There's a little bit if child in all of us. If you don't believe it you should see my teenage daughter and my husband eat animal crackers.

My mom tells of making paste out of white flour and water when she was a girl. She and her sisters used it the same way we use glue and tape today, for art projects and sealing packages. There are some white flour foods that remind me of paste, and animal crackers are among them. My kids were fascinated by animal crackers when they were little, but whenever I would eat them them I felt like I had a mouth full of paste, so I rarely bought any.

I was at the health food store the other day, and saw among the cookies and crackers individual packages of Snackimals. Oatmeal-wheat free animal cookies, the package said. I glanced at the ingredients. Of the first three, two were beneficial for As.

They would be perfect for after school practices and sporting events. I bought a couple of packages. My daughter says they taste good, and she admits that it's still fun to see the animals. One day my husband was rummaging through the cabinet, and said, "You have animal crackers." He likes them too, especially the lions. So they are now often on my grocery list.

We were at an all day contest on Saturday. I packed snacks, fearing that there wouldn't be much healthy food available at the concession stand. (For the most part I was right, though they did have apples and bananas.) The first of my snacks to disappear were the animal crackers.

I have never eaten rack of lamb, but I've read complimentary posts about it on this website and I've heard it enthusiastically advertised by fancy restaurants. The other day I was browsing at the meat counter where I buy leg of lamb, and a rack of lamb caught my eye. Always on the lookout for something new, I picked it up.

I saw fat…and bones…and more fat. I turned the package thinking there must be meat in there somewhere; but I couldn't see it. Here was a point of potential conflict between the BTD which rates lamb as beneficial for Type Os and other nutritional evidence that supports a lower fat diet.

I have the same difficulty when I look at highly marbled beef. I just can't believe that all that fat is good for me. I buy leaner roasts, like eye-of-round. I buy extra lean or super lean ground beef. I trim the fat off round steak and other cuts of beef before I cook them. The leg of lamb I buy is quite lean. The butcher probably trims it when he de-bones it.

I turned the rack of lamb over again. The urge for something new to eat was overruled by an instinct to stay away from so much fat.

At home I pulled Live Right for Your Type off the shelf to see if it dealt with high fat meats. There under Type O Meat and Poultry was this sentence, "Choose only the best quality, chemical- and pesticide-free low-fat meats." Good, there is no conflict after all. The BTD and dietitians agree that lean is better.

I suppose the only chance I will ever have to try rack of lamb is if someday I am at a fancy dinner and am given the choice of rack of lamb or pork tenderloin. Until then, I will keep to lean cuts of meat.

Yesterday my husband and I had something to celebrate, so we went out for a nice dinner, just the two of us. Outback Steakhouse is a remarkably Type O friendly place. It was in stark contrast to my birthday dinner last summer.

I cook roast, lamb, and chopped steak quite often. I fix London broil and round steak. But because we are a mixed blood type household I rarely grill top quality steak. It somehow doesn't seem right to buy an expensive cut of meat and eat it by myself at lunch. So, when my husband takes me out, I order steak!

Last summer I kept hearing great things about a popular steakhouse. The food was supposed to be fabulous and moderately priced. We went there for my birthday dinner. Three things raced through my mind when I opened my menu. Nothing was my idea of moderately priced. There was very little for my Type A husband to eat. A potato came with everything - and there were no substitutions.

We sat at our table uncomfortably sipping our water. My husband didn't want to be the first to say leave because it was my birthday. I didn't want to be the first to say leave because he was being sweet to bring me to such a nice place. Finally at the same moment we said, "Let's go." We drove to a seafood restaurant and had delicious fish with steamed vegetables. It was well prepared and well served. It was a lovely evening, even if it wasn't steak.

I got on the phone yesterday morning and started calling restaurants, cheerfully asking what substitutions were available for potatoes. When Outback Steakhouse said "sweet potatoes," I stopped calling. That was where we would go.

