Decaf decision: what changing my morning coffee taught me about habits

Decaf decision: what changing my morning coffee taught me about habits

Changing my first coffee of the morning to decaf prompted me to reflect on familiar routines, habit formation and how small changes can become part of everyday life.

I’ve always enjoyed coffee. The aroma, the flavour and the ritual of making it are all part of my day.

But a while ago, I decided to change my first coffee of the morning to decaf. It wasn’t because I wanted to give up caffeine. I understand its benefits, and I still enjoy regular coffee, particularly when I want to improve alertness or before exercise. I simply started questioning whether I needed caffeine first thing in the morning.

I generally wake up feeling energetic, so was that first coffee doing something useful, or was I drinking it because that’s what I’d always done?

Questioning a familiar habit

Much of my work as a dietitian involves helping clients recognise their eating habits and make changes that support their health. I’ve also got a shelf full of books on behaviour change and habit formation. So I thought I’d experiment with one of my own habits.

For three weeks, I made my first coffee of the morning a decaf. It was a small change, but a good exercise in making a deliberate decision and repeating it. I like the origin of the word “decide”, which comes from the idea of cutting off other options.

I’d made the decision. Now the question was how to make it part of my routine.

What makes a habit stick?

In Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about creating systems that support the behaviours we want to develop. In my case, the change was straightforward. I kept the familiar morning coffee ritual and changed one part of it: the type of coffee. I wasn’t relying on remembering to do something completely new.

Research suggests that repeating a behaviour in a consistent situation helps it become more automatic over time. There’s no fixed number of days. [One often-quoted study found an average of about 66 days, with a range from 18 to 254.] Some behaviours become familiar quite quickly, while others take much longer. After three weeks, I was comfortable with the change. Whether it had become automatic was another question.

What does this have to do with eating well?

So many of our food decisions are automatic. We reach for something at a particular time, snack while watching television or buy the same foods every week without much thought. Sometimes those habits work well for us, and sometimes they’re worth another look.

In consultations, I often encourage clients to become more aware of their usual eating patterns before deciding what to change. Perhaps it’s adding protein to breakfast, preparing lunch rather than buying it, or changing an afternoon snacking routine. And an existing routine can be a handy place to attach something new, as I did with my coffee. (More in How to build healthy habits that last with Type 2 diabetes.)

Coffee and diabetes
If you have diabetes, caffeine affects people differently, and some people notice a rise in their glucose after coffee, particularly with sugar, syrups or flavoured milks added. If you monitor your glucose, you can see how your own coffee affects you.

What do you do each day simply because you’ve always done it that way?

Is that habit still useful, or would you benefit from making a change?

If you’d like help noticing and changing your own food habits, you can book an online consultation, or start with my free Type 2 Diabetes Guide.

Updated October 2026.