My son has run the past couple of nights. Since he was a baby he has showed this Type O characteristic. He needs lots of exercise, especially after a rainy afternoon like we had yesterday. I was interested in running with him last night, but my husband really discouraged it. He was right. My son would have quickly outpaced me and left me in the dark.

I knew that our vacation activity for today was a mostly sedentary train ride, so I set the alarm for 30 minutes early and ran this morning. I started toward downtown Estes Park, but spotted a trail along the Big Thompson River, and turned onto it. What a lovely run! The air was cool and the other people out early walking their dogs and running were friendly. I was pleased that the altitude didn't bother me at all. There was one hill, where I had to slow to a walk, but other than that I ran my regular pace. I don't know how far I ran, probably close to the 2 miles I run at home. On the way back to our motel, I passed a trail junction for a 3.75 mile loop around Lake Estes. My son wants to run that tomorrow morning.

We rode the historic Georgetown Loop train with a long time friend who lives south of Denver. Afterwards we ate at Mama Sannino's Italian Restaurant in Denver. Everyone was ordering pasta. I chose an Italian sandwich with thin sliced beef covered in grilled peppers, onions and Mariana sauce. I put the bun in the bread basket where it was quickly gobbled up by others. I was feeling proud of myself that I had found such a delicious Type O meal in a restaurant full of wheat…then our friend ordered cheesecake for everyone. I could have protested; I could have called the waiter back and said, "None for me;" but I didn't.

We took a 4 hour horseback ride through Horseshoe Park. It started out as a beautiful cool, sunny day. At the half way point we got off the horses to stretch our legs and have a snack. I had packed walnuts, pumpkin seeds, dried pineapple, and prunes; plus a bottle of water. As we ate our snacks we saw clouds forming over the mountains. We were glad we had started our ride at 8 am, and that we would be back at the barn before a storm hit.

But this was not an ordinary summer thunderstorm. The clouds turned black, the wind picked up, and light rain started falling. Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder, and the horses shied. The wrangler tied the horses on one side of the trail, and sent us to the other side. We were caught in a hail storm. We had raincoats, but only our daughter had a hood. Our clothes stayed fairly dry, but our hair was quickly drenched. Lightening was striking much too close for comfort.

Finally the hail stopped and the lightening moved on down the valley. We got back on our wet horses. Our hands were so cold we could hardly hold the reins, but the ride was even more beautiful in its own way. The hailstones turned the ground white, and it looked like fresh snow.

Before we could picnic, I had to go to the grocery store. I was standing in line with cherries and oat bread, wanting something warm to eat. I thought of sweet potatoes. There is a microwave in the motel office. I got out of line and picked out two sweet potatoes, one for me and one for my son. They were so delicious. I had brought sushi nori wraps from home. I had one wrap with roast beef and one with sesame butter. My family is curious about the seaweed, but not curious enough to try it yet. They had their sandwiches on oat bread.

An old hymn is running through my head, "I've seen it in the lightening, heard it in the thunder, and felt it in the rain. My Lord is near me all the time."

We took a 5.4 mile hike from the Wild Basin trailhead to three waterfalls. Most of the way we were within the sound of rushing water. It was physically strenuous, but emotionally peaceful and relaxing. Copeland Falls is in two steps: an upper and a lower falls. Calypso Cascade takes a long drop, then tumbles down further over rocks. Ouzell Falls has lots of water and creates lots of mist. All three were beautiful in their own way.

My daughter and I were ahead on this trail. We had a really good conversation about high school issues - the kind of conversation that is hard to initiate at home, but comes natural on the trail.

Dinner was at Timberline Steakhouse. I ordered liver & onions. It came with three side orders: a salad, a steamed vegetable medley (fresh green beans, carrots, yellow squash and zucchini) and potatoes. I was not going to eat the potatoes, but someone else at the table couldn't stand to see them go to waste and snatched them.

It would have been an ideal Type O dinner, except they cooked the onions with bacon. I discarded the bacon, but could do nothing about the bacon grease that was on the onions. This was the first major avoid food on the trip. It was disappointing because I had tried to order carefully.

Trail Ridge Road from Estes Park to Grand Lake brings back a song from my college years:

I'm on the top of the world

looking down on creation

and the only explanation I can find,

is the love that I've found

ever since you've been around.

