Dear Heidi, I love reading your column, you seem to radiate this lovely warm energy! I live in the UK and was wondering how I could be tested for my A sub-type and my mn/mm/nn status. If it turned out I was the rarer A2 who does well on more oily fish than A1, but my mn status was nn, making me highly intolerant to fat, which factor would rule? Also, if I was nn, could I still eat stuff like peanut butter and goat's cheese with a clear conscience? Do you know if there are any courses on nutrition, herbs etc. the Blood Type Diet way in the UK, preferably London? I have been fascinated by nutrition and alternative health for years but most courses have a more conventional philosophy that I don't believe in a hundred percent. Thanks, Olympia.

Hey there, Olympia! If I were you, I'd ask the nurse at your medico's office what diagnostic lab they use. Then, phone the lab. Get the procedure, costs and request forms for the tests you want, then take that information to your doc or clinic. I also suggest posting a note to Tom Greenfield's BTD-UK forum, as the local folks there might have excellent suggestions, not only for the typing but for that nutrition course! About the NN type, it is the rarest of that series, and you'd probably already have been pegged as a high-cholesterol-spiker, but write back when you obtain your results! I'm excited!! :-D

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I am type o and my husband is A type. He has arthritis. We would like to drink "jason winters" herbal tea. The first ingrediant is red clover. Would this be a beneficial tea. Sincerely, Karen

Hello, Karen ~ Does your husband have osteo or rheumatoid arthritis? I would not suggest red clover, as it was valued at "avoid" for As in BTD, and I have no new rating for it. Write back with the type of arthritis he's suffering with, and I'll do my best! Take care of YOU!! :-)

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Hi there. I'm an avid enthusist of the A type path, but I'm curious. I cant find where Saw Palmetto stands with my diet. I use it firstly for my hair(Which it HAS brought back, & stopped the recession of)& also to fend of future prostae problems. It is bennificial, nuetral or bad for me. I hope it's o.k, cuz I'm gett'n used to my(New)hair the way it is. Thanks for your advice... Jeff

:-) Jeff, saw palmetto is listed in the Complete Blood Type Encyclopedia as good for several blood types, under the "men's health" protocol at least. It is fine for As! And... great tip about the hair re-growth! thanks, buddy!!

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Hi I started the blood type diet 1 week ago...Never thought I would see myself eating tofu!! It's not as bad as I thought. I am blood type A There are alot of recipes that call for miso and scallions.. We live in a very small town (1200 people) and cannot get these here. Is there something else for my type that I can substitute? Thank you, Claudette

Hi, Claudette! Glad you're developing a taste for that tofu! :-D Well, scallions are young green onions, finger-thick from the little white bulb right through the long, dark greens. You could substitute onions and/or chives. Miso is a salty, fermented paste... that's a bit more difficult to replace satisfactorily, although a mix of dark tamari and tahini (sesame paste) might give a similar taste... if you can find those items in your town! I strongly encourage you to consider shopping online for foods unavailable to you in local stores -- a large, trustworthy national provisioner

like Whole Foods is a great place to start. Also, make use of search engines like www.alltheweb.com, surf around, and have fun with it! Many thousands use online services for hard-to-locate foods every day, especially bulk or preserved stuff. Let me know how you do!

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Dear Heidi; I enjoy reading your columns every day and thought I might be able to help a little with the proportions on the vegetable glycerine questions. I experimented when I was making pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. A one-to-one substitution of glycerine for white sugar left an odd taste after each bite of pie. One-half to one (one-half cup glycerine for each 1 cup of sugar called for in the recipe) tasted fine. I also cut back a little on the other liquid in the recipe but I'm not sure if that was really necessary. Mostly I read through the section in the Joy of Cooking on substituting liquid sugars and played around with those suggestions. I have yet to try using it in a cookie or cake recipe, but that's next. I definitely noticed a difference in my metabolic response to the pie with the glycerine - no sugar rush (and subsequent drop)! Hope this helps others who are wanting to use vegetable glycerine in their holiday cooking. Deborah

Ah! Deborah, thank you!!

Hi Heidi, Would vegetable glycerine be acceptable for people needing to eliminate sugar for candida? Thanks, Sharon in Alaska

Absolutely ~ it is an acceptable sweetener on anti-candida diets, and listed on this Candida FAQ page. :-)

Another reader wrote in with a concern that vegetable glycerine was implicated in the 1986 Austrian wine-poisoning episode. It was not glycerine ("glycerol") but rather propylene glycol -- chemists or oenophiles, please correct me if I'm off base here. That's the stuff that makes antifreeze taste sweet ~ and why so many animals lap it up every year, only to die within hours or days. HIGHLY TOXIC!!! At any rate, if it were veg gly doing the damage, I'd have been sweetly laid to my rest several times over by now! :-) SAFE!! No worries, mates!! :-D

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and, as always, many thanks to all!! :-D