There are lots of clichés about a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.

I’ve changed my mind about mayonnaise. It wasn’t long ago that I wrote a blog about the grape seed mayonnaise called Vegenaise. There are still things I like about the ingredients, and I’m going to finish the jar I have without any qualms at all.

However, my reading this week has had me so focused on Omega 3s, that I’m going to go back to cold processed canola mayonnaise. That looks to me like the best source of Omega 3s among the various mayonnaise brands.

The real advantage of grape seed oil seems to be for cooking. I use light olive oil when I cook, and will continue to do so, because the BTD and the GTD classify it as beneficial for Type Os and Type As.

Mayonnaise is a product that I use sparingly, because there is always an avoid somewhere near the bottom of the ingredient list. When I am cooking for myself, I often leave out the mayo and use olive oil or flax oil. But some things just taste better with mayonnaise. When I am preparing food for guests, mayo is often required. Cold processed canola mayonnaise looks like the lesser of evils. But if something better comes along, I reserve the right to change my mind again.

I have nudged my Honorable Husband toward the BTD for years. He eats what I serve him, and usually takes my advice in restaurants, so he has been pretty close to a Type A diet without much effort or thought on his part. I knew at the beginning that if I pushed too hard he would resist, so some things I have left alone, respecting his preferences and his comfort zone.

He is changing. As he has gone into retirement, and particularly as we watch our friends face increasingly serious health problems, he is asking more questions.

Sunday we had lunch with friends at Chili’s. I like Chili’s because they will give me a hamburger with broccoli instead of French Fries without any fuss. I get a side order of black beans for me and a take out box for the bun. Sometimes I make HH a turkey sandwich with the bun the next day; sometimes I put it in the freezer and feed it to the ducks.

We were eating with our Type O doctor friend who for years was totally convinced that a very low fat diet was best. You have met her in my blog several times. She has come to recognize her need for essential fatty acids, but she is still rightly worried about the danger of hydrogenated vegetable oils and trans fats.

Before she ordered, she asked our server what kind of oil they used at Chili's. The server was clueless, but went to the kitchen to find out. The answer was that they use 100% vegetable oil, so MD decided on a salad.

She asked what oils I used. I said that flax oil was the best source of Omega 3s, but that it is not a good cooking oil, so I cook with either ghee or light olive oil. She asked what I thought about canola, and I said that it was a neutral choice and certainly better than corn oil or coconut oil. She wasn’t familiar with flax oil, and I said that I had started using flax oil on my salads instead of extra virgin olive oil.

We were in a lively discussion and I had no idea that HH was paying any attention. Suddenly he chimed in with “Do you give me that flax oil?” It caught me off guard. I said “No, because you always want salad dressing.” He said, “If flax is that good for you, give me half salad dressing and half flax oil.” MD was laughing hysterically.

Last night I gave HH a salad with half salad dressing and half flax oil. He said he couldn’t taste any difference and said to keep making his salads that way. I am delighted to do so, but I am still recovering from the shock.

First impression: What was God thinking when he made a pomegranate? Seriously, you cannot cut into this fall fruit and believe in evolution. The pomegranate didn’t just happen. Someone with an imagination created it.

Second impression: Do not attempt to eat a pomegranate without instruction. My sister, who lives in Europe, has talked about how much they enjoy pomegranates. When I bought my first one this fall, I emailed her and asked how to eat it. She told me to look it up on the internet. What?!? How complicated can eating a piece of fruit be? She was right. I looked at several internet sites but liked this one the best.
How to eat a pomegranate
If you cut into a pomegranate without knowing what to expect, you will make a mess and probably throw the whole thing in the trash.

Third impression: Delicious. I ate the seeds with a spoon. There was a burst of sweetness, followed by a satisfying crunch. I kept them in a covered container, eating a few spoons every night as I cooked dinner. One pomegranate lasted four days.

This pomegranate did bring back some of my frustration with the differences between the GTD and the BTD. On the GTD, pomegranates are black dot for Hunters, and toxic for Gatherers, Teachers, and Warriors. That sounds like they would be bad for my family of Type Os and Type As. However on the BTD pomegranates are neutral for both Type Os and Type As. They are rated Superbeneficial for Type Os on Dr. D's Cancer Prevention Diet.

I decided that I would consider them a beneficial food for my son and myself. I probably won’t give them to my husband and daughter.

