Like all O’s, if I don’t do some strenuous exercise 3 to 4 times a week, I’m a wreck and in several ways…my sleep patterns go amok….I reach for the sweets(chocolate mostly) to raise my endorphins and lastly my adrenaline levels go up and with no release, whacks my emotional well being.

I thought I would give you my weekly exercise routine. I prefer to exercise out side but with a full three-month winter up here and cold, running outside for me is out of the question…the cold is to hard on the lungs. I prefer bike riding and roller blading as my aerobic exercises. In the winter I have what’s called a dry trainer (about $200.00 in any bike store and sure beats spending another grand on a stationary bike), which I hook my regular bike to. In the winter three to four times a week first thing in the morning, I am on the bike for 30 to 40 minutes (usually listening to the White Stripes or something very upbeat). Before I get on, I fix myself a glass of Harmonia, which is a “green drink Dr. D has come up with…this is my morning pick me up. For those of you who need coffee to get you alert in the morning, try weaning yourself off and have a glass of the green stuff with a beneficial juice (usually cherry for me) and see how wide awake you feel in 5 minutes. Anyway one drink and my body is ready to work out hard. After I work up a good sweat (one of nature’s great ways to detoxify yourself) for a half hour to 45 minutes, I follow up with a Type O protein shake, which I mix with fresh pineapple juice. The two are great together because the bromelin in the juice helps break down the protein and secondly it’s great for sore muscles especially after workout. I read that the bromelin and protein help your muscles recover faster. I would recommend anyone who wants to enjoy beneficial juices the way nature intended to, to go out a buy a good juicer…canned or bottled pineapple juice just doesn’t cut it because usually the juice is boiled before it goes in to the can or jar and the boiling destroys all the good enzymes from the fruit…. most bottled or jugged juices are devoid of their natural enzymes. If you decide to buy a juicer, make sure you buy one that has a large enough hopper to accept a whole fruit like an apple…this will involve less preparation and cutting.

On the off days that I’m not bicycling, I work my upper body. I personally do not use weights of any kind but let gravity and my own body weight dictate how much weight I lift. In my case, all I do is three sets of 40 pushups…just pushups, nothing else. The pushup, if done right without your back slouched and done slowly, will work every muscle in your upper body including your stomach muscles. My intention with the pushups is not to bulk up but to keep my muscles toned and looking natural…I like buying my suits off the rack…42 regular is where I like to stay. Note…since being on the BTD diet, I have to get the pants altered with 42 regular suits because my waist went from a 35 to a 32” waist…my “love” handles disappeared.

Spring weather here in Toronto is not far away and I live by the lake. There is a lakeside bicycle/blading/runners path that goes from one side of the city to the other and I am anxiously waiting so I can unhook my bike from the dry trainer and make like Lance Armstrong for 20 miles or so 4 times a week.

If you see a bald man screaming by you on a bike…say hello…it just may be me.

Thanks to Jennifer [new blogger] for the reference to Dr Karg crackers. I wish I could get something like them here in Oz. His definition of Spelt and its benefit over wheat is one of the best I have read and I re-print it here for you all without any apology.

My wife makes me a Buckwheat cracker with Sesame seeds which looks very similar and as soon as I can prise the recipe from her I will post it here for you.



Dr Karg’s Spelt and Sunflower Crackers

What is Spelt

Spelt grain breads and pastries can be found in more and more bakeries. The trend is even more pronounced in Europe. What is Spelt and what is going on? Spelt is an antique form of wheat. In German it is called Dinkel, Farro in Italian, and many of the early European farmers also planted it in the Americas.

Spelt has a larger grain than our normal bread wheat and is slightly more blonde when compared to the red winter wheat grains that bakers use. The grain's flavour is also slightly sweeter. However, Spelt doesn't have the same baking characteristics as modern wheats; the fact is that its balance of amino acids, the gliadin and glutenin, is such that when Spelt bread rises it has a tendency to fall or collapse in the oven. Bakers would say that it doesn't have the necessary fermentation tolerance. Added to these challenging baking characteristics, Spelt has a relatively low yield per acre, which discourages farmers from committing their land to Spelt. So Spelt became an agricultural rarity during the last 100 years.

Interestingly, more and more consumers are finding that they may be suffering from some type of wheat sensitivity. This sensitivity ranges from a severe allergic reaction to the gluten in wheat (celiac disease) to more subtle symptoms such as lethargy or a bloated feeling coupled with weight gain. New diets based on blood types (see Eating Right 4 Your Type) recommend that type O people avoid all modern wheat and eat only Spelt products. In theory, it is the modern makeup of the wheat and its many stepped history of breeding and hybridisation to improve yield and baking characteristics that may have created a gluten that is no longer friendly to some people's bodies. Because of the limited genetic improvement through concentrated breeding programs, Spelt is digestible by many people who have stopped eating wheat. Whether you are wheat sensitive or whether you should only eat Spelt is a question that is best answered by a competent health professional. However, regardless of issues of wheat sensitivity many people have come to appreciate the rich, sweeter flavour of Spelt and have made it their grain of choice when they eat bread.

3/31/04 8:09 AM

Well, I am purposely putting off all other things in order to write this blog, which, at this point, isn’t that easy to do. However, one of my favorite songs, “Can I take you out” by Luther Vandross just came on and that’s got me feeling better for a moment.

What a tragedy for poor Luther. In case you don’t know, he had a stroke about a year ago – he was only in his early 50’s. The most difficult part to read is that his father, sister and nephew all died from diabetes complications. Luther struggled with his weight. I could identify with him so much – he would lose enormous amounts of weight (well over a hundred pounds) and he would be on TV showing off his very thin figure. It wouldn’t seem like more than just a moment, you’d see again and he’d have gained back all of the weight and then some. That’s story of my life.

The last time that he was thin, he talked about being a carb addict and how he couldn’t ever even eat one bagel, as it would lead to a dozen bagels. That was the last time I saw him before his stroke. It wasn’t even a year. His mother (the only one besides Luther left alive in his family) said that he was heavy when he had the stroke.

I guess that I am thinking about Luther a lot because he has had a lot influence in my life with his music, but also because, although I am not as obese as he has been, I am struggling with my weight, the diet and my own inability to stick to this diet, or any diet, the way that I would like. I can’t seem to keep starches completely out of my life, but if I don’t, then I overeat them. I’m seriously considering starting Overeaters Anonymous. I have actually put in the call, but the meeting time isn’t very good for me. I may have to reconsider and make that commitment. Adding the allowed starches back into my diet has not been very good for me, overall. The biggest problem is, like Luther, one helping leads to another and another. There is a part of me, inside, that is so resistant to giving up starches “for the rest of my life”, yet there seems to be no middle ground for me. I have the sugar under control – I have found a dark chocolate that works very well for me in small amounts, but the starches themselves defeat me. I am sick of being at this size. I am tired of struggling with my weight. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I’m not sure where I am going from this point. I am aware of the fact that I must continue on the BTD for my health. I am also aware of the fact that I must commit to eliminating starches from my diet for good. I’m going to start today, and this moment. Actually, up until I wrote this, I wasn’t getting real with myself. If I look down the road of my life, I find it impossible to imagine that I’ll never each starch again, but maybe I really only have to think about it today. This doesn’t make me a happy person, but no matter how much I try to put starch in my diet, and no matter how many ways I approach it, starch always defeats me in the end. The reason that I use the term, “starch”, btw, is that other carbs, even ones with the higher glycemic loads, don’t affect me the way that starches do. They are a comfort food for me, and they are a filler for me.

Actually, all of that doesn’t really matter. I have two choices: get rid of the starches, get to a better weight and be healthy or keep the starches in, remain heavy (I’m not fat, but I AM heavy), and risk my health. My Dad is diabetic. His brother died from diabetes. I’m not interested in being next.

So, I guess that there is no time like the present. I haven’t eaten breakfast yet today. I think that there is some steak in my fridge and some veggies. I’m also pretty sure that there isn’t that much starch around to tempt me. There is Ezekiel bread for my daughter’s sandwiches, but I think that I can avoid that.

The sun is shinning. I can remember another time and another place when I was sitting in this same chair and I felt wonderful because I was thin. I didn’t eat starch then and I got thin. I also took diet pills. I have to believe that I can get there naturally this time.

I’ll write more later.

Well, here goes heart procedure at 2:00 pm today. All I can have right now is clear liquid so I'm heading to the convenience store to get some apple juice. Since I am supposed to stop all blood thinning meds a week before the procedure, I also stopped all my dietary supplements since most of them have blood thinning properties (Flax seed oil/omega 3s, gingko biloba, etc). I am off my Toprol so that they can actually do the testing. When it's all over I have to take 325 mg aspirin per day x one month.

I'm a little scared but it's really nice and sunny outside so I'm just kind of enjoying life. I feel pretty good about this overall. Worst case scenarios are 1)heart block-rare, but if it occurred, I'd need a pacemaker for the rest of my life 2)DVT-even more rare. Had a deep tissue massage at Pagoda last night by a very good therapist named Josh. I told him to work intensely on my legs to get the circulation going so that there is less chance of DVT. Oh, also if the abnormal electrical pathway is on the left side of my heart, the cardiologist will have to take a needle thru my septum to get to the left side and then I'd be in the hospital overnight.

I've had a lot of great blood type foods lately though have not been taking the vitamins at all because I just want to lower the risk of interactions with all the other strange stuff they might be giving me today.

So, I told my dad about the whole thing two weeks ago since I need him there to drive me home after the procedure, but as for my mom, I told my dad that I don't want him telling mom. He said, you need to tell her on Monday. So on Monday I called her up and told her what was going on. Of course, she blames alternative medicine on this problem of mine: "Erika, you take a lot of weird SH**! You don't know what it's doing to your body." And I'm like, "um, mom, I'm a pharmacist. I kind of do know what it does to my body and none of these things I take are cardiotoxic."

"Well, remember when you used to take ephedra in high school?"

"Yeah, mom, that was high school. And there is nothing mechanically wrong with my heart; no valve damage...."

