Thursday, February 9, 2012

half-caff



Of all the things I do for my health, getting acupuncture has been the best for me (by a landslide). I adore and respect Sidney, my acupuncturist, so much - which is why I trust her when she says my adrenal glands are stressed. It's no shock, other medical professionals have told me this news before, and if I think about it, it makes sense.
When you are in pain - for example, you stub your toe - your body releases adrenaline (from your adrenal glands) as part of the pain response. When you are in pain for over 3 1/2 years, those adrenals get over worked and stressed.


However, my trust for Sidney made it particularly hard to have this conversation...

me: "If my adrenals are stressed what can I do?"
sidney: "Well, its about more than just resting - although, you should be resting more."
me: "Okay, I can do that."
sidney: "And it's important that you reduce your caffeine intake..."
my brain exploding: (whossa, what now?!?)
sidney: "... no more than 8 oz of coffee a day would be fine."
me: "sure."

I responded with - "sure" - but I was really thinking "please don't mess with my happy place."

I don't drink a TON of coffee but I do usually make a pot in the mid-morning then have two (or so) mugs. I sip it and it takes time and it's a good part of my day. I don't like to give up good parts of my day.... but I will. Even though I don't have any sort of feelings about the little chewed up wads of gum that sit atop my kidney, I'll sacrifice for them if it means getting a bit better.

Twice since the accident I went cold turkey in giving up caffeine and those were two ugly months (that did nothing to help my headache). I kept saying - "Pregnant women do this all the time right? they seem happy." All the while wanting to punch people. But this time its not giving up everything. So I'm just being overly dramatic. Plus it's for you, little adrenals. Don't be so stressed.

So as I half my caffeine intake, I'm going to take a ceremonious moment and honor coffee (like they do in the oscars... coffee's life time achievement award)

I love this coffee consumption chart done by column 5 media, to track coffee drinking trends.


(I feel I could stick to my guns much better 
if it was with pretty bar graphs like these.)



And how surprising are these foam latte pictures by New York barista Mike Breach? maybe I'll switch over and make my one drink a day something pretty.



Black Gold is a great documentary on coffee - you can stream it for free here - then annoy all your friends with facts about fair trade

I really like this print by Tom Pappalardo (he gets me). Or you could buy a small version of it in sticker form -


This tumblr - My Daily Coffee - chronicles each day with a photo of their cup of joe (because that's the most important part, right?)

And while this mug is pretty fantastic - the answer is NO, Lionel. No thank you. I'm looking for more coffee.


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