Your love's put me at the top of the world.

At the Alpine Visitor Center we took a short trail to an overlook. It is a steep trail that climbs to an elevation of 12,005 feet. Three years ago I had to stop several times, and was breathing hard when I reached the top. Today I was amazed to find that I am in much better shape. I kept a steady pace (10 pound camera bag and all) and was not winded when I arrived at the top. The view is indescribable - you really are at the top of the world.

Rare tundra plants are identified along the trail. My husband pointed out Alpine Parsley and said, "Here's something Mom hasn't tried yet to feed us on that Blood Type Diet." Ha Ha - very funny.

After we crossed the Continental Divide, we saw a moose grazing in a swampy area near the Beaver Ponds. I've seen moose in Canada and Wisconsin and Wyoming, but there are only 50 in Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was a thrill to see one. On the return trip, we saw five big horn sheep grazing above timberline, another rare July sighting.

Lunch was at the Boardwalk Cafe in Grand Lake. I ordered a veggie omelet and substituted a side salad for the hash browns and toast. What an outstanding salad it was, containing several different greens including fresh spinach and dandelion. There were chunks of broccoli, carrots, celery, and even a generous helping of jicama. I had a little bottle of extra virgin olive oil in my backpack to use for dressing. The owner worried that the omelet looked lonely on the plate without the traditional breakfast starches, but I assured her that I was very, very happy.

We picnicked in our motel room and watched a movie tonight. Seedless black grapes were on sale at the local grocery store. I had never tried them, and they were sweet and delicious. My son had a turkey and roast beef sandwich; my daughter peanut butter and jelly; my husband soy cheese with a little turkey. No sandwich for me! I mixed a small can of spinach and a can of tuna with a little olive oil.

We hiked in the Bear Lake area today. First we took a short loop trail around Bear Lake itself. There are lots of good memories associated with Bear Lake, and walking around it is like renewing an old friendship. Then we set out on the more ambitions Bierstadt Lake trail. It is a lovely hike through the forest. Suddenly you break out of the trees seeing the lake and a beautiful view of Longs Peak, Flattop Mountain, and Hallett Peak. Letting everyone make their own trail mix turned out to be a good idea. We sat on the rocks and munched our snacks, and enjoyed the view before returning to the car. In all we hiked a little more than five miles. Not bad for our first day at high altitude.

I am a photographer as well as a writer. Everywhere we go on vacation I carry a backpack with 10 pounds of camera equipment. I'll shoot about one roll of slide film per day on this trip. I'll also have stronger shoulder and leg muscles by the time we get home.

Dinner tonight was at the Big Horn Restaurant. Their buffalo burger looked good to me. Buffalo is a Type O beneficial, but it is next to impossible to get where I live. Unfortunately the side choices were fries, onion rings, mashed potatoes or 3-bean salad. As I read through the menu, I had noticed grilled liver and onions. Our waiter was a nice German exchange student. I asked if I could have grilled onions, like the ones served with liver, as my side order to a buffalo burger. He was agreeable. I discarded the bun, and ate my buffalo patty with a knife and fork along with lettuce, sliced tomato and grilled onions. My son chose the elk burger. I presume that elk is ok since venison is beneficial.

As we travel I'm going to record how we eat and how we exercise.

On long travel days we eat as we drive - we call it "eating on the fly". We collapse one seat in the van and put the ice chest and food box there. It's a table where the kids can play cards or stack back packs most of the day, but at mealtime, I move to the back seat and become a short order BTD chef. For myself I had tossed all the leftover vegetables from the refrigerator into a plastic dish. There was leftover brisket and leftover chopped steak. I mixed half of each into the vegetables. With the other half of the beef, I made a thick sandwich for my son. My daughter had peanut butter and jelly on sprouted bread. My husband had a turkey and soy cheese on sandwich. I sliced apple and nectarine for dessert.

Exercise on a travel day is tough. I did almost two hours of 5-minute isometrics when it was my turn to drive. (If you don't remember 5-minute isometrics, go to my archives and look for a blog by that name in May). When we got to our motel, I walked laps around the building, going up or down every time I came to a staircase.

