Given that I was so agitated from quitting Diet Coke, I knew I had to include coffee and caffeine so I made quitting as many forms of caffeine as possible part of this process. I decided that this would be my second step. I only allowed myself teas and I made sure that the teas I was drinking were either “herbal infusions” that didn’t have tea caffeine or had ginger for the focused feeling I craved from caffeine. This seemed to take a bit of the edge off but the headaches and mood swings were completely unexpected. I replaced my desire for carbonation with flavored seltzer waters that seemed to curb my grumpiness a bit. I also increased my water intake to at least 50 ounces of water a day. As I am not a huge water drinker, I planned on aiming at the 50-ounce mark with the hopes of making it to 100 ounces daily in the next month.
Tag Archive for: caffeine
For my third step, I decided to compare the food choices for kapha and the list that was given to me by my doctor and I made up a list of what I could eat. From there, I chose recipes that included those items and set up a diet plan I could follow. Unfortunately, I soon realized that I was rationalizing delays in implementing this new diet. I put myself back a week starting this process because of what I explained away as the agitation from quitting diet sodas and caffeine. After sabotaging this process of my experiment day after day, I decided that I needed some self-reflection to determine why I was throwing up barricades and excuses in this portion of the experiment. After some deep introspection, I realized that I had an inherent opposition to referring to this portion of the experiment as a “diet”, a word I detest. I also fostered a deep-seated justification to eating what I deemed to be comfort, “single girl” food, an interconnected relationship from mindless eating when I was in college and while I was single. I had to change my internal dialogue to view this as a meal plan, not a diet. I also had to challenge my view of processed food as comfort food and try to break the desire to maintain that interconnected relationship I had built.
After this breakthrough, I immediately went to the store to begin this portion of the experiment. While this portion of the process has proven to be the most difficult for me and I haven’t followed the meal plan to the letter, my dietary habits have improved considerably. I had an epiphany once the caffeine withdrawals had ceased that this portion of the process could be just as successful as the first two steps by selecting unhealthy items in my meal repertoire and phasing them out gradually but consciously replacing them with a healthy substitute. I found that giving myself permission to tackle one issue at a time made this experiment easier and more realistic for future maintenance.
About Us
The Denver Yoga Underground began in 2003 at the request of dedicated students who wanted to study yoga as a holistic system. Over the years, a diversity of people, seeking education outside of a studio, found a welcome refuge in DYU.
Today we specialize in grassroots Pay What You Can workshops, accessible retreats and our signature yoga teacher training, for the outlier yogi.
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Derik Eselius ~ 720.934.6934
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Sixth Ave. UCC 3250 E. 6th Ave