A reader, frustrated by cooking cod and having it turn out too dry, asked how I cooked frozen cod. I have the same problem when I buy thin cod fillets at the grocery store; they often come out dry.

I have the best results with cod loins, which I can only buy at a wholesale store like Sams or Costco. I do not thaw them. I put the frozen cod loins in a glass baking dish, top them with seasoning, and bake them at 350 degrees. I watch through the oven window for the juices that cook out of the cod. When the edges of the juice start to turn golden brown, I test for flakiness. The moment the cod flakes all the way through, I take it out of the oven.

When I’m in a hurry, I use a no-salt seasoning like Mrs. Dash or Spike on cod. When I have more time, I like topping cod with fresh foods – onions, celery, lemon, pineapple, whatever I have in the house.

***Basma added a comment about cooking fish in a pan vs in the oven. Make sure you scroll down to the bottom and read how she cooks fish***

The cod question reminded me that my husband asked me if we ate much tilapia. He had heard a news report about tilapia being dangerous. I spent some time doing internet searches about tilapia safety this morning. I am no expert, so do your own searches, but this is a summary of what I found.

Most tilapia is farm raised in China. The Director of Food Safety at the University of Georgia went to China to inspect fish farms, and found to his horror that they were feeding tilapia human and animal excrement. The fish were given a big dose of antibiotics prior to being prepared for market. This report is evidently several years old.

Some more recent reports indicate that China has made an effort to “clean up” their fish farms. I can’t tell whether this is advertising/marketing talk or whether they have really made significant changes.

Equally alarming is that people buy tilapia thinking that it is a less expensive way to get the good benefits of eating fish. A recommended ratio of Omega 6:Omega 3 is 1:1. The typical American daily intake is estimated at 30:1. Aren’t you glad you are on the BTD and not on a typical American diet?!?

People are being encouraged to increase their Omega 3 intake, and the three best sources of Omega 3 are Flaxseed walnuts and cold water fish. When you look at the ratio, you want the first number to be smaller than 1. That means the fish has more Omega 3 than Omega 6.

Salmon .05:1
Halibut .06:1
Mackerel .55:1
Cod .4:1
Tilapia 11:1

You can see that tilapia is not a good choice for people wanting to increase the Omega 3s in their diet. Unlike other fish, it is low in Omega 3 and high in Omega 6.

I notice that the fat content of farm raised salmon is higher than wild caught salmon. Frankly the farm raised tastes better to me, and it is usually less expensive. I was almost ready to abandon wild caught and start buying farm raised. But in the course of looking up ratios, I learned that because of the grain based food fed to farm raised salmon, the increased fat content is the undesirable Omega 6.

As for me and my house…we will continue to buy cod loins over cod fillets. We will continue to buy wild caught salmon. And we won’t be buying any more tilapia. This blog is making me hungry. It’s time to fix lunch.

I like to buy meat at Sams Club. I can get good ground beef and turkey at the grocery store. I am delighted that I can get ground bison there as well. But I’m usually disappointed in grocery store roast and brisket. Grocery store lamb is so expensive I would never consider buying it. However the meat counter at Sams Club is both BTD and budget friendly.

Today I bought boneless leg of lamb. I froze it. I’ll thaw it out and roast it with fresh rosemary the next time my son comes for dinner. The smallest eye of round roast they had today was 4.55 pounds. I will cut it in half tomorrow morning. Then I will roast half and freeze the other half for later.

Sams also carries Cod Loins in their frozen food section. The cod in the grocery store is thin and falls apart. It reminds me of orange roughy or whiting, neither of which are on my favorite fish list. But the Cod Loins are thick. They have both a good flavor and texture. I bought a bag of Cod Loins today. I like to keep them in the freezer for days when dinner time sneaks up on me.

I mentioned bison, which reminds me of a funny incident. I have a facebook friend who posts a lot of animal youtube links. She is a dear person, and it’s fun to talk with her about books and travel, but I think she drifts into the “animals are people, too” way of thinking. She had posted a link to a video bemoaning the tragedy of bison from Yellowstone National Park wandering out of the protected park lands and being shot by hunters. I commented, all in fun, that “bison is delicious, good for Type Os, and available at HEB.”

