As I will be graduating from CCNM in May, I am thinking a lot about what my own practice will be like. So, I’d like to pose a few questions here:

• What have you liked/disliked about your experiences with natural medicine, allopathic medicine, or health care in general?
• What do you look for in a health care provider, or, more specifically, a naturopathic doctor?
• What topics would you like to see explored in this blog? Or on this website?

Email me your ideas, suggestions, and experiences at kwhimster@wavelengthwellness.com with the subject “Suggestion Box”.

DD is home for Spring Break. I love cooking with her, exercising with her, and bouncing ideas off her head.

Last night she made curried green beans for her dad and me. She took a curried chicken recipe that she likes, and made it vegetarian. Clever girl! I’m proud of her!

Green beans – last night she used a 12 oz package of frozen green beans. You could, of course use fresh. If you use canned, drain them completely – no green bean juice!
Pineapple cubed – she used about a cup of canned pineapple, drained.
Raisins – she didn’t measure, about a half a cup
Walnuts – about a cup. She really likes using pine nuts, but I was out.
Curry powder – sprinkle generously. You should be able to see the yellow on the beans.
Ghee – she didn’t use ghee, but when I make this recipe, I will add 2-3 teaspoons.

Drain all but a little water from the cooked beans. Add the fruit, nuts, and curry powder. Heat until the flavors have a chance to mix.

I asked her if the measurements were right, and she said, “I just throw stuff in there until it looks tasty. You want the green beans to dominate, but a serving should have several pieces of pineapple, raisins, and nuts.”

One more thing. DD is trying to make an A in a Marketing course. You can help by filling out a simple survey (less than 3 minutes) on celebrity endorsements. Here is the link. DD thanks you in advance.

DD's Survey

In a week and a half I'll test for my Red Belt in Taekwondo. This represents a rank that I've long been intimidated by, and still am slightly. It's well beyond my initial goal when I began. The amount of material required for red belt testing is more than any rank I've advanced so far. Throw in a bunch of dive rolls and board breaking, and I still have a few things to pass off before testing, but I'm far enough along to know that it will all come together for testing.

This shows just the advanced belts, there are 12 belts total. If I keep testing at every opportunity, I'll be black belt recommended in December (I'm not sure when my final black belt testing will be). Basically everything I learn now is in preparation for black belt testing. It gets intense at this point, with more self defense demos coming up, as well as the sparring requirements. I began taekwondo just because I expected it to be hard, I wanted a challenge, something new. I didn't expect it to come naturally, I didn't even expect to be able to do it all. That has actually made it very fun. I also did it to get more of a backbone, and that is working. For those who know me in real life, don't be too surprised if you find that I do voice my opinion now and then or stand up for something. My online friends and readers may not think of me as wimpy, because I'm brave on paper, but in real life I've always been quiet, soft, and one who avoids confrontation at all costs.

I also do taekwondo simply because my body works, and I am thankful for that. I am thankful that I CAN. In my early twenties I was in nearly constant pain to some degree, mainly my lower back. I was also sick and tired most of the time, sleeping 11-14 hours a night, plus naps. I never would have thought anything like this was possible for me. I love proving my past self wrong, and proving that anything is possible if you are willing to sacrifice and work and take a leap of faith (or 20). I've been tested for Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, and a few other doozies in my past, and I am ever so thankful to have a clean bill of health today. I'm 35, so maintaining that will take work from here on out. With age, it becomes harder to lose weight, harder to keep my immune system in balance, and harder to keep my hormones in balance, but I am optimistic and will continue to work at it. I want to still be kicking and doing yoga as a senior citizen, and that will take work and self-control.

My diet has improved significantly since figuring out and eliminating the source of wheat in my pills. My cravings are less, my appetite is less and for more healthy foods. I'm losing weight and feeling and looking better, and stronger. There's always more work ahead, no more coasting, but things are looking up! I haven't been cheating, and when I don't cheat, I lose weight, simple as that, thanks to Dr. D'Adamo's research (things used to not be so simple, but enough background for today!)

To me, Tempeh has always been one of those strange foods that conjures up images of communes and vegans. Lets face it, it looks weird, like some sort of bean cheese and in the grocery store it is all the way at the top of the shelf, not at eye level where they put the regularly purchased items. But alas, for me it is a diamond food and since I am a vegetarian I feel it is an important source of protein and vitamins. I also believe that as a healthy blood type A, tempeh is good for me. I have been eating it for over a year now but it was only recently that I discovered a new way to prepare it that is in short - delicious!

