Hello Heidi, My how I miss your column when you take a day off!!!

Please can you tell me whether the soy cheese, recommended for type A, and presumably available in USA contains trans fats like the stuff I accidentally [by post] bought from a 'Health Store' in UK. If I had been able to read the label I wouldn't have gone near it! It also contains carageen and vinegar which I understand are A avoids. Many thanks in advance.

Here are the details: http://www.scheese.co.uk/information.htm Information Scheese is an authentic looking and tasting non-dairy, animal-free alternative to traditional cheese, suitable for anyone who is avoiding animal products in their diet. SCHEESE IS: * Suitable for vegans and vegetarians * Yeast free (all flavours except Cheshire style) * All ingredients sourced as grown non-GMO * Lactose free INGREDIENTS: * UV treated, filtered water * Hydrogenated rapeseed oil * Soybean concentrate (non GMO) * Soybean isolate (non GMO) * Spirit vinegar * Salt * Lactic acid (non animal, from glucose) * Natural & identical flavourings (non-animal) * Carrageenan NUTRITIONAL VALUES: Typical values for 100g of Scheese: * Energy 369 k cal * Protein 14.5 g * Carbohydrates 1.2 g * Fat 29 g (of which saturated 4.2 g) * Fibre 4.3 g * Sodium 3.2 g * Calcium 75 mg These are only approximate values (which fluctuate naturally with the ingredient qualities). We offer no guarantees as to their accuracy, nor do we recommend that they be referred to as any part of any controlled diet.

JoyceUK

Hi, Joyce! Any website I'd recommend for purchasing foods would list the ingredients of products. There's no way for us to know what is in something unless we can see that ingredient list.

Hydrogenated oil as a second ingredient isn't something I've seen in soy cheese here. Many do contain carrageenan, though.

"Soy cheese" in the food lists is something I'd like to remove, since it is a product -- meaning, it varies extraordinarily between manufacturers, and even between varieties made by any one company.

We can better serve everyone by listing only the whole foods tested for ABO/subtype/secretor/MM values, and then encourage folks to read the labels (in the store and/or on the makers' websites).

Soy cheese without avoids is a nice alternative for those who miss cheese, but it is admittedly difficult to find a soy cheese without avoids. Keep looking, Joyce, and just keep these thoughts in mind. Thanks for writing, dear! :-D

I have my credit card out to order supplements, but I have some problems. The woman on the phone said I should email you first.

1. I have tried to take multivitamins for years and I have found that vitamin C gives me colds. I thought I was crazy, but since, have found other people with the same problem, including the chief pharmacist at my local Longs pharmacy. Do I dare try the Pharmacal multi? Why would it be different? What should I do? Help!

2. I have ridged nails, have had my gall bladder removed because of calcium gallstones and have high anxiety. When I take calcium, I GET LEG CRAMPS, as if I am assimilating the magnesium, but not the calcium, setting off an imbalance. Help!

3. I am Type A- I prefer a vegetarian diet, but nuts and seeds give me herpes on my eyes. Help!

4. I have hypothyroidism, and am getting frequent adrenilin rushes on this diet. What is going on???

5. I don't see any information in any of the indexes in all of the D'Adamo Blood Type books for hormones (I am 57). Apparently you no longer offer the hormone test kit. Do I need a doctor's help to administer that kit?

6. My daughter and son have acne. This also is hard to kind in any of the indexes.

7. I have a limited income. What is the best way to work with this diet? I cannot afford to make too many mistaken purchases. Joan

Hello, Joan! I suggest for the time being that you do not begin taking vitamins and minerals which have been problematic for you in the past. First, the fundamental task for you is immune system regulation. That means, reducing the stress hormones in your system. I would immediately begin a yoga practice, and if you'd like to purchase one supplement that would help you in this task of modulating your immune response (and feeling a lot better), then buy some Cortiguard.

The diet is attempting to heal your thyroid, thus you may experience odd effects -- most people who start this plan find that any medications they were taking must be reduced or eliminated (under their doctor's supervision, of course).

If you search for the term 'acne' in the search form below, you'll find a number of columns which offer pointers on this problem.