The salad was mostly iceburg lettuce, which was a little disappointing. But they had no trouble bringing me extra virgin olive oil instead of dressing. I had a nice steak with a delicious sweet potato. Broccoli or steamed mixed vegetables were other choices I could have substituted or the potato. My husband had a pasta dish with chicken and rye bread.

It was a good night to celebrate, and a very good steak.

When I read about ice storms, blizzards and sub-zero temperatures in other parts of the country, I am reluctant to complain about our weather. It has been chilly and damp for two weeks. We've had low clouds with rain or drizzle every day. It's not freezing cold, but the dampness makes me feel cold all the time.

I had to force myself to swim these past two weeks. I stood on the side of the pool putting my goggles on and asking myself, "Why am I doing this?" The water is the same temperature in the indoor pool as it is on a sunny day. But since I felt so cold already, the idea of jumping into the water was oppressive.

Of course once I got in and swam my warm up laps I felt great. Then I remembered why I was making myself swim. The exercise cleared my mind and energized me.

This morning I printed the February issue of our school paper. When I finished it wasn't raining, so I drove to my favorite park to run. I scrambled to the top of the hill and was hit in the face by a blast of cold, misty air. I shivered and again said, "Why am I doing this?"

I started running, avoiding the muddy spots on the trail. By the time I had run a half-mile I was feeling better, and I picked up my pace. Just before the one-mile mark, I broke a sweat. I had more energy with every step. When I reached the end of my route and climbed back to the top of the hill, the misty air no longer bothered me.

It sometimes takes an act of will to exercise. My Type O self is always glad when I force through my reluctance, my excuses, and my sluggishness. The feeling at the end of a workout is ample answer to the questions I sometimes ask at the beginning.

We have a friend at church who is having chemotherapy for a reoccurrence of melanoma. She will be hospitalized every other week. This week she is home. Families from church are taking dinner to her every night so that she can concentrate on getting rest and rebuilding her strength for the next round of chemo. Tonight is my night.

My husband visited her in the hospital last week and they got into a conversation about the Blood Type Diet. She and her middle school son are both Type O, and she was very curious about the concept.

My daughter and I have spent two days planning our menu. We want it to be beneficial and tasty. We don't want any avoids, but we don't want it to be so weird that it is a turn off.

Here is the plan: eye of round roast, fruit salad (strawberries, red grapes, grapefruit, pineapple), broccoli with olive oil, parsnips with maple syrup, kamut rolls, oatmeal cookies.

I will get the roast and the rolls cooking on timers before I leave for school. My daughter will bake cookies while I fix vegetables this afternoon.

If you are a praying person, ask God to intervene in this disease and bless Claudia.

Once in a while I get a glimpse of just how much my diet has changed since starting the BTD. Today my husband suggested going to a breakfast buffet after church. We used to do this every month or two. The kids loved the French toast sticks and bacon that I wouldn't buy for them at home. I loved hash browns; I never learned to make them as well as a restaurant does. I also liked the frozen strawberries with whipped cream. My husband always got grits because I rarely made them at home.

We haven't been to the buffet in a long time. When we arrived, my daughter took a look at the choices and realized that everything she liked was either starch or pork. She ordered a grilled chicken sandwich off the regular menu. The salad bar was open so I fixed myself a big salad. Potatoes are avoids, the strawberries are loaded with sugar, and the whipped cream is fake. I got a plate of eggs; everything else seemed to be avoid. My husband got all his old favorites, but his stomach is queasy tonight.

The defining moment came when I sat down with my two plates. My daughter said, "You're not cheating at all, are you?" "No, I'm not," I answered. "Good for you, she replied." The best part was that I really didn't even want to.

My personal Bible study this year is written by John MacArthur, and today's lesson was on the Ten Commandments. MacArthur makes an interesting statement, "People make a serious error when they speak about breaking the Ten Commandments. History amply displays the fact that people persist in breaking themselves on the Ten Commandments. They represent God's absolute and unchanging standard."

As I thought about it, I realized how true that statement was about natural laws as well. A frequent theme among us bloggers, and among contributors on the Forum is how we feel when we eat avoids. We are breaking ourselves on physiological laws.

