I recently quit drinking coffee. Why? For a couple of reasons. For one, I felt like I was dependent on it. I would wake up and immediately think, “Before I do anything, I must have my coffee.” I think this was a fallacy. I tricked my brain into thinking I needed it, when I did not. Secondly, I was having stomach issues for several months (nothing serious, mostly feeling uneasy and queasy), which I could not figure out the root cause of. I tried omitting common allergens from my diet to see if that did the trick. Nope. I wasn’t reacting to gluten, dairy, soy, etc. Then I tried eliminating coffee. Ah ha! I felt better instantly. I am not sure why, but I know that if it doesn’t make me feel good, why drink it?

I swapped out my morning coffee for a simple green juice, which gives me the same amount of energy, and takes about the same amount of time to make. Here is my recipe of the perfect green juice, which I get most of the ingredients from the farmers market on Sunday for the week ahead.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cucumber
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 1/4 Fuji apple
• 5 tablespoons mint
• 1 cup coconut water

Directions:

Combine first four ingredients in a juicer and juice into a glass. Add coconut water and whisk well to combine.