Granted, ephedra is not the safest thing in the world, but I highly doubt it is what caused this whole thing. The RN told me that it's just something people are born with that doesn't always manifest right away. It's not like my mom did something wrong during pregnancy or anything like that.

Of course my mom started to cry on the phone and last I heard, she's like blaming herself, thinking she's failed at parenting. I just hope that if something does go wrong, she doesn't become one of those crazy people who goes on Oprah and tells the world that herbs killed her daughter. That would really annoy me.

As for the diet, hmmmm....had escargot with my dad last night along with black bass on basmati rice and spring veggies with a glass of red at Chez Collette in the Hotel Sofitel in Edina.

Night before I had tilapia with arugula. That was also quite nice.

I don't know, I'm not that inspired to talk about food I eat lately because it's not very hard to me to comply with most of the list. Just a few trigger foods and then of course the fact that soy and other legumes give me horrible gas. Still trying to combat that but obviously need to work on gut flora.

But I will tell you that being off the supplements has been very tough on my body. My colon is spazzing out. My skin is getting dry and flaky as well as breaking out in zits, and my acid reflux is worse. I can't wait so get back on my usual routine.

Well, better grab that apple juice before it's too late. Wish me luck and pray.

If you don't hear from me by the weekend, that's not a good sign. But you probably will.

See ya......

PS-if something does happen, I want my body donated to science. You are all my witnesses to that. This isn't in my will so I just wanted that in writing somewhere (but I'm sure I'll be fine).

Woke up this morning at 4:45 AM bright and alert. My football alarm clock in my head had gone off on time again. Australia were playing South Africa at Loftus Road, home of Queens Park Rangers in London.

Although it was only a friendly international we don't get many opportunities to watch the full strength Australian side locally nicknamed the Socceroos.

All our European based stars were available for this game including Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Marco Bresciano and others. An exciting and competitive game with Australia dominating the first half and South Africa coming back strongly in the second half. Australia 1 South Africa 0. Goal scored by Marco Bresciano of Italian club Parma in the 19th minute.

Well worth the effort to get up and watch and I think I agree with FIFA's proposal to extend the half time break to 20 minutes. You just can't shave, shower and get dressed in 15 minutes. I know because I tried.

I told you I was a dedicated football fan.

What is it about time, it rules our life.

We have just finished daylight saving this weekend in Tasmania. Why does it play so much havoc with my body. 1 hour, 60 little minutes yet I feel totally out of wack. Awake at 4.00 am , is it time to get up yet, what times breakfast, is it lunch time yet, where's tea, and that's just Bonnie [my dog].

Seriously it makes me feel lethargic for a couple of days, I guess it's like mini jetlag, hope I never get the real thing, I mean...........you can travel across Australia and change time zones by 3 hours so why is one hour giving me so much grief.

Back to work as well, so that didn't help, by lunchtime I was ravenous and by 4.30 pm I was ready for tea, but no mid meal snacks and certainly no avoids.

I still feel great health wise and another 24 hours or so and daylight saving will be a thing of the past, at least until the first weekend in October.

Saturday night was a sad night…it was the end of my 6-year love affair with four New York women by the names of Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha (heroines of Sex in the City). In the end,

they all found what they were looking for. Carrie got her “Big” man back…Miranda finally let go of

all her emotional walls and showed that she could love more than the people that mattered most to her…Charlotte finally gets the chance to be a mother by adapting a girl from China (I always had a soft spot for Charlotte especially since she married Harry) and last but not least, Samantha finally learns, only through succumbing to an illness which puts her sex drive in a holding position, that Smith truly loves her…(it’s not always about the sex, Samantha!)

As I was watching the last 5 minutes of the program, I was conceiving a sub plot in my brain as to how 4 woman in New York with different blood types would handle the day to day challenges of being on the BTD diet…and this is what I came up with.

Samantha, since she contracted breast cancer, would be the type A. She would give up red meat, take up yoga, meditation and give tantric sex a try. She becomes a closet green tea drinker; gives up her martinis for fine red wine when out for brunch with the girls and would always order beneficial seafood. She makes a full recovery from her cancer and becomes a spokesperson/advocate for Tofu and other soy based products. Her favorite sandwich would be peanut butter on Smith (sorry if this is offensive to some but Samantha would not be on the BTD diet unless a little sex play with the beneficials was allowed)

Charlotte, since there is a high rate of infertility among the blood group, would be blood type B. She would get all the family on the diet and she would know everyone else’s blood diet regiment and their secretor status. She would make sure the home is always stocked with Beneficials for all blood types. After learning that Harry is also type B(and Jewish), she confronts him with the fact that Lox(Smoked Salmon) and bagels(made from wheat) will no longer be allowed in the household. This causes a riff between them with Harry going off to his mothers for a week only to find out that she is on the diet too and she will no longer make Harry her famous chicken soup. Eventually they reconcile and low and behold, after 12 months on the diet, Charlotte is pregnant and has twins. Charlotte goes on to write a bestseller cookbook for B’s…101 ways to cook potatoes, yams and cabbage. Her biggest

hurdle on being on the diet is eating Lamb because they” are just too cute to eat”

Miranda, who was always the most self sufficient of the four, would be the AB type. Miranda is ecstatic that she can drink coffee but cannot share any with Steve who is a type O, so she compromises and only keeps green tea in the house and only has coffee at work. She is so wired on the caffeine that she has to drink Chamomile to bring her down so she can sleep at night (she notices she doesn’t get as many colds since she has been on the diet). Miranda is pregnant again but has these cravings for pickles (avoid). Her housemaid is aware of this and throws them out every time she buys some. Miranda keeps a fridge well stocked with lemons, grapefruits and high alkaline juices like black cherry, cranberry (she was always one to get bladder infections, but since being on the diet, she doesn’t) and grape juice. Miranda and Samantha are constantly trading soy-based recipes by email.

Last but not least, Carrie, the type O who has the second largest ($40,000 worth) shoe collection next to Himelda Marcos. She has recently found out that Arthritis runs in her family especially in the lower joints and is concerned that she will have to curtail her shoe shopping in her later years, so she swears off eating wheat, potatoes, eggplant and corn. Carrie marries Big and convinces him (was very hard to do since Big is type A)... to buy a cattle ranch (he must really love her) out west so they can bring in quality cuts of beneficial meat anytime she chooses.

There you have it…a small sample of BTD in the City. My hope is that you the reader will get to know and identify with some of the 15 BTD bloggers and their daily joys, thoughts and tribulations on being on the diet…. their bloggs have way more reality, emotion and entertainment than any of my made examples above ever would…and there are no reruns.

This has been an H(health)B(be)O(on the mind) production.

The wife’s threatened to put me on rations. I thought that only related to the other, it appears it’s now to include food.

After the last weeks on holiday I have been bouncing around with so much energy she’s threatening to take my beneficial foods off me.

Reckons I’ve got to much energy and she’ll be glad when I’m back at work so she can have a holiday too.

On a serious note I have never felt better than I am currently and can only attribute it to my strict adherence to Dr D’s diet. I feel great.

Now to share a little treat with you, this recipe comes from Marilyn Gioannini’s Food Allergy cookbook.

Carob Fudge Cookies

1-1/2 cups Rye flour

¼ cup Spelt flour

½ cup Carob powder

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup light Olive Oil

½ cup sweetener [1/4 rice syrup, ¼ apple juice concentrate] or Honey.

½ cup soy milk

Preheat over to 350o F or 180o C. Mix flours, carob, baking powder, salt and nuts in a mixing bowl. Put oil, sweetener and soy milk in a small bowl or measuring cup and heat for 20 – 30 seconds in microwave oven. Add liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and stir well.

Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes or until desired texture.

Enjoy.

I was driving home at about 8:30 last night after taking my daughter out for dinner...She is an O like myself and we went and had steak sirloin with asparagus and basmati and wild rice...no avoids for us last night but on the way home I noticed a new billboard, that read: Yogenfruz...Atkens Approved, and the first thought that came to mind was..."I don't remember the last time I had yogurt"...was maybe eighteen months ago before I started on the BTD. I used to have plain yogurt with blueberries or strawberries for breakfast and I really like liked it. It also had the beneficial bacteria in it that is good for your intestinal health and I thought I was doing myself some good by eating it but unfortunately it provokes an abnormal blood reaction in O's.

I was also thinking about Dr. Atkens wherever he may be right now…I like to think he’s gone to a more enlightened state and is now looking down on his followers and his billboards thinking,” Don’t read those Atkens Approved signs!!!…”I was close but I didn’t know type O blood types couldn’t tolerate wheat and dairy very well”

Since I’m on the topic of dairy…the only type I eat is goat or mozzarella cheese which are neutrals and since I don’t eat pizza anymore or very rarely (once or twice a year with a couple of Deflects to wash the lectins out), my substitute for it is to put slices of either cheese on some organic 100% rye bread with a slice of tomato on top and pop it in the toaster oven until the cheese melts. It’s a quick O friendly snack. or breakfast meal.

For those O’s out there that miss eating yogurt, there is a yogurt neutral substitute made from Soy called Soyogurt, which I have only found in Canadian supermarkets like Loblaws and Mr. Grocer. Give it a try…it’s good!!

That’s it then, the holiday is just about over. I’d better start to get my brain back into gear for work on Monday

Day seven of my pictorial diary is on line here..



I’ve really enjoyed sharing my week with you and it’s given me a legitimate excuse [not that I really needed one] to play around with my relatively new digital camera.

The pictures today are a bigger size and slightly higher resolution. Just an experiment, please let me know if you are on a dial up connection and they are too slow to download.

Apart from the peanut butter glitch mentioned yesterday I have felt really well all week, it must have something to do with the glorious Autumn weather we are experiencing.

Daylight saving ends tonight, so an extra hours sleep and then……………..

Oh well Winter draw [er]s on.

I like toast and jam, now there's a line from an old song for you.

I like peanut butter but I don't love peanut butter. A couple of years ago Sue and I both came to the conclusion that peanuts which I do love were actually contirbuting to my digestive problem. Peanut butter wasn't. Now I don't know why, maybe it's because I am an infrequent eater of PB, however show me a packet of raw peanuts and just get out of the way or get knocked down.

