It's memorial day... Besides what the holiday actually stands for... It also means time and a half at work... That's good money. Being it's a holiday, I automatically get paid for eight hours whether I work or not. And if I do work, then I get paid time and a half for those hours as well. Let's figure this out... I work eight hours... I get paid for 20... Nice... Sadly, I was not scheduled today. I didn't even want the day off due to me lengthy two week vacation... That's the way it crumbles though.



Had a couple of glasses of Fetzer Eagle Peak Merlot last night while watching the special features disk of LOTR: Return of the King. So-so. Can't wait for the extended version to come out in November. The wine was so-so as well.



Raining again all day today. The grass and trees are literally neon green from all this precipitation. The sky is all grey and cloudy. Makes for a surreal, kind of enclosing atmosphere... Gloomy, yet vibrant... A conundrum to be sure. I miss the sun. Had a couple of the polyflora this morn. Laid around. Ate breakfast. An avocado w/herbamare, garlic, and dill. A handful of walnuts dressed w/a Tbsp. each of black-strap molasses, and cherry juice concentrate. A good sized piece of ginger, and some green onions dipped in organic/all natural peanut butter. Had a tin of sardines in spring water too.



A couple of glasses of water and green tea later, I had read far too much of a magazine called EGM... All about video games I will never play... I grew up with them so they still have a place in my heart... No time or money for those things these days. Did an hour of mediation as well. Lunch was two big scoops of the D'adamo Type A protein powder mixed with six ounces of pineapple juice and four oz. of water. I really liked it. Had a bunch of cooked lentils w/green onion, crushed garlic, dill, herbamare, Bragg's Liquid Aminos (delicious, all natural, soy sauce tasting stuff, really salty tasting), tarragon, and cilantro flakes. Ate a couple of my roommates rice chips w/the lentils. Good and crunchy. Had a couple of things I try not to eat though. Corn flour, canola oil, and sesame seeds. Good times. Just had to indulge a bit. I get "crunchy" cravings often that are hard to satisfy. I used to eat raw carrots, but I think I may have a hard time digesting them. Maybe it's all the starch... I dunno... I've really cut back on the carbs lately. Battling a possible Candida overgrowth in the stomach/intestines/colon. Just using a low carb/sugar diet in conjunction w/herbal supps and caprylic acid. Also eating LOTS of raw garlic. Anti fungal ya' know. Doesn't make me the most popular guy around though. Ha ha.



Feeling lethargic. Need some physical activity. Going to go work out after I digest all this. Here's hoping for the sun.

Good Morning!!!

For some reason I've woken up starving.....oh, wait, it's almost noon, maybe that's why :-) It's been a lovely weekend and not working today either is all the better. To start, I've been cleaning the apartment, trying to make sense of everything, put the winter clothes away and find a place for the summer stuff. Then there's the "pile 'o stuff" in the living room - not sure what to do with that but I can't just throw it away!!! I'll have to figure something out. Organizing has always been one of my strong suits (must be the A in me) but everything always gets so messy first (must be that creative B side)....too many conflicting messages in my brain....there always have been......grrrrrrrr, I hate POP-UPS!!!! WHY WON'T THEY GO AWAY AND LEAVE MY COMPUTER ALONE!!!!$%*&&*($$%@!!!!

Anyways, Saturday was great. After some cleaning, we got out of the house and went to the beach for a while. Water was too cold to even go in but had a great time watching the O's play football on the sand and buried one up to his knees :-) Had tofu and egg for breakfast that morning with dandelions, lunch was an eggplant parm. wrap (resisted the cheesecake the O's had) and dinner was a sweet potato and rice while the O's played cards and video games that evening. I love having company over. Even if I'm only watching the action from the side, I love being around people. What was said in Live Right For Your Type about AB's is really true for me. This feeling of isolation and abandonment they talk about.......I'm not sure why but I really hate being alone (apparently it might be b/c I'm an AB!). I'm ok for a day but even that kinda gets too me. Sunday was the big barbeque day. I came prepared! That morning I had egg white, dandelion greens, tofu and curry all fried up and then at the 'que I was the only one eating lamb!!! Marinated it in the tamari-lime sauce from the book and had it grilled while everyone else ate chicken, burgers, sausages and pork!!! The torilla chips looked VERY tempting but I resisted b/c I brought my veggie chips that are made from potato!!! I'm sure that the salsa I then dipped them in had vinegar in it and I highly doubt that the nacho cheese dip had ANYTHING beneficial in it but all in all it was a good time....and I resisted all the other meats!!! There was also a broccoli/carrot platter there - tasty. Later that night, as we all chilled and talked, I did have 2 Dunkin Donuts of the 24 box they bought - bavarian creme variety. I mean, flour is a neutral for us but I still don't think commercial donuts can be very good for us. I'm sure there's lots of perservaties and other naughty things lurking inside the creamy goodness. Oh well, they were very yummy.

And I exercised!!! On Saturday, I tried the Rodney Yee AM yoga tape for the first time and it was very relaxing. Although I need more time to relax sometimes then his first 5 minutes give you - sometimes I'm just too tense!! But it was very good all in all and my O liked it more then I did! Now he's really into yoga and wants to get all his tapes!!! Looks like I can get the good doctor's partner yoga book now! :-)

Sunday at the 'que was even better - we played vollyball most of the time and it was great! Used a lighter weight ball (you know, the kind they have at the grocery store for the kiddies) but we were still sweating and keeping warm as it got cooler that afternoon. SO much fun! Lots of trash talking between all the friends kept the energy high. I was the only girl playing, again with all my O's. When I hit the ball too far they'd say "Oh no.....too much fury.....beware!!!" Very silly day.....then a good oldies song came on and my husband ran from the other side of the net and grabbed me for a dance - you should have seen it "hit the ball over there!! It's the weak side, they're dancing!!" And me, of course, trying to do too much at once, and still reaching for the ball while dancing - it was a riot! Later that night, we ended up giving swing dancing lessons to a bunch of friends and had a great time. Dancing in flip-flops does wear you out though but it was a good workout :-)

So today will probably be more relaxing and getting some errands done if the places are opened. Tip with the lemon water. If you're lips are getting really chapped like mine, put on some chap stick/lip gloss BEFORE you drink the lemon concoction. It keeps your lips from shriveling up too much. Enjoy the holiday everyone!!!

I’m in the middle between two big adventures. The past 10 days or so have been spent largely tramping around the city of Toronto, trying to find a living space that was liveable and that I could afford to buy (no small achievement). Yesterday I signed an offer for a lovely condo apartment in a very solid and attractive building that is located very centrally and also appears to be within my budget! The offer will be presented this afternoon - perhaps by tonight, the apartment will be mine! Toronto is full of condominium buildings that seem to be springing up everywhere they can possibly be constructed, something like an epidemic of warts on the landscape. A lot of our green space is disappearing under the shovels of the developers, as well as a lot of old unused factory locations, etc. Unfortunately, most of the units are not aimed for folks with beer budgets such as myself. “My” (if I’m supposed to live there) condo is located in an older building, perhaps 1920’s construction, with 18 units, on a very attractive street not far from a ravine with a walking/jogging/biking/blading path going through it. The good thing about the ravines in Toronto is that the developers haven’t yet figured out a way to turn them into housing complexes! The bus stops in front of the house, and it’s close to the subway. It already feels like home. I hope I’m not disappointed.

The second adventure starts tomorrow morning, when I leave, in the company of a few friends, to travel to Perth, Ontario, not far from Ottawa, our nation’s capital, for a 5-day meditation retreat to be held in a camp area beside a lake, with wooded areas nearby. I’ve been looking forward to being on this retreat for several months, ever since I registered for it. They offered a great (very cheap) rate for seniors, and staying in a room with 3 others lowered the costs further. I indicated that my dietary needs were different from most, and they agreed they could accommodate the vagaries of following the B blood type diet. I have already come to the point where I would rather not eat anything than take something that will give me a bad reaction, and I am fine with a little fasting from time to time if necessary. I suspect it won’t be, though.

It’s been rainy the last few weeks here in Ontario, which means the little critters that like to live in the woods will be out in goodly numbers. There are two of them that will probably be waiting for a few free meals once I get there – mosquitos and black flies. I haven’t experienced black flies for a very long time now, but they are fierce – they like a little meat with their blood. I managed to find a natural insect repellent at one of the local holistic shops a couple of weeks ago. I hope it is effective. The listed ingredients are olive oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, and essential oils of citronella, lavender, thyme, garlic, peppermint and lemon grass. The label says it is effective against mosquitos and black flies. I hope that this repellent, coupled with the BTD, will keep me immune from more than an occasional bite. At least I should smell nice! One of the many other side effects I’ve noticed deriving from the BTD is that the winged critters don’t seem to be very interested in consuming my blood any more. I’ve had experiences when out in parks with two different friends on different occasions when they were being dive-bombed (to their utter panic, I should say) by buzzing winged creatures, while none came near me at all. It does make it easier to stay calm under such circumstances!

So I will end by asking for your prayers – one for my housing needs, one for good food during the retreat to support my meditation efforts, and one for the avoidance of bites. Thanks in advance to all who send prayers my way. I’ll let you know how well we all did!

Anyone who has the book Eat Right for Your Type may often be confused when reading about foods here if they've never seen a copy of Live Right for Your Type.

Due to further research a lot of food values altered in LR4YT, particularly in relation to secretor/non secretor status. I have been corresponding with Rachel behind the scenes on the status of wheat in the type A diet and it set me thinking. Whereas wheat was a straight avoid in ER4YT it is neutral in a lot of cases in LR4YT if you are a secretor. Non secretors are still avoiding it.

All this information is readily available on the Typebase. Type in wheat and click on search and all will be revealed. It is a marvellous resource and can be found under the solutions button at the top of the page. There is a link from each food to Nutribase which gives you all the dietary information you could possibly need and probably some you didn't.

Also there under solutions is the most fantastic resource of BTD compliant recipes you could ever hope to find in one place.

We all tend to take things for granted, so let's all take the time to re-check what we eat from time to time and make sure we are using the latest information pertaining to ourselves.

Dinner last night was take out Chinese. I was at a friends Birthday party at a hotel... They ordered out so I submitted as well. Chicken w/vegetables including: Broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, bamboo, and green and white onion. Pretty good. I think the sauce on it may have had some cornstarch in it though... Probably MSG too... Woops.

Had a snack of pumpkin, blackberries w/cinnamon, and raw Spanish peanuts late night while I watched part of the new Lord of the Rings w/my 'lil bro. He's 12. Good movie. Cinnamon is excellent for balancing blood sugar, especially for diabetics/hypoglycemics. 1/8-1/4 tsp. a day should too... Probably wouldn't want much more than that though... May irritate the digestive tract...



Up pretty early today... Breakfast was eaten right away... I usually like to take a couple of the Polyflora 1/2 hour to an hour before I eat breakfast... Dig the lemon water in the morn before meals too. Gotta keep those probiotic critters in balance and get the digestive juices flowing. Don't do them at the same time though... The acid will kill the beneficial bacteria.... If you're going to buy an over the counter probiotic, make sure that it is high in bifidus... If you're an "A" anyway... Didn't have time today though. Ate an avocado w/ Herbamare, dill, and garlic powder, and a small bowel of the Ezekiel Sprouted grains cereal w/soy milk. Yum.



Went to work. I'll spare you all the deatils. It rained all day today so it was REALLY busy... Kept cool. Lunch was a cup of cooked pinto beans, a half crown of broccoli and a grapefruit. Had some ginger as well.



Had a big dinner. Another 3/4 cup of pintos w/sauteed onions, raw garlic, raw ginger, and carrots. Had big handful of walnuts, more broccoli, and two big slices of watermelon for dessert. Pretty full... May have a glass of red later tonight.



Stay cool gang. If you're feeling stressed, try a supp or two from Dr. D's stress or cognitive protocols. My fav's are Ashwaghanda, a good ginseng blend, and a good multivitamin (preferably Polyvite A). Meditation is an absolute must for us A's. Try chamomile and L-theanine before bed. Much love.

Music: It’s a beautiful day…U2

Mood: Chipper

Yesterday I dusted off my golf clubs and woke up this morning at 5:30 to start my first round of

golf this year at 7:30(tee off time), giving myself enough time to eat a good breakfast before venturing out for a beautiful day of walking and swinging and the odd cursing in between.

Breakfast was a Silken smoothie with banana and blueberries (some type O protein powder added in) and some rice cakes with almond butter and cherry preserves.

I’m not an avid golfer given the fact I hate waiting in between holes especially when the course

is crowded. That’s the main reason I like to play in the morning…it only took 4 hours for the

round. Secondly I don’t get much stress relief walking and hitting 80 to 90 shots in a round. I do though like the camaraderie of the game. Being the first round of the season I was not expecting any consistent play so I decided not to be overly critical if I hit any bad shots (and I hit a lot).

The first nine holes were a disaster. I did not bother adding up my score but chipped in a nice shot on the 7th hole for par. I took that as my small victory for the day so far and decided to forget about all the bad shots on the front nine.

After nine holes I was feeling a little hungry, so I ventured into the pro shop and picked up a “Back to Nature” oatmeal raison 1st Tee pre-round nutrition bar. Now you may ask why I bought the pre

round energy bar and not the “10th Tee golf energy bar” which touts that it ‘builds energy and focus for the back nine’ The reason I did was it was the only bar that had the least amount of avoids in

it. It had soy protein and the rice and oatmeal were neutrals. It was laden with corn syrup… big

avoid. No wheat though.

Back nine I scored a 45, which is my usual score with, 3 pars…no birdies. My shots were a lot

straighter and I was getting into a groove.

“OK Mike…I feel an analogy coming”

Yes and here it is:

Most people whom start out on the BTD either go cold turkey or slowly start eliminating avoids and introducing some new beneficials into their eating rounds. If you are the later, take these BTD moments as small victories…eventually you will get into the swing of things and never look back.

What kind of #@$% shot was that Mike? (One of my cursing moments of the day)

and, unfortunately, in my case, bit me.

Finally went to my Dr. and the whole sickness-thing was caused by a spider bite. No, not a bite by a Brown Recluse or Black Widow or Hobo or anything that dramatic. Just a bite by some innocuous, everyday spider. I've been bit by spiders before in my life, but never had such a reaction. I had a fever of 103 to 104 for nearly 4 days along with chills, body aches, headache and tenderness in my bowels. I ate almost nothing for those 4 days, also.

I went to the Dr. and got an antibiotic shot and got put on oral antibiotics. I felt immediately better and am now "normal". The bite itself, instead of being 5 inches across, is shrinking and, although painful, is getting better. I dislike taking antibiotics, but I really appreciate them in instances like this. I also rarely have any bad reactions from them either. My system is usually pretty tough. I'll be trying to eat as many bennies as possible and taking Polyflora O regularly.

My daughter was born on my husband's 40th birthday and we had a 6/46 party yesterday. Thankfully the antibiotics kicked in and I was able to do the whole thing. It included a slumber party with 7 little 6-year old girls. They all did great and stayed up REALLY late. I hear them awaking as I type! Off to handle round 2 of the slumber party - time for breakfast!

OK - I want to jump into the sunscreen thoughts here. This is my theory and my theory only. I don't recommend it for anyone, and I'm not a scientist. These are my thoughts: The skin is our biggest organ and slathering it in chemicals, even zinc, is going to prove to be a big problem down the road. I don't believe in heavy use of sunscreen, I don't use it much and I don't put it on my daughter much. Both of us tan very quickly and easily and that make it an easier choice for me (if we were burners, I would probably be more careful). Both of us tan up to a certain point and then we just stay there. After we get our tans, we almost never burn. I have decided that this is my and my daughter's natural protection to the sun. I trained horses for nearly 15 years in the south Texas sun wearing no sunscreen. My skin looks like I am barely 30, let alone almost 42. Each year I hit the tanning booths for 3 or 4 sessions to get my base tan and get a tan on any areas that might burn. After that, I might go 2 times per month. This keeps me at my optimum protection and prevent burns. I'm not super dark, but I'm not really in it for how it looks. If I go to a waterpark or a festival where I think that I might get more than the "normal" amount of sun (which is quite a lot down here), I will put some sunscreen on my cheeks and shoulders. Ditto for daughter. Beyond that, I DON'T USE SUNSCREEN. I actually have a gut feeling of aversion to it, and I have come to trust that sense within myself.

It comes as no surprise to me that there is now worries about sunscreen. I have been predicting it for the past 10 years. I am suspicious of anything artificial that is put on or into any of our organs day in and day out. Our skin's purpose is to "breath". It is essential. How can it breath with all that stuff on it?

Oh, don't waste your time commenting to me about how you have had skin cancer, and that I should being protecting my daughter's skin and all that. I am very, very sorry for you and hope that you are now OK, but I still don't like sunscreen. In fact, my half-brother has had melanoma - twice. I don't know why he got it - maybe he wasn't eating right for his type. However, I believe that in the long run, my approach is the healthiest. I let nature protect my skin by way of a tan. I keep my skin free from chemicals and able to breath. That's my approach. I'll let you know how it works for me in the next decade or so.

BTW, I also have never put much stuff on my face. I wonder if THAT'S why I look so much younger than so many of my contemporaries....or is it just the luck of the genetic draw? I didn't get the "skinny" body this time around, but I DID get good skin?

I’ve spent two days in Hobart, Tasmania’s capital city this week with a work assignment. Knowing in advance this was going to happen I started planning a special meal for myself whilst there. It came about from a restaurant review I read in the Sunday Tasmanian newspaper about three weeks ago and I reprint it here for your education courtesy of Davies Bros Pty Ltd.



Hobart Noodle

12 Letitia Street,

North Hobart Ph: 62345005

Open 11am to 8pm Tuesday to Saturday.

Daniel and Maple Liu came to Hobart respectively from Taiwan and Malaysia via Melbourne four years ago and started producing and wholesaling hand made organic noodles and tofu.

Not enough shops wanted them. Too short a shelf life, they said.

So, six months ago, the Liu’s opened their small restaurant and takeaway from premises under their house in the very untrendy dining scene of Letitia St.

Since then the word has slowly spread. So fresh are the noodles, so good the sauces that some customers drive there two or three times a week, either to eat in or buy a takeaway.

It’s very much a mum and dad operation with Daniel manning the woks and making the noodles on an authentic wooden machine from Taiwan while Maple takes orders, makes the delicious green tea, serves to the three small tables and takes care of her two toddlers who occasionally wander in to check that things are running smoothly.

The menu couldn’t be simpler. You choose your style of noodles – Udon, hokkien, green tea, pumpkin or buckwheat – and then make your choice of 11 different sauces, each dish then stir-fried with vegetables and tofu.

Servings are huge and priced at $8.50 and $9.50 plus an extra 50 cents to eat in and $2 for a bottomless pot of green tea. Noodles are also sometimes served in a home made soup.

For the generous servings, good flavours and the very friendly welcoming smiles the place is a bargain.