My friend was not bothered by my post at all, but one of her friends screamed at me in all caps. I assume she is a Type O frustrated with trying to be vegetarian. I’m certainly glad I understand why my Type O body needs meat. I came home from today’s shopping trip with plenty of high quality beneficial protein.

When we travel, we take our own breakfast food and eat in our room. This has become so much easier in the last year or so, because almost every motel chain now offers a refrigerator in the room at no additional charge. For our remaining two meals, we eat out one and picnic one.

For our trip to Colorado, we are staying at a condominium. We got a great rate at a ski resort. It’s too late for summer vacationers and too early for snow. This means we have a fully equipped kitchen, which makes preparing picnic food somewhat easier. But don’t forget this is vacation, I’m keeping food preparation simple!

I added three new items to the picnic food that I’ve blogged about in the past. Since we have a refrigerator, my husband gets a lot more fresh produce with his turkey sandwich. He has had grapes, apples, nectarines, carrots and green beans. I think he could eat a turkey sandwich every day for six months, but I do try to give him lots of variety with the extras that go with the sandwich.

I bought mozzarella cheese to go in my sushi nori wraps that I eat on picnics. That’s not new. What is new is using the mozzarella in the meat and veggie bowls that I eat when we are in the condo. Tonight I had canned spinach and canned chicken topped by mozzarella. Heated for one minute in the microwave, and it is the closest thing to creamed spinach that I’ve had in years. Delicious. Along with this combination, I had a half can of pumpkin heated with diced apple and grapes. Was this a vegetable dish or a dessert?

I’ve been eating a lot of humus at home. When we arrived in Colorado, I bought a container of humus for picnicking. Last night I had tuna, English peas, and humus. I had a sweet potato as well. I once thought fixing Type O travel food was hard, but I can now fix myself a bowl quicker than I fix my husband’s sandwich.

Tomorrow I’ll look at some of our adventures eating out in Colorado.

My husband and I are vacationing with another couple in Southern Colorado. Today we went to Mesa Verde. Everywhere we went we read about hunters and gatherers.

If you are not familiar with Mesa Verde, it is a National Park that preserves the ancient dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloans. The pit houses and mesa top houses are interesting, but those kinds of Pueblo ruins are scattered all over the Southwest. What makes Mesa Verde so fascinating are the cliff dwellings. They look like complex apartment communities, but they were built under overhanging cliffs. They were secure from both enemies and predatory animals, because the only access was by ladders or toe holes in the cliffs.

The Native Americans who lived in these ruins are identified in the museums, on the park signs and in all the brochures as hunters and gatherers. Many of those exhibits talk about what these hunters and gatherers ate, and believe me it is nothing like the GenoType diet!

Meat was high on the list. They killed and ate lots of game including deer, rabbits, squirrels, and turkeys. That sounds a lot like a hunter. Their other foods were pinto-like beans, corn, and squash. Neither pinto beans nor corn are beneficial choices for either hunters or gatherers. Most squash is neutral, but many are black dot for gatherers.

One of our friends commented that it would have been heavenly to have lived in such beautiful country, out in the open, with no worries about economic crises or unemployment. We all agreed that an active outdoor life would have advantages. But in spite of the clean air and water, the life span of the Ancestral Puebloans was short and often brutal. There were no antibiotics, and limited techniques for setting broken bones. There were no bananas from Central America, no salmon from Alaska, no Romaine from California, no cherries from Washington. Most of the beneficial foods enjoyed by GTD hunters and gatherers would have been completely unknown.

I will take my computer, my modern grocery store, and the probability of seeing my grandchildren grow up over the primitive life of this very interesting culture.

Speaking of hunting, our son is taking care of our dog and our house while we are gone while he hunts for a physical therapy job. We are thankful that even in this very difficult economy he is having very positive interviews.

Is the whole culture becoming more health conscious, or is it just my little Hill Country community? I am finding the most amazing foods at the local grocery store. I blogged earlier that the store now regularly stocks ground bison (for a very reasonable price) and frozen acai.

Over the summer, DD found Cedar’s Tzatziki. It is a Greek strained yogurt dip. It comes in several flavors, all of them loaded with vegetables. Yogurt is avoid for me, but it is neutral for my husband. It is certainly a much better choice for him than some of the other things (like picante or sour cream) that he likes to dip. The store is also carrying brown rice chips, which he admits are really tasty.