The reason I'm telling you this...., as you know I've been off work this week and earlier in the week for a mid afternoon snack I was having peanut butter on rice cakes. It didn't trigger my digestive issue but something triggered an increase in congestion. I stopped on Monday and have been improving since.

Peanuts are beneficial for type A, but this is just an example of other issues that can be caused by food. Follow your body, if you have a natural intolerance to a food group you don't have to eat it because the book says so. You have to combine Dr D's research and advice with what your body tells you. I love peanuts, peanuts are beneficial, peanuts make me feel crook, ergo don't eat peanuts.

Simple really.

On another issue, there is a lot of confusion about yeast. Nutritional Yeast sold in Australia as Savoury yeast is a wonderful food source and of great benefit in your diet.

It is not the same as Brewers Yeast

Try a Google search for "nutritional yeast" and then try "brewers yeast" and compare the information.

It is a common mistake to think they are the same product. I have used Nutritional Yeast for a couple of years and love it. As a type A who can no longer have Parmegiana or Peccorino cheese on my pasta sauce, sprinkled yeast on the sauce is wonderful.

Try it.

9:09 PM

Well, I now have some time to write since returning from my trip. My daughter and I went to San Diego for about a week, and while there, drove up to LA. It was fun, but was also a major eye-opener for me.

The friend (and her family) that I stayed with in SD eat so poorly. I wonder if it is just them or if I was getting a glimpse of the “real world”. My friend has 2 boys – 12 and 10 years of age. When you go into there house, it is a myriad of snack foods, prepared cereals, sodas, sweetened teas, candy, ice cream and so on. They have bins filled with these things (minus the ice cream, of course) out for the kids so that they can grab a “snack” whenever they want to. Most of their meals are take out or fast food, and the take out food that they eat is horrid. Her children have been diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar disorder, verbal processing issues, fibromyalgia (sp?) and other maladies. They would seem like fine, handsome, strapping boys, but they aren’t as they appear. I can’t help but wonder how much their health and disorders are magnified by the food that they eat. Their mom, my dear, dear friend, has terrible health issues of her own, including allergies, migraines and allopicia totalis (sp?). I suspect that she is an A non-secretor. Her husband, of Mexican origin actually, assured me that he is a B. I gave my friend Eat Right 4 Your Type, but I doubt that she’ll get to the program anytime soon. She is currently seeing a doctor who wants to put her on a specific diet, and she has assured me that she will show ER4YT to him and hope that he can incorporate the BTD principles with what he is recommending for her. I don’t have much faith in that. It seems like so many in the medical community like to talk about ER4YT as “pseudoscience”, I doubt that this Dr. will put her on it – in fact, I sort of expect him to trash ER4YT completely. It is so sad. She is just a few years older than me, but is so plagued with ill health that she is barely function able most of the day. Her husband, whom I have known for over 15 years, has also gained quite a bit of weight. Who wouldn’t in that household? I was there for just over a week, and I don’t dare weigh myself for a few weeks. I am sure that I have put on 5 pounds or so.

I DID buy my own food and cook it, but there was just so MUCH junk around, I found myself sliding, too. I didn’t get into the starches so much, but I was just off of “my food” longer than I care to be. I was really happy to get home so that I could eat the way that I like and the way that makes me feel good. Tomorrow I hit the gym and get back on track.

What I came away from the whole trip was the general realization, to my horror, that this type of eating might be the rule, not the exception. I guess that I have been dieting and health conscious for so long, that I didn’t realize how low we, as a country, have slid with regards to our food. This isn’t food. It’s pure poison. I suspect that this family’s health, physical and mental, is greatly influenced by this poison.

I don’t know if my being there will have helped at all. I doubt it. They are so far gone, and so entrenched with the community of Western medicine, that I don’t see much hope for my friend or her family. To her, to eat properly seems like too much work. This is where the fast food and snacks have control of her. It is a catch 22: she feels horrible most of the time and has almost no energy – certainly not enough to shop and cook – but because she doesn’t eat wholesome food, she has no energy.

I enjoyed my trip, but I sure am glad to be home.

In the months since I began blogging I have received many replies to my postings and I have replied to all of them. Some are just small thanks for making them laugh a little.... a few have asked for advice as to where to get secretor tests done in Canada.... many just say Hi and offer words of encouragement. The odd occasion I have people asking me for medical advice and when this happens I have to pull my enthusiasm about what I know as a layperson back so I don't inadvertently steer someone the wrong way. Therefore I am going to borrow a disclaimer from Heidi...

Disclaimer: All material in the Mike On The Diet blogger page is provided for BTD support purposes only.

Consult your own physician regarding the applicability of any opinions

or recommendations with respect to your particular circumstances.

All comments to my blogs are welcome...so keep them coming

The camera is talking to the computer today, which is very nice of it, I think it had a sulk yesterday. We took Bonnie for a treat this morning to a nearby designated dog exercise beach at Ulverstone. Approx 15 kms away and only a 10 minute drive. She has loved the beach from the very first time we took her aged 12 months and as you can see today she still loves a paddle. She met and sniffed two or three other dogs and had the most wonderful time. It’s fun just to be watching.

Days five & six of my pictorial diary are on line here..

I guess here in Tasmania we take ease of road use for granted, I was amazed to read Cass’ blog the other day to see it took her 2-1/2 hours to travel 30 miles across LA. I could nearly get to Hobart 300 kms [180 miles] away in that time.

Hopefully this afternoon Sue and I are going to an exhibition at the Devonport Art Gallery. Details later.

The blog counter on this page has just clicked over 5,000 since I started on January 31st. Sincere thanks to everyone of you who has continued to read my ramblings and return for more.

It’s been a while since I gave you a recipe, this is one of my current rice favourites and is ideal with an Indian meal or it also works well as a side dish with a salad.

The recipe is a slight modification of Rice with Green peas and Almonds by Kurma Dasa in Great Vegetarian Dishes published by The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.

Rice with Green peas and Almonds

This fancy rice dish is ideal for party catering or a special lunch or dinner.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 30 – 40 minutes

Serves: 4 – 5 people or 2 hungry people as a main course.

1 cup [250ml] Basmati or other long-grain white rice

4 green cardamom pods or ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom

2 cups [500ml[ water

¾ teaspoon[3ml] salt

¼ teaspoon[1ml] turmeric

3 tablespoon[60ml] ghee or olive oil

1 x 4cm[1-1/2 inch] cinnamon stick

1/3 cup[85ml] slivered or sliced raw almonds

1 cup[250ml] fresh or frozen peas

Wash, drain, and dry the rice.

Crush cardamom pods lightly if using whole pods.

Bring the water, salt and turmeric slowly to a boil in a 2 litre/quart saucepan over moderate heat.

Heat the ghee or oil in another 2 litre/quart saucepan over moderate low heat. Fry the cinnamon stick, cardamom and almonds in the hot ghee/oil until the almonds turn golden brown.

Add the rice and sauté for about 2 minutes until the grains turn whitish. Pour in the boiling salted turmeric water and fresh peas[defrosted frozen peas should be added after the rice has been cooking for about 10 minutes]. Stir, increase the heat to high, and bring the water to a full boil. Immediately reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight fitting lid and gently simmer, without stirring for 15-20 minutes or until all the water is absorbed and the rice is tender and flaky. Serve hot.



The exhibition at the art gallery was actually a photographic history of the development of the restaurant in Tasmania. A fascinating insight into the families and various cultures responsible for the food diversity now grown and eaten in Tasmania. After looking at some of the menus and having hysterics at some of the prices, I think as a vegetarian I would have died a slow lingering death trying to get a meal out in the 50’s , 60’s and 70’s. Bit like now really on the BTD.

This blog is experiencing technical difficulties. Day five pictures will not be posted today due to the fact that my camera refuses to communicate with my computer.

Maybe next time.

Day four of my pictorial diary is on line here..

Today was a shopping day so I spent the afternoon trolling various shops and supermarkets with my wife restocking the cupboards. We stopped for a relaxing soycinno before my 6 monthly appointment with my podiatrist. I had foot problems a few years back and now wear orthotic inserts to eliminate it and have regular checks as a preventative measure. Clean bill of health this time and hopefully my feet are in good condition to withstand the rigours of a Tasmanian winter.

Back tomorrow, hopefully with a few pictures.

I have been on vacation for the past week. I was going to go ahead and keep blogging, but forgot to take my password with me! Anyway, I have SO much to write about. I'll try to get some of it up tomorrow. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed....zzz......zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I am really enj

oying my break and Tasmania’s own Indian summer, the last two days have been clear and calm with an average temperature of 18o C, just perfect.

I hope you’re enjoying my tour in pictures of where I live.

After lunch today Sue and I took a drive to the village of Latrobe, less than 10 minutes from where we live in Devonport and actually the town where I work. It is a village steeped in history. In the 19 century it was the highest navigable point on the Mersey River and Bells Parade which you can see in today’s pictures was the main wharf area on the river. It was a major staging point for the loading of timber and potatoes, just two of the industries that the area developed around. Both still play an important role in North West Tasmania with Simplot and McCain processing plants taking thousands of tonnes of Potato each year.

Day four of my pictorial diary is on line here..

Timber has played an important part in Tasmania’s history and still does so today despite the anti/pro logging disputes. Latrobe was a heartland for the wood chopping industry and today boasts the home of The Australian Axemen’s Hall of Fame, well worth a look if you find yourself in North West Tasmania at anytime.

A leisurely walk around Latrobe and a little shopping on the way home.

Tonight we are making a meal of Lentil burgers on a bed of Couscous, served with grilled Zucchini, Turnip and Japanese Radish, steamed carrots and peas, finished off with a light Miso sauce.

Have to go now

Hungry

Monday and the first real day of my holiday has arrived. 8:00 am. and we are walking Bonnie down on the foreshore at East Devonport beach. Home to sort out more mundane matters, the muffler on our station wagon parted company with the tail pipe sometime on Saturdays journey. Our local muffler man can fix it but it won’t be ready until late afternoon. We walked home from his place, about 20 minutes and while Sue groomed Bonnie[a daily requirement] and did a little house work I decided to clean up and tidy round the garage ready for our delivery of firewood in a couple of weeks.

