[AnnieBL]

I was a coffee addict many years ago, but gave it up cold turkey when I developed atrial fibrillation and learned that caffeine might be a causative factor. By the time that all attempts to return my heart to sinus rhythm had failed, I no longer seemed to need coffee much, but on a visit to Brazil encountered guarana. Fortunately it was not available at home, but I used to buy stocks when visiting my brother in Boston who lives in an area with a substantial Brazilian population. In place of coffee I had been swilling quantities of fruit juice until I discovered that it was driving me to the threshold of type 2 diabetes. Fruit juice is not necessarily 'healthy', particularly on its own or at the beginning of a meal. Eat whole fruit instead, and at the end of a meal rather than the beginning. When my blood pressure was getting out of control I gave up the guarana though I don't think that my still limited caffeine intake was really a factor - the research in that area seems contradictory. Getting a single serve coffee machine into the house last year has been a backward step - the pods are a very expensive way of buying coffee and are terrible environmentally, but on the occasions I still get a coffee urge it is far too easy to indulge.

Nice to see you here again, Abi.