If you're a regular reader, you know that my church is doing a study called "40 Days of Purpose." This week's topic was "You were created to become like Christ." It included a word picture of how people change their habits. It had a wonderful spiritual application, but it also reminded me of how I've adapted to the Blood Type Diet.

Imagine you are in a boat, and the auto pilot is set to go straight east. You, however, want to go west. You take the wheel and force it around. However you have to keep the pressure on to work against the auto pilot. This causes stress and tension. You succeed at first, then you get tired, give up, and go back to heading a direction you didn't want to go. The better way is to reprogram the boat's auto pilot, in other words to change your core thinking. That is how you bring about lasting change.

When I first started the Blood Type Diet, I tried to find substitutes for the foods I was used to. I stopped buying wheat crackers and started buying rye crackers. I switched from safflower mayonnaise to canola mayonnaise. I was trying to force the Type O diet into my old eating habits.

It was a good place to start, and I felt better. But I remember the moment I realized that Type Os just weren't suited for sandwiches. For lunch I needed 2 or 3 vegetables and some meat. At that moment I began to adjust my auto pilot.

I can have Ezekiel bread or a kamut cookie for a snack, but I really don't need the grains. A better snack is a dish of walnuts or some carrots dipped in almond butter. Aerobic exercise isn't something I do to keep in shape; it is the way my body best diffuses stress. It has to be as much a part of my day as eating. Each of these was an adjustment to my auto pilot.

I've been on the Blood Type Diet less than a year, and I realize my core thinking is still a mixture of typical American diet, health nut, and Type O. But when I walk in a restaurant looking for something that is beneficial, rather than sighing over what I can't have, I can see that I am changing.

The 40 Days of Purpose study said that God uses the Bible, the Holy Spirit and our circumstances to change our spiritual thinking. I am using this web site, the "Food Beverage & Supplement Lists," and awareness of how foods make me feel to change my dietary thinking.