Hi All,
I have been visiting here on and off, have read all of Diana's books. I
struggle with eating right, but have just recently stopped coffee and only
drink tea now. I really feel better, not perfect, but better. I have lots of
issues, including thyroid & liver stuff, most probably adrenal exhaustion.
I am about 20lbs heavier than is comfortable for my frame. I am just excited,
as I have tried to quit coffee before only to go back to it again. One of the
symptoms that is gone is a sort of chest pain, soreness on the left side.
It's gone since I stopped the coffee. I have actually wanted to exercise
also. I try to eat according to the Schwarzbein recommendations, cook from
her cookbooks, and I also sort of incorporate the Blood type diet. Since I
am type O, it's sort of a low carb diet, excluding wheat, which is off Schwarzbein in the beginning also. I do lose if I stay away from wheat
and try to get enough meat and veggies. It's just that my metabolism is
probably wacked out from all the years of coffee and stress of 5 kids in 71/2 years. Those kids are alot older now, so that helps. Well, this is longer than
I intended, just wanted to post about what's happening for me, thanks
for reading!

I'm considering doing Schwarzbein's way of eating. My current way of eating is pretty good for me but it needs improvement to fix some screwed up biochemistry. It's been awhile since I read Schwarzbein so I don't remember anything about coffee versus tea but I wanted to tell you about my own switch from coffee to tea. I made the switch because I drink coffee with creamer - corn syrup solids, trans fatty acids, and bunches of other yucky things that didn't need to be going into my body five tmes a day. My tea has become a habit during the work day and I never even think about grabbing coffee anymore. If your tea hasn't become a habit yet, it will I hope. I do green tea mixed with black. The green tea helps with my appetite and the black mixed in makes it taste better. I also add lemon and . . . .shhhh! don't tell . . . artificial sweetener (I know. Someday I'll ditch that nasty stuff too.)

Hey thanks for sharing your switch! I am down to one cup of tea in the am, sometimes iced tea later on, and I drink dandelion tea
or coffee as some call it, if I feel like I want the coffee experience.
It's roasted, so it tastes more like coffee, but it's way better for you. With a bit of soy milk, it tastes nice. My lower back was hurting, and it seemed like a withdrawal symptom from the coffee. I started taking some fish oils and I think it's working, something I read in my old "Zone diet" books. But yeah, tea is
much easier on the system than coffee was!

OK, I'm convinced that maybe I should try tea. I don't really like tea. DS recommends green tea. I hear it tastes bad. Is any kind of tea OK? I really just like a little sweet taste with my breakfast in the morning, and right now I need the little lift from the caffeine in the morning, too. That's the only time I drink coffee/caffeine. Hope to get off the caffeine in the future, but not yet, not yet. I bought some Stevia to try tomorrow...hope it tastes ok. Actually, I just remembered that DS says you can have coffee and don't have to give it up in the newest book, but I may still try some tea. It doesn't sound like I drink as much coffee as you all did.

Maybe if you just keep the amount of coffee down to one cup in the morning, that's fine. I still enjoy coffee more than tea.
The weirdest thing that I have noticed though is that on the days when I don't have coffee, those nights I remember my dreams. But if I drink coffee in the mornings, I usually wake up in the middle of the night, and don't remember my dreams. It sounds crazy, but I have noticed it now for awhile. I must admit
that I still have coffee occasionally in the mornings, especially if
my husband has brewed it before I wake up. But I am still trying to avoid it, and drink tea instead. I find that I want more than one cup of tea, so I am still looking for that caffeine to wake me up. I think that as we improve our meals to include more balance, it should be easier to avoid or at least decrease the caffeine. If I remember from the books, sugar is worse than
caffeine, so avoiding that and white flour type stuff is more important at first. I guess any progress is helpful!

I used to hate tea...but love green tea with a bit of splenda!

I used my one grean tea bag today. I brewed it, then stuck a regular decaf (orange pekoe, I think) tea bag in for a few seconds at the very end, b/c I was afraid of the taste. I used Stevia and a touch of cream. It wasn't the best thing I've ever tasted...but it wasn't the worst either. And I felt much better today after breakfast than I have in a long time! When the kids get up from their naps, we're going out to find some green tea...if only I knew where to look! Does the grocery store have it?

Yes, even lipton makes a green tea, as does Salada. I get mine from a Peet's coffee shop near us. But another good one is by the people who make constant comment, I can't remember the
brand name. I'm sure you'll find some. I making some iced right now. I've been feeling dizzy a bit, and the caffeine helps with that, but not too much caffeine, I have to watch it. Still trying
to drink tea, not coffee...My favorite green tea has jasmine leaves in it.