My Daily Coffee Habit Really Is For the Greater Good

Let’s talk about coffee, shall we? Specifically, how my ‘here and there’ caffeine habit – delivered nowadays via homemade cold-brewed iced coffee – has transformed into a daily coffee habit.
I do it for you, really, as well as my family, and the cat, and anyone else who depends on me to be coherent, alert, reliable, or even entertaining. Anyone who happens to be driving the streets at the same time as me benefits as well. Trust me, most days I shouldn’t be operating a hairbrush, never mind a minivan, without my daily dose of liquid lightening.

See? My daily coffee habit really is for the Greater Good.

When Did Coffee Becomes a Necessity?

I can’t quite pin it down, the point when I became a person who needed coffee. While I’ve always loved a little jolt of caffeine, I never required it. Now, in my late 40’s and scrambling down that slippery slope to the big 5-0, though, it is clear that I’m more alert, more productive, and, honestly, more ME with my daily dose of of everybody’s favorite psychoactive compound.

I dare say I’m bolder and more confident, too, not to mention better looking and a wee bit taller 🙂

So, while I don’t know exactly when I became that person with a daily coffee habit, I am totally OK with it. Why?

We know a lot about coffee.

Coffee and caffeine are some of the most studied foodstuffs out there. In addition to caffeine, coffee is chock-full of antioxidants. After decades of research it seems that, for the generally healthy population, regular coffee-drinking is likely not only safe, but may actually be beneficial to your health, decreasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression.

Is there a down side? For some, the caffeine in coffee can make them jittery, increase anxiety, or affect sleep (try decaf and/or limiting caffeine intake to early in the day). For others, that grande double-pump vanilla latte with whipped cream is a 400-calorie calamity (keep it simple, use lower fat dairy, and limit added sugar).

Me? I’m happy with my simple half caff over lots of crushed ice with just a touch of half-and-half. It’s my daily beauty treatment/mood elevator/attitude adjuster/brain waker upper with just a dash of kick-assery. I pretty much can’t live without it.