Coffee - Benefits of quitting?

I used to be in love with coffee. The ritual of making it, the sipping of it, the jolt and sharpness I got from it, all were a deeply ingrained habit, and I had no real issues with it at all.

I had tried quitting coffee off and on for years, mostly to see if I could, but always drank tea too, so my whole adult life, I had some form of caffeine coursing through my veins. After menopause, though, I realized the effects of caffeine on me had changed drastically. For the first time, it made me really crabby and anxious, I wanted to tell off my boss all the time, my sleep was a mess, and I couldn't lose weight past 5 pounds (of the 30 I'd gained) and I was hungry a lot. (For the record, never drank anything but black coffee and plain black teas, no sugar or creamer.)

So, to improve my personality (ahem) I decided to approach it as an experiment. I got rid of coffee first, then switched to black tea, then green tea, then white tea....then NO caffeine at all, all over a period of about a month. As they say, here's what happened:

1. After the initial headache subsided...on the third day, I realized a new sense of calm. Hmm.
2. Without that certain chemical in coffee, I wasn't rushing to the toilet after that first morning cup anymore. My "movements" became normal again.
3. As I removed more and more caffeine (stimulant) out of my system, my appetite calmed down. Some people say that caffeine cuts their appetite, but for me (after menopause at least), it upped mine.
4. My hot flashes are now all but gone.
5. My sleep has vastly improved and become more normal now.
6. I finally got that ticker to move on the scale. Dropped 15 pounds in three months.
7. The sharpness I worried I'd lose without coffee was fake. I feel much more focused now than I ever did with caffeine.
8. And my doc says that my bone scans should improve because at the rate I was downing caffeine at my peak, it was leaching calcium from my body. Yikes.

Bottom line? I'm NEVER going back to caffeine. I feel liberated and free for the first time in a long time.

Now, in the morning, I drink Celestial Seasonings Rooibus and Madagascar Vanilla herbal tea. YUM.

The only benefit I can think of is when you come to the realisation that quitting coffee was the dumbest move ever that first cup back would be sublime!