HI, Stacy,
I know exactly what you mean about the addictive quality of carbs. I have to confess that when I added way too many beans into my soups these past two weeks, and added mangoes (love those!) to my smoothies, I felt slight stirrings of cravings. That could be why I didn’t lose but one pound last week. I have been drinking more water than a fish the past few days and been very careful not to have too many carbs and I can already see the difference on the scale since Sunday. I like to make soups or fish salads for my lunches so that I can make a large batch and just grab and go for two or three days. My all time favorite soup these days is the boulliabaisse, which is a bit pricey to make, but so luxurious to eat. It freezes very well, too. It is very, very easy to make, as well. For lunch, one of my favorite easy and low carb salads are made with either canned salmon or mackerel. Todays salad is mackerel with 2/3 can artichoke hearts, cut into bite-size pieces, 1 bunch chopped green onions, 6 oz roasted red bell pepper chopped, 1/2 bunch parsley chopped, 3 jalapeno stuffed green olives chopped (only 3 because I am watching salt), zest and juice of one lemon, 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard (which, when eating carbs, is fantastic in a baked potato!), 1 tbl olive oil, pepper, garlic and onion powders (without salt). I mixed the oil, mustard, juice and spices in a jar and tossed the dressing with the fish and veg. I used to put candied jalapeno slices into all my fish and bean and potato salads. I think I miss having that condiment for my cooking more than I miss sugar or coffee! Also, the vegetarian chili recipe with beans is great! I used mushrooms instead of zucchini or quinoa. I made one with all veg and it is good with some added chicken. I put cumin, cilantro, and jalapenos into my salmon salad, along with all the veg I mentioned above. I love putting beans into my fish salads, because the fiber is very, very filling, but I am pacing myself with beans these days and limiting my intake to maybe only one day per week.
I hope one day I can eat carbs without feeling like I want to eat everything in sight, afterwards!

I too have had a series of battles with letting go of coffee. In the end it was only the heartburn I realized it was triggering that forced me to let go of it. One thing that helps me is to say–this need not be forever. But for now, I am going to detox and heal my body and later decide what I can add back in. My holistic doctor suggested trying yerba matte tea–which does have about 1/3 of the caffeine in it that coffee does–as a way to step down from coffee. It is a pleasant tea. I really hope the chiropractor and the massage helped with those muscle/skeletal issues. I have been quite surprised by the extent to which my lower back problems and joint issues have improved with this blood sugar solution program and I’m hoping you’ll see some real differences too in the way you feel. For me, taking up yoga has also really helped make me feel better.