THE INTOLERANCES OF AGING

I love coffee!  Read my blog post from August 2010 (Cup O’Joe) and you can tell I relish a good cup of smooth coffee with real cream in it to color it tannish.  I’m picky about what brands and types of coffee I drink.  We have a Keurig coffeemaker at home.  Besides himself, my husband quips it’s the next best thing he brought into the marriage!  My love of coffee and cream dates back to Puerto Rico when I was 16 years old – that’s where I obtained my love of the breve’.  As I have aged my digestive system seems to like coffee less and less.  I have charged full boar past the uncomfortableness it creates in me and drink it anyway.  Sometimes laying in bed before fully ready to get out of the covers, my mouth will start salivating as I think about  a smooth cup of Jamaican Me Crazy or Southern Pecan laced with cream.  It can help me arise a bit faster if only to have that smoothness hit my tongue!  Some years back I had some food allergy/insensitivity testing done.  Wouldn’t you know coffee was on my list of things I should stay away from (I had suspected it!).  So were blueberries, wheat, tomatoes, rye, cheese, milk, eggs, corn, cashews, peanuts, cocoa, strawberries, yeast, mushrooms,  lemon, pepper, cantaloupe, peas, crab, sesame, gluten and almonds.  All of those things I love – especially anything lemon flavored, peanut butter, a bowl of strawberries or blueberries, a fresh loaf of homemade bread, a cantaloupe from my dad’s garden or a BLT made with a fresh tomato.  I gave most of those things up for a time, and then sporadically would eat them.  Back to feeling miserable and crappy, I stopped coffee 3 days ago and wheat and cheese and as many of the others as I can tolerate giving up.  Day one I thought my head would implode from pressure as it systematically throbbed to the words, “I want coffee!  I want coffee!  I want coffee!” (sung in a 5 year old nearing a tantrum voice).  Having a few food issues is somewhat indicative of simply the aging process.  I mean really think about what you could eat in your younger years compared to what you can eat now both in quantity and types of foods.  I often laughed when visiting nursing homes at how bland the food was they were served.  Now I totally get it!   Applesauce and mashed potatoes sound like they might go down easier than pasta with garlic!  My headache subsided on day 2 of my coffee detox.  Now it’s just my heart that is longing for a cup of smooth coffee and cream.  I do notice an improvement in how I feel.  I do not though, like this aging thing – gravity, intolerance to foods, sleep disturbances and a longer recovery time after exertion!  I tried really hard this morning lying in bed to conjure up the same desire for a cup of green tea – hold the caffeine.  It didn’t work nor did it make me want to leave the bed to start my day with it.  When do you think this longing will subside?  Why can’t I just dislike coffee?  It would  make it so much easier.