This week I found falafel. The ingredients are chickpeas, fava beans, onions, parsley and spices. Chick peas are avoid for my husband, but all of the ingredients are beneficial for me. And, oh my, falafel is delicious. It’s like having a little muffin with my meal.

I’m going to buy these products often, to encourage the store management to keep carrying them.

I’ve been comparing green tea at two popular wifi hot spots. The only internet access at my parent’s old house is dial up. It is s o s l o w. So every other night my sister and I pack up our computers and head for wifi so that we can get caught up on e-mail and other internet based business.

I order the same thing wherever we go – unsweetened green tea, iced.

When we go to Borders, they brew the tea fresh – a process that takes about 5 minutes. They told me all the steps they go through. When we go to Starbucks, the green tea is already made and in a pitcher. They pour it up while I pay for it.

The Borders freshly brewed tea has a slightly bitter taste. It’s not bad. In fact after the jolt of the first sip, it is very good. The Starbucks tea is smoother.

I have to admit that I like Starbucks a little better, but I suspect that Borders is better for me since it is fresh. Either way, it has been fun to enjoy green tea while we furiously sort through e-mail messages.

I’m starting the third week at my parents’ house. My sister and I have made so much progress. We have one room and one closet left to investigate. I have eaten really well - only two avoid foods. I think that is somewhat extraordinary for being away from home. One of those was a dessert for my sister’s birthday. The other was potato chunks that came with one of the most amazing egg dishes. It was a Greek frittata. The eggs were topped with asparagus, artichoke, sun dried tomatoes, and feta cheese. It was an outstanding combination.

I have made sure to exercise every day. It’s best if I get up early and walk or run before breakfast. Once the day starts, it’s hard to find time as we get busier and busier with projects. Sometimes exercise comes in surprising places. This morning, for instance, I realized that I had gotten the day wrong for the heavy trash pickup. We suddenly saw the truck a block away and raced around lugging a picnic table, ping pong table, three computers & two monitors and a mattress & box spring out to the drive way. That will get your heart racing.

For the most part, I have eaten meat and veggie bowls. Meat choices have been ground beef, rotisserie chicken, brisket, salmon, and turkey breast. Vegetables have included peas, green beans, parsnips, mustard greens, sweet potatoes, turnip greens, carrots, black beans, pumpkin, broccoli and more. My niece teases me about the combinations I put in a bowl. I think adding hummus to green beans or barbeque sauce to turnip greens tastes good, but she laughs calls it “Aunt Suzanne’s food.”

I confess. I’m guilty. I have stashed away enough pumpkin so that DD and I can have a can a week until the end of the year. I also paid way too much for it. But pumpkin is beneficial for both of us, and we didn’t want to do without.

I remember last Thanksgiving hearing something about a pumpkin shortage, but I didn’t pay any attention because I could still get pumpkin at my local grocery store. Admittedly there was no pumpkin at Walmart - even between Thanksgiving and Christmas - but I speculated that it had to do more with some food supplier being at odds with Walmart than any real problem.

My grocery store carried large and small cans of Libby’s pure pumpkin, plus their store brand of pumpkin. I always liked the small cans of Libby’s best. During the winter the store stopped stocking small cans of Libby’s. I switched to the store brand, but by spring that was no longer available either. By then it was nearly time for DD to be home for the summer, so I didn’t mind switching to the large cans of Libby’s.

At that moment, I should have seen red flags. I should have googled pumpkin shortage. I should have stocked up. But no. I didn’t want to believe anything was really wrong. (Perhaps a parallel could be drawn to those who don’t want to believe that deficits are getting worse, unemployment is getting worse, and the economy is getting worse while the Washington administration promotes policies just the opposite of those which are proven to end a recession. Sorry, I didn’t intend to get political, but the comparison is so obvious.)

Last week large cans of Libby’s were gone from the shelves. There were small cans of organic pumpkin for double the price. “Outrageous,” I cried. “No way am I going to pay that much.”

I had to go to the city for an appointment so I tried several grocery stores. It was expensive organic pumpkin or nothing. I came home and googled pumpkin. I found out that for the last three years the pumpkin harvest has been small. One year it was drought, another year it was too much rain. One year they didn’t even harvest enough pumpkin to get seed for replanting.

