We have some wonderful friends who we have known for more than 20 years. We have prayed together, traveled together, and watched each others kids grow up. "Jim" loves to eat. His favorite foods are chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and macaroni & cheese. He is Type A; his wife is Type O. I've been talking to them about the Blood Type Diet, and they are going to give it a try. I got an e-mail from Jim's wife asking how I cooked fish. Here is how I answered.

I am a very simple cook, and I tend to like single ingredient foods. I'm also frequently running late at the end of the day because of school activities. So I usually cook fish with seasoned salt.

A Vogel/Bioforce makes two salts - Herbamare which is really good for As and Trocomare which is really good for Os. Another seasoned salt at the Health Food Store is Spike. There are a few avoids for both As and Os in Spike, but they are in such small amounts that I wouldn't worry about them. Dr. D'Adamo says that if you eat 80% beneficials and neutrals you will see benefits in your health. Because of my stomach problems, I try for about 90%, but it is more important at the beginning to enjoy your food and see success than to agonize about avoids that are way down on the ingredient list.

Our daughter likes Lemon Pepper on her fish, especially trout. Look for a brand without MSG. Pepper is a Type A avoid, but again, if you can get Jim to eating fish instead of chicken fried steak, don't sweat about a little pepper!

Tony Chachere makes a Creole Seasoning that is wonderful for Os. You and your mom will love it on cod. My husband likes it too, though again it is technically too spicy for Type A low acid stomachs. Look in your grocery store for seasoned salts that Jim would like.

When we eat in restaurants, I love fish topped with grilled vegetables. I do this at home sometimes, but our daughter would rather have her vegetables raw and on the side. Onions are highly beneficial for both Os and As. Garlic, celery, and carrots are beneficial for As and neutral for Os. Jim can eat all mushrooms except shiitake. The most common mushrooms are avoid for Os, though we can have portabello. Bok Choy, fennel, and ginger are good toppings that you all could eat on fish.

Since Jim is trying to lose weight, you should move him away from wheat and toward more beneficial grains. Fortunately, most of the Beneficial A grains are Type O neutral. If you buy Ezekiel bread, you can make bread crumbs from the crusts. I bake bread in my bread machine with spelt and rye flours. I freeze the crusts and make bread crumbs from them as well. You can oven fry fish with beneficial bread crumbs and light olive oil.

When we were in Seattle for vacation a few years ago, I fell in love with smoked salmon. I have a smoker, and often smoke salmon in our back yard. Plain salmon is nice, but smoked salmon is outstanding.