Day three of my pictorial diary is on line here..



A leisurely sandwich for lunch and we decided to catch the little ferry across the river into Devonport. There is a photographic exhibition along the river with a series of 20 pictures showing the history of the river back to the 1830’s. Brilliant.

A short stop and a well deserved sit down for a Pineapple Soy smoothie and we walked back over the Mersey bridge to the muffler place to pick up the car and back home. All in all a very pleasant way to spend a Monday afternoon. Sure beats working.

OK, so I have a pile of laundry about five feet tall.

And I have this horrible chronic mental disease which is my attraction to and accumulation of anything made of paper that is intellectually stimulating. The boyfriend came over once and tried to go through (read: toss out) what we now call the infamous "PILE".

Months and years of paper in heaps. Pharmaceutical journals, Lucky Magazines, City Pages (free local left-wing propaganda journal), and anything and everything else. Watching him attack the pile, I almost had an anxiety attack myself. I mean, why, why, why do I do this?

One theory from a book I have accumulated called, "Organizing for the Creative Person" explores the notion that right brained people feel they have a "relationship" with their paper. I'd have to agree with this. Some part of my aura has this intense urge to collect immense amounts of knowledge in whatever form it can get in hopes that I will save mankind or figure out the meaning of life. So in my attempt to curb this urge, I bought a self-help book about control freaks. Needless to say, it's in a pile of its own.

Within this pile there are classified ads from all my crazy free newprints promoting those "life coaches" and other folks who clean and organize your life. I've always wanted to give them a call. I even have a friend/co-worker who has repeatedly volunteered to help me and I'm just way too embarassed to show her just how large the PILE has become!

Well, sorry about that, I'll get back to the diet talk really soon, but I just wanted to vent my frustration with myself and then also tell you that I plan to clean because then, you, dear readers, can hold me accountable to this promise! And just to let you know, I can truly put a price on disorganization: I found my 2003 tax return check in the pile!!!!!! It would have expired two months from now and that would have been 1500 bucks down the crapper!!!!!!!!!

After work on Friday, walked into Calhoun Square and sat down to happy hour at Sushi Tango. I had a well-balaned type A meal. A small bottle of Sake, two pieces of Salmon sushi, two pieces of Albacore tuna sushi, and ginger broccoli. Well, the Sake, I don't know. It is wine, isn't it?

I also had a nice chair massage at ToKalon and balanced the meal off with a dark chocolate covered strawberry and a dark chocolate peanut butter cup from Maude Borup's (local chocolatier).

I also went across the way to INtelligent Nutrients and had a shot of wheatgrass and cup of green tea. Then, I did something I don't usually do, but given my heart drama and the fact that there is a miniscule chance that I could keel over during this upcoming procedure, I somehow justified this as necessary: I went to the tobacco store and bought a pack of Djarum cloves!!!!

Now, I want you to know that I don't "smoke". Unlike Bill Clinton, when it comes to cloves, I really DON'T inhale them. It's just, you know, there is something about walking around on a beautiful day with a cigarette in your hand pretending that you look cool. So every once in a blue moon, I buy a pack of cloves and puff on them for that Ultra Suave Sex and the City effect. I then proceed to get nasty canker sores and/or head colds within the two weeks of this impulsive purchase.

Makes me glad that I don't smoke cigarettes. Today, I can still taste the clove I had last night on my breath. I can't imagine what life would be like as a smoker. And how do you possibly detox from all that nicotine? Just glad I never started smoking in the first place.

Back to diet. Saturday.....all I ate was chocolate up until dinner time. Because I didn't leave the house until then! This has been one of those out of my element kind of weeks. Not taking care of myself, can you tell?

Then went to a Sports Bar with a friend. Had a chocolate martini, two clove cigarettes, and the salmon stuffed with wild rice with mashed potatoes on the side. Man, once again, those darn potatoes! It's just so hard to say goodbye. Oh, there were some steamed veggies on the side though.

This AM, went to Mass. You know you are getting old when you go to church on your own without anyone's encouragement (well, anyone but God, that is, hahahaha.......). But honestly, I really like the Basilica. It's hard NOT to go when you get such a great Mass. It's such a tolerant congregation, too. Check it out at www.mary.org. I'm not a die hard Catholic by any means and incorporate lots of spiritual values from other religions, too, but the church still feels like home no matter how far away I travel from it.

Well, then after Mass, I proceeded to eat Brunch at Joe's Garage. Had a Bloody Mary. It just sounded good at the time. But there is something about drinking before noon on a Sunday that should probably be noted as not such a great idea when you want to get things done later in the afternoon. I had a wild rice/turkey sausage/veggie omelette. Fresh fruit on the side along with......yeah, you guessed it.....potatoes. I think that being part Irish, that whole potato famine thing left a permanent mark on my karma and now I just can't say no when they are put on my plate.

Also had some French bread and jam and butter. Besides the potatoes, and the high fructose corn syrup jelly with processed wheat, it was really a nice meal. Got some reading done and sat by the window with lots of southern sunlight. I love grazing like that by the sun. It was nice. And after a stiff bloody mary, I was afraid I'd fall down the stairs so I kind of wanted to metabolize it before getting up.

Took a nap, went to the coffee shop across the way to get some iced green tea. I felt the need to detox with green tea after this naughty weekend. And then met someone who I found out just moved up here and is married to a girl from my high school class!!!! What a small world! So girl, if you are reading this (gave your hubby my info to pass on to you), you know who you are so I just want to say HI! Welcome to the Twin Cities!! Give me a buzz sometime and we'll chat!

Back to the laundry.....

The temperatures in Tasmania have taken a definite shift to Autumn, our overnight minimums have been down to 6 or 7o C on a couple of occasions this week. This mornings walk with Bonnie was a miscalculation, despite the sleeveless vest the jumper was too thin to keep out the breeze off Bass Strait.

Day two of my pictorial diary is on line here..



A couple of hours gardening was very pleasant in the cooler temperatures although by this afternoons walk the cloud had cleared, the sun was shining and the weather was mid to high teens.

Our first parsnip out of the garden for tea tonight. Other home grown produce includes Coral Lettuce, Endive, Rocket, Cress, Chicory, Carrot, Japanese Red Radish, Turnip, Zucchini and Parsley.

I’ve got a few days off work this week for some R & R. Nothing too exciting, just some stuff to do around home and a day out here and there.

What I’m going to try and do is a daily pictorial diary to try and show you where I live and what a beautiful part of the World I live in. Saturday March 20th can be viewed now..



We all went for a drive to the picnic ground at Leven Canyon to enjoy what was a classic Tasmanian Autumn day. Not much more than an hour drive from home it is an ideal distance for Bonnie who even though she gets very tired wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than with us. We had a lovely picnic perched in the back of our station wagon. Sue and I eating Tofu salad on Rye bread while Bonnie crunched dog biscuits.

This was followed by dried and fresh fruits and a freshly made mug of green tea. We carry our own portable gas burner and kettle for this purpose.

A drive back through rolling rural countryside to coastal Ulverstone for a stop by the Leven River. Back home by mid afternoon for a snack of rice cakes and peanut butter followed by a brisk half hour walk around the East Devonport foreshore.

More travels with a Type A tomorrow.

OK, so, here we go:

Started on Toprol XL 25 mg, titrated up to 50 mg. Went to my echo and it was very cool to see my heart on the big screen, haha.

Nothing is MECHANICALLY wrong with my heart from the looks of that echo. That's good to know. My ejection fraction is 65% so that's comforting. No hypertrophy or other weirdness.

So, let's nerd out here and talk about what happened on the Holter 2 weeks ago:

Basic rhythm is sinus (that's normal). Sinus tachycardia seen rarely, max 196 beats per minutes during exercise. Sinus bradycardia seen rarely, minumum 47 bpm. Sinus arrhythmia noted, marked at times. Changes in P wave morphology and PR interval suggest the possibility of a wandering atrial pacemaker.

Supraventricular ectopics seen 5x in isolation.

I had 25 ventricular ectopic (V tach) beats in a row to 187 bpm, symptomatic. No isolated VEs.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? THEY'RE NOT SURE. SO.........

The doc needs to do an Electrophysiological Study (EPS). This is where they take a catheter through the femoral vein try to figure out where the abnormal rhythm is coming from. If there is a problem, they will do a catheter ablation. They zap out the cells that are causing the abnormal beats. And then, I'll never have that irregular rhythm again.

I know this is a common procedure, but I'm still a little freaked out. Till then, I'm just going to work and chilling and praying. Did I mention that even before all this I've been going to church? It's really nice. I'd highly recommend it.

Now, back to our usual Blood Type diet programming.

I have been drinking some great Naked juices lately. I've found some that don't contain orange juice so I'm really stoked. I had one for breakfast this morning before my appointment with the cardiologist. Later, I went to a great restaurant here in St. Paul called Christos. It's Greek. Nothing about it really sticks out more than any other Greek restaurant in terms of food, but you go for the ambience because it's located in the old train depot. You sit in the middle of these insane high ceilings. I had the lunch buffet and it was really nice because I could pick exactly what blood type-friendly foods to eat.

Have had quite a bit of great food from the Wedge lately. And I really dig their juice/coffee bar. Oh, by the way, they don't think I have to give up coffee so I am SO relieved. I mean, someday, don't get me wrong, if I'm ever pregnant I'll give it up, but until then bring on the one daily cup of JOE!

This heart thing has been a major wake-up call for me. If nothing else is wrong, I need to be less stressed out and I REALLY need to begin an exercise program. Hey, but guess what, my weight is down to 104#!!! So I'm right at my ideal body weight. Not that I've been trying to lose weight but it's good to know that this diet is not causing me to GAIN weight. So any skeptics out there who think the diet doesn't work, know that other than this heart thing which is not diet related, I'm a healthy gal who has been able to keep her weight down with little effort since I first started the diet a year or two ago.

