But what about drinking.

I know, for two days I've blathered on about eating and blood chemistry and tendons and whatnot.

You're probably wondering, "what do these people drink all day?"  And if you're not, just humor me.

Since I was a boy I've ALWAYS consumed a lot of water.  20 years ago I had way too much soda and a minor health problem in 1991 got me to slow down my rate of consumption of that. . .

So, before my doctor's visit last week, a normal day would see me drinking a diet coke in the car on the way to work (mostly for the caffeine), another at lunch and iced tea with my wife.   In between I'd consume all of a 1 liter bottle of water at work, and frequently at least another half liter at home between dinner and bed.  My wife and I drink, and are partial to Illinois wines, but we don't have a lot of alcohol.  In fact, when the doctor told me last Wednesday to cut down on alcohol, I laughed.  When he asked what was funny, I said "I had a cocktail 5 weeks ago, and haven't had any since.  About three weeks before that, I split a bottle of wine with my wife -- because it was a Thursday and we had Italian (like you need a reason for wine from Blue Sky Vineyard in Makanda IL).  Before that, Champagne on Valentine's day.   I also enjoy both Scotch and Bourbon, but if a bottle doesn't last a year, something's wrong.  So not really cutting down on the alcohol - except none for the first two weeks of the South Beach diet.

I did, however, cut down on the caffeine.   New routine is a glass of skim milk with breakfast (which is no longer eaten in pastry form in the car), and a large travel mug of tea in the car.  (Hey, the doc said cut down, not eliminate!)   Lunch has become caffeine free diet coke.   Dinner is still the same iced tea, but when we use up this stock of teabags, we're considering switching to decaf.

Still drinking a liter and a half or two liters of water a day.

I was expecting the lack of caffeine to be a problem, but so far -- so good.