For the sake of new readers, I need to review a little of my history with the Blood Type Diet. I started the BTD because of indigestion. I was not unhappy with my weight at the time. However over the course of the first year, I lost more than 10 pounds. I was delighted and realized that I looked much better. My weight held steady at the new level for a long time, then rather suddenly I gained several pounds. It didn't effect the way my clothes fit, so I didn't worry. Some days I thought I had converted fat into muscle. Some days I blamed it on hormones. I've blogged about it several times.

Over this past winter I added another pound. As I thought about shopping for summer clothes I thought, "This is ridiculous. These pounds have got to go. I began to take an inventory of what I was eating. My diet is consistently beneficials and neutrals. Avoids I eat at home are limited to a few additives at the bottom of ingredient lists. Avoids away from home are as rare as I can make them.

I'm not completely in line with the proportions Dr. D. recommends. I'm frequently over the target on nuts. Most days I eat more than a tablespoon of olive oil. I am faithful to get intense physical exercise 5-6 days a week.

Nothing there would fully explain the phantom pounds. I began to think about other nutritional guidelines I have read about over the years. When I came to salt, I stopped.

In my first nutrition book, I learned about the dangers of the highly salty modern diet. My husband was battling high blood pressure, so I put us on a low salt diet. When I first started the BTD, I continued to minimize salt. I often read Heidi recommend "a glass of water with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt." When the new Forum started, I would read posts that said the lemon water and salt would aid in weight loss.

I thought if a pinch of salt in water is good for me, I'll just drink the water plain and add a pinch of salt to my vegetables. The upside of that was that it helped me learn to like kale and collard greens. The downside is that I became dependent on salt. I began to add more than a pinch to vegetables like broccoli that really didn't need it.

About 10 days ago I cut back on salt. Already I have lost half of the extra pounds. No food changes, no exercise changes; just lower salt.

I looked to see if Dr. D. had ever weighed in on the lemon water and salt idea. When I couldn't find anything, I asked Lola (who is a whiz at digging out forgotten facts). She sent me several Dr. D. references to lemon water, but none to lemon water and salt.

Lemon water and salt must work for some people, because it frequently gets recommended on the Forum. But I don't need the extra salt. I can't say whether that has to do with being Type O or some other factor. I'm not going to go on a stringent low salt diet. But I am going to wean myself away from a dependence on salt. I am going to stop adding that pinch of salt to food that tastes perfectly good without it.