I sometimes unintentionally annoy my husband by looking for something good in a bad situation. I think truth is on my side - there is Romans 8:28 after all. "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Nonetheless, I can see how a positive attitude could occasionally get on someone's nerves.

With gas prices so high, we had a family conference last week about how we could decrease the amount we drive. Basic necessities are work, school and church. Beyond that, we agreed to try to cut back on driving. I'm doing more errands on the way to and from school.

That discussion was in the back of my mind when I planned my morning. I needed to go to the bank, to buy a zipper for a skirt, and to buy a bubble envelope for mailing two yearbooks. A bicycle ride was also on my agenda. The bank would be easy to combine into the bicycle ride; it's only a mile away. But the fabric store is 4-5 miles away and involves riding on busier streets. For the sake of high gas prices I grabbed my back pack and set out.

The journey was a success. I accomplished all three errands plus I rode farther and faster than I normally would. Something good can come even out of high gas prices.

My son is back at college. We got a phone call this afternoon that he arrived safely and picked up the key to his apartment. We had lots of good conversations his last two days at home. One of the things we laughed about was how much I would miss having someone to share roast beef and lamb with. When I cook a roast or a leg of lamb just for myself, the leftovers last a long, long time.

I fixed lamb for the two of us for dinner last night. (The As got a soy vegetarian entrée). We also had fresh asparagus, green beans, and the best strawberries we've had all summer. I had intended to bake bread, but I didn't remember to start the bread machine on time. I started looking for some kind of wheat free biscuit or roll. I couldn't find anything. But there was a drop biscuit recipe in "Joy of Cooking" that I decided to adjust. I made so many substitutions that the authors would hardly recognize it. Though they started out fluffy, they went kind of flat in the oven. However, the As liked the flavor so much that they were clambering for more tonight.

The ingredients I used were: 2 cups kamut flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/3 cup oil, 2/3 cup soy milk. Stir together with a fork, drop onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until lightly brown.

Today for lunch I was eating leftover lamb alone. There are plenty more leftovers for tomorrow and the next day as well!

My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad; Proverbs 23:15

When my son ran high school cross country, the coach went to a certain amount of effort to not only get the runners in shape, but to also give them enough variety to keep their enthusiasm up. His senior year she found a place that the team always called, "the hill". I've heard it described many times not only by my son, but by his friends.

Last night my son said, "I think I'll go out tomorrow morning and see if I can still run the hill. Do you want to come?" It was too good a challenge to pass up, besides I was curious to see the hill. It's in an expensive residential neighborhood. The road starts out steep, as steep as any road I've seen in the mountains. About half way up it becomes a moderate grade. At the top there is a big cul-de-sac.

I looked up the incline and thought, "What am I doing here?" After some stretching, my son took off, digging in with each stride. I started with a jog. All too soon I was winded and my lungs were burning. I walked the rest of the steep part, and then began to run again. I took a lap around the cul-de-sac and started back down. The view going down was fabulous. My son was waiting for me at the bottom. "When we ran here for cross country," he said, "after we ran the hill, we took off down that road. It winds around but it's not too steep." I said, "Let's go!" It did not bother me that by the time I got to the car he had cooled down and wasn't even breathing hard. I had seen the hill, and I had run a respectable part of it.

If you are Type O, don't neglect the "intense physical exercise" part of this lifestyle. It is every bit as important to the way you feel as eating beneficials and avoiding avoids.

I once blogged about my frustration with finding whey listed as an ingredient in Kyolic garlic which I had used for years. Now I have good news! I saw an ad in a nutritional magazine that Kyolic was introducing new formulas and would send free samples. I called the toll free number (800-421-2998) and learned that there are now 3 formulas without whey. They have a vegetarian version of their original formula and a garlic/red yeast rice formula which look good for Os and As. There is also an immune formula which looks good for As, but has O avoids. They not only sent me samples of the new garlics, but also a sample of Kyo-Green, their wheat grass drink. Heidi has written positively about wheat grass, but I had not used it since I took wheat grass tablets years ago. The drink was very good.

I got off schedule yesterday, and am struggling this morning to get back on. I didn't eat any avoids. I just ate too much, and I ate at the wrong times. We went to Jason's Deli for lunch after church. There is plenty of beneficial food there; it's just not in convenient combinations. The salad bar has several good items that I normally don't have at home; but there is zero meat. I could get a prepared salad with chicken or tuna, but I would have to ask them to leave off ingredients (cheese, black olives, etc). I could get a roast beef sandwich, but after I threw away the bread, pickle, and chips, I wouldn't have much lunch left. I went with the salad bar and got 3 hard boiled eggs for protein. The nice thing about Jason's Deli salad bar is that they have extra virgin olive oil in the original bottle, so I know what I'm pouring on my salad.

By late afternoon I was really hungry. A snack would not do, I needed protein. So before I left for orchestra practice I ate the brisket I had planned to eat for dinner. It was delicious and so satisfying that I wasn't hungry when I fixed dinner for the family. I ate watermelon while the others ate dinner (watching the Olympics, of course). But by 10pm when I was helping my daughter review for an English test I was ready for another meal. After trying to ignore hunger pains, I settled on a bowl of almonds. They satisfied the hunger, but left me feeling too full at bedtime. Vicious cycle!!

Usually when I first get up, I have breakfasts and lunches to prepare for my family. By the time I get everyone out the door, I'm very hungry for my own breakfast. When I was at my parents' house, I wrote that I felt so good when I exercised first thing in the morning, then had breakfast. A few days later I read something that confirmed my feelings. It said that when you run before breakfast you force your body to break down fat for fuel. However, yesterday Debs wrote, "I used to run in the morning before breakfast but was told by a fitness instructor that it was ill advisable because I was burning glucose. Even though I had my brekky when I got back. Have you heard of this before?"

One thing about journalists, we are not afraid to ask questions. So, while I was at the gym today doing the 4th of my 5 free workouts, I asked the head personal trainer. Here is what he said.

If you are going to do weight training, you should eat breakfast before you work out. You are strenuously stretching your muscles, and if you do that without fuel being immediately available, your body will begin breaking down the muscle to provide energy. If you are going to do a cardio workout like running, you can do that before breakfast. A light to medium cardio workout on an empty stomach will force your body to break down fat for energy. However if you are going to do a long and very strenuous cardio workout, eat first, because again you run the risk of destroying muscle tissue. He said that when he works with clients doing cardio machines in the gym, he monitors the point at which they would begin breaking down muscle by checking their heart rate.

On another subject, since I started the Type O Diet, I've been careful to take a calcium supplement because almost all milk products are avoids. I came across a chart about calcium sources. It says

1 cup milk 291 mg calcium

3.5 oz almonds 266 mg calcium

1 can sardines 340 mg calcium

1 cup cooked collard greens 350 mg calcium

Somehow our culture tells us that you have to drink milk to get calcium, and that's not true. However it is true that 2 cups of milk a day is not unreasonable, where 2 cups or collards or 2 cans of sardines would seem excessive.