are, about to dig in on the topic because it’s the January 12 Months of Whole Healing experiment and goal.

In case you need a recap of what this all is, read 12 Months of Whole Healing HERE before continuing on.

Alright, so back to the coffee conversation.

My history with making a latte is long and lovely. We’ve been BFF’s since about the summer after my senior year of high school. I cannot tell you how much I love coffee.

And yes, I’m talking about everything from black coffee to sugar-filled lattes, mochas and frappes. 

Give me all of it, and give it to me morning, noon, and night.

I wish I was kidding even a little. But I’m not. 

Cutting Coffee Cold Turkey

There were two times in my life, since then, when I cut coffee cold turkey.

The first was when we went through the IVF cycle. I didn’t want anything to ruin our chances that it would work, so I steered clear. 

But I don’t remember the effects that time. I mean, it was just Ryan and I and two dogs so even if I did have zero energy, I could sleep it off.

Now, the second time I cut coffee cold turkey it was about as rough as it comes.

It was Saturday, March 21, 2015. Ryan was gone for the weekend, so it was just little Samarah and I. That day, I had a cup of decaf coffee, but that was it. (Note: there is still a pinch of caffeine in decaf.) Anyways, I barely made it through the day. The fatigue that took over my entire body was unreal. I slept every second Samarah was sleeping. 

And the following days weren’t much better. It took quite some time before I felt “normal” again. It was then when I vowed to “never drink that much coffee again – ever.”

But…..Life

Well, within the next couple years, our house would be filled with 2 more very small children. At the time, we were living in California, Ryan was traveling, and I did everything I could just to keep up.

And listen, I don’t care what anyone says, coffee was there for me and made it all possible. I owe a lot to the delicious beverage.

What started out as 1/2 cup of coffee then has now become more caffeine (via coffee only) than I want to admit.

While I’m not looking to cut it completely, I am looking to wean off coffee.

And here are my personal reasons why.

Why I Want to Wean Off Coffee

1. I’m totally addicted

   The way we make our coffee most days at home is with 1/2 decaf and 1/2 regular. If we run out of regular, we use all decaf (and then run out to get regular later in the morning). I’m too tired those mornings, which tells me that I am addicted. And I do not want to rely on needing coffee for energy. At all, not even a little bit. I want to be able to lean in and know when my body is truly tired and when it’s not.

2. It’s expensive

   Again, this is a personal one, but for me it is expensive. I would guess that at this point, I’m getting a latte or some other fancy drink 5 days a week. That’s ridiculous, especially when it’s so easy to make the same thing, or something very similar, at home.

3. Sensitivities to noise and anxiety

   I’m highly sensitive to noise, and when I drink too much coffee this compounds very quickly. And that leads to an increase in anxiety. I’m tired of that on the daily.

Those are my three reasons for weaning off coffee.

You might identify with one, all, or even none of them. 

Regardless, I think you’re going to get something out of this January challenge.

Weaning Off Coffee

Click HERE to save this post for later.

In the 12 Months of Whole Healing post, here is what I stated about this challenge:

• learning alternatives
• not cutting cold turkey
• believe me, this one is hard if you’re used to drinking any amount of coffee on a daily basis

And that was it.

But now it’s time for the details so you can decide if and how you’ll join the weaning off coffee challenge.

Details for the January Challenge

Here is exactly how I’ll personally do the weaning off coffee challenge.

Again, my goal is not to cut cold turkey nor is it even to entirely quit caffeine consumption by January 31. 

The goal is to greatly cut back while also trying new things. 

So I’m going to:

1. Have no more than 1 cup of coffee the first half of January (1st – 15th). 
2. Have no more than 1/2 cup of coffee the second half of January (16 – 31st).
3. Enjoy and try all the alternatives. I have found many that I want to try, write about and share with you.
4. Only get coffee from a coffee shop no more than 2 times per week. And when I do, it has to be a plain, coconut milk latte with decaf espresso or 1/2 caf small coffee. See, might as well just make it at home?!

I’ll track this all via my gut healing journal. Remember, this journal will be perfection for these 12 months of challenges. You can get your e-journal HERE or purchase the physical copy right here.

When I say, “track this all,” here are some of the things the journal features to help track:

1. Daily pages to customize what I’m drinking and making correlations with how I’m feeling.
2. The habits tracker! If you have the journal and e-course add-on, I’ll put up my January habits tracker with the coffee challenge pieces in the private Gut Healing Journaling Facebook group so you can see exactly how and what I’m tracking.
3. Weekly check-in reflections on the experiment.
4. Monthly check-in chart; use one of the color keys to track the monthly experiment.

Supplies You Might Need/Want for the Month

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To help with this part even more, I have added a brand new tab to the MASTER GUTSY SPREADSHEET HERE called, “Weaning Off Coffee CHALLENGE” with all the information below easily accessible.

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Now, there are only a couple short weeks left until January. Therefore, I wanted to get this post up and running so you (well, actually me, too!) can be fully prepared.

Gut Soothing Golden Latte

I’m giving this one a space all on its own and featuring it first because it’s the bomb.com 🙂

Also because it’s part of my 30-Day Gut Healing for Beginners: ELEVATED program.

