There's a supposed vise I have that some people tend to like commenting about, other than my weight (this was in the days before I started shedding the kilos). It's my coffee intake. In this post, I want to give you a closer look why I'm still drinking coffee, no matter what people have said. If you're one of these people who have made accusations about my coffee intake, I do apologize for confronting this topic and what you've said. I haven't named you in this post and I won't hold it against you.
The History
I've been drinking coffee on an almost daily basis since I was about fifteen or sixteen. Before I went to boarding school I only really had one or two cups a day... but when I went to boarding school my intake skyrocketed. I was extremely tired all the time, because of the high workload and the lack of downtime or support. Caffeine was the only thing that would pick me up each day. Yes, I'll admit, seven or eight cups a day is too much for a teenager to be drinking. The only excuse I have is that I was going through a very dark period in my life, probably one of the darkest periods of my life thus far. God and my caffeine intake kept me alive. After I left boarding school the amount of coffee I was drinking dropped drastically to about one or two cups a day. It stayed this way right up to when I did my Discipleship Training School DTS, as I started drinking more because there was always coffee about. I did my DTS in Holland; coffee is a big part of Dutch culture. When I was in Brazil it was the same... though when I was in South Africa I went off coffee for about a month and then slowly started introducing it back. I haven't really stopped drinking it since. Yes, there were times when I had to fast my caffeine intake, which always left me with bad headaches and hanging on just long enough to go for the coffee.
The Problem People Have
Over the last two years or so, I've had quiet a few people tell me that I need to go a day or two without coffee every month for various reasons. I've also had people tell me to stop all together. I think its mainly because I supposedly drinking too much coffee a day (and normally I'll drink one or two cups a day). I put the comments down to the fact that people think they've got the right to call me out on the amount of caffeine I'm drinking compared to the amount of caffeine they think I should be drinking (which is normally no coffee at all). I think its because they care about me... they have my best in mind. I don't appreciate this because of their lack of knowledge as to why I do drink coffee.
The Reason I Still Drink Coffee
Over the last few years I've repeatedly cut out some of my favourite foods out of my life -mainly bread, pasta and pizza- for health reasons. I'm not adding coffee to this list because I don't see a reason to add coffee to this list, because I know I probably won't be eating these things for quite some time. Its usually been my housemates, roommates or people who have worked with me who have tried to convince me to go off drinking coffee, why I`m not totally sure. Coffee is something that's become a big part of my life and I find it really difficult when people start telling me I drink too much coffee, even if its just one or two cups a day.
The Future
I'm not planning to stop drinking coffee. Even though I'm loosing weight and not eating cake, chocolate, bread and pizza, all of which I really love but because I want to live a healthier life, I'm no longer eating these things. I'm not adding coffee to this list because I don't see why I should. There aren't any health reasons to prove I shouldn't drink coffee, except for the fact that it's addictive. I'd appreciate if you don't write to me and tell me what you think of this post and my coffee intake because the only people I'd like to hear from are those I'm closest to (like my family).