So I have bought out the organic pumpkin in three grocery stores. DD and I will have pumpkin for the rest of this year. I hope – for the farmers’ sake as well as our own – that this year’s harvest will be better.

This summer DD and I have been baking pies. One year at Thanksgiving, she wanted to bake a BTD compliant pumpkin pie. We ground walnuts and used them for a pat in crust – sort of like a graham cracker pat in crust. The pie was delicious. Why we didn’t pursue pie, I don’t know, but we let the idea drop.

This spring we baked an apple pie. We used walnuts for a crust again. We put a layer of thinly sliced apples, then a sprinkle of cinnamon a drizzle of ghee, and a squirt of honey. Then another layer the same way until the apples were higher than the crust. We baked it at 350 degrees until it was bubbly and the apples were soft. Oh, it was delicious.

Now we are enjoying pie quite often. A friend from high school who is celiac, came for lunch last week. I assured her that a preparing a meal without wheat or gluten was no problem for me. DD and I baked an apple pie. We warned my friend and her husband that it wasn’t very sweet. She said, “I haven’t had pie in years, so I’ve forgotten how sweet it’s supposed to be. This is delicious.”

Our nephew and his family came last weekend to enjoy the Hill Country lakes and rivers. We baked a blueberry pie for Father’s Day. We stirred ¼ cup of honey and a teaspoon of vanilla into two packages of frozen blueberries. We baked them in the walnut crust. I bought vanilla ice cream so that those who were used to a sweeter dessert wouldn’t feel that our pie was too bland. No ice cream for DD and me. We found every bite to be delicious just as it came out of the oven.

Peaches are sweet and inexpensive right now, so I think our next pie will be peach. Then, perhaps cherry. When the ingredients are so healthy and beneficial, why not enjoy pie more often?

On the way to my husband’s family reunion, we spent the night with one of my roommates from college years. Alice first read about the Blood Type Diet in one of my Christmas Cards. One year I mentioned that after the BTD had solved years of stomach pain, I was blogging on the D’Adamo website. She says that she got a copy of the book, but gave up because the diet looked too hard.

However, her Type A mother was also having stomach trouble. Her doctor, like mine, performed lots of tests and came up with no answers. The medication he prescribed made her worse and not better. Alice and her Mom went to a health food store to see if there were supplements that might help. The owner said, “The first thing we need to know is her blood type.” That’s when Alice remembered my success with the BTD. Her mom started the diet and bought some supplements. It worked. Her stomach pain vanished, and stays away as long as she eats right.

When Alice told her I was coming to visit, her Mom said, “Yes, the gal that saved my life.” Oh my! I’ve never saved anyone’s life before. Of course it wasn’t me. It was the wonderful way that God made our bodies, and the wonderful research done by Dr. D. I was just the conduit.

Alice claims that she is marginal about the BTD, but she and her husband fixed a fabulous dinner that was perfect for both Type Os and Type As. He grilled steaks, chicken breasts, onions, and pineapple outside. She fixed green beans, carrots and salad with homemade dressing. For dessert she had oatmeal cookies made with spelt flour. It was a feast.

We had so much to talk about – our children and friends from long ago. Many roommates get together and talk about those things. But Alice and I have equal fun talking about what we eat and how our faith has grown.

I love it when the pressure of health conscious people forces retailers to carry more beneficial food. It’s fine with me if their motivation is profit. Profitable businesses create jobs, after all. I was happy when grocery stores started carrying whole grain products – I remember when they didn’t. I chuckled with delight when Wal-Mart began carrying organic produce. I’m not sold out on organic myself, but it shows that they are listening to their customers.

I was in the freezer section of my grocery store a week ago looking for frozen blueberries and cherries. On the top shelf, I saw a new product sticker. It was Acai!!! The package says it is pureed berries with a little cane juice extract, and it is labeled “smoothie pack”. The instructions tell how to quickly thaw the puree to make a smoothie.

I used some in my morning breakfast mix, and it was delicious. I haven’t tried it in a smoothie yet, but when DD gets home this summer she will come up with creative smoothie combinations.

If it’s available at my grocery store, then it means that the big suppliers are stocking it. Ask at your store for Sambazon brand Acai smoothie packs.

It’s time for church! I’m looking forward to worship this morning.

