No caffeine

is my current restriction, self-imposed.

I've decided my arrhythmia issues do not need caffeine, not even decaf coffee. So I'm denying myself chocolate, tea, and decaf coffee, I never really drank the real stuff anyway.

Oh, this is so hard. Not really so much the chocolate, but once you decide NOT to have it do you know how many foods are made with chocolate? Or when you search for dessert recipes, GF or not, almost everything has chocolate.

But coffee has been the hardest. I love a hot, dark, brown liquid in the morning. Don't even ask me why, it just is. I don't use milk or sugars or sweeteners, just straight and black.

And there is something about coffee shops that have become synonymous with comfort and warmth and gathering with friends. I just love walking into a coffee shop and smelling the aroma of coffee beans. I must admit that the coffee never tastes as good as it smells, but holding that dark, brown liquid in a cup somehow makes everyone relax and smile. It's contagious.

So what do I drink now? Herbal teas, yes, but I'm very picky there. I don't really like sweet flowery teas.

Well there is a coffee lovers herbal tea: roobios. Grown in south Africa, no caffeine, and rich in antioxidants it is becoming more popular in the US. You can get a Vanilla Roobios tea at Starbucks and an African Nectar Roobios at Dunn Bros. So I get to have the coffee house experience with my hot, dark, brown drink.

BUT, it is not the same. I've been able to give up a lot of things in my lifetime, but this is by far the hardest. I just like the hearty, fulfilling, warmth of a cup of coffee. My doctor didn't tell me I had to deny my body of decaf, but how does anyone really know if decaf triggers the irregular beat. He acknowledges that caffeine is a culprit. Well, there is a little caffeine in decaf and chocolate and tea. To be scientific about it I'd have to be hooked up to an EKG and do a before coffee and after coffee screening.

Maybe that's an entrepreneurial idea for me. EKG's at coffee shops or in a shop right next door, probably Starbucks would not be fond of me informing customers that coffee is causing a health risk.

I guess I just want more company in my misery.

So for now, I'm drinking roobios and visualizing really, really, hard that it is a cuppa joe.