Back and forth and all over the place. That’s me and my ever-changing opinions as they morph to and fro on this new fit lifestyle adventure.
If you happen to recall, I recently abandoned my morning jo based on my Carb Cycling Experiment Results. I was a fresh complete-ee of the program and totally gung ho about my new discoveries. During the experiment I’d eliminated coffee entirely based on my brazen abuse of half and half. It was going fine…until I started talking about it.
Everyone around me is used to hearing about my latest food or exercise trials. It’s just a part of who I am, and blabbing about it comes naturally. Though I was happy to be sans the java, I was still missing my long established morning ritual and operating in a catatonic manner – like a woman whose brain is on a leash behind her. “I started drinking coffee when I was in college,” my friend Allison said, responding to my regrettably decaffeinated status. “We had to get it out of the vending machine and it was always cold and basically just sludge. There was nothing else available in the building, so I just learned to drink it that way. Now I actually prefer it black.” She prefers it black? Hmmm… YES! I do know some people who drink it black, but I’ve never understood how they could do it.
I could never do it!
My presumptuous flag shot up. I would never like coffee without all the fixin’s, and I have never even entertained the thought. Black coffee is for cowboys and prison inmates – rough, gritty sorts of characters dwelling in inhospitable situations…but here sits my friend. Hatless, horseless and free from shackles of any kind. The lightbulb sputtered. Okay. FINE!
Long story short, I brewed up my first round of mud last week. It wasn’t nearly as strong as I’d imagined, and it tasted an awful lot like the black tea I’d rejected during my 3 weeks of carb cycling. It was kinda bitter and not too great. However, I wasn’t left with the icky aftertaste like I’d had with the tea AND I felt ritualistically satisfied. It goes without saying that it was a relief to welcome my cerebral passenger back on board as well. Transition achieved. Case closed.
It’s amazing how the brain assembles such elaborate barricades around deeply rooted habits. Creating change is all a mind game. After all the modifications I’ve made to my diet over the past 18 months, I consider myself the habit-changing QUEEN. I’m absolutely baffled that this little one caused such a stir. My question is why? Why after 24 years of adult life had I never tried black coffee? It just goes to show how the committment to your goals is an ongoing process, and there is no finish line. Thanks Allison!
What is your most challenging habit? Do you have a plan to change it?