decaffeinated

the other day i went into a coffee shop in the early evening and ordered a cup of decaf. the girl told me that they don't make decaf after noon, so i'd have to wait.

umm.

does that sound backwards to anyone besides me? seems to me that decaf would be more important for folks in the afternoon and evening when they may perhaps want to sleep at bedtime. and caffeinated in the morning when they want to wake up.

at any rate, i waited my three and a half minutes and had a cup of decaf. over the past couple of months i've fully weaned myself off of caffeinated coffee and in effect, caffeine of all forms in my diet. i don't miss it at all.

after my disappointing endocrinology experiment, i decided that i owed my body more trust. and in that decision, i vowed to scrutinize my diet for the corruptors. anyone that knows me, knows i am already fairly anal about what i eat. i read labels and i pore over nutritionals and i only buy meat and dairy that are organic, just for a start.

but with the information that my body is a perfect specimen of health, with the exception of my mind-inflicted ailments, trivial things such as headaches and occasional indigestion (and significantly pms) started to make me curious about their cause.

i think i've already noted in another blog that adding calcium and magnesium supplements, combined with the elimination of caffeine, have practically eliminated my pms. but in addition, i've found culprits at the bottom of the ingredient panel that cause my body these other minor symptoms.

for example, soy. it upsets my stomach. you'd think i may have noticed this before, but for the longest time i just thought it was concentrated forms like soy sauce or edamame. but on closer examination, i notice that if i eat anything with soy as an ingredient i'm guaranteed to feel uncomfortable. (and that's not even an artificial ingredient!)

and that headache i always get after chinese food? yep, msg. it's a splitting pain and sometimes leads to migraines, so i am careful to specify 'no msg' when i can. but i've suffered with chronic headaches for years. minor usually, but nearly daily. and now that i'm looking for links everywhere, i'm finding msg in things i assumed were safe to use. like my mother's favorite greek seasoning mix. or worcestershire sauce. (oh and be warned - there are lots of names for that nasty stuff. it's not always monosodium glutamate. best to avoid all glutamates, i've found.)

and so it goes. alcohol - out. caffeine - out. soy - out. glutamates - out. artificial sweeteners - out. one at a time...cleaner every day.

so, today when i got a call from the sleep center saying that my overnight study was totally normal and my daytime study showed only 'excessive sleepiness', it put me into my sherlock holmes role again. i wasn't surprised to get those results of course because the sleep study was such a joke to me. but if, by chance, their findings are correct then it begs the question of why the hell i'm sleepy all the time.

i guess i'll take a closer look at my diet. but even more than that, i think i have to go back to the mind body connection i know exists. if my body wants to sleep (perchance to dream) then my mind must be driving that need.

i've read of many famous inventors and artists whose greatest inspirations came during sleep and dreams. i don't know why i'm so prone to sleeping through my days, but i trust that the answer will come. perhaps in a dream.

d: inspiration and revelation in my sleep
b: my system is clean. clean as a whistle.
g: i can trust my body.