If I eat pizza, do I hurt Dr. D'Adamo? No.

Do I hurt the rules and principles of the BTD? No

Do I change the way my body is made or how it reacts to food? No.

I don't break the rules, I break myself on the rules.

On a lighter note, I made the best turnip greens I've ever made. When I make ghee I make it in a spreadable form that I call my buttery spread. If you missed that blog, it's in the archives under "Ghee that's good." I made a new batch of ghee this week. Before I add the oil, I strain off the salt and milk solids.

I never knew what to do with what I've strained off. The salt is neutral, as are the milk solids. I only strain them because they are unsightly in my spread. And there's a substantial amount of tasty ghee mixed in. At the same time I was making the ghee, I was cooking turnip greens. So impulsively I dumped the strainer into the turnip greens.

Oh man, it was delicious. I had to stop myself from eating a third helping. I ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. It was as good to me the second day as it was the first. I have not tried this on my family yet - they sneer at turnip greens. But, next time I will see if I can coax them into trying a tiny taste.

My funniest and most frustrating MSG moments have been in restaurants.

There was the time we were on vacation in Maryland and our waiter didn't know what MSG was. He went to get the manager. The manager charged up to the table and said, "Who can't have MSG." We pointed at our son. The manager smiled and said, "My mom can't have MSG. If she gets it she can't breathe and we have to rush her to the hospital. You can eat anything you want in my restaurant - there's no MSG here."

Another time on vacation we had waited 20 minutes for a table. A slouchy teenager came to take our order. We asked about MSG. He didn't know what it was. We asked to speak to the manager. He said he was the manager. We sighed and walked out.

Once we explained the problem to a restaurant manager who was not familiar with MSG. He took me back in the kitchen and let me read labels to make sure that what we were ordering was MSG free.

Then there was the waiter who said, "It's in everything we serve." I knew that was impossible. He insisted that sodium was in everything. Clearly he was only hearing part of "monosodium glutamate," but we could not communicate.

Appleby's is wonderfully oriented to food sensitive people. Ask their wait staff about any menu item. They go to a computer and print out a list of ingredients.

We ate lunch at a restaurant I had thoroughly checked. That afternoon our son was sick. I called the manager, "OK what have you changed on your menu?" He insisted they had changed nothing. He said tell me everything your son ate. I began to list what he had ordered including the condiment bar where he added lettuce, tomato and cheese sauce. The manager stopped me - they had a new brand of cheese sauce and sure enough, MSG was in the ingredients.

As I said yesterday we have been dealing with this problem for 12 years. When we started only a few waiters were informed about MSG. Today, almost all of the chain restaurants train their wait staff about food sensitivities. Very rarely do we find a manager who does not know what foods contain MSG. We haven't left a restaurant because of MSG in years. They are all eager to please.

Many restaurants are eliminating MSG from their food. There are two Chinese restaurants where we live that are now MSG free. I was nervous at first, but our son has ordered many things and has never had a twinge of headache. Red Lobster used to use MSG in their seafood seasoning. They had enough customer complaints that they changed to a new recipe that is MSG free.

When I look at the webb site that is mentioned in the MSG thread on the Forum. I find a lot of good information. Most useful is a list of other food additives that contain MSG-like chemicals. The problem I have with the webb site is its conspiracy-like attitude. They seem to believe that food manufacturers and restaurants are out to trick you and hurt you on purpose.

In my experience, 12 years ago there was a lot of ignorance about MSG, but manufacturers and stores and restaurants tried to be helpful. Today people in the food industry are much better informed and many are eliminating MSG altogether.

When my son was a senior, our family visited several college campuses. One of my concerns was MSG in the dining hall. At two major universities, the servers had no clue about MSG. The managers however were well informed. They said, "Just have your son come see us when he comes into the dining room, and we will tell him what he can't have that day." My son pictured the embarrassment of going into the dining hall with new friends and having to check in with a food services manager before he could get his food. He was not happy.