I buy mine in the dairy aisle at Whole Foods. They carry several types, vegetable, flax and smokey. I always buy the flax variety because the other styles contain avoids for my genotype. Checking the dates to make sure they are the freshest, I'll usually buy three or four at a time. It comes tightly sealed in a clear plastic wrapper, and as long as it remains unopened it keeps well in the fridge for quite a while. I am not sure why they would package it like this because you can actually see the white and black mold growing on it through the plastic. I am certain the average consumer does not find this very appealing (probably why it is on the top shelf).

Over the years I have thrown away my fair share of tempeh just because I did not know how to cook it properly. For the past year I have been steaming it prior to cooking,prepared this way it was Ok, but it still had that beany taste. With enough curried peanut sauce slathered on it, I found it tolerable, so I was content. Then a few months ago I stumbled across a recipe that said to boil it for 5 minutes then marinade it for a few hours or overnight. I thought, now that makes sense, boiling will loosen the compressed cake of soybeans and allow the flavor to infuse the tempeh. I took the rectangular block and sliced it half length wise then into small bite size pieces. Boiling a pot of water, I dropped it in and set the timer for 5 minutes. Afterward I drained it and placed it in a glass container with my marinade and placed it in the fridge. Asian flavors work really well with tempeh, so I stuck to a basic recipe of tamari (wheat-free soy sauce), a little olive oil, garlic, ginger and lemon juice. Letting it stew over night it had absorbed almost all the marinade and it smelled good too.

At dinner time I just cooked it in a pan with a bit more oil. Some of the tempeh came apart but that was fine, I just scooped it up and put it over brown rice. I served it with a green romaine salad with homemade white miso dressing. I have been thinking about that meal for a week and couldn't take it any more; I just bought four more tempeh cakes at Whole Foods.

In doing a short internet search to see if this method was mentioned any place, I found that it is but I must have over looked it. I hope you try this. Leave a comment and let me know how it goes.

I added the recipe here.

A blog from my website that may be of interest here.

Homeopathy is often criticized for having little research evidence available. This blog is a compilation of what I have learned in examining research evidence for homeopathy published in conventional medical journals. For more info on homeopathy, please see a previous blog entitled “Homeopathy primer.”

One of the major reasons that the results of most mainstream research on homeopathy are often inconclusive because the methods used usually do not honour the principles of homeopathy and therefore the research does not actually evaluate the practice of homeopathy. Aphorism 104 in the Organon explains how a practitioner can take and treat a case homeopathically:

“Once the totality of symptoms that principally determine and distinguish the disease case … has been exactly recorded, the most difficult work is done … He can then select … a well-aimed, similar, artificial disease potence, in the form of a homeopathically chosen medicinal means, to oppose the total disease image (1).”

Unfortunately, remedies are often not prescribed individually and are instead selected based on typical clinical presentation of pathology.

A meta-analysis published by Shang et al. in the Lancet in 2005 compared placebo-controlled homeopathy trials to conventional medicine trials matched by disorder and type and determined that “the clinical effects of homoeopathy, but not those of conventional medicine, are unspecific placebo or context effects (2).” The homeopathy trials were categorized classical, clinical, or complex homoeopathy (or as isopathy). Specifically,

“Classical homoeopathy was defined as comprehensive homoeopathic history-taking, followed by the prescription of a single individualised remedy, possibly with subsequent change of remedy in response to changing symptoms. If no comprehensive homoeopathic history was taken and all patients received a single, identical remedy, interventions were classified as clinical homoeopathy (2).”

Only “classical” homeopathy trials actually reflect the use of remedies according to homeopathic principles as set out in the Organon. “Clinical” homeopathy is the substitution of homeopathic remedies for conventional medicine and therefore not the practice of homeopathy. Of 110 homeopathy trials analyzed, only 18 were categorized as “classical” while 48 “clinical” homeopathy trials were analyzed. The selection of trials for this analysis therefore precluded results that would accurately evaluate the effects of homeopathic treatment.

Rutten and Stolper analyzed post-publication data from the Shang paper and concluded that:

“Re-analysis of Shang's post-publication data did not support the conclusion that homeopathy is a placebo effect. The conclusion that homeopathy is and that conventional is not a placebo effect was not based on comparative analysis and not justified because of heterogeneity and lack of sensitivity analysis. If we confine ourselves to the predefined hypotheses and the part of the analysis that is indeed comparative, the conclusion should be that quality of homeopathic trials is better than of conventional trials, for all trials (p=0.03) as well as for smaller trials (p=0.003) (3).”

A review by Lüdtke and Rutten also came to this conclusion. Their meta-analysis determined that “homeopathy had a significant effect beyond placebo (OR=0.76; 95% CI: 0.59-0.99; p=0.039) (4).” and that, “Shang's negative results were mainly influenced by one single trial (4).” They concluded: “Shang's results and conclusions are less definite than had been presented (4).”

