For the first time in 30 years I’m chemical free.  Aside, that is, from whatever is injected into the food I’m eating.  Nine days ago I gave up coffee.  I did this last summer for six weeks.  I did it for a diet but I continued sipping “diet” soda pop.  For the last 9 days I’ve had no coffee, cigarettes, alcohol or soft drinks.  I’ve given up many of these things individually since I graduated high school.  I’ve given up some in combination.  At no time over three decades have I sacrificed all of them.  Until 9 days ago. 

I’m guessing there are a great many coffee drinkers thinking caffeine is an easy drug to break away from.  Let me tell you something, giving up beer is easy.  You just stop.  Giving up tobacco required me to spend a couple of days ten years ago battling lightheadedness, which in some ways was kind of cool.  Soda pop is also something you just stop buying.  Caffeine is another matter.  Holy, mackerel, there were headaches last week and moments about 2:00 P.M. when I wanted to put my head on my desk and sleep.  This wouldn’t be a problem but it happened when I was preparing for a 4 hour long show set to begin at 3:00 P.M.  A show I yawned through for several days.  Thank the Lord it isn’t TV.  I let loose with a yawn Monday afternoon on a couple of occasions when I had 2 guests in-studio but those were the last on-air yawns.  Then I came home and slept for 10 hours. 

Water consumption is also at an all time high.  I’m not one for buying bottled water when I can pour a glass from the tap, however.  At Super Giant I found a raspberry-lime seltzer called “Zazz” and watching a hockey game the other night I drank a quart of seltzer.  Sunday I mowed the redhead’s lawn and when I finished there was a big glass of iced seltzer on the picnic table, which I had downed in a couple of minutes.  She discovered it was sold in cans by the case at a greatly reduced price, on the bottom shelf in the beverage aisle, where apparently I hadn’t looked. 

This morning I got out of bed straight up at 7:30 and believed I had to offer a testimonial.  I feel wonderful and I’ve lost 4 pounds over the last week and one half.  And just think, only another 76 to go! 

None of this would’ve come about until the day the redhead had a long talk with me about getting back in shape.  She saw an old photograph of me standing along a railing with the field behind me at what used to be called Rich Stadium.  She thought I had a Tom Selleck look! 

My last caffeine came one week ago this past Monday.  My employer sponsored a sports banquet at the country club next door and I sipped two cups of delicious coffee during dinner.  We were at a table with some folks from work and when the keynote speaker launched into his remarks the redhead and a coworker’s girlfriend left the room, went outside and smoked.  When they came back to the table I pointed out I had pressed for a trade.  I take up clean living and the redhead would quit tobacco, which she washes down with liberal amounts of coffee.  What was her response?  She didn’t ask me to go on a hunger strike.

Remember our prime responsibility.  Take care of self, set an example and then go out and save the world.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 9:54 am and is filed under Delaware, Entertainment, Food, Health, Lifestyle, Sports, Television, WGMD Radio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.