I loooooove coffee. I love the taste of it, the smell of it, the whole experience of drinking it. But the problem is, the coffee doesn’t really love me. When I drink coffee I get crazy jittery, like hands shaking feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest jittery. I also sometimes get a stomach ache. Not a horribly bad one, but it’s uncomfortable enough to put a damper on my morning. Worst of all though is the headaches. I get them when I drink coffee if I haven’t been drinking it, and I get them when I don’t drink coffee if I have been drinking it. See what I mean about the love-hate relationship thing now?

Because it makes me feel so icky if I haven’t been drinking it really regularly I will often stop drinking coffee for stretches of time. This has lasted as long as 18 months and as short as 2 weeks. But I keep coming back to it because it’s so damn good. Sometimes I tell myself that if I just drink it every day I’ll be okay because then I get used to it and it doesn’t effect me as much. But I have a bit of a problem with that reasoning… There is a reason that I feel bad when I drink coffee and if I’m seeking optimal health here and trying to be the most vibrant version of myself, maybe that doesn’t involve consuming something that clearly doesn’t jive well with my body.

I am absolutely not saying that you shouldn’t drink coffee. If it works for you and you love it then keep on drinkin’ it! But if you are dependent on it to wake up in the morning, or if like me, you get gnarly side effects from drinking it (or not drinking it) then you may want to reconsider whether or not it’s really serving you. Coffee is a natural beverage and isn’t inherently bad in my opinion. It’s the addiction to it that isn’t natural and that is bad. I have just recently gotten to a place where I could take it or leave it in a sense. To where I don’t crave it and I certainly don’t need it, but if I wanted a cup on a special occasion or something, I could drink it without consequences and just simply enjoy the delectable nectar that is a good cup of coffee.

Honestly right now I’d rather have a cup of bone broth with some fat blended in (what I’ve deemed #bulletproofbroth) instead of coffee in the morning anyway. And when I do crave something a little more coffee-like, I will typically brew some Dandy Blend tea and blend it with some fat and a little sweetener. (If you’ve never tried Dandy Blend, it is an herbal gluten free coffee replacement made from dandelion root and roasted barley and rye extracts.) But last weekend I was feeling actual coffee, not Dandy Blend. Dandy Blend is delicious in its own right but it isn’t exactly the same. So I ran over to my local HEB and bought my very favorite coffee, Chameleon Cold Brew. If I am going to drink coffee it is about the only coffee I drink. It is fair trade, organic, and completely lacks the acidity and bitterness that regular brewed coffee has. But I didn’t want just plain coffee. I figured if this is going to be one of the rare times I indulge in a coffee beverage I may as well go all out. So I created this delicious and indulgent recipe for a Mocha Frappuccino that is totally 21 Day Sugar Detox friendly. It is super easy to throw together and it beats other coffee shop frappuccinos hands down, if you ask me. And if you’re like me and you don’t drink coffee often, you can always replace the coffee with 1/2 cup of water and a heaping tablespoon of Dandy Blend.

In vibrant health,

Kiersten