We visited Texas Tech for a big recruiting event. We really liked what we saw that morning in our meetings. At lunchtime, the dining hall was crowded, so I sat down at a table while my husband and son went to get food. A few minutes later our son was back grinning from ear to ear. "Come and see this," he said. On the serving line the ingredients were posted above each food item. I wouldn't say that he chose the location for his higher education, because of the food, but God used that little incident to reconfirm that this university was indeed a good match.

I have been following a thread on the Forum about MSG. I started to post several times, but decided to blog about the subject instead. I have 12 years of experience with MSG. There was some useful information on the website, that started the thread. However some of the information on that site is out of date and some is unnecessarily alarmist.

When my son was in second grade he began to have severe headaches followed by vomiting. This was really scary. I couldn't help but think of things like brain tumors. But in between these episodes he was so healthy and normal. At first I treated it as a virus, but he never ran fever. After he vomited he would take a nap and wake up hungry and ready to play. I began to be more observant trying to see what might trigger the episodes. Most of them came on Sunday afternoons.

One Sunday night he was supposed to receive an award at church, but he was so violently ill that afternoon that he could not go. The next day I took him to the doctor. When the doctor heard that we had eaten Chinese food for lunch on Sunday, he said, "Go home and check the food in your house for MSG. I think that may be the problem."

That was the first I had heard of MSG, but I immediately began researching. This was in 1992 and we didn't have Internet. I spent a lot of time looking through magazine articles and books. I often read statements like the ones on the before mentioned web site that said food companies were hiding MSG in food and intentionally mislabeling products to sneak it in. This made me really angry, so I wrote an forceful letter saying that my son had a serious reaction to MSG and that if they could not give me a straight answer to whether MSG was in their food, I would immediately cease to be a customer. I sent copies of that letter to every restaurant we frequented and the company behind every packaged food that I bought.

With one exception I found the food companies to be extremely helpful. Naturally companies that used MSG defended it, but I found no deliberate deception. Many companies were very accommodating to people with food sensitivities. Some sent brochures showing which products contained MSG and other food additives. Some sent detailed lists of the contents of their spice and natural flavoring ingredients. Butterball would not divulge their ingredients, and I stopped buying their products. This was 12 years ago, hopefully they have changed their policy since then, but they lost me as a customer.

This blog is long enough. Tomorrow I'll share what I have learned about MSG in restaurants and watching labels for artificial ingredients that contain MSG as a byproduct.

If you are eating simple beneficial food prepared at home you don't have to worry about MSG. Just another advantage to following the BTD.

My sister has lived overseas for many years. About a year before I started the Blood Type Diet, she gave me a cute carafe and a bottle of olive oil for my birthday. Olive oil is widely used where she lived, and she had learned to love it. She said that one of her favorite lunches was to put all the left over vegetables in a bowl, add a little meat or tuna, and pour olive oil over the top.

I knew nothing about olive oil. Before my health food days I bought highly advertised store brands. When I was a health nut, I bought cold pressed soy and safflower oils. I had a small bottle of olive oil in the back of my cabinet that I used only when a pasta recipe specifically called for it.

I tried the olive oil, and very quickly learned to love it. When I first read about the Blood Type Diet, one of the things that affirmed the truth I was reading was remembering how much better I had liked olive oil (which is beneficial) than I had liked soy and safflower oils (which though they are often highly recommended are nevertheless avoid for Type O)

Yesterday's lunch was my sister's favorite. I had made zucchini muffins, and had grated too much zucchini. That went into my bowl. I had a few leftover black eyed peas, and piece of kohlrabi. I added some freshly grated carrot and a can of tuna. I poured olive oil over the top and sprinkled it with seasoned salt.

I don't expect this recipe to be copied by salad bars across the world. I'm not sure I would serve it to guests. Frankly it looked a little odd. But the texture was nice and the tastes blended together well. Equally important, it gave me all the energy I needed for the afternoon.

