About a year ago, soon after beginning the Blood Type Diet, I found myself eating a lot more fresh produce than I had been, especially fruit. I also began to notice that even though I rinsed my hands thoroughly, the juice was staining my fingers. Apples seemed to be the worst offenders, perhaps because I generally keep the apple in my hand while I munch away, and the juice invariably gets all over the hand. The stains became worse over time. Eventually, I had what seemed to be permanent black stains under the tips of my fingernails and in the creases around the edges of the nails, plus relatively frequent temporary stains on my palms and fingers.

What really puzzled me was that I had gone through periods of high produce consumption before with no such stains. When we lived in Southern California, Hubby and I would come back from the Farmer’s Market with two canvas tote bags full of goodies, every week.

A few months ago, following Dr. D’s advice for A’s with “tired blood,” I began taking Floravital (the wheat-free version of his actual recommendation, Floradix). I soon began noticing gray stains on my teeth. Rinsing my mouth immediately after taking the Floravital helped somewhat, but like the black stains on my fingers, the gray stains on my teeth became worse over time. I took to scrubbing them with baking soda before any social engagements. That, too, helped somewhat, but I was sorely tempted to stop smiling and wear gloves.

The turning point came when I noticed that my teeth were also developing a yellow stain. Now, my teeth have always had a yellowish tinge (as a pale friend of mine puts it, “Blond people have blond teeth”) – but this was way more than a tinge, plus it had a creepy iridescence. Picture a car that comes in “Tawny Pearl” and you’ll have the picture.

Fortunately, we had already noticed the Tawny Pearl stain on our dishes, beginning shortly after we moved here a couple of years ago, and blamed it on the iron in our well water. We had been meaning to get a water softener, but hadn’t gotten around to it. About the same time that I noticed the iron stain on my teeth, the plumber told us we’d better get a softener right away if we wanted to avoid major problems with our water heater. We had him install it about six weeks ago, and guess what? No more stains on my fingers. The stains on my teeth are a bit more tenacious, but they’re fading, so I’m comfortable smiling in public again.

I guess the moral of the story is that problems often have more than one cause. When I didn’t eat apples for a while, my finger stains lightened up even while the water still had iron in it. And the stains have completely gone away now, even though I’m still eating apples. The stains apparently require the combination of fruit juice and iron.

This sort of synergy can make it tricky to figure out what’s causing what – trying one thing at a time may not work. That’s when it’s really important to keep one’s antennas fully extended, and consider all possible clues. Come to think of it, that’s good advice any time.