I bought a hard to find GTD beneficial at the most unlikely place. Because I cook a lot, my kitchen towels look shabby all too soon. Long ago I gave up buying nice towels for the kitchen. I wipe my oily and food stained hands so often, that no matter how often I wash the towels, they are discolored. I’m lucky if they look presentable for a year.

The solution is to buy kitchen towels at one of the many dollar stores. One particular store in our area always has cute towels – cheap! The other day I was folding laundry and realized that my kitchen towels looked awful. Time to toss them in the rag bag and replace them. At the dollar store, I found cute towels that matched my dishes for almost nothing. There were even hot pads to match.

Because this is a deep discount, close out store, you never know what you’re going to find. I decided to wander around and see what was in stock. I never dreamed I would find real European currants.

Back when the GenoType Diet first came out, there was a controversy about American currants really being a variety of grape, and the truly beneficial currants being European currants. To get real currants in America they had to be mail ordered from specialty growers. Sorry, that’s not in my budget.

So I forgot about currants – until I saw “reduced sugar, black currant jam” in the dollar store. “Less sugar, more fruit” the label said. There were no artificial sweeteners. The expiration date was fine. The jam was imported from Denmark, making me confident that these are real currants. I bought several jars, for a ridiculously low price.

Black currants are delicious. I have used the jam as jam on Ezekiel bread. I have also used it as a dressing on grated raw vegetables.

There is no guarantee that I will ever find this kind of a deal again. But I will keep my eyes open for currants in unlikely places and beneficial bargains at the dollar store.

DD’s Type AB friend sent me a recipe for sweet potato custard right before Spring Break. Since DD was coming home, I was reluctant to make such a yummy sounding dish just for me. Sweet potatoes are avoid for the Type As in the family. DD and I decided to try it with pumpkin.

Here is the original recipe for Sweet Potato Custard
1 & 1/2 cup pureed sweet potato
2 eggs
1 cup milk
Mix together. Spoon into custard cups which have been sprayed with non stick cooking spray and bake at 350 deg. F for 20 minutes.

Here is DD’s and my Pumpkin Custard
3 cups canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups soy milk
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp all spice
½ tsp cloves
Mix together. Pour into a square baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until a knife poked into the custard comes out clean. Cut in squares to serve.

Let me remind you about DD’s marketing survey. She is taking a college class in how to write a survey and analyze the data. The more responses she gets the better her grade. It is very quick and easy. You will not be asked for any identifying information, just a few general demographic questions. Thank you in advance for visiting the link.

DD's Survey

I had never eaten hummus until a year ago. I was on my way home from my Mom’s house and was looking for a barbeque restaurant where I could pick up brisket. The barbeque restaurant was closed, but there was a Mediterranean restaurant across the street where I got lamb shawarma. It came with a side order of hummus and I was instantly hooked. Hummus is made from garbanzo beans, also called chickpeas. It is avoid for As, Bs, and ABs; but it is neutral for Type Os. However on the GenoType diet it is beneficial for Hunters. So I consider it beneficial for me. I know better than to trust my feelings, but I just feel good when I eat hummus.

I’ve started buying it at a local health food store. If you’ve read my blogs for long, you know that I’m not usually interested in sauces on my food. A little ghee or a little extra virgin olive oil suits me better than a fancy sauce. However, I love using hummus as a sauce.

Today I pulled leftover chicken and left over English peas out of the refrigerator. I warmed them together with 3-4 Tbsp of hummus. It was an outstanding lunch.

Experiencing BTD foods with someone new to the diet is so enlightening. Spending time with DD and one of her enthusiastic college girlfriends is so much fun. Put the two together and it guarantees a delightful weekend. My Honorable Husband spent the weekend with his mother. They had a good time, talking about family news and relaxing in front of the television. DD and a girlfriend drove in from college to visit me. We did “girl” things all weekend.

In the evenings we curled up under blankets and watched “Anne of Green Gables” movies. We laughed and cried at all of the same parts. I think all of us are just a little bit in love with Gilbert Blythe. On Saturday we drove to a quaint shopping area and strolled in and out of the shops, looking at antiques and designer clothes.

It has been rainy for a week or more, and it is raining again today. But the skies cleared and the sun was out on Saturday. After we got in from shopping, the girls studied for a while, then we all went for a run up and down the hills near our home. All of that would have made it an outstanding Girl Weekend, but there was one more element that made it perfect.

