My son took a course last spring called Introduction to Fiction. He studied some of my all time favorite novels like "The Moonstone" and "Wuthering Heights." The only book on his course list that I hadn't read was "Dracula". I'm reading it this week.

I finally put the book down a few minutes ago to clean up the kitchen and to do 20 minutes of weight work. While I was cleaning and exercising, I tried to think about a blog. But Dracula is on my mind.

It is an incredibly suspenseful book - both for the characters and for the reader. It's interesting how many times one of the characters urges another to eat something to keep up his strength. One of the things that makes the BTD easy for me to follow is that I don't skip meals or measure out servings. I eat often, and I eat until I'm satisfied. Skipping a meal never saves me time, because it adds to my stress and that makes me less efficient.

I got so involved in the plot, that I found myself as tense as the characters. So I snacked more today than usual. But it was all good Type O snacks: figs, prunes, apricots, watermelon, and homemade sweet potato chips.

My son just came in to give me a hug and say good night. When he saw what I was writing, he started laughing. "Hmmm," he said, "I wonder what type Dracula was."

My daughter thinks she might want to major in interior design, so she asked if we could go to Half Price Books and see if they had a computer program that lets you design houses. It sounded like a good idea to me, so off we went. She found just what she wanted for $4.95. Then I asked if I could look through the cookbooks. There like a piece of gold in a muddy stream was a treasure - "The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread". It is more than 200 wheat free recipes, with bread machine instructions. Surely among that many recipes I can find a sandwich bread that is beneficial for my husband and daughter and neutral for my son.

Last night I seasoned the left over buckwheat with a little onion, a little garlic, a little olive oil, and a lot of celery seed. It was very good, and went well with smoked turkey. Tonight with the leftover turkey we had kohl slaw (that's what we're calling Paul's shredded kohlrabi with lemon juice and olive oil), butternut squash, and watermelon.

Because of orchestra practice I knew I would miss lap swim tonight, so I ran two miles in the neighborhood. I feel so good after I run. On the way home from orchestra I had the radio on, and I heard a man say, "The disciples didn't say, ‘Lord teach us to heal.' They said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.'" I got to thinking about that. I believe that in the Blood Type Diet there is a tool that God can use to bring about healing using the foods that he created. But I want to make sure that always in all things I have my priorities in line.

When I first started blogging I was in the middle of a project to try all of the Type O beneficial foods. There are foods in every category that I had never tasted before, but that now are favorites: lamb, adzuki beans, artichokes, parsnips, beet greens, and mangos, just to name a few. I have not found guava, chicory, and some of the beneficial fish in my local stores but I'm still looking.

Now I'm going to try the foods that are beneficial to my Type A husband and daughter, and neutral to me. Neither my husband nor my daughter like trying new foods, so they are not enthused about my idea. They would rather stick with their old favorites. Is this a Type A characteristic? My son and I will take a taste of something new, just to see what it's like. I remember as a child going to unusual restaurants (Indian or German for example) and watching my Type O parents order different items from the menu just so they could try more new foods.

I digress - back to the subject. This week I cooked buckwheat. I followed the cooking procedure in "Joy of Cooking" which is slightly different from RECIbase. I browned 1 cup of buckwheat in 2 Tbsp. of oil. I added 2½ cups of very hot water, brought it to a boil, then covered it and simmered it for 30 minutes. My husband really liked it. It reminded him of hominy, but I thought it was more like rice. The kids ate it but were not overjoyed. I think the key may be to find the right seasoning. I'm smoking a turkey this afternoon, and will see if I can make the leftover buckwheat a more exciting side dish for tonight.

New foods that are Type A beneficial, but Type O avoid may forever remain a mystery. I probably won't cook something that I would have to throw out if neither of the As would eat it.

Disclaimer: This blog is NOT to encourage anyone to cheat on the Blood Type Diet. I have no intention of backing off my strict compliance at home or my best possible compliance away from home.

However, this plan of eating is powerful enough to give results to people who only go half way.

After my "Cutting pills in half" blog a few days ago about my husband's improving health, I got this note from Elaine. She is an O (like me) and her husband is an A ( like my husband).

"I just wanted to share what happened with my Type A, husband. He won't fully commit to the diet, but does not miss red meat. I have made changes in his diet where he is pretty much compatible with the exception of chicken or turkey. He just got his cholesterol results back and they were all below the normal range. He has had to take medication and has had high cholesterol since they started checking for it. So the diet must be doing something. I cut his Lipitor in half. The doctor thinks this happened because of medication and wanted him to keep taking the stuff. If it never helped before, then I would say the diet had something to do with it."

If you (or members of your family) aren't willing to fully commit to the Blood Type Diet, don't give up! Add in a few more beneficials and pass up a few more avoids. As you start to feel better, you will realize your body likes this diet, and that will help you move from half way to all the way.

After church lunch on Sunday was at Souper Salad. I arrived at the table with a mountain of greens topped with carrots, tomato, broccoli, eggs and taco meat. My son said, "Now that's a Type O salad!" It was encouraging to see the choices the rest of the family made. Type A daughter got lots of salad with a bean and rice taco. Type O son chose Caesar Salad with meatball soup. Type A husband made a huge salad and had 3 bowls of soup. A few months ago he would have gone straight to the potato bar. Everyone is getting closer to eating for their type with no nagging on my part!

My Dad is a real Texas cowboy. He is also an electrical engineer, a classical pianist, a computer whiz, and a Biblical scholar (reading the New Testament in Greek). But he wouldn't brag about any of that, and he would be unhappy with me if I told you he is the most genuinely humble person I know.

I learned my love of the outdoors from my Dad. When he left the ranch to work for an electric utility in the big city, he wanted to spend his vacation time in the wild. Most of our family vacations were to national parks where we hiked and rode horses. Many evenings after dinner, my Dad, my sister and I would take long bicycle excursions always looking for parks or bits of land that hadn't been developed yet.

My Dad has a great love of learning. Every night at dinner he would ask my sister and me, "What did you learn at school today?" He expected an answer, and I began to see that even in a day I considered boring, I had always learned something. Often a fact my sister or I had learned developed into a family discussion around the table and ended with my Dad looking for more detail in the encyclopedia.

He cautioned me against going after change for the sake of change; however he is open to a new idea that has substance and merit. Most of my boyfriends had trouble holding up their end of a conversation with my Dad. I began to look seriously at the man who would later become my husband when he and my Dad both enjoyed talking to each other.

My Dad is a man of few words, but the words he says are worth listening to. I will emulate him just say: I love you, Dad.