It is a tradition that our first meal the night we arrive in Estes Park is at Taco Bell. The Type As, like the burritos, and I get a taco salad. Tonight they were out of taco salad! I was tired, hungry, and disappointed. Everyone else placed their order; I said I would walk around and see what I could find to eat. Across the street was a locally owned Mexican restaurant called Taco Baja. The menu offered lots of choices. I ordered taco salad with beef and black beans, but no cheese or sour cream. The owner was a friendly man who tried to guess what diet I was on. At first he thought vegetarian because I said no cheese, then he remembered the beef. When I said Blood Type Diet, he said, "Oh, my in-laws do BTD; have for years. They own a spa in Arizona and tried to get me to come down and open a Blood Type restaurant."

As I walked back across the street, my son saw me coming. "Mom's smiling," he said. Indeed I was. Instead of an ok taco salad, I had a custom made Type O taco salad. The consensus is that next time our first meal in Estes Park will be at Taco Baja.

It is so good tonight to be in the shadow of the mountains again. I made my first trip to Rocky Mountain National Park when I was 9 months old, and I never tire of coming here. My husband and I often dream of retiring nearby. I cannot look at the majesty of the mountains and believe that they happened by chance. I cannot look at the intricate way our bodies are formed and believe that we randomly evolved. "I lift up my eyes to the hills; where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1

Soon we will be leaving for a week in the mountains. I can hardly wait!! Right now I'm starting to pack. On vacation, our family picnics two meals a day. We always eat breakfast in our room, unless our motel has a healthy complementary continental breakfast. We always have one meal in a restaurant. That's when we eat salads, cooked meat, and other things that are difficult to picnic. We have one meal out of the ice chest and food box.

Last year on vacation I had been on the Type O diet for less than two months. How, I asked myself, would I picnic without bread? I bought small cans of vegetables - spinach, peas, lima beans. Every day I opened one can of vegetables and mixed it in a bowl with tuna or sardines. I ate that while the rest of the family ate sandwiches. I'm planning similar meals for myself this year.

The rest of the family is following the BTD a little more closely this year. I've already packed soy milk, and my daughter will take the portable blender she bought for last spring's mission trip. She will have her morning soy shake. My husband has requested soy cheese for his sandwiches. I'll be taking two packages in the ice chest in case we can't buy it locally.

Before the BTD, I took several varieties of trail mix. This year I think it will be better if I pack walnuts, almonds, peanuts, and several dried fruits separately. I'll take zipper sandwich bags, and let everyone create their own trail mix day to day. I'm also taking soy protein bars for backpacks.

There is a nice grocery store near where we will be staying so I can buy fruit and carrots locally. Three years ago there was also a small, but nice health food store. Businesses come and go in resort villages, so I can't assume it will still be there.

Packing clothes is easy: shorts for daytime hiking, jeans for horseback riding, a light jacket for mountain thunderstorms. It's the food that takes the planning.

Hidden in the middle of a news story I found this interesting sentence, "Current government dietary guidelines recommend that 45 % to 65% of daily calories come from carbohydrates. An updated USDA pyramid is slated for release in 2005."

How many revisions is this of the food pyramid? At least the 3rd that I can remember.

Sometimes people send me comments asking what I think about one of the other popular diets, or whether I think they could combine another diet with the BTD. To me the big difference between the BTD and all the other diet plans (South Beach, Adkins, Pritican, Weight Watchers, etc, etc) is that all the others assume that people are all the same. The food lists are the same, the exercise requirements are the same. When I look around I can see for myself that that is simply not true. Some people feel great as vegetarians; other people get sick. Some people thrive on red meat, other people get sick. Some people love aerobic exercise, some people do better stretching. The BTD not only explains the differences, but it helps you identify which plan will really work for you.

If there was a "one size fits all" diet that really worked, ask yourself why they need another revision to the food pyramid.

For years I have read that muscle weighs more than fat. I never believed it until now.

I can remember in high school watching friends issue each other a challenge to see who could lose weight the fastest. At the end of a week or two, whichever one had lost the least would say, "I've been exercising more, so I'm converting muscle to fat, and muscle weighs more." It sounded to me like an excuse for why the diet wasn't working. When by the end of a month both friends were back to looking and eating just as they had before, I was convinced I was right.

