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.