That’ll do me I thought. Eating on the way down wasn’t a problem and neither was breakfast in the hotel (all self catered) and supplemented by apricots and yoghurt from their breakfast menu. Evening meal and lunch before I returned home the following day were going to be the problem.

As it turned out the restaurant was only a 7 minute brisk work from my hotel, so off I went. It really is a homely café type environment and both Daniel and Maple were very welcoming. I settled for buckwheat noodles with a miso sauce and soy protein, with a pot of green tea. The tea was absolutely stunning, a blend called ginger cool.

When ordering my meal I was able to see the selection of vegetables and ask them to leave out the capsicum and cabbage, both avoids. The plate was huge with a variety of soy proteins and tofu, broccoli, carrot and zucchini. First taste was fabulous but I immediately spotted the first avoid. Dried chilli flakes in the miso sauce. Had I known beforehand I could probably have had them left out. A beautiful meal with melt in the mouth noodles, ignoring the chilli the sauce was so good I asked how it was thickened. Shouldn’t have asked, because the answer was tomato paste,aaaaaaggggghhh.

Two avoids in one meal, although relatively small quantities.

Certainly good enough to back up for lunch the following day. This time I went for Udon noodles with ginger sauce and a pot of the same green tea as the previous evening. No need to ask about capsicum and cabbage this time they told me.

This was even better than the previous evenings meal with a superb ginger flavour and luscious noodles. Couldn’t see any ginger in the meal though. Anyway you all know by now that I am inquisitive about food and we got chatting about various things. All their noodles are wheat based (neutral) even the buckwheat which is only 40% buckwheat to allow the dough to be workable. OK I can live with that, wheat being neutral even though I don’t eat it now. They do keep dried rice noodles and told me I could have rice noodles next time if I asked. How did you make the sauce I asked. The ginger is pulped and pressed to extract the juice and it’s that combined with soy sauce that makes the base of the dish, oh and vinegar (bloody heck another avoid). Once again after discussing with Daniel if he’d known he would have left it out. It’s amazing where avoids lurk isn’t it.

I thoroughly enjoyed both meals and will certainly try again next time in Hobart, particularly forewarned about where some of the avoids hide.

Imagine my surprise when I got home and checked the web site for the tea distributor to find that ginger cool contains black pepper(*%$#).

Four avoids in two meals and here I owe an apology to my fellow BTDers.

I have treated with some scepticism the comments that they know almost immediately when they’ve eaten an avoid. Well guess what, I now agree with all of you. 4 avoids in 48 hours has been enough to give me a squidgy tummy and a feeling of not wellness(that’ll confuse the grammar checker).

Now a follow up to a question from Canada about secretor and Lewis type testing.

Somewhere on this web site is a reference to the lab in USA which does the testing but at time of writing I couldn’t find it. However if you go to solutions at the top of the page and click BTD Practitioners you can conduct a search for your area down the bottom of the page. By entering ‘Vancouver’ and ‘city’ as the search parameter I was able to find 5 practitioners in your area and I’m sure they would be able to help with your test.

Breakfast yesterday was a small avocado and a half block of tofu seasoned up with course sea salt, lemon juice, and garlic/onion powder. Had a big handful of raw almonds too...

Packed up all my stuff, (a lot more than I came down with...) laid in the sun for bit, and prepared lunch for the ride into San Antonio. Baby food again... A can of sardines in soya oil, broccoli, green onions, garlic cloves, kale, and a big handful of blackberries did the trick. Drank it out of a big cup while driving... I can't believe I'm able to eat/drink stuff like that...

Got to the airport, and bid farewell to my great aunt and uncle... I miss them already. The kindest relatives a guy could hope to have. Hearts the size of full grown turkeys... That was the best vacation I ever had.... Not that I've taken a great many mind you...

Flew from San Antonio to Denver. A 2 hour layover gave me time to eat dinner at a great little place called, "Gate 57" in the United Terminal. You really ought to check it out... I got to sit on the floor with my back against one of those moving walkways... It sucked... Lots more blackberries, a half loaf of carrot-raisin Essene (manna) bread, green onions, ginger, and some raw Spanish peanuts were the weapon of choice. Got home around 9:20pm... Went to my parents house and visited for a bit. Went out for a couple of glasses of wine w/my dad. Got home at 1am... Damn wine had my inhibition by the throat... Decided it would be a good idea to eat almost an entire box of Ezekiel sprouted grains cereal w/almonds, w/soy milk, cherry juice concentrate, and cinnamon... WTH was I thinking?!?! 2000 calories in one sitting at 2am?!? Watched Family guy 'till 4am. Talk about debauchery... Hopefully I learned my lesson.

Woke up at 8:30. Feeling OK... Drank lots of water, and waited 'till noon or so for the first meal. A can of wild salmon w/bones, a bit of olive oil (always extra virgin), some lemon grass pesto, and a few almonds w/a 'lil bit 'o' cherry concentrate again.

It's 2:50 and I'm hungry again... Probably stretched out my da** stomach last night... Going to eat light today in penance. Lunch will be a can of pumpkin, peanuts, and some sauteed Green and yellow onion I think. Hit you guys later. DON'T EAT AT BEDTIME! Your body needs those precious hours to regenerate and revitalize! Making it digest food almost renders the sleep you get useless! Try not to eat 2-4 hours before sleeping. A small snack is OK to balance blood sugar, but not an entire box of cereal... You probably already know that though huh...

This Friday has not been a very "highly beneficial" day but the good news is that it's not a complete loss. After all life is life - you can't beat yourself up for enjoying things and spending time with loved ones.

To start off, I woke up late. Husband apparently shut my alarm off so I woke up 2 minutes before I was supposed to be at work. He claims however, that he only did this because I was yelling to have it quiet! I remember no such thing. But I never remember anything in the morning :-) He says we've had conversations for 5 minutes but apparently I was half asleep and never realized it!!! I guess I've got an active subconscious! :-D

So, I'm rushing to get out the door and don't even have time to make myself the lemon water. Not a smart move. I did gulp down some organic 100% grapefruit juice, which had some effect, and munched on some peanuts in the car. I'm amazed that just those hand-fulls of peanuts kept me going for 3 ½ hours! Ohhh....I just realized I didn't take any of my vitamins this morning either - that probably explains why I'm having cravings for foods I haven't had since I started on this plan.

Lunch, husband comes to enjoy the hour with me - I always appreciate it when he can - he already ate so we go to Taco Bell (not much in my area of Queens) The nice thing is for us AB's is that if you ask them, they will gladly substitute the rice or beans (both beneficial for us!!!) for any of their meat products. I had a Nacho Cheese Chalupa with beans and it only cost $1.60!!! It was good but almost everything in it was neutral save those beans and god knows what that "cheese" sauce is really made of.... And then I forgot to look at the ingredients label of the T.B. Mild Sauce, yep it has vinegar.....won't do that again. I also had a yummy cupcake that a friend brought to me at work from a West Indian Bakery. Sooooooo good. Of course, she bought us a whole box so now there at home. Fortunately for me, my husband has eaten almost all of them :-)

When he picked me up, Carlos mentioned Happy Hour at our favorite bar, Croxley Ale House - check it out at www.croxley.com Unfortunately the free buffet was just chicken wings and Swedish meat balls and I was starving. So, I ordered the fried zucchini sticks in a horseradish dip. Horseradish is H.B. for AB's but I guarantee that the cream dip it was mixed into was not......why do I have such a sensitive stomach? I also tried their desert - fried blueberry ravioli. Very good but I've had better - won't get it again.

I didn't really have dinner. I'm very proud that I've been able to resist the remaining 5 delicious cupcakes. All there ingredients are neutral for us but having a cupcake late at night when you're not exercising is a definite no-no. (And I'm sure the frosting alone outdoes the weekly allowed sugar intake....) I've promised myself I can have one tomorrow morning. So, I'm munching on edamame and had a slice of yogurt cheese instead. I have also had 3 cups of peppermint tea to help my digestion through out the day (darn cream dip!!!) and 100% cranberry/grape juice when I got home this afternoon.

All in all, I need to:

1 - eat more vegetables

2 - stay away from vinegar and

3 - try really hard to not miss my morning lemon.

This is only the 2nd time in 2 months I missed it so, I think I'm on the right track. Even though hardly anything was beneficial today, I'm happy because I'm making smarter choices about what I'm eating, even if they are limited. What if I had peking duck with an avocado for lunch instead? Or some chili at the bar made with kidney beans? Or those delicious chicken wings!!!! What if I ate half the candies/Doritios/cheezy poofs that were offered to me today? But I didn't. One has to remember that these are accomplishments too.

I’ve been away in Hobart for the past two days with work and haven’t had a chance to blog for you. I’ll give you the food details of my trip in tomorrow’s posting.

Meanwhile a couple of questions that have been put to me in my absence are deserving of sharing and answering here.

Couscous. I mentioned it in a recent blog as one of my favourite food replacements on this type A diet. I probably eat it once a week. The question relating to it from John relates to it’s status as a type A food because its wheat (semolina).

Well John because it is cracked wheat I believe it has some effect on the Lectin which causes problems for Type A. In the type base and LR4YT it is classed as neutral for secretors and avoid for non secretors. So John if you secrete you can eat.

Cholesterol raised its ugly head at home this week and also in a readers question. Sue had a blood test and was told she had a reading of 5.2 and was in the high category. Sue wasn’t accepting that at face value and wanted to know what the other reading was. Oh she was told that’s excellent that’s 1.9.

The confusion for us Aussies comes about from reading US based sites where you take your readings differently. In Australia our readings are taken in millimoles per litre IE: 5.2 = 5.2 millimoles per litre of blood. In the USA you take your readings in milligrams per decilitre IE: 180 = 180 milligrams per decilitre.

US based medical sites say a reading of between 200 – 239 is borderline high whilst in Oz a reading of 4.5 to 5 is the maximum. This causes confusion amongst people reading US based info. For education including this site. Heidi made mention of a reading of 180 being safe for Type A, how does this relate to our way of measuring ?

By the way Jen, I can tell you without fear of contradiction peanuts do not contain any cholesterol and will have no bearing on your levels. Most blood type cholesterol is caused by a high concentration of saturated fats usually found in animal products.

By the way how often is occasional with the bickie.?

There are many natural methods of reducing your cholesterol level and a good Naturopath would definitely be able to help. Cooking in Extra Light Olive Oil would also help.

The Menu

Almost skipped breakfast this morning - bad idea - I was sooooo hungry 1/2 way through class - good thing I had some spelt bread in my purse and muched while I corrected HW books. Lunch was yummy - left over veggie quesadea (eggplant, zucchini & cheddar), fresh pineapple, fresh cherries and a can of albacore tuna fish. Yep, I just drain it and eat it as is - tastes great with the cherries - I think there's a good reason for that but I've never been big on details - just do what feels right. Something about negating polyamines maybe??? Look for a more specific blog; mines not it!!! For supper I had 2 organic eggs (just the yolk of 1 though) some tofu and yogurt cheese all fried up.....very satisfing. Dinner was a turkey stromboli from the freezer section at Trader Joe's. Quite delicious. The only avoids I found in it were trace amounts of Green Chilies and Pepper - the poppy seeds on top I just brushed off. Pretty good for when you want convenience food on the go - it's gotta be healthier than Mickey D's or eating a Chicken/Black Bean Burrito (Those used to be my favorite fast freezer food - who knew that those are both avoids for AB's?)

The Life

My life is so good right now - I'm so happy to have all these new friends to share my thoughts with and that share a passion for good food. This is a very rewarding and helpful experience. If you're new to this, please leave me a comment - I'd love to answer any questions or help out however I can. I am very happy to re-affirm that beer is neutral for us AB's. (Whooo-Hooooo!!!) Makes me feel better about last night - I really needed that - our bar is so cool, just like an old English Pub. And Wed and Mon are 10 cent wing night!!! Not that I've been eating them since this diet (talk about determination!) but I enjoy the company of all my O boys and they love their wings. All of them are very much into meat, which is fine by me. They keep joking about making a giant burger one day out of all kinds of meats and calling it "Tur-dunk-in" - a turkey, duck, chicken, pork, beef and anything else you can think of - all into one. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

I remember when I was first talking about the books (and before I knew my blood type), my husband was jokingly saying that we should send off all the AB's to their own island; since they're the universal reciever but don't really give back. (such a bitter little universal doner) And that they're probably all selfish since no one else can use they're blood. So I asked him, later that week, if he still wanted to ship me off to an island now that I'm an AB. He said "of course," with a big, dopey grin, "now I can run away with the milk lady!" What a nut. People who make you laugh are always high on my list. But why do I find myself surrounded by O's? Well, it is about 80% of the population, right? Maybe I shouldn't be that surprised.....Ah Memorial Day BBQ's coming up - think I'll have to bring my own lamb to the cookouts to stay healthy.

I'd like to report that last nights meditation went well... No unexplained activity... No paranormal phenomena... Of course I'm always open to both... Got out of bed at 7:30 today... Drank some more of that juice this morning. I need to get that finished up... It's only good for so long. The nutrients will eventually deteriorate to nothing if you let it sit and oxidize. Of course I have it in airtight jars, but that will only serve to protect it so far... Some tonight and some in the morn perhaps...



Today ROCKED! After I had the juice I started to work cooking breakfast for 4 type O's. Bison stir fry w/celery, carrots, broccoli and, green beans. Seasoned w/cilantro, cayenne pepper, garlic/onion powder, ginger powder, parsley, and... Tide w/bleach... He he. Just kiddin'. Couldn't add anything else as my cousin is on the picky side. Love ya' Tiff. Two complaints on the stir fry. Bison was too tough, despite having been marinated overnight in lemon juice and olive oil (low quality cut I guess), and, not enough salt... Kinda tough to guage the saltiness of a dish you're preparing without being able to taste it. Crazy O's and your crazy thyroids... Salt.... Pshaw. He he.



My breakfast was a half block of tofu, a small avocado, and a handful of cherries. Seasoned it up w/ garlic, onion, and some dill. Lemon juice of course. After I ate it all I packed a lunch. Baby food shake in the Vita-Mix consisting of a can of salmon, a big crown of broccoli, green onion, kale, garlic cloves, and some soy milk. Threw it in a jar and packed some cherries and carrot-raisin Essene (Mana) bread as well. Yum.



Spent the entire day at Schlitterbaun in New Braunfels, TX. My cousin and I had the best day. Schlitterbaun is the largest water park in the world... It's huge, beautiful, and a total blast! I really haven't had that much fun in... Geez, I don't even know... Thank you SO much Tiff! We did everything... Flying, swimming, falling, surfing, tubing, eating, and... BURNING! Can you believe the burn is actually worse now?! My back looks like it was raked to pieces by a radiated komodo Dragon... I'll live... Thanks to Mellisa Jones for the olive oil tip. I really appreciate it. Thanks to Tiff for applying sun screen to it as often as I whined about it. It's Getting late and I haven't had supper yet. Feeling beat, burnt, and hungry... Chicken soup will be ready soon. See a previous blog for the ingredients. All beneficial, or neutral of course. Supper at 9:15, mediate for an hour, get ready for tomorrow, and hit the sack.



Flying back to Fargo tomorrow at 3pm. Don't wanna go home... Man, today was fun...

5/27/2004 3:01 PM

OK – I’m feeling MUCH better. I had the strangest thing happen to me. I’m going to tell you all about it, but first I have to fill you in on some “goings on”. It all started last Saturday night. We were child free, and my husband planned on us going to a new restaurant. There is a restaurant in Austin, TX called, “The Oasis”. It has the most amazing sunsets as it has these terraces that are 450 ft above Lake Travis. It’s really nice BUT the food isn’t so good, in MHO. Here’s a link, if you want to check it out:

http://www.oasis-austin.com/

Anyhoo, there is a new restaurant on Medina Lake called, “The Oasis”. I had seen some billboard ads for it, and I wondered if it was an offshoot of the Oasis in Austin. I guess that hubby wondered the same thing, so he planned to take me there. The advantage is that it is a 45-minute drive to Medina Lake and an HOUR and 45 minute drive to Lake Travis. Well, we got there, and it was very, very nice. No 450 ft views, but still good. I ordered my usual “splurge” drink of a top shelf sour apple martini. Bad idea. Here’s the site to THAT restaurant (even the logos look similar – is there some sort of competition going on here?):

http://www.medinalake.com/index.asp



I was hungry when we got there, but because the food at the Austin Oasis doesn’t do it for me, I assumed that we would just have a drink or two and some snacks. We went down the terrace that was at the edge of the lake for our drinks. Unfortunately, we found out that they weren’t serving food down by the lake that night, as they were short staffed. It was a 45-minute wait until dinner and I got more than a little “happy” from the martini. When we were finally seated and had ordered our food, we realized that, fortunately or unfortunately – you decide – this restaurant had something NOT in common with The Oasis in Austin: this restaurant’s food was EXCELLENT.

I made some very bad choices and I ate some avoids INCLUDING bread. Now, I haven’t had any starch of any kind in over 6 weeks, but I just indulged. I had 2 pieces of bread, some rice (very little, actually), some vinaigrette on my salad, and nearly a whole piece of cheesecake.

You know what? I could live with the occasional indulgence. I really could. I don’t feel guilt, but I do know that indulgences like this can cause future problems. The problem is that it set me off for the following 4 days.

On Sunday, we decided to go to a lavender festival at a Becker Winery near Fredericksburg, TX.

http://www.beckervineyards.com/lavender.htm

Well, they had some food booths and wine tasting. I had some wine, and was hungry (of course). There were NO good food choices. So instead of doing the best that I could, I threw caution to the wind, and walked down the wrong path again.

I got a tuna salad sandwich on the most amazing bread. I do have to say that I have lost my taste for bread, in general, and even though I ate some of it I was able to throw most of it away. Then hubby ordered a fried catfish taco. I had to have one, and I have to tell you that it was absolutely amazingly delicious. The catfish was fresh, cornmeal dipped and fried and served on a homemade corn masa tortilla with homemade spicy coleslaw. I ate 2. They were amazing.

I do have to say that I have learned something from all of this, though. I really do believe that it is a bit unrealistic to think that I will never, ever stray. I really enjoyed both of those splurges, however, they did take me down the wrong path.

I didn’t anything else terrible since Sunday, but I did get into eating rice crackers with goat cheese each night. This in and of itself isn’t so bad, but it just the wrong path for me, and each morning I ended up feeling kinda nasty. Additionally, I had purchased some Greek yogurt and I ended up eating THAT for a few days. I think that I might have been craving calcium.

On Tuesday I had my housekeeper clean my carpets with our machine. Now even though I use my own machine, I still use Spot Shot for stains, a deodorant to help get rid of the doggy smell, and some carpet cleaning shampoo. I have her then go over the carpets with just plain water to leave it as chemical free as I can. Even though I do this, there was still a lot of chemical smell in the house. Additionally, I decided to stencil my daughter’s bathroom. I was using enamel paint and in some places I was stenciling onto enamel paint. I decided to use a product called “Liquid Sandpaper” to help the enamel-to-enamel adhesion. This product has a VERY extensive warning label which includes the statement that using a dust mask is not enough, that you need to use some sort of filter mask that, of course, I didn’t have. Well, I reasoned that I really didn’t need to be too concerned because I was doing a very small area, and wouldn’t be using much of the stuff anyway.

