Supposedly, caffiene kills off the friendly bacteria bigtime in the gut. I read somewhere that it can kill like 70 percent of the good intestinal flora. I know, its horrible. I would think that a.s.'s do the same thing. Unfortunately, I can't seem to stay on a good diet. My husband doesn't follow any diet restrictions so it is hard to stay on any type of diet. When I did though I got really creative with spices. I'd spice up everything from eggs to vegetables to my fish. Try to experiment a little.