BR: Tell us a little about yourself - your age, blood type, marital status, children, nationality, profession, country in which you live.




MHL: Hi Cocky! My name is Marilyn Holasek Lloyd, and I am 56 years old. I have type A negative blood and I'm a secretor with Mn status. I've been married to a physician (retired) for 28 years, and have a son 26 and a daughter soon to be 25. They are all type O's. Considering the diseases running in my family, I am grateful theydo not have my blood type. My heritage is Bohemian, or as my aunt would say, "Say Czech, they'll think you're a gypsy." I am also only a second generation American since almost all of my grandparents came from the "old country." I have had many professions. First of all I became an RN and was a psychiatric nurse, and then an obstetrics office nurse. Then I went back to college and got a liberal arts degree and began to teach stress management and self help subjects, and after that got a Master's degree in mostly English and taught part-time in a community college in the English/Lit courses and did some free lance writing. But then 1996 came, and my life and focus changed.



BR: Give us some insight of your health problems. Are there any diseases running in your family?


MHL: In 1996, I was diagnosed with Stage One breast cancer. Because of my nursing school experiences, it was like one of my worst fears come true. This started a journey like no other. Until that time, I had been fairly healthy with some exceptions. I was prone to yeast infections since my early 20's. I'd had a bad case of mono at 28 and that seems to have altered my immunity. From that point on I had a low white count, and was prone to viruses and suffered from environmental type allergies. My family history was loaded withbad stuff. My paternal grandfather and father died at 68 with stomach cancer. My mother died at 33 when I was 8 weeks old of probably a blown mitral valve due to rheumatic fever as a child. My paternal grandmother diedof Heart disease and my maternal grandparents of strokes. My aunts and uncles also had colon cancer, parathyroid cancer, and heart disease. It was this family history that made me a believer when I first studied the bloodtype way of life. (By the way, my grandfather was a butcher, and although poor, they ate lots of meat and they were all probably type A's.)



BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet (I rather call it way-of-life!) Was it through friends, colleagues, health practitioners, or other?




MHL: After my recovery from breast cancer surgery modified radical and simple mastectomy, and the other treatment I chose, oophorectomy to reduce my risk of recurrence, I embarked on a life-changing journey. I signed up with an altmed practiononer and detoxed my body, and changed everything physically, emotionally, and spiritually with the thought that everything in my life that led up to breast cancer needed to change to get well. I started going to medical meetings. At an alternative/complementary medicine conference in 1997, I first heard of the blood type diet. I was fascinated. You could say I had a "gut" reaction. When I read about type A's with cancer and heart disease, I know that Dr. D was talking about my family. When I read that type A's are more prone to breast cancer, and have a less than desirable outcome I freaked out. When I calmed down, I realized that Dr. D seems to know things about breast cancer that NO other doctor KNEW. I wanted to see this doc! I had to wait a year, but in the mean time. . . .



BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?




MHL: I jumped right into the diet cold turkey. I felt I didn't have a day to waste. Breast cancer is highly motivating.



BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!). What kind of changes did you experience?


MHL: The eating plan gave me peace of mind, and let me tell you with this diagnosis it is in short supply. I finally felt that I found the Wellness-Groupfor life. Eliminating dairy helped with my allergies/sinus/mucous got counselling, joined a list serve for the alternative treatments of breast cancer-called Amazon, ran a small support group myself and a few friends with a cancer diagnosis, and began proselytising every where I went. I also took meditation classes, meditated regularly, and began a walking program (I was a couch potato before 1996) I also found a wellness technique called NAET (another story) which helped me conquer long standing allergies and also helped me emotionally. I started writing about the prevention of breast cancer. I am a completely different person than I was in 1996, and I owe a great deal of it to finding ERFYT.



BR: Your family; how did they react to your following this Blood type program? Are they supportive, tolerant or negative?


MH: My family has been very supportive of all my choices including the blood type program. My husband in particular who practiced medicine for 50 years saw to it that I got the organic food I needed, that I could see any doctor or practiononer I wanted, and chauffeured me to see Dr. D'adamo on an ongoing basis. (Va to Connecticut and another doc in NY) When he met Dr. D'adamo, he felt he was extraordinarily knowledgeable in every facet of the human body. Both of us were impressed on how empathetic, kind, and down to earth he is.Even with all I do, my family has been slow to adopt the blood type diet themselves, but as for my husband, since I do the cooking he's on the program more than he realizes.



