I searched and only found a thread from 1999. Any experience with this? We are trying it but I can't get my head around the coffee part!

I see from a quick Google that this is an anti jet lag diet.

Amy, You might want to post this over in the "Lounge" forum. There are lots of food and diet threads there (more than the Europe forum).

Amy, I googled this and think it looks like something I'll try next week before Italy. I agree, the coffee part is hard, but I'll have no problem feasting on pasta at the other end!

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~armiller/jetlag.htm

Hi Amy-

I just googled it, too, and it sounds familiar. I think there was a jet lag thread in which this was discussed, at least the coffee at dinner time the night before arrival.

You may want to repost with jetlag in the title, too.

I agree with Alloro- it looks like it has potential, but the four days at home with no coffee in the morning would be HARD.

Well, we are trying it. Except I am drinking my coffee in the am. Only two cups first thing and none thereafter. I agree...permission to eat a plate of pasta for dinner feels like I've already started my vacation.

I think that so little response and so little talk here means this is not such a great tool for avoiding jet lag. I mean, only one thread since 1999?! Amazing!

So, I keep doing all the other things I've been doing successfully for years. Of course, I won't know if the diet worked because I am also setting back the clock every day, will take an Ambien, will drink copious amounts of water, avoid alcohol, etc., etc.

(Can you tell I hate jet lag?!

What do you suppose coffee has to do with jet lag? The only thing I can think of is the caffeine which is, of course, a stimulant.

Is stimulating someone when they would otherwise be tired the same thing as a "cure" for jetlag?

The Argonne folks have some theory about how the stimulant plays into the circadian rhythms. How it slows it down or speeds it up. I didn't really read it too closely since I don't feel like changing my coffee habit at a time when I am ultra busy getting ready to go away.

Here's a quote from the website:

"Caffeine, like theophyllin found in tea and theobromine in cocoa, belongs to a class of chemicals called "methylated xanthines." Research has shown that methylated xanthines tend to speed up the body clock when taken late during the normal activity cycle and tend to slow it down when taken early in the cycle. During the middle of the daily cycle, they have little or no effect.

This means that for most people, caffeine consumed in the morning will slow down their natural cycle so they take longer to get to sleep at night. Caffeine consumed in the evening will speed up their natural cycle so they wake up earlier than usual in the morning. (Note that this is contrary to the popular belief that drinking coffee in the evening will keep you from getting to sleep; what it really does is wake you up early.) Drinking caffeinated beverages in the mid-afternoon -- say, between 3 and 5 p.m. -- has little or no effect."

My personal experience is that drinking coffee after noon screws me up. I'm not in the mood to start experimenting now!

I have horrible jet lag so would desperately love to hear of anything that works. My thought, as Amy's already mentioned, is that if this Argonne plan worked well... Fodor's folks would have been all OVER the idea years ago!!!

Amy, for a true test, I've gotta say it seems like you'd have to give up the coffee like they tell you to. Hardly seems a fair trial without doing the entire plan as outlined.

Yeah, and I'd have to give up all my other techniques. Fuggedaboudit.

I do think you're right suze, the lack of info here leads me to believe it is not so hot.

Coffee, tea - I can agree with that. COCOA??? Are they trying to tell us, chocolate is not good if we're going on vacation?

DOWN WITH ARGONNE DIET!!!!