I was thrilled to see the phrase “full genetic potential” associated with the GenoType Diet, and it is certainly one of its core principles. It is a favorite phrase of mine. I first heard this phrase back in the early 90’s when I was studying midwifery. I remember a midwife working in my community explaining over and over again that the organizing principle of the practice of midwifery… from the emphasis on healthy maternal nutrition, extended prenatal care, support for the birthing mother and family, creating a safe and gentle birthing environment, as little as possible intervention during birth… all this was to provide the opportunity for the soon-to-be newborn to reach their fullest genetic potential. I would often think about that phrase when I was at a birth, and how I could support this new life coming to the planet in a way that would give them that opportunity.

And so it was doubly thrilling to see the importance of good maternal nutrition and a healthy growing environment as a way to maximize the genetic potential of not only our immediate offspring… but for generations to come as a part of the GenoType Diet. A female newborn has the most ova in her ovaries that she will ever have at birth. The egg that became you was formed during your grandmother’s pregnancy with your mother. I remember thinking about that years ago and wondering what my grandmother had experienced during her pregnancy with my mom and how that impacted the person I came to be. And so it is with all of us….

How wonderful that we now have a way to take that even further… no matter what our age. When my boys were young, I felt that proper nutrition was so important for their growing bodies and was abhorred at what some parents routinely fed their children. It was a priority for me to feed my children the best way I knew as they were ‘growing’ a body which would need to support them for the rest of their lives. But until I read The GenoType Diet book, I never thought about that as adults, we are continually ‘growing’ our bodies too. We replenish our cells constantly. And that we now have a way to maximize, and alter, our genetic destiny beyond the womb. What a concept!!

I’m looking forward to the journey.

If you haven’t gotten Dr. D’ Adamo’s new book, “The Genotype Diet: Change Your Genetic Destiny to live the longest, fullest, and healthiest life possible” then … what are you waiting for?? It is a very interesting, exciting, and new body of work to explore.

Dr. D’ Adamo now takes us beyond blood type to explore our genetic heritage and its interplay with our own individual physiologies and how to further maximize our genetic potential in all the right ways. This new paradigm incorporates the basics of The Blood Type Diet at its core, and adds 6 new GenoTypes that refine and incorporate Dr. D’ Adamo’s interest in epigenetics: the study of how environment impacts which genes are engaged and which ones are silenced. Your own GenoType is easy to determine. If you know your blood type, Rh type and secretor type, then all it takes is a few simple measurements and you’re there!

Of the six Genotypes , persons with blood type B can be one of 3 types: the Gatherer, the Explorer, or the Nomad. I am a Nomad. And I must say that from the very beginning, my journey through the Blood Type Diet, and now the GenoType Diet has been a fairly easy one for me to integrate. When I began the BTD almost 10 years ago now, I had already been eating so-called “healthy” foods… it is just that some of them were not healthy for me. I knew what millet, spelt, quinoa, tamari, etc. was so it was just a matter of… ‘Oh, I should be eating more of this and less of such and such’ for optimal health. And I was also eating organic whenever possible and free-range/grass-fed meats. Adjusting to the B diet was not that big of a change for me. But the beauty of the B diet was not the “permission” to eat dairy. For me it was that for almost every avoid there was a suitable replacement… for chicken there was turkey, for cinnamon, nutmeg, for tomatoes, red and chili peppers, etc.

And now with the Nomad diet, I feel doubly blessed because of the 6 GenoTypes, it seems to be the closest to the B Secretor diet which I had been following. Yes, there are some changes… some very interesting changes that I am excited to explore further… but I’ll get more into that in another blog. For now I will just say that the some of changes I had already begun to shift toward intuitively. And I think that is the real gift of Dr. D’ Adamo’s work… giving people the knowledge of what real health feels like, the tools to get there, but most of all permission to “go with their gut” (pun intended :-) and trust their inner knowing in matters relating to their own health and wellness.

I’ve been struggling with eczema once again, as I have since I was a teenager. It cleared up considerably shortly after I started the BTD about 9 years ago. Since then, it has only come back in a mild form on rare occasions. This time though, I have had it for several months. I think that stress plays a big role in its recurrence. I tried to find out what food was aggravating my system since eczema can also be linked to food intolerances. In the past, it was tomatoes that was the trigger. But I couldn’t find anything. I cut out almost all dairy as that also has been a mild trigger but to no avail. I decided to return to the membrane fluidizer cocktail, or membrosia as it is called in the SWAMI program… a much more appealing name, I think. I haven’t done the membrosia for several years, preferring to use flax meal ground fresh daily in my yogurt rather than flax oil which has such a high rate of rancidity. Plus… I am not a big juice drinker and having fresh juice on hand was a chore. Ideally I would juice a small amount daily… I do have a juicer and maybe someday I will incorporate fresh made juices into my daily routine. But for now that is just a dream…

So I prepared and drank the membrosia daily. I had a gallon of pear/apple juice that I had bought before Thanksgiving and which (thankfully!!) did not spoil. I put one tablespoon of flax seed oil and one tablespoon of lecithin in an old jelly jar that I poured half full of juice and the other half with water. After shaking vigorously, the lecithin begins to dissolve and emulsifies the oil. I did this for about a month and experienced a huge improvement. Yea membrosia!!! But I still could not get my skin to heal completely.