I heard this on the radio and liked it: "You will fail many times, but you're not a failure until you quit." It applies to many areas of life: school, work, and relationships. It also applies when you eat an avoid and wish you hadn't.

It's easier for me to stay on the BTD when I am eating at home. I like my cooking, and I trust my ingredients. However this weekend I found myself eating out a lot.

Saturday night my husband and I went to a party. The hostess asked everyone to "bring a snack." I decided to take a fruit tray. That turned out to be a good decision, because my fruit tray was the only fresh food at the party. It must have been appreciated because I brought my dish home empty. There was a lot of food at the party including many desserts, chips, and cheese dishes. There were some interesting Type A choices for my husband, particularly a relish made with beans, onions and corn. But aside from my fruit, there was only one Type O choice - deviled eggs. I was glad I had taken the precaution of having a beneficial snack before we left home.

After church on Sunday I usually let the As pick where we will eat, because there are two of them and only one of me. But yesterday I requested that they pick a restaurant where I could get a generous serving of beef. They chose Fuddruckers, a gourmet hamburger restaurant. They like it because they get turkey burgers and it reminds them of when they used to eat hamburgers. I like it because I can convert my hamburger to a low carb plate which is loaded with beneficial food.

I had requested beef for lunch because I knew I would be eating out again for dinner Sunday night. The school where I teach has guests on campus this week, and I attended the welcome dinner for them. Of the three occasions this was the most difficult to predict. At a restaurant, I have freedom to choose what I order. At a buffet, there may not be many Type O choices, but I have control over what I put on my plate. But at a banquet, a plate of food is put in front of me, and especially on an occasion like this, I am expected to be polite and eat. I took bladderwrack before I left and hoped for the best.

This time I was fortunate - instead of pasta or something smothered in cheese, we had fajitas. On my plate was grilled beef, chicken, and onions along with rice and beans. All I had to do was pass the basket of tortillas and eat my food with a fork. A lady sitting next to me was on the South Beach diet, so she also passed on the tortillas. I enjoyed my dinner, and the program that followed.

Someday when I have a garden it will be organic. If you get mad at the rest of what I say in this blog, come back and read this first sentence and consider forgiving me.

I cringe every time I get a comment or read a post from someone who is discouraged and thinking about abandoning the BTD because it is too expensive to be organic. You can follow the BTD without being organic. You can follow the BTD without ever going to a health food store.

Take your BTD food lists to any grocery store and buy beneficial meat and produce. Buy beneficial legumes and juices; get rice, rye flour, nuts, and dried fruit. If you maximize beneficials, round out your menus with neutrals, and stay away from avoids your health and weight will improve. Yes even shopping only at the grocery store - without ever worrying about terms like hormone free or certified organic.

I have read the theories about why organic is better. I understand them, and I agree with some of them. However, I have never seen an impartial double blind study that compares long term an organic lifestyle with an equally healthy non-organic life style.

The profit motives are as strong for small sellers of organic goods as they are for agribusiness. The scare tactics used by some nutritionists are as appalling as the slick advertisements run by the big food conglomerates.

I shop once a week at two health food stores, because I can get some items with fewer additives. I can get a greater variety of raw nuts. I can find more wheat free items. But if you want to know the truth I am dismayed at the amount of corn syrup, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, and aspartame I find on the labels of health store brands. I have to be as careful when I shop at the health food store as I am at the grocery store.

I buy hormone free meat when it is on sale, and I buy wild caught fish when it is available. But I have frozen cod fillets in my freezer for quick meals, and I buy hamburger from the grocery store on days when time or money are at issue.

I used to buy organic carrots, but often they were woody and dry. Now I look at both, and I buy whichever appears to be fresher and juicier. Several years ago I decided to buy organic fruit. I had to throw out more than half of the apples I sliced because of bugs or rotten cores. I no longer spend my money on organic fruit.

I buy deodorant at the health food store, because I do not like the sticky residue left by grocery store antiperspirants. But I buy shampoo, soap, and laundry detergent at a discount store. I don't use lotions; I use olive and almond oil.

