This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

How To Celebrate National Coffee Day On Sunday

There’s a day to celebrate everything in this country and coffee is no exception! This Sunday, September 29th, is National Coffee Day and there may be millions of wired, jittery people bouncing off walls this weekend with free promotions and giveaways. Of course they’re giving it away—more for ways for us to become addicted! 

My first introduction to drinking coffee started after college when I started working in New York City and I needed that rush of sugar and caffeine (aka sugar and milked up coffee and a glazed chocolate donut) to rev me up for the craziness to come. It was no time until coffee became not only a habit, but an addiction, a reason to walk away from my desk, a few minutes of socializing, a refueling of energy or a moment to stop and relax. When babies came, the addiction was well entrenched and coffee became an essential part of my remedy for no sleep, more no sleep and stressful days and nights. That was in the days when a coffee was just coffee—no frills, inexpensive, no flavors, no steaming, no almond-soy-coconut milk alternatives, no syrups, no supersized cups—just $1.50 a cup coffee. 

When “artisan-styled” coffee and the shops that exalt it began popping up on every corner, I had lots of company in my guilty pleasure addiction. It’s no wonder that after 3 decades of swilling the stuff 2 or 3 times (I lie, it was often more like 3-4 bigs cups)  a day, I started to feel some acid reflux going on. Instead of popping an antacid and ignoring the clear message my body was telling me, I decided to consciously cut down and surprisingly, it hasn’t been as difficult as I thought. 

For most of the various reasons I drank coffee, I found a different, better alternative and to my shock and amazement, the acid reflux calmed down! I don’t know why I was clearly in denial that there would be a direct correlation between cutting down on coffee and the burning feeling climbing up throat-–it’s medical fact that one can cause the other. But it reaffirmed to me two important ideas that resonate with me on many levels…. 

1) when people don’t want to give up something in their life that is enjoyable but detrimental, they will deny the evidence that it is detrimental 

2) there are healthier alternatives to detrimental foods that are delicious and enjoyable if you open your mind to it. 

In an effort to get serious about cutting down on coffee, I experimented with a variety of coffee alternatives. To my amazement, some of them were fabulous. It became clear to me that there are lots of healthier ways to get the “coffee-feeling.” There is absolutely no reason not to give some of these coffee alternatives a try.

To read more about amazing alternatives to coffee, go to... 

http://veganamericanprincess.com/how-to-celebrate-national-coffee-day/#sthash.wl6nLanW.dpuf

Debby Sunshine & Ellen Francis
Vegan American Princess
Voted #2 for Top 25 Vegan Blogs on Skinny Scoop!

Website: veganamericanprincess.com
Twitter: @debbysunshine1
Instagram: #veganamericanprincess
Click here to "Like Us" on Facebook

Learn all about living a plant-based lifestyle- recipes, news, articles, restaurant & product reviews, style & beauty tips- anything related to veganism!

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Yorktown-Somers