I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.

A few days ago blogger Pristeen commented on removing nightshades, alcohol and coffee from my diet, and while I had read up on this natural way of preventing arthritis flare ups before, I would never have guessed that the coffee would be the hardest for me to remove. Ever since she left the comment I found myself coming up with excuse after excuse as to why coffee wasn't that bad, however, some research behind the issue made it more clear that I do need to make some diet changes. It seems that there is research out there that excessive coffee drinkers may be at more risk of developing RA.

Up until about 5 months ago I never even drank coffee, but, as I am told by fellow graduate students, coffee becomes a requirement to get through grad school.
I take my coffee black so as to not have to worry about soy milk or be tempted by refined sugar. A couple of months ago I also started a little game between my boyfriend and I, that used coffee places as a fun and cheap couples activity. He and I are complete opposites from the music we listen to (I enjoy mostly anything from grunge to alt. rock, reggae, and old school hip hop, he enjoys , fairly exclusively, underground punk and reggae) our degrees (Myself, going for my BA in English and M. Ed. in Secondary Ed. and him with his completed B.A. in Biology and soon to be completed degree in Information Science and Technology), so we work hard so find things that we both enjoy. While it is not that difficult because we both enjoy being outdoors, and going out for drinks, and of course we both love our black coffee, many times we are broke and not able to go out.
That's when I started taping names of Philadelphia coffee places to our dartboard. Each week we throw darts to decide where we'll go, it's just the two of us, and we only buy basic coffee. Cheap and easy (that's what she said), but fun and new.

Now I know what you are thinking... They don't have to stop going to coffee shops, she can just get tea or something, can't she? Well, I wasn't sure, so once again Google is my saving grace in letting me know that not only can I continue our fun adventures, but Green Tea may actually help prevent arthritis. While it is a little late for any prevention, it definitely could not hurt to start a daily regiment of some deliciously healthy tea.


Alright so now that I have typed it I guess I have to do it; no coffee, no wine, no beer, no potatoes, and plenty of green tea. Wish me luck, I'll need it.