DAY 3: COUNTDOWN TO THE21-DAY 'CONSCIOUS CLEANSE'      You may be wondering why I'm taking this drug – which it is – out of the diet so late on in the countdown. It's really for personal reasons. I love the stuff. I only ever have one cup a day, but I spend a large part of the rest of the day thinking about that wonderful, frothy cup of cappuccino that I'm going to imbibe after lunch! This is my one major weakness (in the food and drink department), and I'm not afraid to admit it.Caffeine mimics the effect of stress on the body, activates the adrenal glands and sets up a 'fight or flight' reaction in the body-mind. And the more of it you drink, the more you're in a state of constant 'red alert!'If you continue this too long (two cups of coffee a day or four cups of tea is enough to set up this kind of situation), before too long you will burn out. I find however that once I've taken caffeine (and that includes tea, Coca Cola, Pepsi and the like... oh, and chocolate of course!) out of my diet for a couple of weeks, again, I feel so at-ease and balanced that I would think twice about putting such a toxin in there again!In junking caffeine, I was of course not suggesting you take out just coffee and chocolate, but all caffeine-containing substances. And for all of you that, like me, enjoy a cup of tea before getting out of bed most mornings, that, I'm afraid, does include tea... the black variety, at least! You can of course replace your morning cup with a wide variety of herbal teas, rooibosch, jasmine and chai being varieties that I find particularly delectable!Again, watch out on the Little White Feather Facebook page for some useful coffee and tea substitutes - and please feel free to feed in some of your own!