Candy for breakfast? Time to make a change

I got some ginseng tea because I read that it is energizing and the brand I got has nifty inspirational sayings on the tea bags. I put a bag in a plastic bottle and leave it out in the sun so I can make iced tea in the afternoons. This morning I noticed a gorgeous orange butterfly on top of the container. I wanted to snap a pic but it flew away when I opened the screen door. It made me think of the metamorphosis I am undergoing.

There was a day a few weeks back (as I was preparing go to on a too short vacation) that I was so stressed about work and trying to get through the last week of school that I got up and went straight to the computer (after getting coffee, of course) and wound up eating Swedish Fish for breakfast. I felt sick the rest of the day. I was on a roller coaster and needed to continue eating sugar and bad food because the craving had been activated, and I felt rotten all around.

Even if I hadn't eaten the Swedish Fish, I am starting to realize my system would have been all messed up just from the coffee. It totally plays with my appetite. I mean, I get hungry and have to eat but with coffee, my hunger always snuck up on me and I felt like all of a sudden I'd crash and there'd be a food emergency and I'd have to eat a lot, quickly, and it wouldn't always be great food. It might be a high-protein snack bar or too much cheese and crackers, or it could be Lucky Charms right out of the box.

Today is one of those super-draggy days that I probably would have had at least six cups of coffee by now. I was at the orthodontist with one of my kids at 11:30 a.m. and so drowsy...that would have required coffee but I got up and walked around the block instead. I also ate a small snack that I brought -- an egg and some tiny red boiled potatoes (this is because I read an article saying that potatoes are supposed to be one of the most filling foods for the calories, though I am also wary about the fact that they're a "white food" and other people say you shouldn't eat them). I ate the other egg and the rest of the potatoes on the way to pick up one of my other kids at camp 45 minutes later. On the way back from camp I was still hungry and ate some popcorn snacks. That, I am not sure was too smart. I am back at my desk now and having my first ginseng tea (another previously good opportunity for coffee). I am really sluggish today and this is probably the first time in two-plus weeks I have felt like that. (Maybe because in the first week or so I'd still let myself have a 2nd cup of coffee in the afternoon!). I got rid of my Kuerig but I still have plenty of instant coffee (yes, I know, from one end of the spectrum to another, but I mainly drank coffee for the effect, which wasn't so effective anymore, like anything you get addicted to, which is why it is time to quit.)