After I had been stenciling for about an hour, I need to apply a little of the Liquid Sandpaper. I didn’t use much but about 15 minutes after I applied it, I started feeling sick to my stomach and had to use the restroom as my bowels were cramping. I decided not to use any more of that product and that I was done anyway.

The next day, Wednesday, I didn’t feel great in the morning. I did my t-Tapp session, and I started to feel like I was getting the chills. Also my bowels were kinda “tender”, but I wasn’t having any real problems. About an hour later, I was really feeling awful. The housekeeper was finishing up with the carpets, and I had a lot of stuff to do, but I couldn’t do it. I went to bed at about 5 PM. I woke up around 7 PM and had a temperature of 103.7. Naturally, I felt miserable. I hunkered down, took proberry, garlic, olive leaf and astragalus and went back to bed. I had a tough night to say the least. The odd thing is that I had no other symptoms aside from a little intestinal pain and the typical fever attributes of sweats, chills and muscle aches – oh, and a pounding, pounding headache (I NEVER get headaches). I refused to take aspirin, Tylenol or Motrin. I decided to just let the fever do its thing.

This morning I felt much, much better. The carpets were dry and my fever was down to 100.0. I have felt better and better all day. I did take some Motrin a little while ago, as I decided that I was over the hump. I have had nothing to eat for the past 24 hours and am just getting an appetite.

This is my theory:

I think that the couple of days of really bad avoids plus all of the chemicals got to me. I think that my body went into complete chaos from it all, and that I truly paid the price for all of it. I would hope not, truly. I didn’t want to get my body so sensitive to avoids that I couldn’t enjoy a fancy meal out every once in a while. I’m sure that the chemicals could have made me sick – but could the combination of the two have caused this fever? I don’t know. I only know that I am back onto clean eating and living for a while.

A P.S. ADDED LATER THIS EVENING.

There is another explaination of why I'm feeling bad - a spider bite. A large bite appeared on my upper thigh 2 days ago and has become progressively larger (more spread out) in area. It has the definite look of a spider bite. I just searched the net and found that, even with mild spider bites (this one definitely isn't one of the biggies like a brown recluse), some of the symptoms include fever, chills, body aches and headaches. My husband got a really nasty spider bite about 1 month ago that required antibiotics and lancing. I don't think that this one is this bad.

Life is full of unexplained experiences.

OK, so this week has been filled with dining out experiences.

On Monday, I went to a fairly new restaurant in the historic Foshay tower called "RED".

It's a Russian-inspired fusion sort of place. Very snazzy but you don't have any idea how sick I am of going into restaurants worrying that I'm underdressed. Sometimes I don't always understand it. I mean, as long as you pay for your meal, tip well, and have good dinner etiquette, can there not be a restaurant here in town with decadent, healthy food that isn't full of posers trying to keep up with the fashion Joneses? Can I please save money or at least spend my money on more important things in life...not makeup, clothes, $80 hair highlights, etc, without looking a like a freak of society?

OK, enough with the rant, let me tell you about the food. Really.

The place is full of Vodka infusions. I have blueberry and kumquat while my dinner acquiantance had the horseradish. I liked the kumquat the best.

I also had caviar on rye wedges. The dish came with creme fraiche (skipped it) along with iced red onions, and iced champagne shavings. I really wish it came with more traditional Russian adornments but oh well.

I then had duck pot stickers and escargot! Yum! Highly recommended to anyone!

Then there was this vegetarian dish full of fern shoots and asparagus and some sort of ravioli. It was fabulous!

Ended the meal with soup des chocolats. Yeah. That sealed the deal.

If ever in town, go to Red. It's fantastic.

The next day I ate buffet at a vietnamese restaurant on Eat Street (Nicollet Ave.) It was low key and fairly healthy. My fortune cookie read, "You are almost there".

I'm almost where? Full? Dead? Ready to find out the meaning of life? I'll tell you one thing, I've almost killed my computer. It's been running on 26 MB of free disk space for the past two weeks. I'm at a public PC just to get a blog in!

Last night I went to that hibatchi/all you can eat sushi restaurant I was telling you guys about a few weeks ago called Ichiban. Here I am, two years into living in this city, and finally discovered that this town has a sushi boat restaurant, just like the one in San Fran. I have to say, I really like the sushi boat restaurants. The little boats float by and you just pick up whatever you feel like eating.

And then this morning I ate at Hell's Kitchen. Lovely little breakfast establishment. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a good breakfast/brunch. One of my favorite places in the city. I had the egg "stir-fry" with multi-grain toast. They make their own peanut butter. They also make their own blackberry jam and marmalade. Lots of fun.

Well, my time's almost up on this terminal so I need to get going. I am getting a massage at a new spa later tonight. Very excited!!!!

Ok not quite sure what's up with me today but I think it was a not so common veggie called a "sweet yam" that I used in the veggie fritter receipe last night. A little drunk so, this entry won't be very long. But, the "sweet yam" is the ONLY thing that's been different in my diet since I started this and I am bloated and not digesting foods the way I should - lemon water didn't work today, which is odd and this is the only new food I've tried that's not mentioned in the book. It won't be hard to avoid from now on - it's a yam but has a different, rougher outer skin than a sweet potato and is white on the inside - definately just use a reg yam/sweet potato with that receipe. Although I had a SUPER stressful day today with the kids, I really think this white yam is what's messing me up since I started off the day with sharp stomach pains - something I used to expereince all the time BEFORE Eat Right For Your Type. So, in short, I think us AB's should avoid this "sweet yam," white in color that I found at my local bodega.

Had 2 pear ciders and a veggie quesadea (sp?) at our favorite local bar (I took the roasted peppers off of it of course) - I'm definately feeling MUCH more relaxed. :-D I felt a little wasteful taking out the peppers but the last thing I wanted in my stomach was more avoids - that yam has done a number on me. :-( Hope you all are feeling well and finding happiness in your environments - see you all tomorrow!!!!

I’ve been on the fast track the last week or so. It’s been a run for the money in a lot of ways, but it has also given me a chance, once again, to appreciate the benefits of following the blood type diet. I’ve had several evenings recently when I thought I was too tired to eat anything, but revived considerably after eating some beneficial veggies and a bit of lamb. One of my saving graces is that I cook a leg of lamb after a lot of garlic has been pushed into slits cut into the meat. When it’s cool, I slice it and put each slice into a baggie, then put them all into the freezer compartment of my refrigerator. After that, when I prepare my evening meal, it is very easy to place the frozen slice of lamb in my steamer pot and allow it to thaw while the chosen veggies are cooking. This cuts down enormously on how much time I need to spend in the kitchen to eat properly, and felt like it saved my life several times over in the past week.

Another thing I was feeling grateful for this past week was sweating. It was warm-ish and even when it wasn’t particularly hot, because of my great bursts of activity (walking briskly), I was sweating as I moved. I can see a lot of people scratching their heads and saying “Huhhh??? We all sweat, don’t we?” Well, I do now, but for a very long part of my life, I would sweat only after I’d gotten very red in the face and was very uncomfortably hot for a long period of time. These days I sweat easily, but it only returned as a side-effect after following the BTD for a while.

It being spring in this part of the world, I am also blessed by the return of my sense of smell, which seemed very dead before I started on the BTD. It’s lovely indeed to experience the smells of spring, the various perfumes of the flowers as I pass by, the scent of freshly cut grass, the musty smells arising from the earth after a good rain, all of which were gifts to me during the past week. I’m sure there is a scientific explanation for the fact that my sweat glands and olfactory ability had shut down because of eating the wrong foods most of my life, but it doesn’t really matter, because I have personally discovered that it is indeed possible to awaken the dead – at least in some ways.

Aside from the above appreciations, I’ve once again had an opportunity to be grateful for the fact that I could participate in the way I have recently, and come out with enough energy to write this blog. No matter how tired I became by late evening, I have gotten out of bed at my normal time with good energy and the ability to keep going for another very full day. Even though I was tired at various times throughout the day, I never really bottomed out – meaning I didn’t quit completely and collapse into a mushy heap on my bed. Rest, of course, was dictated and obeyed at various times. Although there are, of course, at any given time, several factors operating simultaneously, a great many of them having nothing to do with food or eating, following the BTD has allowed me to live my life every moment to the fullest possibility, something that was leaving my grasp seven years ago. There is only one thing left to say – and of course, it is - THANKS, Peter!

Wow... I'll tell you about yesterday... Then I'll get to today. Dinner last night was sauteed tempeh w/sweet Vidalia onion all seasoned up pretty. Dill, parsley, turmeric, garlic, etc. Somehow my grandpa talked me into taking a Tbsp. of extra virgin coconut oil... WTH was I thinking?!? It's an avoid for A's... Intersting stuff though... I also had enough pumpkin seeds to kill a grown cave troll last night... Yum...

Did you know that pumpkin seeds are antiparasitic? Yup, Native Americans used to chew on them in order to de-worm back in the day. Good stuff. I spent two hours w/the Green Star making enough juice last night to last Papa and I a few days. We just got back into Hill Country today in the PM... Used A BEAUTIFUL dinosaur kale, a whole Costa Rica pineapple, garlic, green, red, and white onion, carrots, ginger and maybe some more stuff... Had a few glasses of good Australian Shiraz by now... Can't remember... All in all it was about 64 oz I'd say... That A LOT of juice... Hit the floor at 1am...

Rose at 7:30 this morn... Drank a bit more of the juice I made last night (YEAH!), showered, packed and skipped breakfast. I was planning on hitting up Tokyo One in Dallas for sushi... By the time we got there I was so pissed I couldn't even think about eating... I'll spoare you the details... The fact that I didn't get any Sushi angered me even further... Hit the road for Hill Country and drove 3 boring hours to Austin... Cool town... Met an insane person... Went to a crappy buffet... Ate a bit of edemame, pineapple, and watermelon... Buffets aren't real friendly to someone as strict as I am... No MSG, corn syrup, microwaved food, avoids, nitrites, smoked foods. The list goes on and on... I avoid more than just "avoids" you could say...

Got back to the vineyard in Hill Country. The magic here took over immediatley. Felt better right away... Soaked up a little 5pm sun and watched a bit of TV (a rarity for me). Dinner was turkey and steamed green beans, with a fantastic salad comprised of spinach, arugala, romaine, zuchinni, yellow saquash, celery, and carrots. Made a pretty good dressing using a small over-ripe avocado, lemon juice, dill, olive oil, garlic/onion powder, and a 'lil bit of love... He he. Had a glass of that Shiraz I mentioned earlier with it. Good music and good conversation abound. Cleaned the kitchen w/Aunt Elaine and proceeded to sit on the porch w/her and lecture her about the miracle of the liver/gallbladder flushing for a good hour... Three glasses of wine later I actually talked her into it. Going to curezone.com to print off simple instructions for her. I feel great. I love this palce... I love this webpage... Is this the wine talkin' or the appreciation for all this sight has done for me?... Going to have a bit more of the juice I mentioned earlier before bed. Much love to everyone who deserves it.

Sara, If you're reading this, keep it up w/the sardines!!! Excellent source of omega 3, 6, and 9's, calcium, iron, and protien! Very low in mercury too! Just make sure they are packed in spring water or extra virgin olive oil. Soybean oil would be a distant neutral... You can recieve the same polyamine nuetralizing affects from both black cherry and blueberries/juice/concentrate. They also contain pigments that inhibit weight gain, antioxidants that prevent free radical damage, and a host of phenols that help everything form goiter to migraines... You're doing great in spite of your family's opposition. Look forward to hearing fromm you soon.

Yep, that's what's for dinner tonight, our version of hash browns, with organic broccolli and spinach on the side (Found in the frozen food section of Trader Joe's!!!). My husband actually raves about this dish, hence the title. It's actually just the Veggie Fritters reciepe from Cook Right For Your Type with a slight variation.

Like it says, take some veggies and mince them. There's no way I could do this by hand so, I lob a parsnip, yam and potato into chunks and drop it into my food processor. Presto! A few seconds later, instanly, finely chopped veggies. I added 3 eggs b/c I had 4 cups of veggies instead of 3. Now, instead of dropping it by hand fulls, I take 1/2 the batter at a time and spread it like a big pancake all over the frying pan of oil. Cook for a few minutes until brown on one side and flip over. Well, it won't flip over all at once like the guys in the restaurants but it's hash browns, so you want it all mixed up, not flat. Pour it onto a plate when it looks right, add a little sea salt and bingo!!! Best Hash Browns Ever! This is a good way to try to start weening your O's off of the arthritis causing potato (Eggplant is also like this for O's but is Very Good for B's & AB's) If you haven't tried a parsnip yet, do so with this receipe - it's very yummy and HIGHLY BENEFICIAL FOR EVERYBODY!!! Looks like a big, yellow/white carrot. Remember A's and AB's, we have sensititve digestive systems - be sure to eat organic eggs & dairy if you can - your body will notice the difference and baked goods taste sweeter :-)

Breakfast was just some Spelt bread on the go after the lemon water.....I know, I need to get up earlier for my "King of Breakfasts" but bed is so comfy in the morning! :-) The important thing is I do what I can, when I can. This diet isn't about strict guidelines that change your life over night, but a gradual adjustment; of the way you eat to incorporate things your body needs, and get rid of things that cause it pain and stress. Lunch was my left over Turkey/Eggplant/Tofu experiment - tasted better the second day but still needs adjusting. Knoshed on peanuts and fresh pineapple slices throughout the day. Remember BROMELAIN A's, B's and AB's!!! It helps immensly with our digestion and is found most prevelantly in pineapple!!! Oh, I take Vitamin B and The Helix supplement by Dr. D every morning too. (Read Jim's past pages about the importance of those two vitamins) Should be taking the grapefruit juice after the lemon water as an AB too.......I mean, the bottle's right in the front of my fridge!!! But like I said, got to get up earlier......

We’ve been through this before and the hardest thing when you start on the BTD is all the favourite foods you miss, in my case things like potato and tomato.

Let’s look at some of the new foods I’ve tried since being on BTD.

I’d always eaten rice but now it is far more of a staple food and to be frank I always thought, rice, yeah OK. Now it’s rice, yum.

Couscous was a new food and it runs a close second to rice in lots of our meals.

Flours of all shapes and sizes, after eliminating wheat, we’ve moved on to Rye, Oat, Barley and Rice flours with varying degrees of success.

Lots of new vegetables.

Celeriac. I’d never heard of it before. Sometimes called Celery rooted turnip. It is very similar in taste to celery but in my case without the unpleasant side effect. Uurrrpp. Excuse Me.

Grated and fried in a little oil or popped on a grill it cooks down really well and makes an excellent burger topping in place of onion. Finely sliced and shallow or deep fried it can also make a great substitute for potato chips. Diced in fine chunks a la carrot it also goes well in soups and stews. Eaten raw it is very similar in taste to Celery.

Collard Greens. I thought this was something exclusive to the Southern USA. How wrong. Turns out it’s a forerunner to the modern day cabbage and has a mild and pleasant taste.

Kale. As a kid Mom and Dad used to grow this on our farm as cattle fodder. Trust me it deserves far better treatment. We grow a variety called Scotch King which has the most superb curly leaf. A slightly bitter flavour that improves after a good frost. If you don’t have a good frost handy you can always pop it in the freezer for 10 – 15 minutes to simulate the effect. It works really well, but don’t forget about it. Overnight it will become brittle and it takes a while to clean up the kitchen floor when it shatters.

Kohlrabi. An excellent vegetable cooked or raw. Grated and dressed with lemon juice and Olive Oil it makes an excellent salad. We have more success with the green/white version than the purple.

Lots of lettuce varieties, in fact if it’s beneficial we’ve probably grown it and tried it.

Green Tea. Love it.

So many foods, so little time.

Yeah!!!!!!! I'm in such a good mood right now!!! Watching my favorite anime, again........ Disk 5 of Neon Genesis Evangelion - brilliant - could write pages and disertations on it - it's soooo deep!!! But this is a site about food so, I'll move on.

Morning started off really bad though. Had the lemon and water to jump start my system but was running late for the bus so I just grabbed a slice of ezekial bread to munch on my way. As I'm walking down the street, thinking happy thoughts because it's so nice and warm, I hear vicious, loud barking. I see a strange dog from my neighbors yard yelling it's head off at the gate. Worse yet, it breaks through the gate and starts after me. Needless to say, I'm scared sh**less. I HATE this aspects of dogs. I was cursing and kicking him left and right. Fortunately he was pretty small but big enough that he could have done some damage. He stopped after I seemed to have left his territory. Tomorrow, I'll bring him a hot dog to keep it preoccupied. Stupid &*&%$$@%^!!! I know - there's a lot of dog lovers out there and I am personally fond of several dogs, just not this one.

So even though I'm usually always hungry, I was so stressed I just couldn't eat. Big mistake - I felt so grouchy and irritable at work all morning, I felt weak too. I can't stress this enough - as an AB, we must eat!!! I find that I physically cannot go four hours without eating. My stomach hurts so bad and all I can think about is food, all I will talk about is food, all I will whine about is food. (My husband has learned to have snacks in the car :-) I sneaked some peanuts just before the kids came in to school and luckily lunch was only 3 hours later, so I was fine. I was even able to resist the snack we served them, Chips Ahoy-like cookies. All that wheat and perservatives. I figured if I made it this long without eating, I could wait another 20 minutes. I did have a few random chocolate chips at the bottom of the bag. Then lunch came, Hurrah!!! I had 2 pieces of Ezekial bread and albacore tuna with a tiny bit of mayo and some dried cherries on the side - so fulfilling. I snacked on peanuts throughout the rest of the day to keep my energy up for the kids. Lunch was eaten at a park across the street - how I love being near the trees and grass and sunshine.....

Ate some fresh cherries when I got home, yummy and tried to bake a yam but I somehow messed that up too.....

Good news!!! Dinner came out pretty well though. I had Turkey cutlets which, I was going to use the yummy looking reciepe in Cook Right For Your Type but alas, our apartment is soooooo messy right now, it is NO where to be found!!! And I was just reading it last night!!! So I had to do some of my famous experimenting.....here's what I did - the reciepe still needs some adjusting but it was pretty good and I just need to learn how to make a sauce. Here's what I used

4 small turkey cutlets

slices of firm tofu

slices of eggplant

olive oil

garlic/shallot mixture

curry

turmeric

All of this is great for AB's (and probably others, except for the eggplant, which only seems beneficial for AB's, I think) Covered the pan in olive oil, rubbed curry and turmeric all over the cutlets. Put the slices of tofu underneath. Put garlic/shallot mixture all over the turkey. Sliced the eggpant put on top, added more olive oil. Baked at 350 degrees for I don't know how long - who needs details? Alright, alright. They are pretty essential for cooking but I wasn't keeping track of the time - I was watching Japanese cartoons!!! I think it was 1 1/2 hours - which was too long b/c it was a little dry and I wish it was a sauce, instead of just rubbed spices and lots of oil. Tofu just tasted like curry - I think it might be better on top next time. The eggplant was the best part and the turkey was quite all right - a little too spicy and kinda dry but then, I didn't measure the spices, just sorta dumped them on and rubbed. Good news is, it was definately fulfilling and made my taste buds very happy and everything in it is Highly Beneficial! (Well maybe the shallots and turmeric are neutral, I can't remember but, just about.....) I'm sure if I keep trying or just ask my husband how to make a good sauce when he gets home, that this will be an excellent dish one day. Turkey, Tofu and Eggplant - a good combination. I tried to make some rice to go with it but burned it - lesson learned, don't watch favorite show in the next room while cooking :-)

Remember guys, drink lots of water, just not with meals - makes things harder to digest. Enjoy the spring, wherever you are, spend some time outside today!!!