For right now, I'd simply follow the diet carefully while absolutely eliminating the avoids. Put away any nuts or seeds which are troublesome now -- you will likely be able to re-introduce them once your immune system is stable. Yoga is your very best friend in this healing process! so please do commit to a daily or thrice-weekly yoga session, take Cortiguard daily in the late afternoon, and let me know how you are feeling in a couple of weeks. By treating the fundamental problem, you'll see a host of other maladies fade away. Bless you, and please do write again! ;-)

Good day Heidi and all! I read the column all the time and realized that a lot of people follow the diet, except, what I do not understand is that whenever I talk about it with people, they are not aware of it or do not believe it. Nobody I know follows it except for one person. So why is it so hard to find someone that follows it and agrees with me on it? Perhaps there should be a blood type dating service on the site! Hahaha! Well, I do not know how realistic this is but that is my opinion. It just seems that life would be so much easier if I had someone that follows it like me. If your partner does not agree with your lifestyle, then it cannot work you know! But I'm sure that one day, people will catch on more. It seems harder for men though to adhere to a diet. They worry less about their health and appearance. However, perhaps that is changing now, I notice it a lot more in men. So I do not have a question, but wrote in anyways to give you my thought of the day! Good luck to all! Emilie/(Emily)

Thanks, dear! I'm not sure what's involved in setting up an ABO-Singles site, but perhaps some enterprising soul or group would like to get one going?

You sound very much better, by the way!! take care, and I hope you're getting some spring warmth up there! :-D

I just got the two bottles of Polyflora A. Directions say two a day, 2X a day... Sound about right to you? I have a feeling that I have NO flora due to antibiotic overuse on a biblical scale my ENTIRE life, so I am looking to re-establish the 'lil guys fast! Should I take more? Less? Both bottles in a row? Wait a month between? Also... It doesn't say wether I should take them w/food or on an empty stomach... Morning, night, mid-day? Wondering about taking the 4 spaced out over the whole day too... Looking for the best advice, so I asked the best possible source! Thankyou for your 'Americans Singing' post. I was very moved and inspired... And thanks for being there to help along the way! Jim

Hi, Jim! For right now, I'd take two first thing in the morning, and two last thing at night. With plenty of water, of course. Polyflora is best taken on a regular basis, but once you're having no trouble with constipation at all, you can take just the two at night. No need to take a break.

I'm pleased you liked that column -- and I did get your Rockwood info, BTW. Just cogitating on where to go from here! Be well, and we'll talk soon! :-D

A few days ago in reading my Live Right book I noticed that goat cheese is neutral while goat milk is an avoid - the whey and all of that. What about goat yogurt? I do not think that I am going to like your answer, but I have to ask it any how. Joan (O secretor unknown)

Hi, Joan! Well... I'm afraid I'm about to give the answer you expected. :-} Among the cheeses, there are only a few which are OK for type O -- secretors only -- and goat cheese is among them. However, yogurt is an avoid, even made from the same milk used in (neutral) mozzarella. So goat yogurt should be considered an avoid, as well. I hope you'll still write to me! :-)

Hi Mom, Thanks very much for the 'articulation' of a basic problem that is now affecting us all, we Canadians (in our own way) as much as our American brothers and sisters.

This 'problem' is fundamentally a thought/belief one (that plays itself in everyday events both mine and others) and should be a philosophical one by nature. However, the root-source of this is not placing the emphasis on 'individual' action (as Americans are inclined).

Let us all delve a wee deeper into what is the 'nature' of reality itself - - heady stuff, eh? ALL reality is UNIQUE, SINGULAR. We humans have shiftd away from this and like to 'compare' stuff ... so we have invented language, (Anyone (human, that is) can say you have a dog, but to have Fifi is an experience!); to money; and (more recently) to political-philosophy where someone(probably Descartes) invented that the idea 'equal' also applies to us (humans) and our behavior. UNBRIDLED 'STUPIDITY' AT ITS WORST ... as far as I can tell.

The SOLUTION (which is daunting) is to accept resposibility for that uniquness and to celebrate it with all the gusto that is me. Sorry I am not-less-than-equal (nor more-than-equal) the word 'equal' simply does not make sense in the world filled with 'uniqueness'. The word 'equal' is strange because it allows us the 'out' of 'shifting the blame' to others. I could easily go on and on about this, but first I must eat (BTD of course)(:->) ! John McDonell

:-D I'm glad you enjoyed that article, son. It's a pesky probem ... till all of a sudden, it comes into the mind clear as sunlight. I'm of your view on how 'comparing stuff' became a focus of mind, and formed the kind of language we use. However, it is difficult for me to imagine action performed by a group while not being performed by any individual human being ~ maybe because I'm American? ;->

Your mention of the concept of equality reminded me of a great article on that subject ~ Roderick T. Long's Equality: The Unknown Ideal. I'm sure you'll enjoy his discussion of the concept ~~ and I join you in celebration, with gusto, dear!! :-D