At Christmas last year we picked up our college son for the holidays. His roommate's mom said, "Don't the boys look great. No freshman 15 for our guys." The boys gave us an ear full. They had observed that dorm food didn't cause the notorious 15 pound weight gain for college freshmen. In their opinion it was binge drinking. "Too many carbs from pizza and beer," my son said bluntly, "that's the cause of the freshman 15."

That fall he had become interested in the weight room at the student rec center. In the spring he became serious about weight training. This summer he used some of his life guard money to join a gym.

He has gained 9 pounds - up to 164 from 155. He appears to be the same size. His clothes all still fit, and his waist is the same. He has noticeably added muscle, especially to his shoulders and chest. Even at that when I look at him, I think where is he hiding 9 pounds?

The only explanation is that muscle really is heavier than fat. It makes me want to join a gym. But don't let it be an excuse to fudge on the BTD!

My husband loves casseroles. Probably the thing he likes least about the BTD is that I fix fewer casseroles. In a mixed Type O/Type A household it is just hard to get all the ingredients compliant for both blood types. It's easier cook single ingredient foods and let everyone pick and choose.

But I have made a quantum leap forward by finding an adequate substitute for Cream of Mushroom Soup.

A couple of months ago I blogged about trying to use silken tofu as a casserole ingredient. My first effort was an abysmal failure, but I promised to keep trying.

I finally got up the nerve to buy another carton of silken tofu. I was going to make my husband's 2nd favorite casserole, "Five Spice Beef ‘n Rice. I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef and a tofu sauce for the cream of mushroom soup. It tasted good to me, but the real test was my family. I just served the casserole with no word of explanation. My husband and son gobbled it up, without noticing any difference.

Here is the link to the sauce - http://www.tofu.com/rec2/recipe1.html

I made it with lemon juice and miso. I halved the recipe, and that seemed to equal 1 can of cream of mushroom soup.

I should be clear that by itself, this sauce does not taste like mushroom soup. It has the creamy texture of the soup, and that is what is usually called for in a casserole. If I was making a recipe where the taste of mushrooms was important, I would buy compliant mushrooms, sauté them in some butter, and stir them into the sauce.

When I shop and a sales person asks, "What size are you?" I answer, "I have no clue, I'll have to try it on." I'm not trying to be difficult. In my closet I have clothes in sizes 12, 10, 8, and 6. All of them fit me. I have tops that I am wearing this summer in sizes small, medium AND large.

So I was fascinated when I came across a magazine article about how women's clothes are sized. It turns out that in the 1940s, they measured 10,000 women in the military. They then assigned sizes 2 through 20 based on those women. At that time, they determined that the average woman in America was 5'2" tall and weighed 129 pounds. Today the average American woman is 5'4" tall and weighs 142 pounds.

Is it any wonder we are getting taller and wider when you look at the most popular take out foods? Hamburgers - wheat is an avoid for Os and Bs; beef is an avoid for As and ABs. Hamburgers are good for no one. Pizza - tomatoes are avoids for As and Bs; wheat is an avoid for Os and Bs. Only ABs could consider pizza, and no pepperoni for them as pork is an avoid for all types. Fries - potatoes are avoids for Os and As, but foods fried in hydrogenated fat should be shunned by all.

Until I was two, I ate whatever my mom spooned into my mouth. But at age two I rejected all vegetables. My mom, concerned, spoke to the pediatrician. He said, "Children know what they need. Don't force her, let her choose." That would have been very good advice EXCEPT for the addictive qualities of wheat and sugar. When I was given full freedom with no restraint, I said "NO," to peas, squash and spinach; and "yes" to bread and cookies.

In stark contrast to my upbringing, was a little boy I babysat for. Many times when I arrived at his house he would be at the table with a defiant expression on his face. His father would shout, "He doesn't get up until he eats every bite on his plate." I was left with the impossible task of following the parent's instructions and getting along with the boy (for this they paid me 50 cents an hour!!!).

When I had my own children knew I had to strike a balance between the two extremes. From the time my children began to feed themselves, I put a little bit of whatever we had on their plates. They had to at least taste everything, and they had to eat all of the foods they normally liked before they could get seconds on anything. For example: neither of them liked squash and both of them liked green beans. They had to take a tiny taste of squash and eat all of their green beans before they could get extra bread, meat or fruit. A funny thing happened. My son always wanted seconds on meat. My daughter wanted seconds on legumes and salad. We joked for years that one was an herbivore and one was a carnivore. This was long, long before I heard about the Blood Type Diet.