If you've written me comments lately, I promise I will respond, I've just been a bit preoccupied (what, really?).

In the words of Captain Jean Luc Picard, the hull has been breached and our shields are down to 7% {apologies to all self respecting Trekkies].

In the last 24 hours my own hull has started to deteriorate. I had a scratchy mouth yesterday and today I have a fully blown ulcer just inside my bottom lip. Not enough, my nose has joined suit and invented a cold sore from nowhere.

I think I am the subject of an alien invasion.

Well set phasers to stun and look out, because I’m going to search them out and destroy the nasty little alien buggers.

By the way did any of you read Mike’s blog yesterday, the soup idea sounds great and it’s A compliant.

More news when I get the warp drive back on line.

Take us out of here number one.

Engage…………….

I have a 94 year old grandmother…She’s the first born of 13 siblings and has outlasted all but one, the youngest. If you asked me what her secret is, I could speculate for five or six paragraphs as to what keeps her going, but for the purpose of this blog, I won’t (maybe some other time).

The reason I bring her up is that as a small child (2-4), she was my caregiver during the day as my mother was at work. Like all kids I would come down with the flu once in a while (unlike kids these days who are in daycare who seem to play tag with the flu). Anyway, yesterday I came down with one, and I hate being sick, so I immediately look for ways to shorten the span of my nasal drip and sneezing through natural methods of course (off the counter cold remedies are all Avoids in my book).

Now my grandmother was not a champion of chicken soup when her little bambinos were sick…

in her book, chicken soup took to long to make. She had another concoction that was very easy to make in no time at all and very effective and tasty to boot. I call it to this day…”Nona’s Pastina” and here’s how you make it.

INGREDIANTS: serves one to two

24 oz of water

2 or 3 cloves of garlic

Large Handful of fresh parsley

I tablespoon of Olive Oil

Sea salt

1 serving of Rice Spaghetti or small spelt noodles or basmati rice (all neutrals)

Pour the water into a medium pot and as it’s heating up to a boil, start chopping up two to

three cloves of garlic into fine pieces (you can crush it as well). Once the water looks like it’s about

to boil, put the garlic in the water along with the olive oil. Let it go for a few minutes. Meanwhile start chopping up some fresh parsley (not dried) and when you have chopped up a nice large handful, place that in the pot as well. Add the sea salt…I usually use a ¼ teaspoon but you can always add less depending on your tastes. Once the whole thing has boiled well for 5 minutes, put it on low heat and start cooking your Spaghetti, spelt noodles or rice(cook as directed). If you use the spaghetti, what I usually do is break it up into 2 inch pieces and then place it into the boiling water. Once this is cooked, usually 7 to 10 minutes, add it to your soup and let it stand for a few minutes before serving. That was pretty easy and fast…right? I hope you like it (I’m sure you will write me with comments).

Now…. the question is why does it work for colds. All I know is that three large bowls of this last night relieved my congestion and put me into a nice cozy stupor which made it easier for me to sleep. This morning, I could breath again and I might have reached for a tissue today maybe a half dozen times…not bad considering it’s the second day of my flu. Well here’s what I found out about the two main ingredients, garlic and parsley…they’re herbs of course…and herbs were the first real medicines.

Parsley…the stuff restaurants usually garnish your plate with…is packed full of Phytochemicals

(too many to name here, all you need to know is they’re all good for you). Nutrients: Calcium, folate, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, selenium and zinc (both help to build up immunity), vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, C (contains more vitamin C than oranges by weight). It’s BENEFICIAL

for all blood groups.

Garlic…it so happens that it has pretty much the same nutrients as Parsley, so it has the same immune enhancing qualities (zinc, selenium, vitamin C) as listed above. It also is Beneficial for A’s and AB’s and neutral for the rest. It detoxifies the body and protects against infection by enhancing immune function. Garlic also contains many sulfur compounds, which give it its healing properties.

So there you have it. If the garlic in the recipe has you second-guessing, because you might think it gives you garlic breath after eating it, than that’s your loss. That’s the great thing about garlic…while it’s healing you inside, it’s keeping other people around you away, so you don’t spread whats ailing you. Grandmothers are so wise!

A line from a popular 1970's TV commercial for General Motors Holden in Australia and a very tenuous link to todays blog.

The football season starts in Australia this weekend with Rugby League commencing in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. Australian Rules commences nationally the following weekend.

It begs the question you can drive your car to the footy [Holden], if you're in the bush you may see a kangaroo [if you're lucky] but when you get to the game you certainly can't eat the meat pie.

I've been roped in to the office footy tipping competition and having absolutely no [well very little] knowledge about Australian Rules football

it should be a laugh to see how I go tipping winners against our office experts. At least I won't have the disadvantage of supporting any of the teams to cloud my judgement [guesswork].

So send me your suggestions, what do you eat and drink to stay type A compliant at the football or other sporting event. I'll post the best suggestions here in a later blog.

Not necessarily in that order.

It’s Wednesday here in the Southern Hemisphere and we’ve reached the middle of the working week, I haven’t got the foggiest what to talk about today so we’ll give you a local news update.

Tasmania has been in the grip of protests this week, at the weekend we had the Greens and environmentalists holding a rally about our forest management policy, today in Launceston saw nearly 10,000 forestry industry supporters reply in kind. Both rallies were well behaved and there was none of the violence and acrimony often associated with this type of thing. It is a passionate issue but there has to be a balance between our environment and work opportunities.

Australian news this week has been dominated by the abysmal news from Madrid.

Sport has been in the news all week for a serious lack of sportsmanship with a Rugby league club in Sydney and an Aussie Rules club having players under investigation for sexual assault. On top of a similar situation with Leicester City football club in England it says a lot about the sheltered lifestyle the modern sports person leads. I’m sure some of them believe that society’s normal rules don’t apply to them.

On the food front, we’ve just about finished our lettuce and as the evenings cool down it’s probably time to give salad the flick. Once we start on our Dahl recipes I’ll fill you all in with a few tips and a recipe for a beautiful Pineapple Toor Dahl.

Talk to you all again tomorrow hopefully a bit more on topic.

I don’t like Mondays. No

t all Mondays, just this particular one. My football team didn’t play until Sunday afternoon UK time so I had to wait until first thing Monday morning Australian time for the result.

Wolves 0 Aston Villa 4

WHAT!!!!

Trust me that was not what I wanted to see.

The rest of the day did get better. I’ve spent the last week at work updating and re-designing our Company web site. What you say, he’s a Web site designer as well as an all round good guy. No not really, I came into possession of a new piece of software called Namo web editor on a computer magazine CD. I needed to revamp the work site so gave it a lash with the aforementioned software.

Take a look for yourself.

I feel like we’ve known each other for Months now so will you let me buy you a drink. I like a glass of red wine [beneficial] each evening when I get home from work. I must admit in years gone by I was a passionate indulger in the fruit of the vine but not so nowadays. One glass each evening is all I partake of and even then I dilute it with 40 to 50% water. I know, I’m a Philistine but I find it suits me. I had a $50 gift voucher left over from Christmas and I thought I’d treat myself to a couple of bottles of red with it. I was lucky, the local bottle shop had 20% discount and also buy 6 bottles and get a seventh free. So my $50 brought me 7 bottles of assorted Australian red wines to indulge in.

What was that? Of course you can have a white wine[N], I’ve got a bottle of Chardonnay somewhere. If you’d prefer something non alcoholic I can offer you a Coffee[B] or green Tea[B], no milk of course. What about a cold fruit juice. Apple [N] or Pineapple [B]. There’s always good old Chateau L’eau or Adams Ale on tap. Would you like ice and a slice in that ?

The bar will be open for the rest of the day, so if you’re passing, drop in and say G’day.

OK, Saturday follow up.

By 8.00 o clock Saturday evening I had what is commonly known as an attack of the weary boot. All my exertions of the day had caught up with me and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Any self respecting Aussie can tell you [if they watch ABC TV] that Saturday night is ‘The Bill’. I managed to stay awake, just!!. Long enough to see June back in uniform and dealing with the street drama that the Bill has become over the last couple of years. The tiredness was no big deal just the normal result of over exertion in the garden.

Well its Sunday now and after a really sound nights sleep I’m ready to do it all again.

My lifestyle may seem boring to some of you out there, you always seem to be on the go and out and about doing stuff. This has never been my life and I love my quiet lifestyle and the time I get to spend with my family and in my garden.

Me and my family.

9:00 PM

I lost another pound since my last weigh-in – which was probably about 2 weeks ago or so (maybe 3). This is a big change in my life – letting the weight come off in a slow pace. I have never lost at my body’s own pace before. Never. Ever. I have always forced it to lose at MY pace, which is fast and furious. I have also gained back every pound and then some. It doesn’t even feel right. After all, I am eating all that I want. I am never, ever hungry. I feel good most of the time. I’m not suffering and miserable. I’m not craving. I’m not cheating. I’m just….well…I’m just eating and living my life.

It hits me so strange that I can relax about food in general. I keep reminding myself that 2 pounds per month translates into 24 pounds a year. Heck, THAT'S GREAT!!! That's 2 sizes. That's 2 sizes SMALLER, rather than 2 sizes BIGGER. I can live with that very nicely, thank you very much.

The past few days have just been spent emotionally recovering from last week. How clearly I can now see the reaction of the universe to our thoughts. How quickly we can create havoc in our lives through letting our minds move into the wrong place. I have been looking over my life and trying to see, with new eyes, my own part in the creation of situations that have caused me to suffer. I’m starting to see how my thoughts have created actions and choices that have brought about realities that haven’t been the best ones for me. I don’t regret any of this. I don’t believe in regret in as much as every experience that I have had in my life is one that I can’t imagine not having had. There are many experiences that I don’t wish to repeat. I can see now how easy it is to keep repeating the thought processes and subsequent actions that could bring them about again.