DD’s friend has been interested in diet and exercise for a long time. DD recently introduced her to the BTD, and she immediately saw how well it fit with her natural inclinations toward food. She is Type AB, which is the blood type I knew least about. She has been eliminating avoid foods, and is ready to introduce new fruits and vegetables. The three of us cooked up a storm.

Friday night I cooked salmon with broccoli and butternut squash. DD had never tried butternut squash. Her friend had never tried it with cinnamon. Saturday night we had ground turkey, rutabaga, onions, and sweet potato fries. It is amazing how people wince at the word rutabaga, but how much they enjoy it cooked with olive oil, cinnamon, cloves and onion. Saturday night I smoked a turkey. So when we came in from church, we sliced the turkey and pulled out all of the leftover vegetables including some black beans and mustard greens that I had fixed for myself one day for lunch. It was a feast.

I had a refrigerator full of fruit including grapes cherries, grapefruit, apples, pears and persimmons. By far the best thing we ate was fruit cake. Ever since New Years, DD and I have been eager to tweak our fruit cake recipe. In an earlier blog I reported that it tasted really good, but that it didn’t hold together, and I could not slice it. This time it came out both beautiful and delicious. I’ll share the recipe next time.

Before the girls left to drive back to college, we did a kick boxing video together. It was so reaffirming that I could hold my own exercising with those two 20 year olds.

My sister, who lived in Western Europe for more than 20 years, has moved to one of the former Soviet republics. When she was home for Mom’s funeral, I asked her what new foods she was enjoying in her new culture.

She mentioned two fruits: persimmons and pomegranates. Persimmons are beneficial for Type A Teachers, and pomegranates are super beneficial on the Type O Cancer Diet. DD chimed in saying that she had bought both in her local grocery store and found them both impossible to eat.

My sister laughed and told us what she had learned from her new friends.

Persimmons in the store are usually beautiful and bright orange. In this condition they are still unripe. Put pretty persimmons in a window or on a counter top. Watch as they start to become less bright. They begin to look a little brown. When the skin has kind of a translucent glow, they are ripe.

To eat a ripe persimmon, cut off the top and scoop the insides out with a spoon.

I bought persimmons. I was not convinced that I would recognize when they were ripe. Each day the bright orange faded, and they became more of a rust color. One day I saw what my sister meant by translucent glow. I waited one more day and tried it.

Oh my! What a delightful fruit. It was sweet and soft. I had expected it to be stringy, but it wasn’t at all. It was like eating pudding or sorbet. Persimmons are back on my shopping list.

This success inspires me to buy pomegranates. Pomegranate juice is popular in my part of the world, but I don’t see people rushing out to buy the fruit. I’ll let you know how they are when eaten according to the Eastern European manner.

One of the confirming things when I first went on the Blood Type Diet was the way that peanuts and cheddar cheese affected me. I had always loved both of those foods, but they were rated as avoids. After I had been on the BTD for a few weeks, and had felt such good results, I had to experiment and find out what would happen if I tried to eat a few old favorite avoids. Peanuts and cheese made me noticeably sleepy. I thought back and remembered times when I had taken them as snacks in the car on long road trips. I would get so sleepy that I had to ask my husband to drive.

The ladies from my church brought dinner to us after Mom’s funeral. There was lots of really delightful and healthy food. However one of the dishes was King Ranch Casserole. Oh, how I used to love King Ranch Casserole! It is a Mexican chicken meal with corn tortillas, peppers, and melted cheddar cheese. I couldn’t resist a small portion.

After dinner my sister and I did the dishes. We were suddenly so tired. We had planned to do some paper work, but both of us were yawning and falling asleep. We blamed it on the stress of the weekend and the long drive home. Both of us went to bed early.

I woke up the next morning bright eyed and full of energy. That’s when it hit me. We weren’t sleepy because of stress. We were both Type Os, and we were sleepy because of cheddar cheese. My sister, because she lives in Europe, eats a lot of cheese. She is often tired at night, and tries to go to bed early.

I don’t regret the delicious taste of the King Ranch Casserole. It was a treat to be enjoyed once in a long while. However, I’m also glad I know the effect that cheese has on my Type O body. It’s much nicer tonight to be alert and productive after dinner. If I needed any confirmation that cheddar cheese is avoid for me, I certainly got it.