I know I sound like I'm on the fence about organic. As I said at the beginning when I have a garden, it will be organic. But right now my budget and other needs of my family are also realities. Organic will not make as big a difference in my health, my weight and my longevity as the basic BTD principals of beneficial/neutral/avoid.

Our son called from college. He and his roommate have been talking about the Blood Type Diet, and his roommate is very interested. He is a Type B. Our son asked if I could send a Type B food list. He knows about TYPEbase4 on the website, but said that looking up every food one at a time was taking too long for someone new.

I sat down with the Blood Type Encyclopedia and started listing common foods that college students eat. It is highly unlikely that these college guys are going to eat escarole, chub, or amaranth.

At first I was just typing beneficial, neutral or avoid for Type B. I decided to add another column for Type O. I thought it might help them to see where they are alike and where they are different. At the bottom of the list I added some basic Type B characteristics.

The roommate is already celebrating that he can drink milk, but is let down to learn that chicken is an avoid. It will be interesting to see how he responds to the whole list, and how he identifies with the characteristics.

Next year there will be four guys sharing an apartment. I'm guessing that one of them will be an A. That should keep things interesting in the kitchen.

My daughter likes raw food. She did not learn this from me. It comes from inside her; it must be part of her A-ish-ness. When she was a preschooler, just 3 or 4 years old, and we would go to a restaurant, she never wanted a kid's meal. I smile when I remember her little voice telling a server, "I want a side salad, please."

She does not like cooked vegetables. She eats cooked green beans and cooked corn, but those are not really vegetables. Green beans are legumes, and corn is a grain. She likes salad a lot. She likes carrots, radishes, cucumbers and celery dipped in peanut butter or a sauce.

However, we have had conflict over the years about broccoli. My husband and I like it steamed. Both of us like the bushy green tops. My daughter almost refuses to eat cooked broccoli. In addition, she does not like the bushy tops; she likes the stems. It further complicates the problem that she now has braces on her teeth so it is hard for her to eat the stems.

To solve the conflict, I make broccoli sticks. I take the hard stems and peel off the outer layer. Then I slice the soft inner stem into sticks similar to carrot sticks. She will eat a lot of broccoli sticks dipped in peanut butter. Both of us are happy - me, because she is eating an important vegetable beneficial to As. She, because she is eating her broccoli raw.

As I sliced broccoli sticks last night I thought about parents of young children who like finger food. Broccoli sticks are firm enough so they don't turn to mush when you pick them up. But they are softer and easier to eat than carrot sticks or radishes. Perhaps they would be a good choice if you have a little A who likes raw food.

It is important for a journalist like me to separate news facts from editorial opinion.

It is important in a Bible study to separate what scripture says from personal application. I once heard a speaker say to be careful about declaring, "I think" about the historical fact of a Bible verse, but to look for application of that verse in your life.

Today's blog is an "I think." It's just my personal application of interesting diet statistics.

When I read my first nutrition book 20+ years ago, researchers were fascinated by the fact that people in Eastern, oriental cultures have less heart disease, less high blood pressure, and less cancer than people in Western cultures. Statistically that is a fact, the question was "Why?"

One article I read on the subject said the difference was red meat. Western cultures eat red meat, Eastern cultures don't - that is the difference in health, said the writer. I didn't know a thing about the BTD, but I knew I liked red meat, so I felt guilty and worried about my future health. Another article that said the difference was soy. Oriental cultures eat lots of soy, Western cultures are suspicious of soy - that is the difference in health, said the writer. I tried to eat more soy products. Another article said the difference was fish.

The other day I was waiting in a long line at a store, and picked up a hot new nutrition book. The author was again citing Eastern vs. Western disease statistics, and he was fervently pro-soy.

I was thinking about the statistics from a Type O point of view, and I will tell you what "I think." Eastern cultures base their diets around rice. Western cultures base their diets around wheat. Rice is either neutral or beneficial for all blood types. Whole wheat is avoid for all types except AB (neutral). White wheat flour is not beneficial for any type and is avoid for many.