My old pediatrician had been almost right! When children are given a selection of good foods, they will choose what they need.

There's too much going on today to stick with one subject.

If you have a teenager or a pre-teen, make sure they read today's D'Adamo Clinic column on "Chips means Zits." I'm posting this so late in the day, that you may have to click on today's Clinic column, scroll to the bottom, and click previous topics. In 6th and 7th grade my daughter was struggling with pimples. I did not want to go the oral prescription route, but I could see that she was going to have a rough time. In 8th grade her skin completely cleared up and is now beautiful. Was it a coincidence that her 8th grade year we started the Blood Type Diet?

I asked her what she thought. She said that there was no question that the Type A Diet had helped. She said she had done two other things that she thought had helped also. She committed to washing her face at least twice a day and to using more moisturizer. She read in a magazine that when a pimple first showed up she should put acne cream on it, and cover it with concealer. She said that is supposed to hold the medicine in all day. She said that she thought giving up potatoes, red meat and milk; and eating more salads and legumes had helped her in lots of ways - her skin being one of them.

After I did the blog on "Simple and Inexpensive Diet" Don commented that onions should have received more attention. He was correct! I treated onions like a seasoning, and they are a vegetable in their own right. Don has inspired me to eat more onions. He says he has an onion every morning for breakfast. "For breakfast?" I asked. He says yes. He steams them and eats them with olive oil and salt. I tried them steamed (though not for breakfast) and they were very good. Don likes eggs and onions cooked together. I sautéed an onion in butter this morning, then scrambled in four eggs. My share was quickly gone before my son got to the kitchen. He took one bite and said, "Now this is really good."

Today I had lunch at a Mongolian Barbeque restaurant with two handsome lifeguards - my son and one of his friends. I rarely eat out except for Sunday lunch, but this restaurant is one of my son's favorites and it is closed on Sunday. It is a perfect place for a BTD meal. I put lamb, spinach, carrots, celery and onion in my bowl; then watched as it was cooked on a huge grill. It was delicious or as Debbie - who sends me such encouraging comments - would say Yummalicious!

For two days I have felt like Rolly in "1001 Dalmatians". He was the puppy who said over and over, "I'm hungry, Mother. Really I am."

I have NOT been hungry for donuts or ice cream. I remember sugar and carb cravings, but I haven't had those since I became established on the Type O Diet. I have NOT been hungry for protein. That happens from time to time, usually after a meal in a restaurant where they serve small meat portions and assume you will fill up on bread or order dessert.

I have been hungry for good Type O stuff like black eyed peas and bananas and cooked greens and walnuts and parsnips. I've eaten big meals and numerous snacks. I just haven't felt full.

This afternoon I decided maybe I was really thirsty rather than hungry. I have been drinking my quota of water, but maybe I need more fluid in the summer. I had a glass of pineapple juice (with plain gelatin) and later a glass of cranberry juice (with glutamine powder).

Right now the frantically hungry feeling has gone, and it's time to go to sleep.

When I was in 2nd grade I found out I was allergic to chocolate. I continued to eat a little chocolate here and there until I was in college, when I had such a bad reaction that I gave up chocolate for good. In my 20s I found out that caffeine made my ears ring. Nerve deafness runs in my family, so I gave up coffee, tea and sodas. Because I don't eat those foods and I never smoked, I had great looking white teeth - until recently.

A month or so ago I started noticing a brown stain on my lower teeth. I thought, "Oh no! What is the BTD doing to my teeth?" A little detective work led to a simple solution, which I will share with you in case you face the same problem.

I buy nuts from bulk bins in my health food store. Walnuts, pecans, and almonds are favorite snacks because they are filling and easy to carry anywhere in my purse. When I get near the bottom of a big bag of walnuts or pecans, there is a lot of dust mixed in with the nuts. Some comes from the shelling process, and some is little bits of the nuts themselves that flake off in the bags. When the dust starts to get in my way, I pour everything in the bag into a colander and let the dust fall into the sink. As I searched for the reason behind the stain on my teeth, I realized it looked just like the stain that the nut dust leaves in my sink.

