Happy New Year's Eve, everyone!



Thought I'd take this time on the eve of the New Year to review some of the most frequent topics raised in the eight months since this column's inception.



First:



Let's start with that ever-popular subject, BOWEL MOVEMENTS. ~:-D When I said out with the old, I meant it. Here's the relevant portion of a recent note:



Hi Heidi, I was reading in the Jan. 2003 issue of Alive (Canadian magazine of natural Health, alivepublishing.com)an article about digestion. It quotes Brenda watson, certified colon therapist and author of Renew Your Life: Improved Digestion and Detoxification (Renew Life Press, 2002). "At minimum,should have one good bowel movement per day, but two to three are ideal. A "good" bowel movement is one that is walnut brown in colour, with a consistency similar to toothpaste, about the length of a banana. the stool should be free of odour, leave the body easily, settle in the toilet water and gently submerge. The transit time for food, meaning the elpsed time it takes for a meal to enter the mouth and then exit the rectum, should be less than 24 hours." there! gross everybody out! Hope this helps, Jayne



LOL! Takes a lot to gross this crowd out by now! :-D Nice to have an expert's view on this topic, and thanks so much for... passing it on! :-D



Continuing...



Wheat for As?



Simple Explanation: The only wheat elements to be avoided by group A secretors are the bran and the germ. Thus: whole wheat flour, wheat bran, and wheat germ are to be avoided -- along with any products whose ingredients include one or more of these items. For nonsecretors it gets a little more complicated, so when in doubt, check that TYPEbase3!! :-)



Protein for B's on a vegetarian diet?

That one's here!



B's wondering about string cheese...

Right Here!



Type O vegetarians ~

Here!

and Here!



Meal Planning Made Simpler

Phew!



Which Book Should I Use?

Some Here!

More Here!



Basic Exercise Routine for All!

HOO-RAH!



Those Tumultuous Tiers:

Whoo!

Hoo!



Encyclopedia Questions? Book Discrepancies?

Here!

There!

And Everywhere!



Avoids in soap, shampoo, etc.?

Stylin'!



Genetics: If my wife & I are type x & q, what's Junior?

Voila!



Oh, I've just got to sneak a couple of AB questions in here, and one on kids' secretor status:



Hi, Through Blood Tests I am B+ But after reading the Questions and Answers section of "Eat Right for your Type", I am not sure if I should follow the B diet or the AB diet. In the book it says that if one parent is A and the other B, it will mean the offspring is AB. My Mother is A and my Father B. Please tell me which diet to follow, as I am eager to start. Thanks, Tamara



Hey, Tamara ~ Actually, the book indicates that one parent must have a B gene and the other must have an A gene in order to product type AB offspring. Remember, though, that each of us carries two blood type genes. In type O we know both genes are O because O is recessive to A and B. Similarly, type ABs obviously have one A and one B gene. But for type Bs and As, it's a different story! Now, I'll tell you a secret: your mom has a recessive O gene. How do I know? Your Dad gave you his B gene, and you typed out as a B. Therefore, you got a recessive O from Mom and a B from Dad. However, if both of your parents were homozygous -- meaning, Aa and Bb rather than heterozygous, namely Ao and Bo -- then you would have popped out as an AB. :-)



Hi Heidi, Its nice to email you again! My question has to do with the recessive genes of my mom and dad. My dad currently deceased was Ab- and my mom is B+. I am AB+ and my sister is B-. My sister married an O+ and her son is O-. What is throwing me off is shouldnt my sister be a Bb- and have no O blood in her? She must be a Bo- to produce her son. Am i figuring this out right? I cannot recheck my dad since he is deceased, but your anwer will help me see if he really was Ab- or if he was mistaken and was Ao-. I hope this doesnt sound too confusing, but this question has me really wondering. Also the new board is very nice! Thanks, Arlene AB+



Well ARLENE! How the heck are you? Happy New Year, girl!!! The answer to your question is, like Tamara's, that your mom has a recessive O gene. Your sister grabbed the B gene from Dad and the O gene from Mom. (We also know your mom carries the recessive Rhesus negative gene, hidden behind the +. So her "Rhesus genotype" is +-. That's how your sister is Rhesus negative: she has the recessive neg from Mom and one of your Dad's two negs. :-)) Then sis married an O, so all her children will be either Bo or Oo (type B or type O) -- and either Rhesus negative or positive, since her son is a neg -- which shows us her husband has a recessive neg, just like your Mom, available to his kids. Hope this helps, and keep in touch, eh?? :-)



Regarding kids secretor status: Hello, Heidi! Thank you for doing so many of the potpourri columns. It makes for a lot of interesting reading. Also, thanks for answering my last question about the tier systems a while back. You really cleared things up! This time I have a question about secretor status. I am an A non-secretor, my husband is O non-secretor. We have four kids: 2 A's and 2 O's. What are the chances that they are also non-secretors? Is secretor status hereditary? I feel they are too young to give them the saliva secretor test. Until we know for sure what their status is, is it best to follow the secretor or non-secretor program for them? Best wishes from Texas! Phyllis



AND Phyllis, too? It's old-timers week! Hooray!! :-D Hey, did you have a fried turkey for Thanksgiving? LOL, just kidding! :-D Secretor status is based on two genes, just like ABO type and Rhesus type. It also works the same way as Rhesus, with the "positive" being dominant and the "negative" being recessive. In this case, the secretor (or "Se") gene is the "positive" and the nonsecretor (or "se") gene is the "negative." You're a nonsecretor: that means you have two nonsecretor genes. If you had just one secretor gene, you'd be a secretor... but ch'ain't. Same for yer hubbie. Kids had only one option there ~ they're all nonnies. A most joyous New Year to you & your family, Phyllis! Keep smiling!! :-D



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I want to express my sincerest gratitude to ALL the readers & writers who participate with us in enlarging our knowledge and experience with this "polymorphic paradigm!" It has made my 2002 a challenging and productive time, and I hope you all have benefited as well from sharing these trials & triumphs with other kindred souls. What a fabulous group of people you are! Prosper in your New Year, and keep that great energy flowing!!



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[and... something quite entirely different, by a budding author, and offered with a smile by our friend David:]



Written by a six year old girl in Atlanta named Anna, this story is sure to be famous someday! "Once upon a time there was a witch. But that witch was very nice. And there was a wolf. But the wolf was a friend of the witch. And there was a girl. And the witch lived with the girl. And that girl was a friend of the witch, too.And there was a frog. and the witch always made pumpkin pie for the frog. And the frog really liked it! And the witch's friends one time went to the park. They went there all by theirself. And they got lost. But the girl didn't go with them. And the girl was gonna go find them. And they all helped each other cook eggs. And they took a bath and went to bed." The End



Sleep well, Anna ~ you're a very lucky duck, indeed. ;-)

LOL!



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