BR: How many blood types are there in your family? Is it easy or time consuming to prepare foods, how do you manage?


MHL: Since most of the time there is the two of us, I have found foods that work for both of us for dinner. For example a good O and A combo would be salmon, sautéed veggies, and a salad. When I eat my sautéed snails in a salad, or my tofu or temper in a salad, I give my hubby a meal with meat.





BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road? Looking at your diet, what was easy to integrate, what still gives you problems?



MHL: We do eat out, and my other restrictions are harder on me in finding foods than the blood type diet. For example, I rarely eat chicken out because I don't want to eat the additional hormones. Recent research shows that dairy even organic has growth factors that most blood types should avoid if they have had breast cancer. So I have to stick to mainly fish, rice and veggies eating out. We travel on cruises, and I can always find myself something to eat because they serve a lot of fish and salads. However, my family laughs at me because I take a lot of food whenever I travel, even on a cruise: My tofu, soymilk, snacks, desserts, and breads. This helps because I stick to my ERFYT, and don't feel deprived while watching my travel companions eating those enticing but not healthy foods. (I'm not saying I never cheat, but taking one's food lends itself to more compliance.)



BR: Do you get support from your medical health practitioner? Could you convince him/her of the positiveimpact of the BTD on your health?


MHL: I had to pick a local doctor who was tolerant of my choices and open to what I do. For Christmas, I load up docs I want to thank with books like Live Right For Your Type and other health related books. Maybe allopathic Western medicine will learn something.



BR: What kind or medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the BTD?


MHL: I take no medications. From the beginning with the first alt/med doc, I was on mega doses of vitamins and minerals. Then I got yet another virus and my liver functions went off due to probably a combination of the virus and a vitamin overdose. This was about the time I first got to see that NY doc and Dr. D'Adamo). I still take a number of vitamins and minerals, but have found through the ensuing years that the ones that agree with me the best are guess what-The blood type ones. With Dr. D's interest in breast cancer, specifically, he has made specific formulations for just that with his snail pills (type A and A, and Aromastat plus the ARA powder to protect my liver, Proberry and lastly Cortiguard for stress. Because of my choice of an oophorectomy, I'm going to be osteoporosis prone so I feel more secure using his form of calcium too. (I also take other supplements) I have had much fewer virus' now that I've been taking these supplements and eating according to the blood type plan. I've had no attacks of yeast, since I started with alternative complementary medicine in 1996. At first my gut had a hard time with more of a plant type diet, but now it's happy and I feel it was of extreme importance for cancer prevention to get that polyamine level down.



BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic /green foods/meats you need? How do you cope with it?



MHL: We do not have a big organic food store in our town. Locally you can get some organic produce, but it isn't as fresh as I would like. Therefore, we drive every two weeks or so about 50 miles one way to go to a bigger store. It has become a way of life.

BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us? Now you have the chance!




MHL: Contrary to what medicine would have women believe, there is no cure for breast cancer. Therefore, the best anyone can do with this diagnosis is make the appropriate medical decisions on treatment with lots of self study and second opinions, and a proper diagnosis of the extent of one's disease. I have a personal interest in this statement. After 8 mammograms, a CAT scan of the breast, and an ultrasound, medicine missed that I had a second tumor in one of my breasts. So, I want women to know that a proper diagnosis is very important in choice of treatment. Better yet, at least TRY to prevent breast cancer. This goes for primary prevention or preventing a recurrence. Although medicine is slow to look for cause, (Too many drug companies involved with pesticide manufacturing) there are still things one can do. Follow Live Right For Your Type way of life. That is the best way I know. (Which gets the polyamine level down, uses lectins to one's advantage, keeps immunity up, and decreases risk factors for other diseases as well. Also, avoid pesticides, radiation excesses, hormones in meat, balance hormones, control stress, and get exercise. Obesity is the highest risk factor, so maintain a good weight. (Read and follow The Safe Shopper's Bible by Samuel Epstein to stay away from carcinogens.) For women, self-care is important, since family seems to get most of our time. And I might add that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my faith. Faith helped me in the beginning of the journey to make the right choices for me. My faith showed me the way to Dr. D'Adamo for which I owe a tremendous debt, and faith helps me through each day. I am very thankful.



BR: Marilyn, may I thank you for this ‘search-and-find’ interview! You show us never to stop being critical, curious and eager to absorb more knowledge despite accepted medical dogmas!

And most of all: To have faith in our body!