Several months ago I read about someone on the Forum who was trying to determine their GenoType, so they asked their dentist about Carabelli’s cusp and incisor shoveling. I thought this was a great idea, and made a note to ask my own dentist at my next appointment.

Yesterday was the day. My dentist says that virtually everyone has a Carabelli’s cusp. Some people’s are very prominent, others are very faint, more the hint of a ridge than a cusp. Often the size of the cusp varies from one first molar to another. He was giving me a lot of detail about people groups. The GTD had asked yes or no to Carabelli’s cusp, so this was not helping.

I changed my question, and said, “On a scale of 1-10, how prominent are my Carabelli’s cusps?” He looks for a while with his mirror, and said that I would be a 6.

Next I asked about incisor shoveling. Again he said that it’s not a matter of whether you have it, but a matter of how much. We applied the scale again, and he said I had slightly less shoveling than average. He gave me a 4.

Overall the results were disappointing. I have never been completely confident about my GenoType because my significant fingers are virtually the same length. Now I find out that these other two indicators are less of a yes/no and more of a degree. Again I fall right in the middle of the scale.

So I’ll stick with the Blood Type Diet, tweaking certain foods based on the two GenoTypes that I might be.

The dentist had one parting comment. “You need to eat more sugar,” he said, in his dry humorous way. “If all of my patients ate as healthy as you do, I wouldn’t be able to make a living.”

My Honorable Husband walked into the kitchen this morning and said, “I have a brilliant idea. On the weeks that you don’t have your Hiking Club, let’s go out into the Hill Country and do a hike ourselves.”

When we were younger, we loved hiking together. Most of our vacations have been to the mountains. The two of us enjoyed mountain trails before we had children. Our son was on the Cub Lake trail when he was 3-years-old and our daughter hiked to Nymph Lake when she was three as well. As the kids got older, we took longer trails. Even the years when we did historical vacations, we did a lot of walking – like the Freedom Trail in Boston.

In 2004 HH hurt his knee. He did physical therapy and fortunately avoided surgery. Under normal circumstances he has no pain. But he learned that his strenuous hiking days were over. His knee does not like steep inclines or large rocks. He exercises every day walking on the roads around our home. When we are on vacation, we take long walks on smooth paths. It is the mountain trails that bring back the pain. It was hard for me to accept that when his hiking days ended, mind did as well.

Two years ago God blessed me with a ladies hiking club. I am one of the younger women in the group. A few of these hikers are in their 70s. We are all in the club for the same reasons: we want to stay healthy, and our husbands for one reason or another, do not hike. I’ve had a wonderful time getting to know these ladies as friends as we hike together twice a month.

One day in early January it was sunny and warm. HH and I drove to a lake with the dog and took a long walk on a hike & bike trail. There were no inclines and because the path was for bicyclists, it was smooth enough for him to enjoy without having to watch his feet. Last week we had a coupon for a new restaurant out in the Hill Country. We decided to drive up for lunch and take an equestrian trail that was nearby. I enjoyed both of these outings. It was great exercise, of course, but it was more than that. I realized how much I had missed the camaraderie of being on the trail with HH. Conversation sprang up naturally about issues that we never seem to have time to talk about on an ordinary busy day.

He obviously felt the same way. So we now have a commitment to hike together on the weeks when I don’t have Hiking Club. We will look for more bicycle and equestrian trails. Some weeks we may invite couples from the city to come and join us. This is going to be fun!

I can understand why food manufacturers lace their products with salt and sugar. Both are addictive. Because I eat natural, unprocessed food most of the time, I feel the difference when I get too much salt or sugar. I don’t like the way too much salt makes me feel. I am thirsty, and the inside of my mouth tingles. I don’t like the way too much sugar makes me feel either. I am sluggish and lazy. That is my logical, healthy, informed self. But once I get started on salty, sweet food look out. Logic, health and wisdom abandon me, and I am as vulnerable as any ordinary gal in a fast food drive through line.

I am in a Book Club in my neighborhood. Last year several of us read a book called True Women, about women pioneers in Texas. We also enjoyed a follow up book called The True Women Cookbook. The club was meeting at my house in January, and I decided to do recipes from the True Women Cookbook along with recipes that have been handed down from my early Texas ancestors.

I moderated the recipes a little so that my husband and I could eat the leftovers. I used neutral flours in the cookies and substituted feta cheese for cheddar. My book reading friends loved the theme, and the food was delicious, if I say so myself.

Though there weren’t any avoid foods (except for coconut), there was still more sugar and salt than I am accustomed to eating. One of the cookies was a no bake recipe that called for making a sauce with sugar, butter and milk (I used almond milk). Another cookie was dusted with powdered sugar. Several of the recipes called for dried fruit and one for honey. The asparagus was topped with both cheese and a crunchy salty topping.

The night before the Book Club I did quite a bit of taste testing – but I told myself, I’ll eat moderately tomorrow. The day of the Book Club I decided to yield and enjoy myself – tomorrow I’ll get back to eating normally. The day after the Book Club the leftovers were too tempting. Sugar and salt were calling my name.

This morning I got up resolved to get back in control. I know that the best thing for my body is to eat my food as close to the way God made it as I can. Concentrated salt and sugar are not the way He intended for me to eat.

I know today will be filled with temptation. There are still a few leftovers in the house, though most of them are going in the freezer after I finish writing this blog. I am drinking lots of fluid. I added l-glutamine to my morning green tea to head off carb cravings. I’ll take more l-glutamine late this afternoon before I start dinner preparation. Writing this blog makes me feel accountable to all of you who are reading it.

As my logical, healthy, informed side begins to reassert itself, I have a renewed sympathy for those around me who are trying for the first time to wean themselves away from processed foods. It takes a while to savor the flavors of grains and vegetables without excessive sugar and salt. I’m eager to get back on track, and I’m glad I have l-glutamine to get me past the moments when the cravings would try to drag me back.

On New Year’s Day I cooked a big crock pot of black eyed peas.

The tradition of eating black eyed peas to bring prosperity in the New Year is well-known in the Southern United States. A quick Google search tells me that it is an international tradition. Some trace its roots to the Middle East and others to Africa.

I’m not superstitious about good luck practices – I just like black eyed peas. Since they are beneficial for Type As and Type Os, I cook them often. A holiday with a beneficial traditional food is certainly worth preserving.

I’ve never liked the Southern way of cooking black eyed peas. Even before I knew anything about nutrition, much less the Blood Type Diet, I winced at finding a chunk of pork fat in my peas. I cook them simply in the crock pot with a large chopped onion and two minced cloves of garlic.

The day after New Year’s I cooked Kasha. Buckwheat is beneficial for Type As and beneficial for Hunters, so it is a good grain choice for our household. I had never eaten buckwheat before the BTD. The first time I read the instructions I knew my family would not like it cooked soft like a cereal. The more appetizing instructions for making Kasha sounded complicated. It turned out to be remarkably easy and fast. I won’t waste blog space with what is written on the back of every buckwheat package, but I will say that if you do exactly what they say to do with the egg and the butter (or oil) in the skillet, you will have a fluffy grain dish.

By then, we were two days into 2012 and I had leftovers. So I made individual casseroles: A layer of kasha, a layer of black eyed peas, a layer of chopped turkey. I put a sauce of some kind on my husband's casserole. The combined flavors of kasha and black eyed peas was very good.

The next day I made casseroles again, this time with grilled onions and canned salmon. Another winner with compliments from my husband.

While this is likely to become our own New Year’s Tradition, there is no reason why we can’t enjoy black eyed peas and kasha any time of year.