I’m writing this with the sound of fireworks going off not far from where I live and some Oscar Peterson filling my living room surround sound speakers. Today was a quiet day filled in with exercising in the morning and afternoon. I decided to try out some stationary bike this morning to see how I would feel. Still don’t know what this tiny (it’s slowly dissipating each day) discomfort in my lower right side is but after 30 minutes on the bike at a good speed, I was no worse for wear.

Started off the day with some wheat grass…. there is that nasty word all O’s and some other blood types hate to hear, but in Ask Dr D’Adamo column, he gave it a thumbs up.. ‘The sprouting of wheat into wheat grass destroys the lectin that is problematic in wheat. Sprouting also beneficially changes the nutrient profile of this grain, resulting in a nutrient-dense, enzyme-rich superfood. Because of these factors, I consider wheat grass to be an excellent addition to the diet for all blood types.'

I buy it at my local health food store. It comes frozen in ice cube trays…I pop two wheat grass cubes in an 8 ounce glass of purified water and I’m good to go. Who needs caffeine to wake up?…the nutrients in this stuff and the Vitamin K it contains are superb brain food.

Spent the balance of the day catching up on my new read for the month…Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King. I was fortunate to view the Sistine Chapel frescos at the Vatican in Rome when I was 18 years old. I was awe struck as to how an artist could have conceived and toiled at such a colossal task. In reality, he had a lot of help and knew exactly when to call in the reserves. Reading about his personality traits throughout the book, I began to hypothesize as to what blood type he might be. I narrowed it down to two, type A or B, of the four types the two most creative. In the end I classified him as a B for several reasons. He was very original in that he declined to use the Pope’s suggestions for the fresco’s that were to adorn the chapel and decided to use his own themes and designs. Resilient in that he endured years on this project in not so friendly working conditions. Independent in that he did not liked to be constrained in rigid rules.Lastly he was a chronic organizer in that he spent more time setting up and planning what he was to draw than actually drawing it. These are just broad generalizations but I find this stuff intriguing. I did not classify him as an A…he was not a sensitive man nor cooperative in any way. Anyway…thanks to LRFYBT for the personality descriptions that led to my conclusions.

Later in the afternoon, I was feeling a bit restless with all the reading and relaxation so I decided to go roller blading before dinner. As I was placing my blades on in my condo’s lobby, an elderly man passed me by and gave me this odd stare. I didn’t think anything of it until he came back and asked where I was headed off. I told him and he immediately asked if he could join me. I don’t know what made me say ‘sure’ but he looked like he was in good shape. In turns out that ‘Otto’ is 64 and was a one time professional cyclist in Russia before he immigrated to Canada. We went for 10km and he did not have any problem keeping up with me; very confident in his stride and very extraverted…talked the whole time (type O maybe?). Here’s a gentleman that obviously has taken good care of himself. Here’s hoping when and if(confident I will because I’m an O) I reach his age I’ll be in the same shape as he.

Went swimming and then had lunch yesterday. It was scrambled tofu w/red onions, swiss chard, and seasoned w/turmeric, garlic, rosemary, and herbamare all sauteed in olive oil. A big handful of pumpkin seeds, and an 8oz cup of coffee that I mixed with juicer pulp. Weird combo. No more than 6oz of coffee per 6 hours for us A's, I know, I know. Any more will trigger a cortisol response. I'm a big guy though.

Made dinner for 4 last night after a quick Black Mission Fig snack. Sauteed wild cod and Ahi yellow fin tuna in olive oil with garlic, herbamare, rosemary, and a wee bit of ginger. Added sliced baby carrots, sweet Vidalia onion, and chopped red chard. Had a few more spoonfuls of the juicer pulp and a Tbsp. of blueberry concentrate.

Made juice before I went to bed. About 34 oz made enough for 5oz each for each of us (Papa and I) last night, then 12oz each before breakfast. Used Lots of swiss chard, carrots, celery, a couple of peaches, green and white onion, ginger, garlic, and... Well, that's it. That stuff was ALIVE, I'll tell 'ya what.

Went to bed at 1am again... Could not sleep a wink last night... Tossing and turning... Don't know what the deal was... Feel good today though.

Woke at 8:30 (got out of bed anyway), drank juice. Still good. We both have a Green Star juicer that extracts the juice in a special way... Makes it stable up to 36 hours. Very cool, pretty spendy. I'd explain it to you better, but this will be a long blog as it stands. Do a search on it. Research it. Go buy one and use it. Done and done.

Took a shower. My back is peeling like a @&*!#$^% from that sunburn... Pretty cool. I can peel it off in big flakes. Tastes kinda salty... Ha ha, just pullin' your liver there. Got a quick alignment from Papa and then ate breakfast. The standard avocado, two eggs, a BIG handful of the nut mix I've been jammin' on, and a bunch of delicious seasonings was the ticket again. Used dill, rosemary, ginger, garlic, and herbamare. Had a Tbsp. of black cherry concentrate as well. You know why by now.

Went shopping at a place called Central Market in Dallas for a few things. Very cool place. The most amazing produce this tundra dweller has ever seen. We then hit up Whole Foods. I had to buy snails. They have cans of it there for $3.50. I bought ten. Delicious. Similar to coffee and soy, the common Roman snail (Helix Pomatia) will serve to "deantigenate" cancer cells. This is VERY important for our friendly "A" immune system. Especially women.

Had a snack on the way home from Whole Foods. A pluot and a huge apricot. Smashed the pits open for the kernels. Pluots are good... They taste like extremely flavorful plums. No rating for them, but I assume they would be beneficial like plums. Green tea w/ginger and water when we got home. Talked politics and had my numbers read by a genius numerologist. BLEW ME AWAY. I was fascinated.

Proceeded to eat lunch w/the numerologist, Papa, and a friend of his. I had Tempeh sauteed in avocado oil w/white and red onion, and some broccoli. I love broccoli. Seasoned it up all nice, had a handful of walnuts, and a few more bites of juicer pulp. Guess what?! I had a Tbsp. of blueberry concentrate as well! Oh my gosh...

Taking care of computer business right now. Trying to process what the numerologist told me... So much info. Amazing and enlightening to say the least. He analyzed my name, birthday, address... Everything... So cool. Sorry about the length of this gang. Until tomorrow, be well.

Today is special, this is my 100th blog and one of you is my 10,000th reader. I can’t speak for Peter’s expectations but when I started doing this I never imagined going for this long or that so many people would be interested in reading my ramblings. Thanks to you all.

I can’t give a prize to the lucky 10,000th so instead I will share my day with all of you.

6:00am.

Alarm goes off

6:10am.

Alarm goes off second time and I get up.

6:15am.

Turn on computer, prepare my lunch and feed the Budgie. Check e-mails and blog comments. Todays lunch is a sandwich of Rye bread with miso, bean sprouts, rocket, green lettuce and lentil burger. Dried fruit and a fresh pear.

6:30am.

Personal stuff including shave, shower and getting dressed

6:55am.

Make the bed while Sue does her hair. Sue and I get up together every day. Glass of warm lemon juice to start the day.

7:05am.

Breakfast, comprises homemade Muesli with beneficial grains, dried fruit & seeds. Topped with natural yoghurt, flax meal and lecithin in warm Soy milk. Mug of green tea.

7:30am.

Leave for work

7:45am.

Arrive at work and unlock premises.

7:45 – 11:15am.

Work. Not interesting.

11:15am.

Take digestive drops prior to lunch.

11:30am.

Go to lunch, including approx. 20 minute walk.

12:15 – 5:00pm.

Back at my desk. More non interesting stuff.

5:00pm.

Leave work for home.

5:15pm.

Arrive home to kisses and cuddles from Bonnie, much tail wagging. Sue’s there as well but unfortunately no tail wagging.

5:30pm.

Change of clothes from work, check e-mails and write my next blog. Enjoy glass of red wine.

6:00pm.

Food. Tonight it’s homemade vegetable and lentil soup, accompanied by grilled Spelt Foccacia bread and drizzled with olive oil.

6:30pm.

Washing up dinner things with Sue.

6:45pm.

Groom Bonnie prior to her meal.

7:00pm.

Usually spend up to an hour surfing the internet. Tonight Australia are playing Turkey in a friendly soccer international from Melbourne. Live on TV from 7:30 so that’s where I’ll be.

8:00pm. Supper, green tea and oatmeal cookie.

9:30pm.

Time for bed.

Wow, Amanda and I were thinking the same thing - I too wanted fish for breakfast!!! Unfortunately for me, my fresh cod was no longer fresh and had been in the fridge too long. And even more unfortunately....I'm very stubborn sometimes. So, I go about cooking the fish. "Maybe if I broil it, it will be ok" I think to myself. I won't even go into the ingredients because nothing helped. Bad fish is bad fish. I took one bite and immediately spit it out. And for my stubborness all I have is more dirty dishes to wash. I had some rye/oatmeal oats with a little bit of soy milk and all natural dried cherries instead. Very yummy but I do wish I had been at Amanda's. :-) The lesson learned....well, I'm not sure if I did learn my lesson.....I have a very bad track record of experimenting with food.....

My brother still loves to tell the story of how when I was 11 and he was 7, I was left in charge of dinner one night will the 'rants were out. Macaroni & Cheese - so simple a child could make it - you'd think. So, I'm a very literal child, and on the side of the box, it never said to drain the pasta, so I end up making macaroni soup. My brother starts crying when he sees dinner, I'm upset because I worked hard to make it and followed all the directions so it must be right and make him eat it. It's a story he never lets me forget....

Or how about just a few months ago, before I was on the diet, I make my husband an omlet for breakfast because he's been such a sweetheart lately. I saute some mushrooms since I know he likes them but I was feeling......creative, soooooooo, I add cinnamon! Butter and cinnamon and eggs work well in baking, why not with mushrooms? I thought they tasted fine.....no one else whose heard this story seems to look at me quite the same way though. My husband asked me not be creative in the kitchen anymore but then,........

Just last week, I was making roasted chicken for my big O but instead of following his instructions of just adding a rub with some oil, I thought some nice veggies and freshly diced tomoates would be nice. Big mistake - the tomatoes took out all the flavor of the rub and the chicken was dry to boot. He salvaged it into a wonderful tasting shreded chicken tomato sauce. (I only had a bite) He's a very good cook and so are his parents. Why do I have such a hard time listening to other people's good sense?

But, the reciepes in the Cook Right For Your Blood Type book are very yummy - those I follow to the letter with excellent results. Our favorite is the sauce that goes over the steamed red snapper reciepe - mmmmmmmmmm, everyone whose compliant with it should definately try it.

Ohhhhh - good news, I got a juicer today! A really nice manual one by Nigella in robin's egg blue. Just the kind for lemons and grapefruit but that's exactly what I need it for in the morning. Life will be a little easier now.

Lunch after shopping was yummy - left over yellow rice with pinto beans (both good for AB!) and ox tail from the other day. I'm assuming I probably should not be eating ox tail though since it's a bovine-esque creature. Does anyone know where ox falls on this diet? Fortunately it was mostly bone so there wasn't a lot that my body had to digest. Oh,Oh,Oh! - some advice from the book. If you are going to eat meat, I remember it saying to take some vitamin C before hand - it will help with digestion. I'm trying not to drink water with my meals so as to boost my digestive acid levels; I had some grapes in between the rice to help quench my thirst instead - I think that's a better alternative, right?

Dinner consisted of some sort of turkey in a sauce dinner by Jennie-o and a tomato that I ate like an apple because I can. Husband's at a convention this weekend - can you tell I'm just cooking for one? I've never been the kind to get all fussy about meals so a lot of mine will be simple - promise to post some good reciepes soon. Ones that my husband approves of - apparently mushrooms and cinnamon just isn't going to be a big hit (they're both avoids anyways) - why can't I be like the "Iron Chief?"

PS - Thanks again for all the kind posts, Amanda, Paul, Mike and Jim!!! It's so nice to share things with people about the diet. I really enjoy reading everyone's writings and try to read them each day - there's so much we can learn from each other. Hugs to all!!! I'll probably head out to Dunkin Donuts with my buddies tonight. Maybe just a cup of coffee - that bleached flour isn't very good for bikini weather coming up. We have to think of consequences, not just the immediate pleasure of a boston cream at midnight....(pumpkin time!!!)

So much to do so little time. I'm feeling really rushed as I always do when I'm in Dallas.



Pigged out on raw pumpkin seeds and raw broccoli last night at 11. No no... I always seem to want to eat the most at night... Not good for an A. We are to be Breaking the night time fast w/the King of Meals and tapering down as the day goes by... I seem to be the opposite. Meditated for an hour and hit the sack at 1 or so...



Rose at 8:30 and and wiped the sleep outta my eyes. Did a bit of cleansing, had a shower and juiced w/Papa. I need to be juicing more often. I shoot for 5X a week, but I constantly fall short due to lack of time and motivation. Juiced a couple of peaches, carrots, celery, garlic, green onions, kale, swiss chard, and ginger. Very stimulating.



Did some 'o' the old lemon water and then ate. Breakfast was half a big avocado, a handful of my nut mix, a peach (ate the kernel inside the pits of course...B17!!)

and two organic eggs. I seasoned with turmeric, garlic, Herbamare (BUY THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T TRIED IT!), and rosemary. A big Tbsp. of blueberry concentrate again to combat polyamines and get some needed antioxidants was the topper.



Way too much to do today. Just got a decent spinal alignment from Papa. Going to drink a bunch of water and go swimming w/his girlfriend and a couple of 'lil tikes. Already looking forward to lunch. Eat to live, not live to eat. A concept I need to study a bit here...



Until later fellow BTDieters!!!



In answer to a question: For sunburn I just use pure aloe vera. The pain is gone for the most part, but I'm starting to peel now. At least I look like a brazen sun god though... Ha ha.

It’s one of those cold damp days in Tasmania, no breeze, heavy cloud and the air along with everything else just feels damp.

I’ve just spent a couple of productive hours planting Broad Beans in the garden ready for next spring. They grow steadily until mid winter when they hold and wait for warmer weather before producing flowers and beans in spring. I love them.

They are a neutral for Type A whilst a Fava bean is beneficial. I always thought they were the same thing. Does anyone know what the difference is ?

The hamstrings are a bit tight after bending & stretching planting the beans so today’s walk was a good opportunity to loosen them up. I wasn’t planning on two walks though. Sue and I were followed home by a Rottweiler cross bitch roaming the streets. Very friendly and affectionate she wouldn’t go home, wherever that was. Fortunately she had her registration tag on and we were able to get hold of the dog ranger even though it was Sunday. We found her owner address and I walked her back to her owners who didn’t even know she’d got out of their yard. Some people just don’t deserve dogs.

Some bad news at work this week, one of my young workmates has suffered from Crohns Disease of the Oesophagus for a number of years. He has just been told that this has now spread to the bowel and unless he makes some changes to his diet it will have serious consequences. He’s 21 and thinks he’s immortal. He knows about my diet but I really can’t interfere in what should be a family matter. I have suggested he go and see a Naturopath and nutritionist to get some help and not try to tackle it on his own. I will give him all the advice and encouragement I can, but ultimately He’s got to want to do it.

In answer to a couple of comments this week, I think ‘Parsnip Parsley’ is a herb it’s certainly not a Parsnip and you definitely couldn’t eat Parsnip tops. Check out the difference on Cooks Thesaurus.

Bloating with Soy products could have something to do with the way you cook the beans and could even be as simple as cooking them in the water you soaked them in. Always cook any beans in fresh water. Herbs like Caraway can have a positive effect on some of the more socially unacceptable side effects.

"I have enforced the laws against killing certain animals and many others. But the greatest progress of Righteousness among men comes from the exhortation in favour of non-injury to life and abstention from killing living things. "

Pillar Edict of King Ashoka (268-233 BC)

It’s a long weekend here in Canada…Monday is Victoria Day (day off from work) named after the English Queen who lived most of the 19th century…now there was a lady with good genes.

My daughter is with me this long weekend and I thought she would like to go see the return of the friendly ogre and his bride Fiona in Shrek II. We went to the 1pm show and as we entered theatre nine, two large characters by the names of Hubba and Bubba (name of a chewing bubble gum brand) accosted us, wanting my daughter to hug or shake hands with them. We brushed by them to take our seats and in no time the two mascots were in the front rows of the theatre waving and prancing while the Hubba Bubba spokesperson was talking it up to all the kids with promises of free gum to any kid who could answer some skilled testing questions on the Shrek characters…. After many samples were given out they announced a grand prize of a Hubba Bubba CD Walkman to the kid who could answer who wrote the Book Shrek. What candy companies will do to gets kids to buy their product.

Exit the Gum pushers; enter the theatre food advertising on the giant screen pushing popcorn, soda and nacho chips with cheese (if you can call it that) and candy bar combo for $4.99…avoids a plenty for almost all. It gets better…in between the ads comes a Cancer prevention ad with a picture of a very elderly man, say in his 80’s, with the tag line, “Cancer can be beaten” (heaven forbid we show a young child with Leukemia or a mom or dad with cancer…we would be sending the wrong message). Yes boys and girls (and parents), you can eat this crap and chew bubble gum to your hearts content and you wont get cancer till you’re in your eighties.

The movie finally starts and yes the movie is better than the first but in between the fun and laughter is a sad commentary on eating habits. Shrek and Fiona are on their honeymoon sitting in a pool of soon to be bubbling mud both sharing some laughs and drink while showing off how much gas (flatulence) their bowels have built up…everyone is laughing hard at this point because flatulence is funny… right? Shrek and Fiona need to pick up some good Probiotics with beneficial bacteria to combat their nasty intestinal flora.

Shrek and Fiona then go on to meet her parents and sit down to dinner with much burping at the start and the finish of the meal ending with lots of shouting and insults hurled from one end of the table to the other with food being shoveled into mouths. One should try to eat in a calm relaxed manner and chew their food slowly …right? (I know it’s all in fun but small children are very impressionable?)

Now for the food climax…there is a scene in the movie where the fairy Godmother is very stressed out and decides she needs some comfort food so she commands her carriage driver to take her to the nearest medieval greasy spoon and starts ordering up super size servings of her favorite fast food…French fries…an avoid for O’s and A’s but Ok for the rest but the saturated fat of the fries is the big culprit for all).

