Diet Coke –
eight liters a day,
seven days a week,
52 weeks a year…
That was me last year, and for the preceding I-don’t-know-how-many-years.
I like caffeine, but I was starting to worry about the aspartame - I mean do we really know what it is doing to us? – and just the general dependence thing…It all started in graduate school - I worked full-time and was in a full-time Master's program. I couldn’t pass a convenience store or a gas station without pulling in - and then there were vending machines on campus... First it was 12 ounce cans, and then they came out with that 20 ounce plastic bottle. The final nail in the coffin was when I discovered that the 20 oz. bottle was $1.29 and the liter bottle was only $1.59.
60% MORE FOR ONLY 30 CENTS.
Well, that was it…Now I was drinking a liter between convenience stores…I didn’t even have to steer…my car automatically pulled in…diet coke…the first thing I did in the morning and the last one on the nightstand going to bed…
So I quit --- February 2006.
Cold-Turkey.
For three weeks you’d have thought I had sworn off crack.
NO.
Of course not.
I’ve never tried crack; but withdrawal from crack can’t be any worse than what I went through.
So things were going pretty well for a while…months, even.
And then I had a latte. Okay, I used to have an espresso after dinner now and then…
‘Turned out coffee tasted pretty good. Publix had a non-dairy half & half…okay.
…I think you are already seeing where this is going…
There have been so many tradeshows, so much high intensity work - and Starbucks is so ubiquitous now you can’t escape if you wanted to…Starbucks…personally, I think they over roast their beans…but I’ve still visited them in Amsterdam and Vienna, Los Angeles and Tempe, Toronto and Phoenix and San Francisco and Miami…Yes, often.
Einstein Brothers has good coffee…they don’t over roast their beans…over roasting is okay with espresso, you want that taste…
Then I started at home after reading some coffee reviews…it turns out my favorite to make myself is Eight O’Clock, but only the whole bean 100% Columbian.
I recently found it on sale.
Two for one.
Let me tell you about my freezer…
Yep, Eight O’clock Coffee…I wish I was only drinking it from eight to eight…
Now in Panama City I haven’t found a Starbucks, but they do have two Dunkin’ Donuts, and yes, I’ve tried both. But heck, when I am in Panama I get café con leche at Manolo’s anyway…
So now the big decision…
Do I quit cold-turkey before I start having that last coffee of the day on my nightstand?
…and see what happens?
…or should I wean off gradually because I can still feel those headaches from February 2006?
Stay tuned…
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