I was far beyond sore the day after I wrote my last post. I was miserable sore. I need to ask Dr. D what the best painkiller is in situations like that. I am about to go on vacation (I hope to blog while I am gone), and I could see myself being just as sore the week that I return and resume my regular activity leve. No matter how good my intentions are to keep working out while I am gone, it never works out that way. I just don't do it. So the day after I get back home, I will be going to the "bootcamp workout" class that made me so sore this past week, and once again I won't be able to reach down and tie my shoe without every muscle screaming at me. My body seems to be that way. If I don’t work out for a few days, or if I add something new, my body will be miserably sore no matter what I do (I add that in that I DO stretch, warm up, etc.). Aspirin is a wonder drug for me, but it was recommended that I use a supplement called “ev.ext.” instead. I hate to say that that supplement does not do the job for me.

I’m pretty tired again. I am always writing this stuff in the evening when I am feeling far from fresh.

OH, I almost forgot to post this. I have found a substitute for mac-n-cheese that works really, really well for me. It is BTD compliant, I don’t binge on it, and it satisfies that craving. Just cook up some spelt elbow macaroni. While it is still hot, add some ghee until it is coated. Put in as much nutritional yeast flakes as you like (I like quite a bit), and reheat if necessary. You can add a little organic chicken brother to make it a little creamier. Salt if you want it.

A 1-cup portion of this really makes me feel like I am eating comfort food, yet it is completely guilt free. I also like rice made the same way.

I’ll be back soon!

The Americans have ‘super Tuesday’, well I’ve just had my very own ‘super Saturday’. Sue is convinced that I will not make the Olympics in Athens because I’ll fail a random drug test somewhere. She’s sure the way I’ve been buzzing today I must be using illegal stimulants of some sort.

DEA inspectors can leave here now, no way am I ingesting illegal foreign

substances, what I am taking is heaps of beneficial foods. I thought when I got home from work Friday evening feeling tired and lethargic that I was falling prey to the dreaded lurgy that’s doing the rounds at work. No !!!, I was just tired from an extra busy working week.

I’ve been up and at it since 6.15 am , leisurely breakfast, help with the washing up and took Bonnie (Lassie dog) for her regular 5 weekly trip to the vet. She is 13 years old and has a regular course of Pentosan to ease her arthritis. She currently thinks she’s a 13 year old puppy and it’s wonderful to see.

She had her walk and sniff in a designated off lead exercise area before we returned home and I was into it. In the veggie garden all morning, break for lunch and back into the front garden for an hour after lunch. Showered and changed and a brisk 45 minute walk with Sue. Where does all this energy come from ?. I could tell you but I think you should all know by now.

B T D

Sue has made some 100% Rye sweet buns for Easter and frozen them. Similar to an Easter Bun or Hot Cross Bun they have fruit and spices in them and a shiny glazed top. She decided I probably needed something substantial for afternoon tea after my exertions and I’ve just finished a warm bun topped with peanut butter and blackberry jam accompanied by a mug of green tea.

The body is just starting to stiffen up and slow ………………………………….

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz





Sorry, think I nodded off there.

OK, so you are all tuning into the the episode of Erika's Life part 3000008 (I just made up a number for the hell of it). You are all wondering, "what happened with that Holter monitor thingy?"

Well, let's just say that whole Type A cardiac disease association couldn't be any closer to the truth. As I stated before, I woke up with a strange heart beat at 7:10 am last Thursday morning (the 4th). I couldn't figure out what the heck caused it. It didn't seem like an anxiety attack because nothing else was wrong with me. But something was definitely off. What a strange coincidence that it happened during the time I wore the monitor because it usually doesn't happen to me. I usually just get flutters late at night.

Well, when I finally had the chance to rip the thing off after 48 hours (boy did that thing get ITCHY!), and also, even though I'm a girl, believe me, thousands of tiny little hairs were ripped off my chest in its removal, YOW! I turned it in to the clinic on Friday afternoon and then waited.......

Yesterday (Thursday), shortly after completing my blog, I get a call on my phone. I'm not keen on answering calls when I don't know who is calling me. So I let it go. It called again and left a message. I checked the message and found it it was the clinic and that they had the results to my ambulatory ECG, otherwise known as the Holter monitor reading.

I called back right away and talked to the nurse who informed me that my results were interpreted and an arrythmia was found; the cardiologist wants me to start on a beta blocker. My immediate reaction was like, "well, what was the arrthymia? My blood pressure is low, is a beta blocker such a good idea?" And I really wanted to say, "ya know, I'm just not really into drugs; I'd prefer a more natural means of healing". This is all coming from a pharmacist, mind you. I'm around drugs all day but have an intense love-hate relationship with them.

Well, she said I need to contact the cardiology dept and set up and appointment if I'm unsure as to whether I should start the med. So I did that. In the meantime, she received a fax of my ECG. She called back and said, "there's like 20 pages of reports here" and then said, "V tach" and I said,

"HOLY CRAP!!!!!!! When????? Was I exercising? Was I sleeping?"

She didn't know. She just said, start on the med. I told her I wanted to start at a lower dose. So I'm taking 25 mg for three days, then boosting up to 50 mg on Monday. If you have any prescriptions to fill on Monday, DON'T COME TO MY PHARMACY!!!! I have no clue how this titration will affect me. All I know is that with the mind/body connection, no wonder this is happening.

I met with another PCP again this morning and I still had not started the drug. They set up an echo for me a couple days before I meet with the cardiologist.

Man, I'm way too young for this crap.

For those who don't know what V Tach is, it stands for Ventricular Tachycardia. It can lead to V Fib which is fatal. If you've ever watched ER, listen for the term "V Fib". To get out of it, you have to be shocked or you'll die on the operating table. Taking one step back, A Fib (Atrial Fibrillation) can lead to V Tach, which will lead to V Fib. So I skipped the first step and went right to the good stuff. I'm LUCKY TO BE ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!

This calls for a prayer.

"Dear God,

Thank you for my life. I promise once I have permission from my cardiologist, I will begin an exercise program. I will quit taking all the responsibility at work. I am only human and cannot do it all alone. If management can't bring in some decent support staff to help me do my job, I refuse to keep running around like a slave monkey and staying late. Unfortunately, I kind of need a job now that I have a heart condition in order to make health care more affordable to me than that whole COBRA thing. Please guide me through this and stay by my side at least until I can figure out how to get out of this mess.

"I hope you approve of the granola and yogurt I had at Zeno this morning (great little cafe) along with French pressed, French roast coffee with soy milk. It was only two cups. And then I had a salad from Kowalski's salad bar. For the first time there, the salad bar. No fried Cod. No desserts, not even the Amish chicken. Only Girl Scout Cookies later tonight. And those have Peanut butter."

OK, going to bed now. Gotta work all freaking weekend.

Let’s go nuts together today. We’ve had a selection of dried fruit over the past two days and now I think we might be ready to complete our own trail mix.

Thanks to Cooks Thesaurus for the basic information and images.



almond = sweet almond Equivalents: 3 ounces whole almonds = 1/2 cup = 65 almonds Neutral: Almonds have a crunchy texture and a rich, delicate flavour that's especially good in desserts, like candy, ice cream, tortes, and coffee cake. To intensify their flavour, toast them on a baking pan in a 325° degree oven, stirring occasionally, until they're golden (about 15 minutes for whole almonds). You can buy almonds shelled or unshelled, blanched, sliced, slivered, ground, or chopped. Substitutes: hazelnuts (for baking).



hazelnut = filbert = cobnut Neutral: Hazelnuts have a crunchy texture and an appealing flavour that goes especially well with chocolate. Unshelled nuts show up in the produce department of larger supermarkets in the fall and winter. Shelled nuts are available year-round near the baking supplies. Before you use them, toast shelled hazelnuts in a 325° oven for ten to fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. As soon a you take them from the oven, rub the nuts vigorously with a towel to remove their bitter brown skins. Substitutes: almonds OR walnuts OR pecans OR macadamia nuts.



macadamia nut = Queensland nut = Australian nut Pronunciation: mack-uh-DAY-me-uh Neutral: These rich and creamy nuts hail from Hawaii and Australia, where they're eaten as snacks, or incorporated into cookies or other desserts. They're hard to crack open and tricky to roast, so they're almost always sold shelled and roasted in vacuum-pack containers. After you open these containers, you should store any uneaten nuts in the freezer or refrigerator, since they're high in fat and therefore prone to rancidity. If you want to roast your own macadamia nuts, put them in 275° oven for about 15 minutes. Substitutes: pecans OR walnuts OR almonds. One of my personal favourites. I get 2kg given to me every Christmas by a supplier and my wife makes Macadamia/Oat shortbread that is 100% compliant and 100% delicious.


peanut = groundnut = monkey nut = goober = goober pea Benficial: These aren't really nuts, but legumes that grow underground. They're cheaper than most nuts, and are often eaten out of hand or incorporated into candies, stir-fries, or trail mixes. You can buy them shelled or unshelled, salted or unsalted, raw or roasted. To roast, place shelled peanuts on a cookie sheet in a 350° oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. Since many people are allergic to peanuts, it's important to alert guests if you're serving something that's made with peanuts or peanut products. Substitutes: almonds (for making nut butter)



pecan Pronunciation: pih-CAHN OR pih-CAN Equivalents: 1 pound in the shell = 1/2 pound shelled = 2 cups shelled Neutral: This North American nut is like a walnut, only sweeter and milder. It's used widely in the South to make pralines, pecan pie, ice cream, and nut breads. They're high in fat, so it's best to store shelled pecans in the refrigerator or freezer to prevent them from turning rancid. To roast, put shelled pecans on a baking pan and in bake them in a 325° oven, stirring occasionally, until they're slightly golden, about ten minutes. Substitutes: walnuts.



walnut Equivalents: 1 cup chopped = 4 1/2 ounces; 1 cup halves = 3 1/2 ounces; 1 pound unshelled yields 1 1/2 cups shelled Beneficial: Walnuts are rich and flavourful, and cooks like to use them in everything from fudge to salads. Markets usually carry English walnuts = royal walnuts = Persian walnuts. Less common are black walnuts, which are much more flavourful but harder to shell. To roast, put shelled walnuts on a baking pan and in bake them in a 325° oven, stirring occasionally, until they're slightly golden, about ten minutes. After you remove the nuts from the oven, rub them vigorously with a towel so as to remove as much of their bitter skins as possible. Fresh walnuts are available year-round, but they're best in the fall. Since they're high in fat and therefore prone to rancidity, it's best to store them in the refrigerator or freezer. Substitutes: pecans (not as crunchy or flavourful) OR hazelnuts (not as rich).