I won’t give away any more of the movie for those of you who are inkling to go but as we walked out of the theatre they were giving out free sample of Fruit Rollups…a packaged fruit substitute for kids who don’t like eating real fruit.

Ugh!!!…. I might be giving the impression that I’m turning into a righteous food ogre but I’m getting tired of being bombarded with bad food messages all in the name of profit…and especially messages geared to young kids.

My daughter had spelt pasta with pesto sauce (olive oil and fresh basil) and I had a chicken vegetable stir-fry that we prepared at home before we went to the theatre, ate nothing while at the movie. When we got home my daughter asked for a snack and I gave her one of her favorites…. prunes.

Speaking of gums…I found out the soymilk I‘ve been drinking for the last 12 months has Carageenan, a gum and food stabilizer, which can contribute to inflammatory bowel disease. Could this be the cause of my latest intestinal discomfort?

Remember…if you’re going to chew gum, don’t swallow it!

Ate dinner in a Ford Ranger speeding northbound on 281 in Texas last night... Went to Sun Harvest Foods in San Antonio for a bit of health food shopping... Had cherries, shallots, green onions, ginger, and edamame on the way home. Lots of it. Opened a bottle of '95 Gewurztraminer afterward... It had gone bad... Never store a white for over seven years. Opened a bottle of '91 Cabernet Franc... Perfect. Drank most of the bottle and ate blueberries and cranberries for dessert. I gotta stop these carb binges at night... At least they're beneficial though.



Woke up at 8:10 today. Breakfast was an avocado dressed as usual, and a baby food vita-mix shake using broccoli, green onions, shallots, a couple of cherries, some kefir, celery, and some swiss chard. Yum.



Tied vines in the vineyard for a few hours, furthering the aforementioned sunburn. Green tea and water abound. Had a green apple too. Green. Green. Green. Love the diet, love the Viticulture.



Lunch was a can of wild caught salmon w/bones in spring water. Salmon w/bones is a wonderful way too get your calcium folks. Also had a big handful of raw peanuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts.



Drove into San Antonio and hopped a plane to Dallas. Ate half of dinner on the plane. Five apricots a bunch more cherries, and more nuts. Met my Grandpa at the airport and drove to his house. A tin of sardines w/a Tbsp. of blueberry concentrate to neutralize the polyamines in the cooked and canned fish comprised the rest of dinner. Yum.



Vitamin B17 is found in most all fruit seeds such as the apple, peach, cherry, orange, nectarine and apricot. It is found in some beans and many grasses such as wheat grass. The hard wooden pit in the middle of the peach is not supposed to be thrown away. In fact, the wooden shell is strong armor protecting one of the most important foods known to man, the seed. Other foods that contain vitamin B-17 are: bitter almonds, millet, wheat grass, lima beans and more. (The bitter almond tree was banned from the U.S. in 1995.) The kernel or seed contains the highest amounts of vitamin B17. Laetrile is KNOWN to prevent and cure cancer. Eat those KERNELS!!!!! Just don't chip a tooth getting them open...



Going to juice w/Grandpa (I call him Papa) later tonight and just relax... I need it. Later gang.

I HATE these da** split, ergonomic keyboards... Really throws a wrench in a guys hunting and pecking ya' know?

Oh yeah! Gotta answer a few q's.

1) Weight loss for type A's is easy as long as you have the discipline. No grains except for amaranth, and buckwheat as they are both actually more seed like. Minimize nuts, and high fat foods like avocados etc. Stick to a modest amount of soy. Fish, poultry, and non-starchy vegetables. Emphasize the leafy greens. Use Heidis' water recommendation. 1/2 oz. per pound of body weight with a squeeze of lemon, and/or 1/4 tsp. of good grey sea salt per liter to assist in cleansing and electrolyte balance. And of course... EXERCISE! You may need to do a bit of cleansing as well... Possibly a liver/gallbladder flush... Check Heidis' column for more info.



2) The natural enzymes in food begin to deteriorate at 105 degrees F. The Ezekiel Sprouted grains cereal was baked well above that I'm sure. Mixing it with the hot green tea actually did FAR more digesting than the few enzymes left intact after the baking process. At least that's my opinion...

Hello, Hello!!!! It's so nice to be here! Today I had a beautiful day although my body won't really thank me for it tomorrow. My first day writing and what do I have to write about? Not following the diet very well. It's ok, today was a special day. My friend and I went to Chinatown here in NYC - the first time for me. It was even more fun since my buddy and his family are Chinese so we went and ate REAL Chinese food at a deli near Delancy Street for breakfast. It was so cool, I was the only one not speaking Chinese and I didn't have a clue what I was eating! It all tasted good but not as good as my lunch which was on the diet and I'll explain later. Definately an experience to remember, though. Then we went shopping all day in the sun and got some great bargins. So by the time we got back @ 3pm, my body was starving for something beneficial.

It's strange, I've only been on the diet for 2 months and already my body seems to know that when it's off track, it wants me to get right back on!

So, for lunch (@3pm), I ate 2 scrambled organic eggs, mixed with tofu, soy milk, tomatoes and soy cheddar cheese. And a piece of spelt bread with peanut butter on the side. Not your typical lunch but it made me VERY happy and I'm still full even at this hour of the night.

Ohhhhh - so much I want to write about, so little time! As an AB and for all the A's out there, I can't stress the importance of Lemons enough!!! Even when I'm rushing in the morning and I could be making breakfast, (so I just grab a slice of Ezekial or Spelt bread on the run) I take the time to heat up a cup of water and squeeze 1/2 a large lemon into it. I drink it straight, just like that - think of it as medicine b/c that's how it works, especially when you first start the diet. I always had stomach problems - not serious ones, just constant grumblings and always feeling a little uneasy as my food digested. I thought everyone was like that until I explained how my stomach almost always felt a little uneasy to my husband and he gave me a strange look and bought me some of those tablets. Since I've been eating better, my grumblings have stopped and for A's and AB's lemons (especially a big one) works just as well as any fiber drink and is totally natural. (Just don't eat anything for half an hour after, especially if your on the run - my stomach hurt sooooo bad one morning when I rushed everything together) So, I have mine as soon as I get up so as I'm heading out the door I can munch on something. My stomach is so calm now and hasn't been grouchy since. I tried to get my O to have lemons but it doesn't work (which is probably why it's not mentioned for O's in the book - "duh, Natalie!") I'm sure the other O bloggers have some good ideas and I think Dr. D'Adamo recently answered a question regarding fiber for O's a few weeks ago.

Happy eating everyone!!! It's not so much that your eating because your afraid of something or that your breaking a rule - once you get into the swing of things and memorized the main foods in your life, it's a way of fueling your body to work at it's maximum potential. I find my mood swings that my mom found me famous for have gone down since I stayed away from corn, avocados, artichokes, regular breads and the variety of meats that AB's just shouldn't have. It's wonderful to be at such an even keel 98% of the time. (There's always that 2% of you that's a little crazy no matter what, right? :-)

The great thing about the Blood Type Diet is it doesn’t matter what age you start. You could be 26 or 56 years old and it makes no difference.

I started at 48 and now at the ripe old age of 51 I feel better than I have in years.

The choice is entirely yours, do it gradually or go ‘cold turkey’ as I did.

Beneficial foods act like natural medicine for your body, so the quicker you can get onto them the better, eliminating all avoids at the same time.

If you have a history of medical problems you really should consult your practitioner about what you are trying to, maybe even take the book along and try to educate them at the same time.

You will get more support for this way of life from a Naturopathic Practitioner rather than mainstream medicine. Any Naturopath will be supportive of the ideas behind the diet but there is also a database of accredited practitioners on this site. If you are fortunate enough to live in Connecticut you could even make an appointment at the D’Adamo Clinic, if not I believe they also do telephone consultations, where better to get advice than from the horses mouth, so to speak.

You should also continue all existing medications for any illness until told otherwise by your Doctor. Do not just throw everything in the bin, you’ll do yourself in. What you may find is that as the benefits begin to show in your system your Doctor or Naturopath will alter and in some case discontinue medication as you improve.

Things like blood pressure and hypo tension can be caused by many different things and can be a result of poor diet, stress, work or just life.

Type A is very responsive to yoga as a form of relaxation and many have had a great deal of success in treating stress and hypertension by this method.

Digestive and stomach problems generally are the cross we bear as Type A. We have low digestive acid levels and my naturopath put me on a liquid treatment before and after meals containing a variety of compounds including Angelica and Gentian.

The diet is definitely easier if you have the support of your family and partner.

It is difficult to start with and can mean some dramatic changes to your life and way of eating.

Remember, this is my story. Please talk to a professional about your problems but the answer is yes, the Blood Type Diet will help you.

I held strong and didn't eat anything else last night. I have a prob eating too much as I enjoy it so much. What can I say, I just love food. Perhaps that's why I used to weigh 248, and thanks to the BTD and some determination I'm at a healthy 180. A testimonial? I'll spare you...



Woke up at 8:30 today. Did a half hour cleansing ritual thingy I may let you in on later. Breakfast was another avocado w/lemon and garlic/onion powder. Two organic eggs w/dill and parsley, a handful of blackberries, and... I think I may have had a 'lil something else... Can't remember...



Headed into the vineyard immediately after breakfast. The entire 'main field' has been weeded and tilled. My great Aunt and Uncle have another tiny plot with some beautiful vines growing of a variety called "friendly." Evidently a bastard/mutt/hybrid that cannot be traced back to the main species of grape, hence not suitable for commercial wines. However, it is delicious and makes a wonderful spread I'm told. Spent a few hours weeding it to perfection, then moved to the main plot to "train" the vines. This is the act of tying the dominant vine growing out of the ground to a pole to make it grow 'up.' Good times. More sun.



Just finished lunch. More baby food... Big leaf of chard, big crown of broccoli, two cloves of garlic, three big stalks of celery, a whole small yellow onion, and a 1/2 cup each of soy milk and organic yogurt. Also had a couple of cranberries, and a big handful of nut mix. Almonds, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds... A ginormous lunch to be sure.



For those of you looking for a suitable soy milk. Eden Soy makes a wonderful one containing ONLY soybeans and reverse osmosis water. It's free of rice syrup, carageenan, and all oils. Delicious, nutty, and good for you... You A's anyway... To get some additional iron in your diet, try mixing a Tbsp. of black strap molasses into 8oz of soy milk... It's kinda like chocolate milk and will combat Anemia which we A's are so prone too. Get your minerals! 'Till next time my gentle snowflakes... Ha ha.

5/21/2004 11:20 AM

OK – I’ve decided that it is time to make a confession. I have thought about whether or not to confess for about a month, but I finally decided that I am blogging for the sake of helping people with the process of Eat Right 4 Your Type, and that the biggest help that I can offer is to put my own foibles completely “out there”.

About a month ago I was starving and wanted to eat something NOW. I wasn’t near anything “real”, but I WAS right near a GNC store. You all know GNC, right? They sell supplements and powerbars and such. I never shop there because I purchase my supplements online and from my local grocery stores. Anyway, I thought that MAYBE GNC would have some sort of power bar or something that would take the edge off before I could get some REAL food. I went in and, of course, found nothing that would work. There IS a soy- based powerbar that is probably mostly neutral, but they didn’t have it. On the way out, something caught the corner of my eye…TRIMSPA. Now, I have told you that I am a former diet pill junky, right? Well, I couldn’t resist. I could get into a long story about standing there and thinking to myself, “this is just junk. You know that it won’t work, and even if it does, you can’t take it forever”. I ignored the rational side of my brain. Norman took over, and to give Norman some slack, I was a willing participant.

Part of me couldn’t wait to get the bottle home….would it make me feel that lovely jumpin’ and jivin’ feeling that I always think that I miss? Would I stop eating and have tons and tons of energy? Would I want to work out like a maniac? Would I have all the energy and focus that I always feel like I am missing most of the time?

I opened the bottle and popped 2 pills in my mouth. I remember closing my eyes and smiling – waiting for that feeling of feeling GREAT. The problem was, that feeling never came. No – the bigger problem was that I actually feel great most of the time now. That old feeling of “great” – from the years of obsessive dieting, obsessive exercise and lots of pills isn’t great at all – I just forget sometimes.

I took the pills, as directed for 4 days. Each time, I waited to feel “great”. Each time it didn’t happen. What DID happen was that I started to feel horrible. I started to feel shaky and nervous, but not in a good way – in a very, very bad way. My beloved Ephedra wasn’t in this product (which didn’t matter anyway because I long ago burned my body out on Ephedra – the good feelings are only memories for that stuff – not reality). Instead it was chock full of caffeine, and it was making me feel horrible.



To my defense, I had read a very interesting article on the hoodia cactus (which is listed in the ingredients of the pills):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/correspondent/2947810.stm



However, the last statement in the article is, “And beware internet sites offering Hoodia "pills" from the US as we tested the leading brand and discovered it has no discernible Hoodia in it”

It was actually this article that made me think that Trimspa might work, even though I had plenty or reasons to believe that it probably wouldn’t. Mostly, I have to say, that my desire to take a pill was based on a lifetime of doing so. I paid for that desire as I have every time that I have done it in the past. You always pay eventually; it is just that I paid more quickly this time.

The end result of my 4 days of taking Trimspa was this: I felt awful, I didn’t sleep well, I got grouchy, but worst of all, I started to get depressed. Since I have had times in my life where I have suffered from a real and true depression, I knew, very quickly, that I didn’t want to do anything that might take me back there again. I took the remainder of my bottle back to GNC, where they gave me a prompt and friendly refund.

BTW, the pills didn’t curb my appetite one iota.

It took me a few days to recover from my misadventure. What I realized is that I really don’t want to feel any way but the way that I do when I follow ER4YT. I have become so “clean” that anything put into my system that’s not a bennie or a neutral does things to me that don’t feel good. I actually am glad, now, that I tried those pills. They made me realize how far I have come, a that I want to go forward, not backwards.

Just a little note – the t-tapping is going great. I am losing inches and I swear that the cellulite that I DID have trying to creep up on me has gone away. I think that this exercise program is really interesting – I’ve certainly never done anything like it before. I’ll keep you up on the results as they come it. Again, the site is

http://t-tapp.com/home/default.asp

That’s it for now!

Had a pretty fun day today. I have to say it again. I LOVE vacation...



Dinner last night consisted of spinach, sauteed w/olive oil, minced garlic, and lemon juice. I ate a crown of broccoli, and the main dish was a bit of a no-no for me... I ate 2 turkey burgers. Yes, turkey is beneficial for A nonnies, and neutral for secretors but. This was far from regular old turkey. Read the ingredients people!!!!!! I can't stress this enough!!!! I say this because the "burgers" I ate had all sorts of bad stuff added! Whenever you see the word "flavor" in the ingredients, throw it back! This is a sure sign of added MSG! MSG is an addictive, weight-gain promoting, carcinogenic flavor enhancer added to almost all American processed foods. STAY AWAY FROM IT! My excuse for eating them?? I'm on vacation... It'll be a coons age before I do it again though... They were dry anyway...



I was burnt silly, and sore as a beat mule upon rising. Busting tail in a vineyard and a Chernobyl style sun burn will take a lot out of a guy. Had an avocado w/lemon juice, and onion powder. Also had a few handfuls of spinach and about a cup and 1/4 cup of yogurt to which I added frozen blueberries and cranberries. Good stuff.



Toured three vineyards/wineries today. Fascinating. Also hit up a place called Lukenbach Texas... If you know what it is, you know what it is... Visiting all these places took from 12:20 to 5:30. Tasted about 18 different wines ranging from 'so-so' to 'some 'o' the best!'

Ended the journey 6 bottles, 4 T-shirts, and a polo richer... And of course about 200 bucks poorer... Snacked on the nut mix I mentioned yesterday and some broccoli during the journey. Had lots of water and the wine samples too... Ate a tin of sardines in olive oil when I got back. Meditated for an hour and made a delicious baby food concoction using broccoli, almonds, soy milk, green onions, and celery in a vita-mix. Scrumptulescent... Ha ha.



Wondering If I'll eat anything else tonight... Getting late... But I have been called a furnace before... If I have the will power I'll stick to lemon water and maybe a piece of fruit.. Of course knowing me, I'll probably have an omelet... Later gang.

I really like figs. Why didn't I take up this habit of eating them before? Got some dried ones at Whole Foods and finished them off already. Yum!

What else? Work has been good since we got more help this week. I'm really looking forward to the summer as we will have really good help.

I'm about to go have brunch. I should have eaten earlier but didn't get around to it. Took a cat nap instead!!!! It's weird how I function sometimes. I'm still in a bit of a haze so I'm not in the inspired writing mode. I woke up with a migraine. Took some Imitrex but I think it's caffeine withdrawal as I drink nothing but green tea yesterday.

Oh, I went to the dentist yesterday and am pleased to find out that I have passed one year without cavities! Lots of tartar, but gums are healthy. I told him about the blood type diet and how non-secretors get more cavities and he said, "well, you certainly don't fit that mold!" Must be the A in me. My middle sister is O and she had cavities all her life. So yes, only one cavity my entire life at age 25. I think 25 is that magical age of consequences and responsibility. What better to make its mark than with a cavity?

Six days since my ulrasound and no news from the Doctor's office, which usually means there is

nothing wrong (or the Doctor hasn't the foggiest idea). My energy levels and appetite have not suffered and I'm sleeping like a baby, so I am a little perplexed. I still have a little discomfort ( it's less than last week) in my lower right abdomen but like I said it really isn't affecting my day to day activites except for my exercising.

I've taken a log of what I've eaten in the last 5 days and equated the times I had discomfort with what I ate say 4 to 5 hours before but no real correlation yet. My compliancy has been ultra high with lots of B's.

It's turning into a medical mystery.......stay tuned



Side Bar....many were worried/concerned that I had not blogged for 5 days and thought the worse...sorry if I kept you in the dark.

If you’re squeamish or offended by nudity please close your eyes or look away now.

I was standing in the shower this morning talking about the BTD whilst my wife did her hair. (How sad’s that).

Anyway the subject came around to Peter D’Adamo’s blogs (I know but trust me that’s what happened).

I mentioned that I’d posted a comment to him yesterday and that I’d received a response.

Sue thought wouldn’t it be great to know what the originator of the BTD ate and drank. If I remember correctly Peter is Type A but not vegetarian although I will stand corrected on that point.

So here it is Peter out in the public domain. There’s no hiding place.

As followers and believers in the benefits of the BTD we want to know all your secrets.

Have you always followed the BTD from childhood?

If not at what age did you start?

What does Peter eat for breakfast?

What do you eat for lunch and or dinner?

What does an average work day consist of?

Is there any such thing as an average work day?

How do you cope with the BTD constraints when traveling?

What are your favourite snacks?

What do you eat for ‘comfort food’?

Do you ever fall off the wagon and eat any avoids?

Your public awaits.