Linde et al. published a review of randomized controlled trials of individualized homeopathy in the Lancet in 1998. In this review, the team clarified that, “in individualized homeopathy the choice of the remedy for treatment is not based on a conventional diagnosis but on the match of the patient’s particular symptoms with the ‘remedy picture (5)’” and also conceded that, “no attempt was made to assess the ‘homeopathic’ quality of the trials. The reviewer’s knowledge and experience homeopathy are insufficient for such judgments (5).” While recognizing their limited comprehension of homeopathy, Linde et al. reviewed 32 studies, providing detailed information about each study’s methodology, including whether remedies were indeed prescribed homeopathically:

“In 20 trials, the choice of the remedy seemed to be unrestricted (approach 1), in 2 trials patients were included only if they matched the remedy picture of one of a preset range of remedies (approach 2), in 7 studies patients were included (without taking into account "homeopathic" aspects) and then the best fitting remedy had to be chosen from a range of predefined remedies was prescribed (approach 3), and in 3 trials only one remedy was applied and patients were entered only if they matched the remedy picture (approach 4) (5).”

Only 19 trials provided “sufficient data for meta-analysis (5),” although not all of these trials were of high methodological quality nor did all of them use individualized therapy. Of 12 trials categorized as “likely to have good methodological quality” or “unlikely to have major flaws,” all except two favoured homeopathy over placebo (5). Of these 12 highest quality trials, seven were individualized, and all except one favoured homeopathy. This review relied on the data from the 19 trials (both individualized and otherwise) and concluded: “while overall the results indicate that individualized homeopathy is superior to placebo, the methodologically better trials have less positive results and confirmatory independent replications are lacking. The evidence from these trials that individualized is clearly more efficacious than placebo is, therefore, not fully convincing (5).”

This review, which recognized individualization of treatment in homeopathy, is a step in the right direction. Conducting useful research on homeopathy within the conventional medical paradigm requires a greater understanding of the system of medicine being investigated in order to truly evaluate the use of homeopathy as a treatment modality.

Finally, a long-term observational study by Witt et al. assessed perceived change in complaint severity and quality of life at baseline, and after 2 and 8 years in 3,709 patients treated with homeopathy. In this study, physicians were free to choose treatment which “usually included the prescription of homeopathic medicines according to homeopathic principles, but also could include the onset, change, or withdrawal of a conventional medicine, referrals to specialists, or admission to a hospital (6).” At eight years, 32.9% of patients were still receiving homeopathic treatment, 29.2% of patients stopped treatment due to perceived major improvements in health, 26.0% stopped treatment because they did not feel homeopathy helped enough, 7.1% of patients stopped treatment for reasons unrelated to efficacy of therapy, and 3.6% stopped treatment without reason (6). The researchers concluded that, “patients who seek homeopathic treatment are likely to improve considerably, although this effect must not be attributed to homeopathic treatment alone. These effects persisted for 8 years (6).”

1. Hahnemann S. Organon of the Medical Art. Palo Alto: Birdcage Books; 1996, p. 141.
2. Shang A, Huwiler-Müntener K, Nartey L, Jüni P, Dörig S, Sterne JA, Pewsner D, Egger M. Are the clinical effects of homoeopathy placebo effects? Comparative study of placebo-controlled trials of homoeopathy and allopathy. Lancet. 2005 Aug 27-Sep 2;366(9487):726-32.
3. Rutten AL, Stolper CF. The 2005 meta-analysis of homeopathy: the importance of post-publication data. Homeopathy. 2008 Oct;97(4):169-77.
4. Lüdtke R, Rutten AL. The conclusions on the effectiveness of homeopathy highly depend on the set of analyzed trials. J Clin Epidemiol. 2008 Dec;61(12):1197-204. Epub 2008 Oct 1. Review.
5. Linde K, Melchart D. Randomized controlled trials of individualized homeopathy: a state-of-the-art review. J Altern Complement Med. 1998 Winter;4(4):371-88. Review.
6. Witt CM, Lüdtke R, Mengler N, Willich SN. How healthy are chronically ill patients after eight years of homeopathic treatment?--Results from a long term observational study. BMC Public Health. 2008 Dec 17;8:413.
7. MacRepertory. Roger Morrison. Desktop Guide to Keynotes and Confirmatory Symptoms.
8. MacRepertory. Franz Vermeuelen. Concordant Materia Medica.
9. MacRepertory. Complete Repertory 2009.
10. Bordet MF, Colas A, Marijnen P, Masson J, Trichard M. Treating hot flushes in menopausal women with homeopathic treatment--results of an observational study. Homeopathy. 2008 Jan;97(1):10-5.