I had always thought whitening toothpaste was just a sales gimmick, but now I needed it. I found one that was made with baking soda and peroxide. I use it once a day. In addition I occasionally rinse my mouth with ½ peroxide - ½ water. The stain responded quickly, and is now barely visible.

Since I brought up the nerve deafness, I will add that while eliminating caffeine has kept me from the aggravation of ear noise, I do have a noticeable hearing loss. It is a hope and a prayer that strict compliance to the Type O diet might slow or halt the deterioration of my hearing.

Some of you have asked why I don't use ghee instead of butter. The answer is that I do use my own version of ghee, but I call it butter because my family doesn't want me embarrassing them by blurting out "Pass the ghee," when we have company for dinner.

Way back in the 70s health food advocates knew that margarine, with it's hydrogenated oil, was bad for you, but the medical community was still pushing margarine over butter. I came across a recipe for a buttery spread using butter and safflower oil that was lower in saturated fat than butter, but no chemicals or hydrogenated fat like margarine. I made it for years. Often when the menu was planned for a gathering of family or friends, someone would say, "Have Suzanne bring homemade bread and that butter of hers.

The BTD brought that to a screeching halt. Butter was a Type A avoid; safflower oil was a Type O avoid. The first time I made ghee, I realized it was just the fancy melted butter that they serve with crab or lobster in seafood restaurants. But when I put it in the refrigerator, it turned hard as a rock. This was not a practical butter substitute.

The second time I made ghee, I mixed it with olive oil the way I had in my old recipe. I got comments like, "Why is it a funny color?" "It doesn't taste the same," and "What are those specks in it?" It took several more tries, but I now have a recipe that spreads like margarine, tastes like melted butter, is easy to measure for recipes, and melts quickly on vegetables.

I start with Dr. D'Adamo's instructions for making ghee. You can find them at this link, or put the word ghee in the search engine at the bottom of his column.

http://www.dadamo.com/ask/ask2.pl?20033602.txt

Strain the ghee into a container with a cover. I have a porcelain covered metal bowl with a plastic lid that works great. I'm sure Tupperware or Glad Ware would also work. I strain with a metal strainer. A coffee filter or cheese cloth might even be better. Straining removes the blackened salt and milk solids. If your family isn't squeamish about specks, you could skip the straining.

Stir in ¼ cup light olive oil for every stick of butter you used for the ghee. If you used 1 lb of butter you would use 1 cup of light olive oil. I use 3 sticks of butter, so I use ¾ cup of light olive oil. Light olive oil does not distract from the buttery flavor of the ghee. Extra virgin olive oil, which I use for everything else, has a strong flavor that over powers the butter, plus it gives a slightly green tint.

Refrigerate the buttery spread and use it exactly as you would soft spread margarine.

Today several families went out to eat lunch together to celebrate a victory at a swim meet. The restaurant is known for hamburgers, grilled chicken sandwiches and salads. Though I had never eaten there before, that choice was fine with me. I usually order a hamburger, discard the bun, and see what side order I can substitute for fries. However as I studied the menu there were no other side orders. That meant my lunch would just be a hamburger patty with one slice of tomato and a piece of lettuce.

When it was my turn to order I thought, "It can't hurt to ask." So I said, "You have a grilled chicken salad on the menu. What I would really like is a salad with a hamburger patty. Can you do that?" She thought a minute and said, "How about if I order you a small salad and a side hamburger patty?" That fit into the parameters of her computer ordering system. It was fine with me.

Following the BTD in a restaurant often isn't easy. Some restaurants are more rigid than others. But it can't hurt to ask. You might end up with a delicious lunch.

It makes me think of Jesus' words "You have not because you ask not." I am convinced that God cares about all the decisions I make; the small ones as well as the big ones. I don't wait for a crisis to call on God. I am glad that He is active in the everyday affairs of my life.

I guess people don't like to donate blood on Mondays. Our local blood bank sends a thank you letter to all who donate blood that includes blood type and cholesterol level. But if you donate blood on Monday they send you a complete Cholesterol Lipid Panel. Two or three times a year I donate blood, and I try to do it on Mondays. I have lab reports in the medical file going back to 1995.