Arose at 8:30 today... Sleep was miserable... Despite the bed being the most comfortable I have ever slept in. Chalk it up to my beet red back and shoulders. I am burnt to a crisp. I love Texas. As a tundra dwelling Minnesotan, I suppose I am just not in my element here. It is beautiful though.



Breakfast today was rather simple again. Two organic, cage free, brown eggs. I hard boil them for 6 minutes. Long enough to cook the egg white, but leave the yolk intact. This serves to maintain many of the beneficial properties of eggs, such as the protein, and the omega 3's, 6's, and 9's. Eggs are an excellent source of DHEA, omega fatty acids, and protein. Make sure they are organic though! Huge difference! Seasoned them (the eggs) with dill and parsley. Also had an avocado w/lemon juice, onion powder, and garlic powder. A small glass of hot green tea was brutally mutated by yours truly by adding a half cup of the Food For Life Ezekiel sprouted grains cereal, lemon juice, and a half cup of handpicked blackberries. Yum.



Monkeyed around with the computer for an hour after breakfast. I then decided to further the severity of my sun burn by weeding the vineyard for about two hours. After the weeding, two distant cousins and I went to a place called the Texas Ski Ranch. Pretty cool place. They have a huge man made lake with a massive sky high cable structure going around it entirely. They then pull you around the lake on a wake board at insane speeds... It was an awesome time. I got a killer work out, an even worse sunburn, blood blisters on my hands, and a near concussion after planting my face into the water at 60mph... Check out the website at texasskiranch.com if you really want to see it...



Due to the aforementioned activities. I didn't eat again until 5:45... I normally eat about every four hours, so I was shaking like a crack baby by then. Threw 1 1/2 chicken breasts left over from yesterdays dinner into the vita mix blender along with a couple of baby carrots, a big leaf of red chard, three stalks of celery, a medium sized head/crown of broccoli, half a white onion, and a handful of black berries. Baby food. Good. Digestion begins in the mouth by masticating the food and mixing it with saliva. Being this first step wasn't necessary, I swished it in my mouth and fake chewed it before swallowing... Gotta simulate it ya' know? Also had a 1/3 cup of my nut mix. Pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and almonds. Then 1/2 cup of coffee mixed with 3/4 cup of frozen blueberries. It's almost 9 now so I'll call that dinner... maybe a 'lil snack later. Lots of water and green tea throughout the day of course... 'Till next time friends!

5/18/2004 2:06 PM

Wow. Finally a moment to blog when I actually have some energy and can think straight. I’ve had a really busy week. Of course, I am still finding and reloading programs onto this computer. I’m also learning Windows 2000, which isn’t THAT different from Windows 98SE, but different enough to make some things difficult. Mostly it’s relearning a new response instead of using one that is a habit.

That’s the way it is with the BTD, too, isn’t it? We have to learn new responses instead of using the old habits?

This has been a good week for me, both diet wise and exercise wise. I can tell you that I am over the hump where the starches are concerned. I just don’t eat them. Ever. I have found that it was a little difficult at first, but it is now a NEW habit. It is also a matter of the “carrot and the stick”. I feel good when I don’t eat starch. I feel awful when I do. The beauty of the BTD, is that one you get truly “clean”, it is very clear when you consume an avoid.

The biggest treat that I eat, and the only real avoid, is ice cream. I eat ice cream about 1 time per week. Please don't suggest soy ice cream. I didn't like it when I was a Vegan, and I don't like it now - and yes, I have tried every brand that I could find. I don’t eat a lot of ice cream because it DOES have some reactions for me, but I really enjoy it when I do. I do have to say that each day that I go without it makes it easier to not eat it the next time. I also eat some dark chocolate on occasion, but I purchase the “endangered species” brand ( http://chocolatebar.com ), and it is very good with no avoids in it at all. I still don’t handle sugar well, though so both of my treats are very limited. Even when I indulge in these things, I often wait a moment and think about how I will feel after I eat it. I ask myself if I want to eat it even though it might make my back hurt, or make me tired, or make me have to clear my throat repeatedly. About 2/3 of the time I decide to pass. The rest of the time I know that I am making a conscious choice to indulge. It’s really a great feeling. I am controlling my food, my food is not controlling me.

On the exercise front, I am also doing something new. A good friend of mine does publicity for a woman named Teresa Tapp. Ms. Tapp, a former trainer for top models, has developed an exercise program. I am trying a “bootcamp”, which is doing her workout every day for at least 4 days up to 14. I am doing 14. I am on day 4. It is very interesting workout, like nothing that I have ever done. People have had amazing results with this program, and I am willing to give it a real and true try. I will keep you posted with the results, but I can already see that my cellulite has diminished and that my clothes are fitting nice and loose. Here is her site – check it out:

http://t-tapp.com/home/default.asp

Just because I rarely talk about what I eat, I thought that I’d list a few things here. For breakfast I usually scramble an egg, cook it in a cast iron pan with ghee and eat it rolled up in sushi nori (with sea salt – I salt everything). I usually work out soon after breakfast. For lunch, if I am at home, I eat a huge, HUGE salad with olive oil, walnut oil and either lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. I usually put garlic salt, onion powder, Braggs and salt on the salad as well. To the salad I add either some beef or some canned salmon (wild salmon only), plus maybe some scallions, carrots and celery. I will usually have apples with raw, organic almond butter or some apples with walnuts for desert. I eat a LOT at lunch, as that is the hungriest time of day for me. I usually have some beef or lamb and another apple or a banana for a snack, and then a very small dinner. Occassionally I am hungry enough to eat a meal after 4 PM, but most of the time I just eat some veggies. I drink nearly 1 gallon of filtered water each day. As part of the water, I try to drink some Trinity Springs water.

http://trinitysprings.com

This water is supposed to have a very high mineral content, and I thought that it would be a good addition because of all of the filtered water that I drink. On top of my water, I drink iced tea made from ½ Sip Right and ½ Organic Green Tea. I also like to drink seltzer water with some black cherry concentrate in it. I occasionally add some cranberry concentrate, too.

That’s my usually food intake. I don’t change it up that much. When I eat out, I head for Thai or Mongolian BBQ. Those are the easiest places for me to remain compliant.

OK – gonna sign off for now!

Hey gang, back at it again today. This being the 3d day of my 13 day vacation. I'm lovin every minute of it thanks. It's pretty hot in Hill Country today... Thirty minutes out of San Antonio. A truly beautiful place... Check it out if you're ever out here.

Dinner last night consisted of wild caught cod loins, simmered in olive oil w/dill, garlic, sea salt, and lemon. Had a HUGE, beautiful salad composed of chard, spinach, celery, cucumbers, arugala, and a wierd dressing I whipped up using olive oil, lemon, parsley, a bit of yogurt and some garlic... Pretty good! Also had steamed green beans...

Woke up at 8 this morning. Had to get out into the vineyard and hoe weeds, so breakfast was a quick affair. Brewed a big mug of green tea, and proceeded to fill it up with a delicious cerial I found made by Food For Life. They are the guys that make the Ezekiel bread we're all so fond of. The cerial is really hard, a lot like grape nuts, but it soaks up the hot green tea and turns to pure magic... Mmmm. Also enjoyed an avacado w/lemon juice, sea salt, and garlic powder.

Went to work in the vinyard after that until one or so. Shirtless in the sun... I can feel the beginnings of a horrible sun burn... Sleep won't be so restful tonight... Just finished lunch. Threw shredded chicken, celery, a huge leaf of red chard, some broccoli, green onions, ginger, yellow onion, and a massive garlic clove in a vita-mix blender. It made a delicious light green baby food kinda stuff... Slurped it all down... Had a tiny cup of green tea, took care of the computer affairs, and wrote this blog in haste. Sorry about the grammar and spelling again. Back to work in that blazing hot sun until five or so... Much love- Jimbo

I once had an interesting experience. I was living in a peaceful atmosphere on the shores of a lake surrounded by the mountains of inland British Columbia (not the majestic Rockies). One of the projects I took up at the time was to work my way through the book by Betty Edwards, “Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain”. I did not have any great skill in drawing, so was more than reluctant to ask anyone to sit while I drew them as badly as I knew I would. Instead, I rigged up a couple of mirrors so that I could see my own face at the prescribed angles and drew it over and over, through a series of weeks until I finished the book. The collection of drawings were very interesting – they went from an unrecognizable childish caricature to a very recognizable self portrait. However, what was most interesting was the inner turmoil that this exercise created within myself. Gazing so intently into the mirrors night after night brought me face-to-face with the truth that although I was then 45 years old, my self perception was that I hadn’t aged since the age of 35. The drawings proved that concept to be completely erroneous. Until I was able to accept this truth, I had some very difficult days. A friend helped me to understand that losing my youthful appearance was not the end of the world, by asking what the difference between my 35 year-old face and my 45 year-old face was. The answer was that my 45 year-old face was much softer and kinder. Since then, I have not been impressed by ads for various beauty aids that promise an eternal youthful appearance. I have earned the lines and puckers in my face, and I defy anyone who wants to remove them, even photographically.

Twenty years after that shattering experience, I recognize that I still don’t like to look into mirrors much. I don’t like to acknowledge that the aging process continues in my life. Yet, the fact remains that last year, overnight, I suddenly became a senior citizen simply by virtue of celebrating my 65th birthday. The fact is that I have some days that are less “peppy” than others, that parts of my body announce their presence through twinges or cramps or numbness. At times my mind knows what it wants to say but forgets the precise word or name of it, sending me throughout the house to find the object so I can use the right word. As much as growing older scares me, the reality of my situation faces me every day. Here I hasten to say that I’m not afraid of dying. I sat with a friend the day she died several years ago, her greatest gift to me. She died peacefully in spite of the pain her cancer produced during that last day in a loving atmosphere created by a few loved ones. My fear is created by seeing elders shuffling about with aids such as canes or walkers, or the need to use wheelchairs - or worse - are in nursing homes numbed by drugs to allow the staff to complete their duties with a minimum of interruption.

At the same time, I bless my stars that I have lived my life in the way that I have. The five years I spent in a yoga ashram helped my body to become quite flexible, and I touch my toes very easily even though I don’t generally do regular stretching. My body reminds me more often now that I need to return to my yoga practice for practical reasons. Following the BTD for the past 7 years has helped me to overcome a great many little things that have helped me to be much more energetic and lively today than I would have been if I had continued eating the way I was. Right now today, I am strong (I carry my groceries home from the market in my backpack every week without undue strain), I am intelligent, I am lively and I am reasonably healthy with a low blood pressure count and a strong heart. When I occasionally visit my doctor I am shocked to see the suffering of the people (often younger than me) who are waiting to see him, and he usually tells me with a smile that I will live to be 90 or more. May the rest of my life be a blessing for others around me!

P.S. I’ve had two wonderful responses to the question of how to stay awake without using coffee. Thanks to both contributors. The first is to take a capsule or two of Vitamin B5. The second is an exercise, as follows, in the words of the contributor: “Stand up. Make both hands into fists and raise them up to eye level and slightly in front of your face. Your thumbs should be down and your knuckles of each hand facing each other. Begin pumping your fists rapidly up and down/out and in towards your face as though you were shaking something to stir it up. Let your head and neck muscles remain loose (ie. don't let yourself tense up). This is so easy to demonstate and so hard to describe, I've just discovered. Do this for 30 seconds. It really does work. I've done it single-handed while driving that last stretch late at night.”

That’s a day I’m glad to see the back of. Started off pouring with rain so by the time I’d got the car out of the garage, got to work and unlocked the premises I was already somewhat damp. On top of this I feel like I’ve been fighting off a cold for the last 24 hours or so. Bumped up the intake of garlic and Echinacea as a precaution.

One of the office girls is diagnosed with Tonsilitis, so we’ve sent her home.

Busy as a one armed painter with hives this morning. New business is streaming in and we are already scheduling work for September.

Still persisting down at lunch time so I’ve foregone my walk for today.

More of the same this afternoon, still new business guarantees a few healthy pay cheques to come. My job involves purchasing and co-ordinating delivery schedules to allow our installation crews to arrive on the job with all the materials required to complete the job. It’s a wonder I’m still sane.

Hello faithful (and not so) Blood Type Dieters! My name is Jim, as purported by the link you clicked to read this and the info contained in my bio. I am new to the blogging process, and not so new to the blood type diet. Bear with these first few attempts at communicating with the public at large... I have a terrible tendency to roll out run on sentences, and I will try to remember to spell check things before presenting them for you.

In my blogs, I hope to pass on a few of the 'tips & tricks' I've picked up these past couple of years pertaining to the diet and related matters. I have read every book of Peters' several times, and have picked up a goldmine of invaluable information from our own Beloved Heidi. If you have a minute or three every day it would be well spent visiting her 'On the Diet' page. The rest of the advice I pass on will be from personal experience.

Finally, I'll be passing on what I eat on most posts... Working full time, and being very busy besides, I've developed some unusual tastes and a few interesting dishes I'm sure will turn a few heads. So... Let's get started with what I had for dinner last night... I'm on vacation so It's a bit fancier than the standard fare I'm used to... I do consider myself to be an excellent and discerning chef though... So when the mood strikes... Anyway, back to the dinner...

Grilled Chicken breasts marinated in extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and, assorted herbs and spices. Steamed artichokes served with a dip of my creation, consisting of: about 3 Tbsp. of organic yogurt, 1tsp of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder, parsley, and dill weed. Sliced zucchini and yellow squash, grilled with sliced yellow onion marinated much the same way as the chicken. This brings me to an interesting factoid... The marinade vegetable marinade contained a small amount of balsamic vinegar, my great aunt slipped it by me without my noticing... This is a once in a blue moon thing for me... I RARELY consume an avoid! But hey... I'm on vacation... Right? Any way, I enjoyed a couple of glasses of delicious South Australian Shiraz to go with it. Normally I won't have beverages with meals as they dilute the digestive juices, already quite weak in type A's. I try to drink water and other beverages at least a half hour before and two hours after meals. And here's a tip for all of you out there. Try to eat your food raw whenever possible! Cooking only serves to deplete the nutrient value, produce unwanted carcinogens, and greatly increase the polyamine availability! Try having a Tbsp. of cherry, or blueberry concentrate w/meals that contain cooked fish or poultry. Especially if they were flash frozen before you cooked them! This will serve to inactivate many of the polyamines in the gut making for a happier, healthier you!

Sorry for the length of this... Being it my first blog, I had to lay out a bit of background and an agenda... They will be shorter and easier to read in the future. Like Peter, I consider myself to be the fastest two finger typer in the West, and spelling, grammar and sentence structure are usually the last thing on my mind... Farewell until later My friends!

P.S. If you get a chance, watch Lewis Blacks stand-up comedy thing on HBO... HILARIOUS!

New blogger coming soon.

I haven’t always been vegetarian.

Back in the dim dark past during my carnivore period I used to partake of the offerings provided by Golden Arches Inc.

I was no different to anyone else, I was attracted by the glitzy advertising, the quick convenience food, the brightly lit stores and yes I had fries with it.

As I evolved I moved from carnivore to whatever you call someone who eats fish. Pisces ???

I have already mentioned my fish aversion and the effect it has on me previously, so I guess it’s a measure of the quality of the ‘Filet’ that I could eat it without any adverse reaction

I finally grew out of this phase and figured that cows look better in fields and fish look better in the ocean and never ventured near those Golden Arches again.

I’d often thought it was a shame that in Australia they never sold a veggie burger.

Cue 2004 and what happens, they go all healthy in their marketing and introduce a vegetarian range and Salads Plus. Wouldn’t you know it I follow a BTD now and the burgers are made with chick peas [avoid] the bread is made with wheat [avoid where possible] the salad has tomato, vinegar, mayonnaise [all avoids].

They’ve even introduced a café set up where all the bread and cake is wheat based, loaded with sugar and cream, but they’ll tell you it’s healthy.

I can’t even get soy milk in my coffee there.

It’s never been easy getting decent take away as a vegetarian, trying to BTD it is well nigh impossible.

Whoo hoo!

A dear friend and I just completed the 5.5 mile AIDS walk today at Minnehaha park! It was a lot of fun. There were so many pooches running around and now I really want a dog! Too bad I can't get one. Oh well. It was nice to do the walk, but I think my lower back is out of whack. Most likely sciatica. Can't wait to visit the chiro this week; it's been way too long!

Now, let's talk about how despite doing those miles, my body is still a little upset....

You see, I started the day with a carrot cake Clif bar. That was ok, but then when I got to the walk, there were hot dog stands everywhere. Not a chicken in sight. I had a corndog. Then I had this strange Splenda-sweetened drink filled with herbs like Valerian Root and Gotu Kola and it had tons of carbonation. Then I had a free cup of Starbucks coffee without any milk of any kind. Then I had some water. I was a little bloated starting the walk, but not too bad. During the walk, I had a balance nurtition bar. At the end, they were handing out Schwan's ice cream so I had one of those.

Heartburn, heartburn, heartburn! Ever since I came home! Too much junk in my body! That and it didn't digest too well once it reached the intestines, if you know what I mean. So I'm happy to be home and looking to eat things that don't give me heartburn!

OK, here is a question to anyone, including D'Adamo staff members or himself: where the heck to you find Gentian???? I can't find it in any health food stores around here. The only thing I've found are Swedish bitters. I may end up looking into the Gallipot ordering book at our pharmacy (they supply compounding drugs and materials) because I know Gentian was a popular form of treatment back in the apothecary days. In fact, I even heard stories about people in our company using it to catch crooks because it turns violet when you touch it. (There was some guy stealing food from the stockroom a few years ago and they caught him purple-handed, haha) I'd really like to try it on my heartburn sometime. I refuse to get on the H2 Antagonist or Proton Pump Inhibitor bandwagon. That is not solving the problem! So please send me a comment if you know where I can find a reputable source on the web or if you know where it can be purchased in the Cities.

It's my day off. Upon visiting a new coffee shop in my neighborhood (eating raspberry cheesecake, bad Erika, bad Erika) I stumbled upon two Wired magazines sitting on the coffee table and learned more than I care to about how screwed up the world is becoming.

1)India is taking all the IT tech jobs. OK, I knew this already, but I read into just how little they get paid over there ($11,000 per year). Then there's that whole "we're going to give you the pink slip, but before you go, we need you to train your replacements". What a ruthless dog-eat-dog world!

2)People are using "organic" and "genetically engineered" in the same sentence to describe the same food on a regular basis. It just makes me cringe.

Deepak Chopra said in his seminar when he came here that if we were to kill the locust population, the entire ecosystem would breakdown, but if humans were to become extinct, the world would flourish. Why do we keep messing with Mother Nature?

3)There is like only one place in this entire country that isn't polluted with typical radio waves and that place is a little radio satellite telescope land for astrologers in West Virginia.

4)Farm-raised salmon is actually bred gray. Farmers have to add the salmon color to match that of the wild salmon.

The world is getting weirder and weirder and these four things are among the millions of concerns and worries I wish I didn't add to my list.