Could it be that Eastern cultures have less heart disease, blood pressure, and cancer because rice is their primary grain, and that when they begin to mingle with Western culture wheat foods like hamburger buns, baguettes, bagels, and sandwich bread that they begin to struggle with Western diseases?

Someday someone will do a study and write a book. In the meantime "I think" it's an interesting possibility.

When I read columns and threads on the BTD web sites, kamut and spelt seem to be the most popular flours. That is probably because they are the most like wheat in flavor and texture. I keep both kamut and spelt on hand, and use them often. Both are neutral for Os and As.

There are no beneficial flours for Os, but there are several flours beneficial for As. Because I cook for two type As, I have been trying to increase my use of flours that are beneficial for them and neutral for me.

Buckwheat flour has a very distinctive taste. Buckwheat pancakes are good. Buckwheat biscuits are very good. But I don't substitute buckwheat flour where it would overpower the other flavors in a recipe - strawberry bread or carrot cake for example.

Rice flour has a gritty texture. That's not necessarily bad, but it means that I don't use rice flour in a cake recipe where a smooth texture is important. I have a muffin recipe that uses all rice flour, and the texture is what makes it distinct. I think rice flour would be good as a breading in place of cornmeal (which I no longer use because it is O-avoid and A-neutral).

Oat flour has become one of my favorites. I bought a bag at the health food store, and thought it was a bit expensive. I liked the way it substituted in muffins and cookies. It doesn't change the flavor or texture of a recipe. However, oat flour does not rise in a yeast bread recipe. I now take ordinary whole grain rolled oats, spin them in the food processor, and make my own oat flour. I can't tell a difference in quality between my flour and the packaged flour, and mine is much less expensive.

Rye flour is also a favorite. My grocery store carries a very reasonably priced stone ground rye flour. Rye has it's own flavor, but if I mix it with kamut, spelt, or oat, the flavor is not overpowering. Of the flours beneficial for As, rye has a texture most like wheat. It also works a little better in a yeast recipe. I can make good rye rolls, but not fluffy rye sandwich bread.

A group of eagles strayed from traditional nesting sites and built a nest in an old pecan tree just outside the town of Llano in the Texas Hill Country. We took a day off from Saturday chores and drove out to see them.

It was quite remarkable. Two were visible in the nest, and one was flying up and down the Llano River. I had never seen a bald eagle in the wild. They are graceful and majestic at the same time.

We spent a couple of hours watching eagles, and then realized we were all starving. Someone recommended a restaurant called Acme Dry Goods. It is in the same building on the town square that for years housed the old dry goods store. It has now been converted into a sandwich shop.

The owners are doing a nice job with antiques and signage to create a unique atmosphere. The As found more to eat on the menu than I did. I finally settled on a bowl of chili and a salad. The salad was very good - a mixture of greens and no iceburg lettuce. I forgot to say "no cheese" on the chili, but a sprinkle of cheese doesn't usually give me trouble in a restaurant.

The chili tasted good, but there was something about the texture that made me suspicious that it had not been made with all natural ingredients the way I make my chili at home. Now, three hours later, I know there were multiple avoids in the chili. I'm burping a lot. When I ordered, I didn't consider how many ingredients detrimental to Os can be hidden in chili - ingredients like pork and corn meal.



Two years ago I would have had no clue why I felt bad. I would have taken an antacid and wrongly concluded that I was getting too old for spicy food. Today I've already taken bladderwrack and DGL licorice. I'll make sure to have an extra-beneficial dinner. Tomorrow my stomach will feel fine again.

I come away from today's adventure with two memories. One - I remember how bad I felt before the BTD when my stomach was inflamed most of the time. Two - I can close my eyes and see an eagle flying high in the sky.

I have on my shelf a book called "Confessions of a Sneaky Organic Cook". The sub title is "How to make your family healthy when they're not looking." The book is left over from my health nut days. Many of the recipes are not compatible with the BTD - too much wheat germ, coconut, and stone ground whole wheat flour. But the philosophy fits the BTD perfectly.