I then read on the forums about the zinc connection and eczema. Ah yes…. zinc! I even recommended zinc to my aunt about 15 years ago for eczema that was troubling her. How easily we forget! I looked around the house for zinc and saw a considerable amount in a mega-flavonoid supplement and began taking 2 tablets daily. In less than a week, the eczema is now almost completely healed except for a faint pinkness. An added benefit is that my skin overall is looking and feeling much better. Perhaps the flavonoids helped as well… sometimes intuition works wonders that way.

Returning to the basics is often highly beneficial. :-)

A glorious day dawned for me about a week ago. For months I have been hoping that my favorite natural meat store would begin carrying rabbit. I looked for rabbit way back when I started the BTD almost 10 years ago and the only one I found was in a gourmet store tucked into a corner of the freezer section. It looked like it had been in there since the last Ice Age. So I didn’t bother looking for rabbit again until a couple years ago. And then… lo and behold as I was picking up my Thanksgiving turkey, there it was. Rabbit. Yes, It was frozen, but looked lovely. It cost an arm and a leg but I didn’t care.

As I was paying for my meats, I remarked to one of the store clerks that I was so happy they were now carrying rabbit. She replied that they had been searching for a very long time to find a supplier that met their standards. I knew exactly what she was talking about as they have a pledge posted across one wall of the store near the cash register that reads:

Our Pledge… Our Purpose

We believe food should be good… and good for you;

We believe food is a sacred gift;

We believe our health and well being is best served with whole foods, minimally processed, free of chemicals and artificial preservatives;

We believe food, animals, and the land should be managed using sustainable, humane practices, that promote the long-term health of rural families and communities;

We believe food should be produced as close to our tables as possible by people who love the soil and care for the land;

We believe the people who produce our food should earn a just income.



So I knew my rabbit had come from a place that embraces these practices and beliefs. And I know that the core belief of this store is to support family farms and rural economies. No agri-business here. Never. Nada. Zip.

And I think about that pledge every time I am in that store. If I have to align myself to a pledge of any sort… this is the one I choose.

Hiking in the cañon earlier this autumn; it was late afternoon and the angle of the sunbeams sliced through the air in a way that illuminated everything in the space between the cañon walls. Suddenly, the air had volume and presence to it in a way I had never experienced except during snowfall. I was amazed to see the number of bugs and small insects drifting through the cañon. But what was most amazing were the spider webs. Thin tendrils floating everywhere like sea kelp in an ocean… drifting on the air currents. Many clung to branches and the tops of trees waving in the slight breeze. I felt like I was privy to a private world… which had been there all the while. Only this time, with help from the sun I paused long enough to experience it.

About one millionth of an inch thick… called a dragline… most spiders spin silk behind themselves wherever they go. Sometimes called the spider’s “lifeline” the dragline is often used to escape enemies. A spider can drop from its dragline and hang in mid air until danger passes. Or it can float on the breeze with the dragline as a kind of rudder/anchor as I saw in the cañon. “Now… this would be a handy tool to have at one’s disposal”, I thought to myself. Imagine having a built in life line to help you hang in the air or float on the breeze for awhile. As my marriage has ended and I am about to live on my own for the first time since my early 20’s, I am deep in the experience of groundlessness and at times feel adrift in a shapeless, nameless void. Since I don’t possess a set of spinnerets, I have to create my own lifeline from my own knowledge base and life experience. Not an easy task and sometimes I am envious of those spiders.

It got me thinking about what tools I do have at my disposal. Certainly following the B diet/lifestyle recommendations is at the core. And paying attention to how my mind and body react to… well… everything. Right now, my food choices are changing as I am changing. I do not tolerate much dairy nor dense meats right now. I need to eat lighter with more fruits and vegetables. I had to change my exercise patterns too, very light on the aerobic and more strength training. And much more time for centering exercises like deep relaxation, yoga, meditation, and breathing. I am forging new connections to myself and this takes time. And paying attention to minute details.

But then there are moments when quite unexpectedly, the void takes shape, just like the cañon did and I feel myself not drifting aimlessly but moving through, with intent and purpose, to the other side of this experience. I think about the spiders surrendering to the breeze with their draglines trailing… trusting that they will end up somewhere. And knowing that I will too.