But all I can do is my part to make the world a better place. Whether that be recycle, or buy consumer goods and services that support the environment and/or encourage fair trade, I guess you have to start somewhere. Oh, yes, and keep doing the blood type diet because every pound I keep off is one less health-care dollar spent on myself when I'm older.

OK, so speaking of which, I had a lot of fun with Whole Foods this week. I took eggs, mixed blood type friendly vegetables, and roast turkey from the deli and made a scrumptuous frittata with these three basic ingredients. The boyfriend was SO impressed by my cooking skills. Little does he know how easy it was to make (insert maniacal laughter). Here he is thinking he has a smart, sexy girlfriend who can also cook! It makes up for the fact that I don't like to clean, I guess. Anyway, served the frittata with rice and red tea. It was quite the meal.

The next Whole Foods deli meal a few hours later was green beans and two stuffed chicken breasts. One was a honey mustard and the other was some sort of Moraccan-inspired concoction; each was split down the middle so we could each sample one. It is so fun to come up with dishes for a mixed-blood group relationship. It's also a challenge to get twenty something men to think critically about what they feed to their bodies when are in amazing shape by running 3 miles a day, and they don't think it really matters what they eat so they treat their bodies like a human garbage disposal.

Being a virgo, I love dating a raw "makeover man". As we've dated, in order to convert him into a life partner who is easier to live with based on talks of future upgrading of said relationship, I have embarked upon the BDP--- "Bloke Domestication Project" Whether it involves making sure there is toilet paper on the premise, something to eat besides junk food, or potted plants from Target that are not easy to kill, it's been an amazing yet rewarding challenge. Especially the toilet paper. It's a good trade-off. He, in turn, has taught me so much about detachment and taking chances in life. He lives simply and makes his words become actions, and it's beautiful and inspiring to me in so many ways.

And he has beautiful eyes. And he puts up with my love for techno. And he puts up with me talking about the blood type diet. He rocks.

Had my ultrasound yesterday to check out the tenderness in my lower right abdomen. Judging from the technician's little hmmms and ahhs (I don't think they are allowed to use those words when working on a patient...makes them nervous), hernia may not be the diagnosis. I have to wait a few days until my doctor gets the results and gives me a call back.

I have although, been asking myself if it's not a hernia, what possibly could it be?

Scouring my many heath books from my library, I think I came across something that might just explain what’s ailing me.

‘At the end of the small intestine is a circular valve called the ileocecal valve. This is usually kept closed so that the food stays in the small intestine long enough to be digested and absorbed fully and also to prevent the micro organisms in the large intestine from getting into the small intestine where their waste products could easily be absorbed. As digestion and absorption are completed the ileocecal valve opens and the smooth, rhythmic waves of contraction called peristalsis move the food into the cecum, which is the beginning of the five-foot-long large intestine or colon’

‘The earlier stages of ileocecal valve problems may not show up any signs or symptoms, but as the valve becomes increasingly sensitized, a number of things may appear. Probably the most indicative is irregular bowel movements. Some of the other indications are tenderness in the lower right abdomen also associated with Appendicitis, a sense of fullness after eating small amounts, bloating and gas.’

I’m experiencing all the symptoms as described above…I was constipated off and on these last 4 weeks. I’m experiencing severe gas pains and bloating and in my last blog I suspected I might have appendicitis because of the location of my discomfort in my lower right abdomen.

‘Often the person with ileocecal valve problems looks quite healthy, so this barrage of symptoms seems very out of place’…. I say this describes me at the present moment.

Now what would cause problems with my valve? The answer is scratchy fiber and spice.

What is considered a scratchy fiber? Grains, ‘grains are dried foods and are quite course, irritating to the ileocecal valve’, like wheat, rye, oatmeal etc (not very O type friendly to begin with…right!) The only grains I eat these days are rye and spelt in the form of bread. Lately I have been eating more servings than I should. The last meal I had before going to the doctor in pain was 2 slices of toasted 100% rye bread with almond butter 20 minutes after my intense work out on my bike…the pain hit me at noon that day.

The effect on the valve if you have a problem is of ‘thousands of little razor blades on a sensitized valve’

Could it be that my body wants me to stop eating grains altogether?

My other flare up in that area was a week and a half ago when I went to an East Indian restaurant and had some very spicy food. I love East Indian food and love spice, but the next day as I recall vividly, I woke up with a lot of discomfort in my lower right abdomen.



The question is how do I get my valve up and running properly?. ‘Black radish tablets are sometimes useful to soothe the membranes of the intestine, so that the ileocecal valve becomes more resistant to abrasion. A long-term calcium deficiency (type O blood types need to supplement with calcium due to the fact we don’t drink milk) underlies a sensitive ileocecal valve. Silica extract (from the horsetail herb) may overcome the deficiency. Chlorophyll also sometimes aids the ileocecal valve to regain proper function as well as being soothing to the intestine membranes’

Looking in my “Complete blood type Encyclopedia” Horsetail has an O blood group specific beneficial effect (I was taking this for my nails a while back and Horsetail did wonders for their shape and strength). Chlorophyll… which is really plant blood…has no ill effects. Eating a lot of the beneficial green vegetables for type O…cooked of coarse…would supply me. Black radish is a vegetable that is neutral for O’s.

Before I go on any protocol for my valve, I’m going to stay away from grains, raw vegetables and spicy food until I get my results back. If it is my valve, I may go with the protocol but I would rather get a 2nd opinion. Looks like I’ll have to ‘ask Dr D’Adamo’ in his column to shed some light on the valve and how to treat it.

Overnight Tasmania gained its first royalty. Young Hobart woman Mary Donaldson married her Prince Charming, Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark in Copenhagen. Mary was born and raised in Taroona just outside Hobart and met Frederick during the Sydney Olympic games in 2000.

What is probably Europe’s social event of the year was televised live in Australia and has received blanket media coverage. Best wishes to Mary and her Prince.

“Danish delirium overtook parts of Sydney as Australians and Danes celebrated the royal wedding.

Danish nationals partied in huge numbers alongside Australian patrons on Friday night at the Sydney pub where Denmark's royal couple met.

The Danish Consulate also hosted almost 300 guests in a marquee in front of the Opera House, the Sydney landmark designed by Danish architect Jorn Utzen.

Tasmania's Mary Donaldson and Danish Crown Prince Frederik met at the Slip Inn, near Darling Harbour, during the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The pub was packed with people adorned in the Danish national colours of red and white, horned viking hats and temporary tattoos of the Danish and Australian flags.

A banner strung from the hotel proclaimed Meet Your Prince at the Slip, and Danish nationals were given free Carlsberg beer.”

Courtesy of theage.com.au



See girls, Fairy tales can come true.



Following the arrival of our new coffee grinder we are finding all sorts of things to do with it. Apart from the pepper substitute they are also great for grinding those toughest of little critters, Flax seed.

Flax seed has long been touted as a healthy food for women of that certain age, both to help with the ‘flushes’ and also against the possible onset of Osteoporosis. What I didn’t know is that men are also prone to Osteoporosis and Flax can be of help there as well. The grinder did a terrific job of reducing the seeds to powder and I started today with a dessertspoon full in my breakfast muesli. Good for you and tasty as well, bonus !!!.

I just checked the type base and it’s also BENEFICIAL for me but once again only neutral for my AB wife. Flax is also widely known as Linseed. When I was a lad the only thing Linseed was used for was rubbing Linseed oil into my cricket bat. It appears I should have been drinking the stuff and not wasting it on cricket.

One of Sue’s goals is to encourage Dr D’Adamo to do more research and find more beneficial AB foods that she can actually eat. A lot of her beneficial foods unfortunately cause health issues of a different kind.



In answer to a question earlier in the week put to me about Silicic Acid, Dr D’Adamo has provided the following information.

It's fine, but as any homeopath will tell you, silica tends to open up scars and old cuts in sensitive individuals.

Some evidence indicates that silica and boron act synergistically to slow down osteoporosis.

Horsetail (Equisetum sp.) is a good natural source of silica.

It is recommended that type O’s partake in intense physical exercise to help lower stress levels. Being on the BTD diet now for well over 18 months has increased my energy levels too new heights making my exercise regiments very intense. So intense that I believe I may have gone to far…I’ve been having a slight discomfort in my lower right abdomen for the last 2 weeks. I though it was a groin injury I sustained roller blading few weeks past so I didn’t think anything of it. This morning after being on my stationary bike for 20 minute, that discomfort turned into pain.

I tried to get an appointment with my doctor but he was full so the receptionist asked if I wouldn’t mind seeing another doctor, so I did. My suspicions before I went to my 1:30 appointment today were either I had appendicitis or a hernia. After describing the pain and answering several questions about bowel movements, blood, nausea etc to rule out other things, the doctor proceeded to check and within 60 seconds said…”Looks like you may have a hernia.”…Words I didn’t want to hear. Hernias usually require surgery

I guess it could have been worse…I’m going in for an ultrasound to confirm tomorrow.

I won’t be able to do my regular workouts till this passes, so I will have to find other ways to lower my stress. I made like a Type A and did the meditation thing for 15 minutes before dinner tonight and the silence and stillness almost drove me nuts.

I’ve been so caught up with work these last 6 weeks that I have ignored my bodily thresholds and have somehow gone to far…my body finally shouted back.

I wasn’t paying attention.

I sit here humbled.

It’s a day for farewells today. Two of our fellow bloggers, Heather and Cath have both decided to take ‘early retirement’. They were amongst the earliest of the contributors to this section and I for one have enjoyed sharing their ups and downs over the last four months.

It does take a lot of commitment and sometimes you sit there and think…………….

Now I know what writers block is.

Thanks to both of them, their departure opens up the possibility for you. Do you have what it takes to bare your soul and share all your dietary successes and failures.

Why not apply.

On the personal health front, there is nothing really to report. I continue to go from strength to strength, with no setbacks that I can think of. My lunchtime stroll has become a brisk daily walk and whilst the Autumn weather remains as good as it is currently, there’s no stopping me.

I’ve had a request for the Lentil burger recipe and as soon as I can get the other half to sit still for a minute over the weekend I’ll type it up and put it ‘out there’.

5/12/2004 1:53 PM

OK – time for a REAL blog.

ER4YT has been really going well for me. I can’t even begin to describe how well. I feel truly great in all aspects. I no longer poop out during the day. Oddly enough, one of my weakest points – getting up in the morning – has become very easy. I am up at 6:40 AM – much earlier than I have for the past 15 years, and I am really awake. I don’t drag around, and I never feel that it is time for “nap-thirty” in the afternoons anymore.

The elimination of starches via the AVRT method has been completely successful and has actually been quite easy (see http://rational.org). Norman and his suggestions, whinings, threats and pouting about the situation simply carries absolutely no weight with me anymore and gets no consideration. That is one voice in my head that I just plain ignore. The result is that something, actually TWO somethings – eating starches and biting my nails, is no problem for me whatsoever. It has been strange getting used to actually having nails of my own. I am an avid piano player and was playing Scott Joplin’s Mapleleaf Rag last night. All of the sudden I realized that my nails were getting TOO long to play that piece cleanly. Wow. I would never have believed that my own nails could do that. They’re still somewhat soft, but I am taking MSM and biotin and it seems to be improving that problem. I am also about ½ size smaller than I was about a month ago. I haven’t weighed myself lately, but I’m actually looking forward to getting on the scale soon. I think that I’ll try to weigh myself this week, if I get around to it.

Eating is really easy. I keep beef cooked up all of the time, ready and waiting in the fridge for when I might need it. I wrap all sorts of things up in nori seaweed sheets: beef slices, lamb slices, eggs. Whatever. I eat apples with walnuts and salt mixed together. The salty/sweet taste of that combo seems to work really well for me. Speaking of sweets, I have also gone a long way towards eliminating sugar completely. I have an almost immediate reaction to sugar when I DO eat it. I tend to eat dark chocolate during certain times of the month, but recently when I would eat it I would get a terrible pain in my sciatica. Honestly, it’s just becoming not worth it. When I want something sweet, cherry juice mixed with club soda seems to take care of it. I have become very sensitive to refined sugar, and I look at that as a very good thing.

My goal is to work out – HARD – at least 5 times per week if not 6. As I stated above, I have taken up spinning classes and I really like them. They are 45 minutes long and at the end of them I am just pouring sweat. I have had to start at the beginning with them and I am just starting to build up some strength and endurance. It amazes me that I rode 5-8 horses per day for over a decade, yet just doing 45 minutes of spinning is so difficult. I have lost so much in terms of the muscle and strength that I had in my legs back then. Granted, I quit doing the horse thing about 10 years ago, so I guess that my legs have an excuse. I always believed that, if needed, I would be able to just jump on a horse at any time and play a decent game of polo. After starting these spinning classes, I know that’s not true. I might not even be able to stay on, let along stand up in the saddle, rotate around and hit a ball. I think that I would just go flying right off now. But not for long. I’m going to get my strength back.

I am also lifting weights 5 to 6 days per week. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do a “power fit” class right after spinning, which is 45 minutes of free weights, dynabands and tubes, bar weights and crunches. They change up the class every 4-6 weeks, so you don’t get bored and your body doesn’t get too used to the program. On the off days from that I make myself do 4 machines out of 16, rotating the machines in groups. I do two sets of 20 repetitions on each machine. Not the best plan, I know, but it gets it done in 15- 20 minutes and that’s all that I can stand. I have lifted weights all of my life. I started at age 13 with “universal” equipment, then moved to Nautilus and free weights in college and now onto all of the sophisticated equipment that they have now. I just don’t like to do weights very much anymore, so I keep it short and sweet. I also do abdominal work each day.

Work is going OK. Lots to do and, in fact, I need to get back to it!

Peace for now.

The past week has been a good one for reflection about my stage in life. My youngest daughter arrived on Tuesday from out of town to prepare for a reading from her newly published first book of short stories. We spent the day catching up on news and seeing a movie. The next day, her sister and my youngest grandson arrived in town for the big event, to be held at Harbourfront Centre that evening. I was delegated to meet the new arrivals, get lunch with them, and somewhat entertain them until the appointed time to meet at the hotel where they would all stay that night. We had lunch at a very small Turkish restaurant near the bus depot. The food was freshly prepared and delicious. I chose the lamb kebabs with a side salad. It was delicious and – even - beneficial. My grandson (9 years old), a picky eater at best, lunched mainly on home-made bread dipped sparsely into a plate of rather delicious hummus. My daughter had a very nice looking salad and ultimately finished off the hummus that was left by my grandson, which was most of it.

Later, we wandered through the main Chinatown area of Toronto - there are at least 3 of them, I understand - to the enchantment of my grandson, who lives in small town Ontario, where there isn’t a great deal of any one thing except fresh air and friendly people. Hey, you can’t knock THAT! We ended up taking a brief tour of Kensington Market before getting onto a streetcar to go to the hotel located at Harbourfront.

While my grandson swam in the hotel's spacious pool, I attended the pre-reading dinner with my daughter and the other authors who were participating in the evening. The special was striped bass with veggies, and I opted for that over most of the pizza/pasta items on the menu. It was delicious, light and boneless, and though I’d packed a couple of remedies in case I had a gastric attack, I didn’t need to use them. When I got home and checked my book, I was shocked to find that all bass are avoid for B nonnies. Beginner’s luck, I think.

The next two days, I was scheduled to participate in high school retreats organized by the separate school board, which I won’t go into at this point in time. Perhaps later. They were long days – I left home shortly after 7 and got home at 3:30, carrying a heavy back pack both ways. By the end of the week, I was really tired. I still am, actually. So tired that I went out on Saturday and bought some of my favourite very dark (60%) German chocolate on Saturday and ate too much of it. I know I ate too much of it, because I was somewhat headachey on Sunday morning, with both of my hips aching for a couple of hours after I got up. They ache after I consume sugar to any extent, but won’t if I am careful about avoiding the sweet traps of the world. Most of the time I can, but every now and then I slip, like most other people.

Upon awakening yesterday morning, the words from the Streets of Laredo (an old cowboy song) were singing themselves in my mind – “so beat the drum slowly and play the fyfe lowly” – perhaps an inner warning to slow down slightly!

Since then I have been pondering the indisputable fact that as we age we are not able to snap back into shape as quickly as we could when we were younger (or is that another misremembered myth?). I might actually be feeling less tired right now if I had known that bass is avoid (I only know a few of the beneficial fish on my list) and I had resisted the overwhelming desire to eat chocolate beyond reasonable limits. One thing I do know, and that is that I wouldn’t have missed last week for anything! It was priceless to see my daughter’s moment of glory, something she has worked toward for years and years, and to be included in her moment by accompanying her to the dinner where I met some wonderful and gifted writers was something that can never be measured.

If anyone wants to check out her book, it’s called So Beautiful, published by Porcupine’s Quill. My daughter’s name is Ramona Dearing. The reviews have been excellent.

Just a short blog today with a few answers to some questions that have been put to me recently.

Peanuts, yes they are raw. They just have the skins still on them but they are shelled. I would eat them in preference to roasted anyday. Try your local health food store or Asian Grocers. I don't even know how they grow never mind when to plant them.

Pepper, as far as I know it is avoid in any shape or form.

Parsnips mashed with Carrot sounds great, it also works well with Pumpkin.

I can't speak for Australia's immigration policy, but here in Tasmania, well we don't issue passports to just anybody, actually we don't even issue visas.{LOL}

Eczema, I can't help with a solution here, maybe you could ask the question of Heidi. I have a feeling that Dr D's column recently had some mention of it, maybe try a search there.

Silicic Acid, Still no news on that score.

Thanks to everyone who has written to say they have saved the muffin recipe, I hope they don't disappoint.

Names have been withheld to protect the innocent and the naturally shy.

I don’t usually write blogs 5:30 in the afternoon but I had left work at 3:30 to go to the dentist

today because one of my dental fillings had chipped and fallen off Saturday morning wile eating my O compliant breakfast and I swallowed it. Now I know that they still use mercury in fillings unless you opt for the white kind, which apparently is made from a very safe substance (I have a brand new one as I write this). I’m wondering what the mercury that I swallowed is doing to me as I write this.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin, usually found in fish, especially canned tuna (I think the good stuff

in fish like Omega 3 fatty acids outweigh the mercury they sometimes carry, so don’t just stop

eating fish because of this) and of course in mercury amalgam fillings. I read somewhere that there is a connection between certain autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and mercury poisoning and there are cases of remission after the removal of the mercury fillings with safe replacements. Apparently fifty percent of mercury in our bodies is stored in the kidneys and the rest in the brain and the central nervous system (and you wonder why Dentist’s have a high suicide rate, breathing

in the vapors all day) Mercury fillings are banned in several countries…North American dental associations refuse to admit that mercury fillings are harmful (we’re always dragging our heals when the status quo is in jeopardy). I currently have 7 mercury fillings in my mouth that are over 20 years old.

