For about 8 months I have been experimenting with legumes. Dr. D. is adamant that beans are not an adequate source of protein for Type Os. My experiences before the Blood Type Diet trying to be a vegetarian completely confirm his scientific studies for me.

However, because I do not eat very much grain, I am sometimes not full at the end of a meal, and I suspect that some days I do not get enough carbs. It is very frustrating to enjoy a well-planned beneficial meal, but still feel a craving for something more. All too often the something more would be a bowl of trail mix. As I ate the nuts, I knew that though they were beneficial or neutral, I was eating too many for a Type O. About nuts, Dr. D says “You certainly don’t need them in your diet, and should be very selective in their use as they are high in fat.”

Because legumes are so beneficial to my Type A husband, I began cooking a crock pot of beans every week. I used them in casseroles with rice and other vegetables for him. I ate them as a side dish. I found that they were very filling, and they satisfied the need for carbs that I sometimes felt.

The BTD recommends 1 cup of legumes 1-3 times per week. I had been on the low end of that range eating 1 serving per week or less. I moved to the high end eating ½ cup of beans 4-5 times per week. At home I eat only beneficial or neutral legumes. If we go out to eat Mexican food or Barbeque, pinto beans are sometimes the best choice available. For instance if the choice is pinto beans or potato salad, I take pinto beans.

One day I was reading on the Forum and saw a post by Equipro. She had reached the same conclusion I had about beans. They weren’t a good protein source for Type O, but they seemed to be a good side dish and a good source of carbs.

Last week I was at the store looking at dried beans. I saw a bag of Anasazi Beans. The package makes all kinds of wonderful claims about them. They were one of the few crops cultivated by the cliff dwelling Indians that built Mesa Verde. Anasazi was not on the BTD food list I keep in my purse, but I took a chance and bought a bag.

When I got home I looked them up. They are not rated - which technically makes them neutral. However, in Dr. D’s Lecster Lectin Database it says that though they are related to pinto beans, “Anasazi beans contained less soluble and bound condensed tannins compared to pinto beans … The lectins of anasazi beans were classified as non toxic and those of the pinto beans as toxic types.”

I’m probably better off to cook legumes that are beneficial for both HH and me - fava beans, black eyed peas, adzuki beans, and great northern beans. But anasazi beans once in a while will be beneficial for him (since pintos are beneficial for Type As) and variety for me.