It's the only cookbook I have ever read cover to cover. The author intertwines her recipes with hilarious stories about her family. I borrowed one of her techniques at dinner tonight.

I have been thinking that I needed to get my husband and daughter to drink green tea. I knew they would be suspicious because neither of them likes trying new foods. I also knew that they wouldn't like their first taste - green tea is definitely an acquired taste.

So tonight I mixed half green tea and half lemonade. (Don't ask me about the lemonade. It has way too much sugar to really be healthy, but they like it and I'm not pushing them to be as compliant as I am.)

They both noticed that it didn't taste like regular lemonade. They didn't mind the green tea; they just commented that it wasn't as sweet or as tart as usual. I'll keep making it this way a couple of times a week until they are used to it. Then it will be time to sneak in something else.

On mornings that I run, I usually spray a small skillet with cooking spray. In go two eggs lightly beaten. I fill the rest of the skillet with raw spinach, and put the lid on the skillet. By the time the eggs are done, the spinach is wilted, and breakfast is ready.

This morning I was out of spinach, but I had a bag of kale. I picked the most tender kale leaves, tore them in small pieces, and put them on top of the eggs in place of the spinach. I went on preparing my husband and daughter's breakfasts and lunches. I passed by the stove, wrinkled my nose and thought, "What smells bad?" Oh yea, it was the kale. Kale does not smell at all good when it is cooking. I sighed; I had probably ruined my eggs.

Surprisingly, they tasted fine. Kale doesn't taste nearly as bad as it smells.

For Christmas, some of the parents at our school put together gift boxes for the teachers. There were some cute knick knacks, lots of sugary candy, microwave popcorn, and three tea bags of Rooibos Tea. Rooibos isn't listed in TYPEbase 4, but I remembered reading about it. I found the Ask D'Adamo column and confirmed that it is very good for Os

http://www.dadamo.com/ask/ask2.pl?20040527.txt

I put a bag in hot water to steep. It was a pretty amber color. I picked up the mug and took a sniff. Yuk! It smelled terrible! Nothing like the Green Mint Tea that I like or the spiced teas that I drink on our rare cold nights. I nearly threw it out, but because Dr. D. said it was good for me, I took a swallow. It didn't taste bad at all. In fact, I think I could learn to like it.

Most of the time things that smell bad taste bad too. But there are exceptions. If you prepare a beneficial food and the aroma isn't appetizing; be brave; take a small taste. You may be pleasantly surprised.

I don't know if it is true of all Type Os, but it is certainly true of me. When I am exercising daily I thrive on it. I am energized by it. I feel like something important is missing from my life if my schedule forces me to skip it.

However, when I get out of the exercise habit, something in me resists even the thought of a run or a swim. I fill up my 24 hours a day with other activities. I read; I work on the computer; I organize things. I don't feel like exercising. I say to myself, "I'll do it tomorrow."

While I had the respiratory virus I stopped exercising - partly because my energy level was a little down and partly because I hoped that some rest would help my body heal itself. Now that I am well, exercise inertia has set in. I ran one day, but the next day I had an excuse. I worked with weights one day, but the next day my family wanted to watch a movie, and they easily convinced me to go along.

There was a thread on the Forum a while back called something like "Am I the only O who hates exercise?" A lot of people wrote to say, "No, you're not." When I never exercised I had no desire to start. It wasn't until I forced myself to exercise on a regular basis that I began to enjoy it. Eventually I felt something like an addiction, a physical and emotional high after a workout. That feeling more than any fitness goal motivated me.

I realized last night that I'm getting used to not exercising. I'm increasingly content being a sluggish couch potato. This morning I resolved to break the pattern. Exercise is back. It will take several days until I am hooked again, but until then I will push myself. Today I climbed stairs at the parking garage. I did 60 flights in 30 minutes. Tomorrow I have an early meeting, but I will run as soon as I get home.