Yes, you can do the Weaning Off Coffee challenge in conjunction with the course. I make it easy!

A little peek into one of the recipe videos.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make it:

• non-dairy milk (the thicker the better for this one; cashew or coconut perhaps)
• maple syrup
• turmeric
• cinnamon
• ginger
• clove essential oil (see below, also optional, but it really made the drink!)

Edible: pre-made/packaged, done-for you now

1. 100% organic decaf coffee (Purity Coffee is super high-quality; I also love Equal Exchange)
2. Chaga + Chocolate Latte (use code AGUTSYGIRL at checkout to save up to $40 off your first order)
3. Matcha + Lemongrass Latte (use code AGUTSYGIRL at checkout to save up to $40 off your first order)
4. Gut Power Drinks (flavors: coffee, matcha tea, cocoa; use code AGUTSYGIRL at checkout to save 15% off your first order) 
5. Teeccino (new obsession!)
6. MUD/WTR
7. Pre-brew coffee spices 
8. Chicory (100% Organic Chicory Coffee)
9. Kakao Ceremonial Drinking chocolate
10. 100% organic decaf tea
11. Four Sigmatic (Mushroom Chocolate)
12. DIY Non-Caffeinated Latte (see below in the DIY section)

Non-Edible: how we make some of these come alive

1. Bodum Tea Press (just bought this, and I love it because you can use either loose leaf or tea bags in it)
2. NestPark portable drink mixer
3. whisk
4. blender
5. coffee maker of sorts (Yes, you might need one even with decaf! Several ideas HERE.)

Extras + DIY

Let’s say you want to create your own coffee-substitute beverage.

Here are the ingredients (in total) from the above products and/or ones we will create and concoct with):

1. non-dairy milk of choice (make sure to look at the ingredients; label should contain 1-3 ingredients only)
2. Thrive Market powdered coconut creamer, original
3. clove essential oil (this is part of my 7 essential oils for gut health that you can purchase HERE – feel free to remove any you don’t want!)
4. cacao
5. Flavorganics Organic Coffee Extract
6. masala chai
7. turmeric
8. sea salt
9. chaga
10. cordyceps
11. reishi
12. Frontier Natural Products Chocolate Extract
13. lions mane
14. cinnamon
15. organic ceylon cinnamon
16. organic orange peel
17. honey
18. monk fruit
19. maple syrup
20. coconut sugar

Gut Healing Boosts for Your Warm Beverage

Below is the list, but you can learn about each one of them as they relate to incorporating into a warm beverage HERE.

1. Tummy Soothe (gut-immune boost)
2. L-glutamine
3. collagen 
4. gelatin
5. ashwaghanda
6. ginger
7. probiotic (Just Thrive)
8. MCT Oil

DIY? But How?

Oh good, I’m so glad you asked!

Let’s make some together in January. On my list of things to create then make and share with you include:

1. Organic, Vegan Hot Cocoa 
2. a DIY MUD/WTR (don’t worry, we’ll call it something different)
3. Trinity’s fave blend with exact how-to and ingredient quantities: Half chicory/half 100% decaf organic coffee with Pre-Brew Coffee Spice 

Which Coffee Replacement Should I Try? 

Alright, if you’re still feeling stuck as to what drink might be best for you to try and prepare for, you can take this simple quiz to see what you might want to start off with.

How Does the “Weaning Off Coffee” Experiment Fit Into Whole Healing?

We are kicking off these 12 months of whole healing experiments with coffee. If you don’t drink coffee, then swap out coffee for caffeine. 

I’m not saying that coffee is always, 100% of the time bad for the gut. 

Let’s say this is your situation:

• you metabolize coffee fast
• you’re having 1-2 cups of high-quality, organic coffee per day
• to said coffee you’re adding only 1-3 ingredient organic “creamer” and maybe a pinch of sugar

In that case? Good for you.

But if you’re to be very honest with yourself, this is not likely the situation.

At least it’s not for me, not right now. 

This is an experiment, and like any other experiment we may find a ton of whole healing with it; we may also not. 

The point is that, for me personally, there will be far less caffeine and extra things and much more trying of new, higher-vibe drinks. 

And that’s pretty much on point for the type of whole healing I firmly believe works for the long haul.

Also, this is all part of my 2021 desires for CREATION. <- click there, enjoy!

I’m in! How Do I Join the Weaning Off Coffee Challenge?

Remember, there are zero requirements or financial commitments.

I’m doing this free of charge, and I don’t expect anything in return except that you join, love it, and learn a lot about yourself and whole healing.

You’ll be able to see what and how I’m personally doing daily, weekly, or whatever I feel like.

Ways you can “join in:”

• The Rated-G Email Club (sign up HERE if you’re not part of it yet)
• Instagram (I’ll also use this hashtag -> #12monthsofhealingexperiments)
• Private Facebook group HERE. I have created this so there is an extra support chat room for those who want it!
• Right here, agutsygirl.com (I’ll do a recap post at the completion of each experiment)

By the way, you might enjoy this podcast episode on, Does Coffee Cause Inflammation?

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

1. How I Drink My Coffee
2. What is Chicory Root?
3. Does Coffee Cause Inflammation

Xox,
SKH