I’m making a commitment to do two things…first get all my old mercury fillings removed (one down, 6 more to go). Now according to It’s All In Your Head, Hal Huggins, DDS recommends you make an

early appointment so you do not expose yourself to mercury vapors from other patient’s work that accumulate throughout the day. Also they should not be done all at once (as if I can stay in a chair for several hours and have them all removed). The dentist should also use a rubber dam as a barrier when the mercury fillings are extracted. While I’m getting this done I’m going to use three supplements for three to 6 months…Vitamin C, Alpha Lipoic acid and Kyolic(garlic) (a safe blood protocol for O’s?)… which all help to remove, excrete and detoxify heavy metals from the body.

I may be a little fanatical doing this but it could be the mercury itself that is making me act this way?

Hi, all. I am going to keep this short because it is late. Sorry that I have been gone so long - my computer began dying a slow and painful (for anyone trying to use it, that is) death about 2 months ago. Last week it entered the death watch mode and finally died on Friday. Not to bore anyone with the actual details, I ended up with a new computer. The problem is that I didn't have a complete backup (because of adding a new external DVD-RW that the computer was too screwed up to recognize and that my tape backup had bit the dust), and I have had to reload a bunch of stuff.

Anyhoo - I dislike having any change in my system anyway. I also had misplaced the name and passwords to get in here to blog. I finally found everything about 10 minutes ago.

I have a lot to blog about, but I need another few days to catch up, after losing access to my stuff for a few days. I'll write more in a few - promise!

The pepper substitute mentioned yesterday is great, Sue and I both like it and will be making some more. It’s got us all enthusiastic about grinding all our own spices and I think I’ll even start grinding my own coffee beans. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

We had a 1-1/2 hour walk around Devonport in beautiful autumn sunshine after lunch today. Actually used it to troll the stores checking out the coffee grinder situation. The joys of 7 day a week trading, which were only introduced to Tasmania late last year.

Picked our Jonathon apple tree clean this morning. I know what Sue will be doing this week. Cooking apples to freeze while I’m at work. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I found fresh apple gave me digestive problems but when cooked with raisins I had no problem. So we are stocking the freezer with cooked apple.

Speaking of digestive problems, I also mentioned in an earlier blog that despite their beneficial properties peanuts upset my digestion and seemed to be responsible for a recurring chest pain. Well I haven’t shared this with you until now because I only told Sue today, and being married to me she is entitled to hear some things first and not have to read about them here. I have been feeling so well lately that about two months ago I started eating approx. 100gms of raw peanuts a week to try to introduce them slowly and see if there was any adverse reaction. Today I asked Sue if she’d noticed any difference in me in the past couple of Months and she hadn’t. So I told her that every week I have been having 100gms and that I’d had no pain and hadn’t noticed any problem digestion wise at all. Maybe, just maybe I can have a few peanuts now without feeling crook afterwards. I won’t get too excited though, just a few in moderation.

Anyway back to the pepper substitute, Sue is currently preparing a batch of Lentil burgers for tea and also for my lunch so we’re trying it in those as well.

I’ll keep you posted on the great coffee grinder search.

Hahaha,

Well, so much for my Mystic Tan experience. Yes, it looks good, but I think those salons should encourage spot testing sensitive skin areas before allowing patrons to use the product.

Within the last two days, I have broken out in an eczemic-like rash on my elbows and under my knees. I haven't broken out in a rash since freshman year of college. And that was from mono. I had to take prednisone for that; it was so darn nasty!

Makes you wonder what they use in that self-tanning stuff. It smells the same as the stuff in the bottle, meaning, it smells like a chemical you probably shouldn't be placing on the body. But I never broke out from Copppertone Endless Summer or other products such as those. Well, I guess I just have sensitive skin. I guess I'll either have to settle for UV rays or settle for looking like a ghost under those fluorescent lights all summer.

Food, food, food....

Whole foods had a WONDERFUL Cinco de Mayo theme going and I bought some Catalan spinach! It was SO good! It was mixed with garlic cloves and plump raisins. I warmed it up in a frying pan and wow!

I also had a salmon two days in a row. Kowalski's for once had salmon. Usually they just offer fried cod. Had Nigerian today on Lyndale Ave (next to the 3 Muses restaurant). Tilapia with plantains and rice. Followed by a bottle of Naked Juice. I'm about to crash but thought I'd just check in.

Work has been manageable this last two days. Hopefully the trend continues, but probably not. Oh well.

Later,

Erika

......Pepper.

It's a schoolgirl skipping rhyme that I've dredged up from the depths of my schoolboy memory but it's appropriate to today's blog.

Condiments and what to do about them.

Salt

A substance that has been denigrated over a good number of years, often unfairly. Typical of the Human Race if we find something and like it, we overdo it until it ceases to serve it's original function and becomes a danger to our health. Like all things, IN MODERATION. Sue doesn't use any salt in cooking because our normal diet includes Soy sauce and Miso both of which are salty anyway. When I was diagnosed as Hypothyroid my Naturopath recommended a small amount of salt in my diet. I have a small pinch sprinkled over my evening meal every day, but that's it. I only use a natural Celtic sea salt.

Mustard

A food that has caused untold confusion for everyone when they first start the BTD type A. Mustard is beneficial.

How can that be ? Certainly here in Oz all the commercial mustards contain vinegar which is a type A avoid.

The answer is it's the dried mustard, commonly available here as Colemans or Keens English Mustard. It's the hot stuff that you can mix with a little water to have on your roast or steak. It'll make your eyes water. From what I've read I believe some parts of the World can get prepared Dijon style mustards without vinegar. I've never seen them here. Mustard seeds are the other option either ground or fried before adding to a dish to give it a piquancy of flavour.

Vinegar

It's an avoid, call it what you will, if it says vinegar type A's can't have it. One of my great regrets is I've never ever tried a really good Balsamic vinegar. Ah well , never mind. Lemon or Lime juice make a good substitute in some dishes, while Sue and I use Vitamin C crystals [ascorbic acid] dissolved in a little water to go with the Olive Oil on our salads.

Pepper

This is also an avoid and it can be difficult finding something that will give a dish the lift that pepper can. One of my regular correspondents is Sarah in the UK and she has been kind enough to let me share with you the ingredients for 'Sarah's patented pepper substitute'.

It's a blend of Seagreens(tm) which from Sarah's description sounds a bit like Wakame seaweed, black onion seeds(nigella seeds) and mustard seeds(see I told you we would get back to them). Mix them together and grind in a coffee grinder. I'm going to try this over the weekend although without the coffee grinder it might be hard work in a mortar and pestle. I'll jut try to break it down individually, then mix it together and put into my old pepper grinder, if I can find it.

I'm sure any of the seaweeds would probably work, so experiment and I'd be interested to hear of any comments, failures or successes.

Since I typed the above paragraph I’ve had time to try the pepper mix. It appears to have worked out quite well in the mortar & pestle, although Sue and I are both excited by the concept and I’m now searching online for an electric coffee grinder so that we can grind our own fresh spices.

By the way tastes pretty damn good.

Oh boy. It just never gets any better. Worked 9.5 hours straight with no break. I could have taken a break, but there was so much to do. I plugged away at the verification terminal while the other pharmacist rechecked scripts (by Minnesota law, all scripts must be double-checked to ensure the patient received the correct med, correct directions, etc.), and made three compounds. Even after I left, she called me later that night to tell me how bad things were. Long lines of people ready to fill their new prescriptions and with only one tech and a cashier from up front who periodically came back up to help. Two managers called in sick/mom's in hospital, etc so one of the morning managers had to come back in and from what it sounds like this person was of very little help to the pharmacy.

Well, so here's the happy part of the blog. I drove down to Three Fish, a local seafood restaurant near Lake Calhoun and had the grilled Seabass with carrot risotto surrounded by a nice broth along with the happy hour special: two glasses of house red for the price of one! Let me just say that someone of my size should not have two glasses of wine in a row, albeit a row lasting an hour. In order to burn it all off, I ventured into Solar Planet next door to have myself Mystic Tanned! It turned out pretty well and I'd consider doing it again. You have to make sure you really cover your knuckles with lots of lotion though or they will turn dark orange like mine. I felt like Ross on Friends when I got it done, hoping that I'd know when to turn, haha!

Then I went into Whole Foods to look around but ended up doing much more than just looking around. Hadn't been there in a while and I really missed it.

It was a nice end to a long day.

First things first,

Happy Birthday to Jennifer, our fellow blogger. Jennifer is a young 29 today, I hope you have a special day and all your treats are beneficial.

Katja, I have looked at google.com for Silicic acid and whilst it seems to be a naturally occurring substance in the food chain, I honestly can't give you the answer you requested. As a rule of thumb if it's not listed in the type base it is considered neutral. I don't know how this relates when you start getting down to specifics in food molecules. If it's not done any harm so far........................

I have asked Dr D for his advice and will post here when he has a chance to respond.

Do you like Yoghurt ?

I love the stuff, but only natural. It's natures wonder food and one of the few dairy foods that a Type A can tolerate.

It frustrates me to look in the dairy cabinet and see what the World's major food manufacturers are doing to yoghurt.

It is now so far removed from what nature intended as to almost be an entirely different product.

I know you can make your own but I have never had a great deal of success in that.

I use a product called 'Easiyo' , it's a powdered milk base with yoghurt culture included. Mixed thoroughly in a container with water then 'cooked' in a special container which holds boiling water and seals against the outside air. It takes anywhere from 12 hours to 24 hours to produce a kilogram of the most wonderful natural yoghurt. Costs approx. $2.00 Australian per packet and a kilo lasts me a week. It's available as 'natural', 'slimmers' and Greek style. All equally as good.

Try a google for Easiyo, I'm sure it's available Worldwide.

If you simply must have a flavoured yoghurt, try stirring a good spoonful of your favourite jam/conserve into it in a bowl.

You'll never go back to........................................I'm sorry I can't promote them here. You know who they are.

For so long before and after all this heart stuff, I was becoming extremely non-compliant with my breakfast and supplement regimen (for those of you who are tuning in late, see my very first blog in the archives). Boxes and boxes of Club4 packs came to my door every month and I had yet to finish the two months before that. It has come to the point that I have to cancel my current subscription just to catch up with what I have on hand right now. I was even thinking about donating a box to a fellow type A but, boy that's a lot of $$ to be giving away!

Now I feel like I'm getting back to my usual routine again. My skin suffered as I have decreased my Omega3 intake dramatically, but this should all reverse very soon. I truly believe that beautiful skin mainly comes from the inside. Creams and tonics are all helpful in the process, but you have to feed your body the right things.

The boyfriend came over to build my 80 inch IKEA CD tower this weekend. What a strong type O man! We had so much fun. We also went to the Festival of Nations in St. Paul. It's an annual get-together with thousands of families to celebrate the diversity of ethnic foods, dance, music, and souvenirs. Though I tried to maintain compliance, I ate HORRIBLY for my blood type! I even had a bite of the boyfriend's, oh, no, BUFFALO BURGER!!! As well as Pirogis laced with wheat, potato, and cheese. And a nasty Bacardi Raz drink. Did have some lovely Turkish coffee to end the day.

Sunday morning I had a lovely brunch at Brit's Pub. Pineapple mimosa, cod bites, Artichoke and spinach dip on baguette, followed by coffee. Yum! Not 100% good for me, but just working with what they offered.

Hmmm.....that's all for now. Back to the nine day marathon as usual. Eating deli food and doing enough work for two of me. Oh well.

I had occasion to visit two markets in Toronto over the weekend. It is always a treat to go to St. Lawrence Market, probably because I don’t go there often. It’s further from home than Kensington Market, which I visit on a weekly basis, and it’s generally more expensive. I like to go into the building that houses the visiting farmers on Saturday mornings only. There I can buy exotic items, such as a kilo of goat feta cheese in a little bucket filled with brine for $14.50. The cheese stores well in my fridge for up to three months - if it lasts that long. It usually doesn’t. The same man who sells the goat cheese – a goodly variety, I should add – also sells very nice freshly made (cow) butter, which is a must in my house even though I consume very little on a daily basis, and much of the time he has double yolk eggs, which are a special treat. There are folks selling sheep products at St. Lawrence Market, which is difficult, if not impossible to find in other areas of Toronto. I always buy a tub of sheep yogurt when I see it, because my entire body loves it. It’s truly like taking medicine, I feel so good after eating it. The same folks sell sheep feta and a creamy cheese, which I will probably sample one day soon. I also bought Ontario clover and wild flower honey from the honey man. I had hoped to buy some fresh-from-the-farm spinach, which was there a month or so ago on my last visit, but those folks weren’t there this weekend. Although I didn’t buy any this trip, I can also get buffalo burgers, which are a nice addition to my B diet. One must always be alert in any market, however. A huge stack of fresh asparagus, one of my favourites, was shipped in from Washington State in the U.S. The local Ontario version will make its appearance later this month. I can wait. As with local strawberries, the difference is formidable.

Kensington Market is like home to me. I remember going there as a youngster living in Toronto, when it was mostly bushel baskets of farm-fresh produce placed in front of people's houses. The prices were always cheaper than elsewhere. Although the traditions have changed (it began as a Jewish settlement market) with the passing of each wave of immigration, it still has a lot of appeal for me. I should say here that I like grunge. Things that are funky, a bit off the usual really appeal to me. I love popping into the old buildings, each with their unique character, checking for freshness and price, with no obligation to buy anywhere I turn. Each vendor has his/her own character as well, which adds to the charm, in my eyes. Over the years I have developed my own routine, of course. Apples and beets come from one store, which also has the nicest garlic in the market (I think). One of the bulk health food stores gets a lot of my regular business. Here I buy goat milk, organic yogurt, eggs, oatmeal, spelt flour to make bread, herbal teas, walnuts, environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, supplements, etc. Another shop around the corner is where I buy most of the veggies I eat during the week, including the biggest carrots I can find, which make the best juice in my juicer. I should say here that at Kensington Market, it is buyer beware. A wonderful bargains may be worthless, in terms of quality, once you get home. Each apple, each carrot must be inspected carefully for imperfections and freshness. Experience is, as always, the best teacher.

Although I buy feta cheese at St. Lawrence Market, I make a regular stop in Kensington Market to buy my two current cheese favourites: mozzarella and the treat of the week, caprano goat cheese, which is simply delicious. It comes in a small round, and I usually buy a half round every couple of weeks. It is a firm, unripened cheese, and my body loves this cheese as well.

I began shopping regularly at Kensington Market when I returned to Toronto 16 ½ years ago and discovered that the prices there were often close to half (or less) the prices at the supermarket, with similar freshness/quality. It’s now an unquestionable routine.

Occasionally, I recall my early life as a young bride buying all my groceries under one roof, in the local supermarket, and wonder how I ever did that month after dreary month, even though the choices I now have were not available to me then. Now, I visit the supermarket for a few very small items, most of them not edible. It’s more work to go to the market, but it also makes my life a lot more worth living. At this stage of my life, that’s important.

Today was our annual company picnic/employee appreciation day and this year it was held at Paramount’s Wonderland…basically our answer to the many theme parks you have in the US. It was a very wet day, 50F and going on the rides with my daughter was a lot of fun. We worked up quite an appetite and were ready to chow down. We and about 100 others showed up at the picnic area at 1am ready to get our grub…Here’s what was on the menu:

Hamburger (b)

Hot dogs (?)…. never know what they make these out of most of the time?

Chicken drum Sticks (n)

Corn (a)

Pickles (a)

Tomatoes (n)

Potato salad (a)

Cole Slaw (cabbage)(a)

Ice Cream (a)

White Buns (a)

Sodas(a) and bottled water



Seven avoids, two neutrals and 1 beneficial for my O blood. Needless to say I had a hamburger patty (no bread) with a few slices of tomato and chicken drumstick and bottled water with people looking at me strange because I didn’t fill up my plate with all the other “goodies”.

After I finished my small lunch I kept asking myself if I were coordinating this next year, what would I do as a consciences BTDer with the menu. It would have to be simple and easy to prepare, and would not have any avoids for any of the blood groups. This is what I came up with:

Turkey Burgers (toppings like mozzarella cheese, Mushrooms (enoki, portobello, tree oyster, mustard paste...with no vinegar… and lettuce)

Soy Dogs

Tuna Salad (omit mayo and use Olive oil with lemon instead)

Curried egg Salad (same dressing as Tuna with salt and curry powder to taste)

Greek Salad (Olive oil and lemon dressing with some fresh mint, basil, and parsley with cucumbers celery, red onion, garlic diced, romaine lettuce, and Greek feta cheese)

Brown rice Pilaf (carrot, garlic, olive oil and fresh cilantro)

Beverages (Cranberry, Grapefruit, Pineapple, Green tea, and water)

Spelt Buns for the burgers, tuna and egg Salad

Dessert (Rice Crispy squares and Cranberry Spelt biscotti)

There you have it…. maybe a little exotic for a company picnic but I have 12 months to lobby the employee appreciation committee to go with my meal plan.

It will obviously have to be catered...now to find a venue that will allow the caterers in?

Winter gardening.

Yesterday (Saturday) we had two cubic metres of pine bark mulch delivered for our flower beds.

It was a cool sunny day and Sue and I took all morning to move it and spread around the beds. We even had enough left over to mulch the footpaths between the vegetable beds. It was a terrific day to be in the garden.

Oh what a change today. A cold front has blown in with 40 - 50 knot winds, freezing cold straight off the Antarctic, violent rain squalls (downpours) interspersed with bright sunshine. All I got to do today was dig the vegetables and pick fruit between showers.

Here on the PC in the warm with a roaring log fire, oh and Sue's just made the first batch of those muffins. It would be churlish of me not to try one now.......................

Wouldn't it ?

Hi folks, what’s been happening in your World ?. I’ve been a bit slack on the blogging front for the past couple of days. Busy at work, end of Month, stock take yadyadayada……………….

My blog the other day about Rye muffins has stirred up a hornets nest. I’ve been inundated with requests for the recipe. Please bear in mind, these aren’t going to taste like your local bakery offering. They have no butter, milk or eggs in them and they have a heavier texture, mind you warmed through, sliced in half and topped with Blackberry jam and yoghurt they are ‘bloody lovely’.

So here we go with Apple and Walnut Muffins.

1-1/2 cups Light Rye flour (or 3/4 cup each of light Rye and Spelt)

2 tablespoons of arrowroot powder

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 to 1 cup of chopped walnuts

3 tablespoons of soy milk (substitute water or apple juice)

1 tablespoon extra light olive oil

1 tablespoon honey (we use apple juice concentrate)

3/4 cup of stewed apple and raisin mix

Preheat the oven to 425o F or 220o C. Grease a muffin tin with olive oil. Sift flour then combine with the arrowroot, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nuts in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well and add the soy milk, sweetener and apple mix. Mix lightly adding more liquid if needed to moisten the flour. Add more liquid if required 2 tablespoons at a time until the flour is moistened. The dough should be fairly stiff. Divide the dough evenly among 12 muffins cups ( we usually get 10) and bake for about 12 minutes. Immediately after removing from the oven, loosen muffins and turn sideways in cups to cool.

Tip: If you only fill 10 muffin cups or even less, 1/2 fill the remainder with water, this helps to stop the muffins near the empty cups from burning.

Do whatever you like with them from this stage but whatever it is I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.