Now let’s mix in a few seeds.

Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds will finish our nibble mix.

For a truly beneficial nibble [trail] mix that will stand you in good stead wherever you are, you can keep a pack in your purse, bag or glove box you could try a mix of peanuts [if allowed] walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts, mixed with apricot, pineapple, cranberry, raisins and or sultanas/currants and finished off with pumpkin and sunflower seeds. It doesn’t get any better, and if you can buy the ingredients individually and mix your own, you miss paying for the avoids in the commercial mix and overall it’s a far cheaper proposition. Try some and let me know what you think.

Chicago, Chicago that bustling town………..Chicago and Toronto are alike in many ways…. great places to eat, great stores to shop, great clubs of all sorts…jazz, blues and dance…I could on and on. I just got back from the Windy City and every time I go away on business I slip from the BTD diet. I decided for the purpose of my blog that I keep a score while I was down there. For scoring purposes, all Benefits will score a 2, Neutrals a 1 and Avoids – 2…. these relate to O blood group.

Day 1

Before I went to the airport to take my flight I had two slices of 100% rye bread (N) with almond butter (N) and cherry preserves (N) and a glass of Soy milk (N)…4 neutrals score 4 points.

For lunch in Chicago, I had a beef ( stir-fry with rice (N) and broccoli (…2 beneficials and a neutral score 5 points

For Dinner the first night I really strayed…a buffalo ( burger on a white bun (A) with tomato and lettuce (N) and mustard. I'm sure the mustard had vinegar in it so it’s an (A). I had fries (A) with it and a Caesar Salad with bacon and crotons (A) and a beer (A)…score –7 points.



First day score……….4+5-7=2 points



Day 2

This is where I really hit rock bottom…breakfast, 2 eggs (N), bagel (A) with cream cheese (A), pineapple juice (N) and a banana (N) with green tea (…score 1

For lunch…chicken Caesar…. this is a tough one to score because the Romaine is the only ( in the whole mix…. I didn’t eat the crotons this time but there was a lot of the avoid cheese for O’s in the mix so I’ll score it a –3

This lunch really hit me hard because later that afternoon I started getting the chills and no sweater or hot cup of tea was going to warm me up so I vacated early and went back to my

hotel room and got into bed. I woke 2 pm in the morning to a bed trenched in sweat. Got up immediately and caught up on some reading as I spent the next hour on the think tank trying to pass what was ailing me…I made an oath while sitting never to eat at the "Olive Garden" again.



Day two…score –2



Day 3



I was mildly surprised that I was hungry the next morning…had waffles (A) with syrup (A), two eggs (N), pineapple juice (N)..I can’t get enough of the stuff… and a banana (N)…score –2

Lunch…chili, with the meat as a ( and the beans in it a (A)…score 0

Dinner that night at our annual sales awards banquet was a lavish affair with cocktails, horse dovers(all on wheat crackers), a wonderful green bean and mushroom salad to start and chicken with olives (A), capers, small potatoes (A) and asparagus (N), Cheese Cake(A) to finish with coffee(A)…The avoids were plentiful that night. I’ll score the whole night a –5



Day 3 score…-7



Final tally –7 for the time I was away.

All I can say is thank heavens for DEFLECT!!!...I popped about 6 per day while I was down there…don’t leave home without it!

It's been one of those weeks where you listen to your soul and realize there has to be a better place for you, where you can both feel deeper happiness and at the same time help more people.

One of my favorite things to do when completing a long drive is to pop in a book on CD or tape. This past weekend during a round trip to crazy Madison, Wisconsin, I popped in Deepak Chopra's audiobook called "Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire". He talks about archetypes and how we all have about three distinct ones within ourselves. He talks about how coincidences are not really coincidences and how our lives are on a very calculated track that we cannot begin to comprehend within our ego.

I also went to see him at the convention center and had him sign a couple of books. Some people are amazing in their ability to project their power and love to others and he is one of those people. One day I hope to be one of those people, too. It's all about finding the path. Or the path finding you, I guess.

Hmmm...what else is going on? For your relaxation in the Twin Cities, I'd like to recommend two great massage therapists. Downtown at the Juut Salon (6th and Nicollet in Gaviddae Common), I highly recommend Chad Hauck. For a while there, when I was working downtown a lot, I frequented him quite a bit.

Also highly recommended at Pagoda (28th and Hennepin) is Ty (last name unknown). He just gets it. He is truly a healer. Yesterday at work, it was a very hellacious day. It was one of those emergency massage days and I was fortunate to get in with such an amazing therapist at the last minute. Pagoda is amazing. After your massage there is a steam room. Ahhhhhh.........They also have a little bar with juice, healthy food, etc. It rocks. Oh, did I mention it's in the old Public library building and it includes valet parking?

Sorry, not much inspiration to write about lately in terms of food, but I am getting quite positive reponse in terms of beginning an Type A support group in Minneapolis. It would be so fun to connect with others in this city! Please post a comment on my comment page if you'd like to join us! I had a commenter who is interested in organizing the whole thing so I'm sure this will be happening very soon especially as Spring is almost here!

Toodles,

Erika the funky Pharm.D.

Today I think we’ll continue with our dried fruit review.

Thanks to Cooks Thesaurus for the basic information and images.



currants = Zante currants = Zante raisins = dried Corinth grapes Neutral: These dried Zante grapes look like tiny raisins. Don't confuse them with the fresh sour berry that also called a currant. Substitutes: raisins (larger) OR golden raisins (for baking)



fig, dried Beneficial: These are a great source of calcium. Varieties include the black mission fig, the highly regarded Calimyrna fig (pictured), and the juicy green fig. Substitutes: raisins (milder) OR prunes. A personal favourite of mine.



golden raisin = Sultana Neutral: These are more tart than ordinary raisins. Substitutes: raisins (Ordinary raisins are darker, but very similar to golden raisins.) OR muscat raisins (These are larger and sweeter than golden raisins.) OR currants (smaller) OR dried apricots. Commonly known in Oz as a Sultana.



nectarines, dried Neutral: These are similar to dried peaches, but often a bit more expensive. They're often treated with sulphur. Substitutes: dried peaches OR dried apricots.



peach, dried Neutral: These are similar to dried apricots, only larger and milder. They're often treated with sulphur. Substitutes: dried nectarines OR dried apricots



pear, dried Neutral: These don't have the cloying sweetness of some dried fruits. They're often gassed with sulphur dioxide in the drying process in order to improve their colour and shelf life. Substitutes: dried apples



pineapple, dried Beneficial: These are sometimes coated with sugar.



prune = dried plum Beneficial: In a marketing makeover, producers are starting to call these dried plums instead of prunes. Whatever you call them, they're sweet and just loaded with dietary fibre, iron, and other nutrients. You can eat them whole, chop them into sauces and stews, or make a compote out of them. Substitutes: raisins OR dried figs



raisins = dried grapes Neutral: The common raisins we see on supermarket shelves are usually dried Thompson seedless grapes. Golden raisins are amber in colour and somewhat tart--many cooks prefer them over ordinary raisins for baking and cooking. Muscat raisins are dark and very sweet, and they work well in fruitcakes. Currants are about one-quarter the size of ordinary raisins, and are typically used in baked goods. Store raisins in the refrigerator after you open the package. Substitutes: prunes OR dried cranberries OR dried apricots OR dried dates OR dried cherries OR dried figs (stronger flavour)

What do you reckon, tomorrow we might all go a little nuts and see if we can’t sow some seeds towards making our own nibble [trail] mix.

3/10/04 10:06 PM

It’s been a really trying week. In case you don’t know, I am an inventor and entrepreneur. I probably posted this somewhere before, but I invented a luggage system for supplies for the horse industry along with a couple of other horse items, and my inventions were picked up by the military for their field hospitals ( http://www.perfectworldluggage.com ). I quit training horses and playing polo professionally around 1994 and I have been working on this ever since. It has been amazing. It has also been a nightmare. This past week was one of those nightmare weeks.

I’m not going into the details of the business stuff, just let’s say that it tested my life attitude and my commitment to the BTD to the very max. Normally when I am confronted with situations such as these, I get very worked up and often pacify myself with food – specifically things like mac-n-cheese and bowl after bowl of cereal and milk. I have finally changed. Not only did a I finally come to a point, about 6 days into this crisis, where I just said that I had to let my suspicions, my panic, my dread and my fear go, if for no other reason than for my own mental and life health, but I also felt enough control over my issues with food to NOT go nuts and consume mass quantities of carbs and dairy. In fact, I DID eat some rice crackers with goat cheese, but I didn’t overdo either. I actually put the pot of water on to boil up some spelt pasta and eat bowls of it. I turned the burn off and left the kitchen. I made the spelt pasta today and but only ate one small bowl of it with some ghee and some nutritional yeast flakes on it. I didn’t do even this because I was stressed, but just because it was in the house and something to add variety to my food. I feel so much better.

Perhaps the most important decision of all was to simply let go of all of the negative emotions and to choose faith, happiness, calm, and peace instead. I decided that there was nothing that I could do about the situation, and that all of the fear and panic was making things so much worse – it was causing everything in my business life to spiral downwards. It was also making me question myself and it was making me start to feel very bad about myself. The moment that I chose peace, the black cloud that had been taking residence over my head moved away and the sun took it’s place. My husband would say that I was just choosing to live my life and to do my business with rose colored glasses on, and if I chose that, I would be setting myself up for being cheated and destroyed. I think not. I know one thing for sure: negative thinking was quickly making my negative thoughts come to pass. The moment that I chose the positive, things started moving in a positive way. As I have stated before, I am a great fan of the Conversations With God series. One of the points in that set of books is that we are constantly creating our own reality with first our thoughts, then our words and finally our actions. I have decided that, even if I am cheated and destroyed, I would rather live my life with a smile on my face and a positive attitude in my heart.

