Suzanne Graham

I mentioned last week that I have had trouble deciding what to do about Apples, apricots, carrots, grapes, strawberries and tomato. Apricots, I reluctantly said, were going to be infrequent neutrals for me. I have to decide about the other foods as well.

There are a lot of food lists out there. Everyone from grocers to doctors to holistic counselors have strong opinions. One theme that frequently reoccurs is the values of foods that are red or blue. Strawberries and purple grapes get high marks on almost everyone’s lists. But Dr. D. is not impressed with strawberries and grapes, at least as far as Hunters, Teachers, Type Os and Type As are concerned.

For starters, Dr. D doesn’t make a distinction between the varieties of grapes. He counts green grapes, red grapes and black grapes the same. For me, grapes are black dot toxins on the Hunter diet and neutral on the Type O diet. Normally I would consider them neutral, but there are little things in some of the other lists that make me cautions. Grapes are also black dot toxins for Gatherers. They are infrequent neutrals in all of the Type O Health Library books that I own except for the Cancer diet (frequent neutral).

They are even less favored for my Type As. The teacher diet lists grapes as toxins. They are neutral for Type As, but again, my Health Library books list them as infrequent neutrals except for the Cancer diet (frequent neutral again).

I looked at the Glycemic Index. That’s not the problem. They are not the lowest GI of the fruits, but all varieties are under 50 , and anything under 55 is considered low.

I love grapes. They are quick snacks and easy to pack in lunches and on picnics. They are readily available and inexpensive. I really want them to be neutral. But I can’t escape the fact that there’s something about them that Dr. D. doesn’t like. I have to classify them as infrequent neutrals for all of us.

Strawberries get a lower rating from Dr. D than grapes. They are toxin for Hunters and black dot toxins for Teachers. Though neutral on the Type O and Type A diets, they are infrequent neutrals across the board in the Health Library.

I like strawberry flavor, but when I eat them, I somehow know strawberries are not a super food. While it was hard to turn away from grapes, it’s easier to put strawberries down as an infrequent neutral.