This morning around 4 AM, I watched a live session from last night of doctors Ken Berry and Shawn Baker entitled Meat-Only Medicine? I suppose some might consider that a provocative title, but come to think of it, that's EXACTLY what I do in these attempts to eat what my ancestors ate.

Decidedly, I am unlike my 45-year-old peers whom whole-heartedly and tenderly trust in the natural ability of those droplets-turned-cascade of pills from bottles with all the passion of a Rick James Super Freak (although the visualization of the gasoline fight in Zoolander comes to mind).

In the hour+ dialog, there was not much personal application for me as the conversation revolved around the macro, though it did bounce onto the micro from time to time. Then again, what can be said "new" when I have invested 1,051 days of my life into carnivore? I would like to think I do not sprinkle paint chips onto my burgers.

But, one insight did come to me, though they only spoke of it in terms of Lucky Charm cereal and its role as a recreational drug: the role flavored coffee plays in my diet.

Admittedly, I do like how flavored coffee gives me access to tastes that are out-of-reach for FREE. There's the Christmas memories of eggnog, the tempting Neopolitan ice cream et al., oh my! But, those labels on coffee bags are suspicious, aren't they? Something like arabica beans, of course, but then natural and artificial flavors. Well golly, natural and artificial flavors are literally the entire world! "Yes, we sprinkle Prozac and arsenic with just a zest of gasoline into our award-winning breakfast blend!"

It matters to me what I put into my body. For years, it did not. It is the threshold I crossed over into 40 where I have focused on it. When you are young, you are resilient. In my mid-20s, I could order a Papa John's delivery for one, pick up a couple of Smirnoff-flavored six-packs, and use a Friday night sunset to sunrise to play World of Warcraft while watching DVDs from NetFlix. In my mid-40s, that sounds awful!

And my body is better in my 40s than in my 20s. Even as a vegan with a 74-lb weight loss, I looked...hollow. Depleted.

Flavored coffee is not a wrecker or anything. It might hang out in the lab for a bit, but it is not taking a 5-year residency like a Little Debbie does. But what I am doing now is optimization; I'm doing well; how can I do even better? And I do not view it in terms of weightloss for the shift will have no impact. I just want to be a better me.

Perhaps this is the precursor to kicking coffee completely out of my diet, thus removing that psychoactive drug. It is curious, is it not? I switch out meat from one to another with ease—the closest to an addiction is with bacon and I have not had that since April 6. But, coffee—well, caffeine really—I gotta take a hit of that pesticide EVERY day, or I'm gonna pay! It is like making tobacco a featured pillar of my diet.

I suspect coffee consumption is like a Google account to me:

Now being without you
Takes a lot of getting used to
Should learn to live with it
But I don't want to
Being without you
It's all a big mistake
Instead of getting easier
It's the hardest thing to take
I'm addicted to you, babe
You're a hard habit to break

-Chicago, Hard Habit to Break