No single diet theory can address all aspects of our individuality, and only a fool would claim that soy, red meat, grains, coconut oil or anything else is universally good or universally bad for everyone.

For example, people who are blood type O appear to derive significant benefit from a diet including hormone and antibiotic free meats and poultry. There is a very basic physiologic reason for this: those with type O blood have almost three times the levels of an enzyme in their intestines called ‘intestinal alkaline phosphatase’ (IAP) [1]. This enzyme performs two very important functions in the body. First, IAP splits dietary cholesterol into smaller fragments, allowing for their proper breakdown. Second, IAP enhances the absorption of calcium from the diet.

In addition to these two critical functions IAP is an important influence on the ability of the digestive tract to heal. Thus in most of our type O patients (44% of the population) we see a marked improvement in their IBS, colitis and Crohn’s disease when they increase their protein and cut back on their carbohydrates. [2]

Blood type B makes considerable amounts of IAP as well, but type A’s make very little. This probably explains why most studies that have looked at heart disease and blood type show a significantly higher rate of problems with blood type A individuals. These folks really should follow a Mediterranean-type diet.

Later studies showed that type A not only secreted almost no alkaline phosphatase in their intestines, but whatever little they did secrete was in and of itself inactivated by the presence of their own A antigen. [3]

Thus, we have here one of the strongest indications for the long term benefit of a low-fat diet in type A, both with regard to the susceptibility to cardiovascular disease, and (although not mentioned here) their additional susceptibility to cancer. Following the type A eating plan, with its emphasis on a low-fat diet and the avoidance of foods high in phenylalanine, is the best method to maximize digestive efficiency in type As, lower their level of intestinal dysfunction, and to influence their susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.

Yesterday a belgian friend, the teacher who invited me to Mechelen last year in April for a powerpointpresentation and cookclinic for students, sent me the link of an article of the DNA diet.. Research in USA shows that your DNA has preference/ability to digest fats, carbs or proteins... This sounds familiar... Have these scientists never heard of Peter D'Adamo??? Or they are too confident of their visions and too tunnelsighted themselves to even think that the DNAdiet is already alive??? Contacting Peter, would save them a lot of research...

I commented on the belgian and dutch newspaper links.. And people start calling/mailing me for an appointment, to have their Genotype determined! Three appointments for next week. Good..
Will the Netherlands, at last, be ready for the Genotypediet?? That will make my day

Take care

Cocky

If you are new to the Blood Type Diet it is not a choice;
It is a decision.

This isn’t a 6 month diet to lose 20 pounds for your wedding or 20 year class reunion. Be prepared to live your life with a long term goal of better health and vitality.

Your husband or wife will most likely think you are nuts. Your family and friends will roll their eyes at you and glaze over when you try to explain what the Blood Type Diet is. Your doctor will smile politely when you tell him what you are doing. Other diet gurus will denounce the Blood Type Diet with no proof or rational evidence. They will even go as far as saying there’s no science to back up the BTD.
WHAT?????

You’ll even doubt yourself! This is normal! Do not be amazed, shocked, intimidated, hurt, dismayed at the criticisms that will be thrown your way. Even when you get unbelievable results, people you love will still look at you and complain that their joints hurt, or they are tired all of the time. They will have heartburn, skin problems, gut issues and environmental sensitivities. They will moan and groan that they have tried every diet out there or they only eat salads and still can’t lose weight. “Give up the foods I love just to lose weight and feel better, NEVER!”

Once you have decided to follow the Blood Type Diet, own it. Nurture it and it will grow inside of you and become part of you. When that happens, a warm sense of peace will wash over you and you’ll be the one with a (big) polite smile.
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Part II

If you know you react badly to certain foods, but the book says its ok – don’t eat it.

If you see that the book says your favorite food is an Avoid you will most likely have to give it up. Remember, it’s a decision, not a choice.

Don’t go cold turkey if you can’t handle the overwhelming feeling of “I can’t eat anything.”

Even when it really is to the point where “you can’t eat anything” just remember you can eat anything you want - if you want to feel good for ten minutes but bad for a week.

Pick 1 or 2 foods in your main diet that are avoids - and avoid them. Give it time to sink in and get used to it. It may take 2 weeks or it may take 2 months. Don’t sweat it. Your body will adapt. Instead of worrying about what you can’t eat, concentrate on the foods you can eat and emphasize them.

Extra

The Force

No, you won’t be able to levitate objects or use a Light Saber.

Your mind is a powerful ally. It is a fertile garden. If you plant negative thoughts you will get negative results. If on the other hand you have positive thoughts and worthwhile goals, it is almost impossible to fail. If you get the chance, listen to a lecture given by Earl Nightingale called “The Strangest Secret.” I had to listen to it many, many times before “I got it.” It may help you too!