I’m off to bed. I did a hard workout today and am getting sorer by the moment. I promised a girlfriend of mine that I would go and walk up this big hill with her in the morning. If I am going to do that – which I am – I better get my booty into bed.

Tomorrow the sun WILL shine, regardless of the weather.

I’ve been a big eater of dried fruit in its many guises for a number of years. I thought we might take a look together at what is a wonderful source of energy and fibre and how it fits into a BTD life.

The following quote is straight from the horses mouth[Sorry Dr D]

“Dried is chemically equal to fresh, and the proteolytic enzyme activity remains intact. However, most people eat much more dried fruit than fresh per serving, so of course the net sugar content goes up.”

Thanks to Cooks Thesaurus for the basic information and images.



apple, dried Neutral: These are popular additions to trail mixes. They're often treated with sulphur to improve their colour and shelf life. Substitutes: dried pear. A favourite of mine, usually on a dried fruit platter at Christmas.



apricot, dried Beneficial: Turkish dried apricots are lighter in colour and milder in flavour than other varieties. They're often treated with sulphur to improve their colour and shelf life. Substitutes: dried peach OR dried nectarines.Part of my daily dried fruit ration.



cherry, dried Beneficial: These are large and sweet, and they can serve as a refreshing alternative to raisins in many recipes. Substitutes: dried cranberries (not as sweet) OR raisins OR dried apricots OR currants



Chinese date = Chinese red date = red date = senjed = Chinese jujube (dried) = jujube (dried) Pronunciation: JEW-jewb Neutral: When fresh, these fruits are crisp like apples and have a mild, sweet flavour. In the United States, they're most often available dried. Substitutes: dates (sweeter) OR dried apples OR prunes OR raisins



date, dried Neutral: If you plan to chop them, look for cooking dates, date pieces, or pressed dates--they're a lot cheaper than the exquisite dessert dates that are intended to be eaten whole. Substitutes: dried figs OR raisins OR fresh dates (crunchier and not as sweet) Also part of my daily ration.


cranberries, dried Beneficial: With their flashy colour and tangy flavour, dried cranberries are a good alternative to raisins in many recipes. Substitutes: raisins (not as tart) OR dried cherries OR currants. Not widely available in Oz, never tried them.

More on these wonderful foods tomorrow. In the meantime eat it, enjoy it and remember it’s good for you and will fix a snack attack quicker than anything.

I tried Spelt pasta for the first time yesterday. Ever since I made the switch from wheat I have only eaten rice pasta. Usually Asian we have access to one that looks very similar to spaghetti and a thicker flat one very similar to tagliatelle. The trick with both of these though is not to overcook it, often all it needs is 5 minutes sitting in a pan of water that has already boiled and been taken off the heat.

Other rice pasta’s available from our local health food store are the more ‘health’ orientated brands looking like swirls or ears, basically the fancy stuff.

Last week we couldn’t get our rice pasta that we use for oily veg [recipe mentioned in earlier blog] so we brought a pack of Spelt pasta swirls.

A lovely taste and texture, we will be eating more of this, in fact we are getting a pack of Spelt spaghetti today.

Other alternatives I have seen are pasta made from Kamut, quinoa and soy.

It’s pasta my bedtime, bye.

The one thing I noticed with the BTD right from the very beginning was that without actually spelling it out it advocates the use of fresh food.

Take a look at the food lists for yourself, this is no junk food diet.

You won’t find Pizza, hamburger, French fries, shakes, Coke or Tacho listed under any blood type. What you will find is all the raw ingredients for same, Wheat, cheese. Tomato, potato, milk etc.

What this told me is that it is a natural diet and that the fresher and less processed the food ingredients are the better.

Take a look at yesterday March 7th from my garden. It doesn’t get any fresher than that.



I subscribe to the theory that all the major chefs around the World promote, always buy the best and freshest ingredients available to you or that you can afford. This applies to meat, vegetables fruit, in fact all the food groups.

Treat it with care and keep the preparation simple and you will get the best out of your ingredients.

I know this approach to food makes it difficult to eat out and just because I choose to eat at home I am not advocating that you all stay home and cook for yourselves. I’m lucky to have a wife who supports how I eat and doesn’t have to work.

If you have a regular restaurant and you get to know the staff or alternatively just approach the staff confident in the knowledge of what you want you will invariably find that they will bend over backwards to meet your needs.

Eat well and be healthy.

3/7/04 2:26 PM

I’m sorry that I haven’t blogged much this week. I had a major crisis come up in my business and it has taken a lot of both my time and my mental energy. That along with female cycle stuff and lots of chocolate cravings has put me into a bit of a tailspin with regards to the program. I haven’t been eating many avoids, but I haven’t been following my own desire to limit starches and sugars very well. I’m cooking a bunch of stuff right now to start tomorrow fresh and get back to towing the line. My weight loss has slowed and I am sure that it has to do with not limiting my starch intake enough. I have been working out well, and that has worked to keep me feeling pretty good. There is no doubt that I have more energy if I keep the starches to a minimum, however, and with things the way they are in my business, I need all the energy and mental focus that I can muster.

I wanted to get off of our diet and talk a bit about our pet’s diet. About 6 months ago, I found this posted on a forum to which I belonged. It changed my thoughts about dog food considerably. I hope that everyone who follows my bloggs will read it:

http://www.homevet.com/petcare/foodbook.html

I hope that you will each read the entire article to the end. I believe that this is very important, not only to our pets, but for our own understanding about how corporations deal lie to us and sell us garbage in pretty packaging.

I have since changed to feeding my dogs and method called Bones And Raw Food, or BARF for short. Here is a good site for people interested in this feeding method, although you can google “bones and raw food” and you can get lots of info:

http://www.bluegrace.com/barf.html

again, I suggest that you read the entire page, as there is plenty of important info all throughout this site.

I have 4 Chihuahuas, and they have really blossomed since I have switched to feeding BARF. My oldest one has completely lost symptoms of the arthritis that I believe was beginning to affect her. The one that was always too fat has slimmed down and the one that was always skinny has put on some muscle. My furry one’s coat looks absolutely amazing – thick and shiny – and all of them seem to be doing really well on it. I also have to say that, although it DOES take more preparation than just scooping them up some dry food, it is about the same price or cheaper, and well worth the effort.

I’m going to try to blog a little more regularly this week. Does anyone else out there feed BARF to their dogs or cats? I’d be interested is hearing from you.

WARNING !!

Today’s blog should contain a Government Health Warning.

First of all let me apologise to anyone who may have been offended by my use of the word faggot in my post the other day. No offence was meant and it is just another example of a word that has been in the English language for Centuries having it’s meaning corrupted by the modern idiom.

Definition courtesy of Cambridge International Dictionary.

faggot (FOOD)

noun [C usually plural] UK

a ball of meat mixed with bread and herbs, which is fried or cooked in sauce

faggot (WOOD), US ALSO fagot

noun [C usually plural] OLD-FASHIONED

sticks of wood, tied together, which are used as fuel for a fire

faggot (HOMOSEXUAL)

noun [C] (INFORMAL fag) MAINLY US SLANG

a homosexual man. This word is considered offensive when it is used by people who are not homosexual.

Where I was born in the English West Midlands, colloquially known throughout the UK as The Black Country [another term I probably shouldn’t use in our PC times] faggots were and still are a popular food. A popular source of protein in working class Britain during WW2 where because they were made mainly from offal they were excluded from the weekly meat ration.

This recipe is taken from The Express & Star web site in Wolverhampton and will help to give you an insight into what makes a good faggot.

Even food Goddess Nigella Lawson admitted in Birmingham late last year that she had cooked and eaten them during her student days at University and was inspired to go home and try them again.

It is not Blood Type Compatible with any known blood group and should not be eaten by anyone other than serious devotees of the recently departed Dr A.

Taste of the Black Country

Traditional Black Country food is sadly not on nearly as many menus as it used to be. However we know many of you still cook the old favourites at home so enjoy a taste from the past with Faggots.

Preparation Time: Over 1 hr. Cooking Time: 30 mins to 1 hr

Ingredients (Serves 4)

1 pigs caul (stomach lining)

500g/1lb pigs fry (liver, heart and lights) (lights are lungs)

250g/8oz pork belly

500g/1lb onions

75g/3oz breadcrumbs

15g/1-1/2oz fresh sage, chopped

salt and pepper, freshly ground

Method

1. Soak the caul in tepid water for 1 hour, then dry it out.

2. Cover the pigs fry, pork belly and onions with water and simmer for 1 hour. Drain off the liquid and reserve.

3. Mince the pigs fry, pork and onions and add to the breadcrumbs. Add the sage, season with salt and pepper and stir well, adding approximately 30ml/2tbsp of the cooking liquid to the mixture.

4. Cut the caul into 10cm/4in squares. Shape the pigs fry mixture into balls and cover each with a piece of caul. Place in a tin and cook in the oven at 200C/400F/Gas 6 until brown.

5. Serve with thick, rich gravy made from the reserved cooking liquid and the juices from the tin in which the faggots were cooked.

Cooks tip: Dried green peas cooked until mushy with a pinch of salt and sugar makes a delicious accompaniment.

If you try that you’re a braver person than me.

I Paul do solemnly promise to return to more BTD related issues in my next blog.

Footnote on the Black Country

WHAT IS THE BLACK COUNTRY?

The Black Country is the industrial region to the west of, and separate from, Birmingham in the Midlands of England. It gained its name in the mid nineteenth century due to the smoke from the many thousands of iron working foundries and forges and the nature of the countryside which had been spoiled by the working of shallow and relatively thick (30ft) coal seams.

The region was described as 'Black by day and red by night' by Elihu Burritt, the American Consul to Birmingham in 1862 and other authors, from Dickens to Shenstone refer to the intensity of manufacturing in the Black Country and its effect on the landscape and its people.

Today the Black Country is made up of most of the four Metropolitan District Council areas of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

See ya.