I donated blood on June 16, and my cholesterol panel arrived in the mail today.

Drum roll please.

With the exception of one report in 1996, this is the best cholesterol report on file!!

Total cholesterol - 193

Triglycerides - 44

HDL - 82

LDL - 102

Ratio - 2.3

Remember - These numbers are after a year of eating hearty servings of beef or lamb daily. These numbers are after a year of generously putting butter and olive oil on my vegetables. These numbers are after a year of (almost) no wheat.

There could be a subjective element to the fact that my stomach feels better on the Type O Diet or that I have more energy. But a lab report is totally objective. No question the Type O Diet is right for me!

I often write about seasoned salt because I use a lot of it. Today, for instance, my daughter is at a luncheon for honor roll students and both my husband and son are at work. I put lamb, raw spinach, cooked okra, and cooked onions in a bowl. I topped it with olive oil and seasoned salt. With carrot sticks on the side it made a tasty lunch.

Before the Blood Type Diet, I had four standby seasoned salts. After comparing the labels to the "Food Beverage and Supplement Lists" two of them had to go.

I had used Spike for years, but it had multiple avoids for both Type As and Type Os.

A fajita seasoning also had to go. I was inspired by Heidi and decided to make my own. I filled a shaker jar half full of salt. Then I added chili powder, cumin, and cayenne until it tasted good to me. I use it on fish, meat, and salads. It is an avoid for Type A.

Lawry's Seasoned Salt has been a favorite since I was a child. It contains sugar (WHY do they put sugar in seasoned salt?) and the 7th of 11 ingredients is cornstarch. I use it on chicken. It is fine for the As, and I'm hoping the amount of cornstarch that actually winds up in a serving is negligible for Os.

Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, I was relieved to find, is fine for Type O. I try to keep it away from my husband, but he really likes it in spite of the Type A avoids. I put it on fish and salads.

I had never used much curry powder until I read that it was beneficial. When I toss leftover vegetables and meat together for lunch, I often top them with olive oil and a mix of curry powder and salt. My husband will eat unfamiliar grains if they are seasoned with curry.

Jim wrote in a blog how much he liked Herbamare. I needed something to replace Spike, so I looked for Herbamare in the store. The ingredients look great for As, but the #3 ingredient is leek (avoid for Os). Before I had time to get disappointed I noticed another seasoned salt by the same company called Trocomare. Its ingredients are great for Os, but avoids for As. So, I bought both. I had Trocomare on today's lunch. I haven't called attention to the Herbamare, but every time I've used it, the food has received compliments.

This isn't an attempt at an exhaustive list. It's just what's in my cabinet at the moment. I like trying new things, so I'm sure I'll write more on this subject in the future.

Last night we went to a fireworks show. The weather was perfect. We set up lawn chairs on a grassy hill and had a picnic with friends while we waited for the sun to go down. Peanut butter sandwiches on sprouted bread for my husband and daughter. Zucchini and lamb in Tupperware for me. The fire works were wonderful. We ooohed at the new style that looked like a string of Christmas lights and ahhhed at the giant bursts that seemed to fill the sky.

After the finale, my husband suggested we all go out for ice cream. That would work for me. They have several flavors of ices which, while loaded with sugar, don't contain avoids. We arrived at the ice cream parlor moments after they closed for the night. Before disappointment could set in, our friends said, "Let's get ice cream at the store and go to our house." Great idea! Then the discussion began about what flavor. Chocolate was definitely carrying the day. My husband remembered me and said, "What can you eat?" I said to go ahead with chocolate, but to buy a small container of sorbet for me. He wasn't sure what sorbet was, so I said look near the ice cream, it's made with fruit.

The men went to the store; the women and teenagers went to the house. Soon the men were back with a half gallon of chocolate and a half gallon of pineapple ice cream. My husband was beaming. Ice cream was on sale, buy one get one free. And he had found pineapple which he remembered was beneficial.

My daughter and I made eye contact. She knew ice cream was an avoid for us both. Quick decision - do we criticize in front for friends or are we thankful that he tried to buy the right thing? We smile. We have a small bowl of pineapple ice cream. To borrow from 1 Peter, Love covers a multitude of lectins.