Category: On The Diet
Meal Planning For the Masses
October 21st, 2002 , by adminWelcome! I'm glad you asked this question, because the vast majority of people who follow the blood type diets are faced with the same task: plan it, shop it, cook it. A scattershot approach is fine, but... what if I'm eating too much of some things and not enough of others? what if I get home from the store and can't make a single meal from everything I bought? It can seem pretty complicated at first. For O nonsecretors, nonsecretors in general actually, we have no sample menus ~ but here's a way to make up your own.
Live Right 4 Your Type provides guidelines for portion quantities and frequency. Because we all have different favorite foods, health concerns and available time/energy/money for shopping and cooking, the best approach is to use those guidelines to make up your own meal plan. I’ll use the example of a type O nonsecretor, but everyone can benefit by using this process. You set up a structure you can depend on (helpful for forming good habits!) then fill it in as you go. It also makes it a little easier to get back on the diet if you’ve crashed & burned along the way. There's plenty of room for new foods -- and the occasional slip-up! :-}
First, devise a weekly “big picture” to work from. I started by listing the food categories down the left side of a page, then entering the weekly frequencies of each category to the right, multiplying “per day” frequencies by 7 in order to get a consistent total. Remember that in the case of fruits and vegetables, the frequencies listed in Live Right should read “per day” rather than “per week.” Beneficial vegetables can be used without limitation.
Then, pare it down to likely meals over the week. For me, I started with:
* 2 portions meat/poultry on weekdays
* 1 portion fish 3 times on weekdays (as fits in)
* 2 eggs, one fish and one portion meat/poultry on Sat & Sun
* 1 portion beans per week (optional, in place of one poultry)
* Handful of nuts or 2 T nut butter per day
* Unlimited beneficial veg & vegjuice per day
-- and/or 2-3 neutral veg & vegjuice per day (salad 3x/wk)
* 2 portions fruit a day (in winter, Proberry syrup 1 T/day)
* oils as needed (salad dressing 3x/wk)
For each of these eight “diet sections,” run through the food lists and jot down a few items you’d like to have in the coming week. Now you’ve got a shopping list.
Note that although technically we’re allowed up to three portions of grain, two servings from the milk and yogurt list, and one of cheese, I don’t include them in my planning because they’re not ideal foods for my type. They’re also notoriously difficult to completely avoid at a restaurant or party. So, I use the Convicted Food rule: rare outings in return for good behavior. If I find myself in a situation (traveling, holidays, you name it) where dairy or grain has slipped in a few times in a row, or if something I’ve eaten has triggered cravings, I consider the food an Escaped Convict and put it away accordingly for a good long time. There are only six grains that even rate “neutral” for O nons, so don’t feel like an alien if you find you’re better off without them altogether. You'll have a lot of company.
While our food choices seem terribly restricted when surrounded with carb-heavy supermarket aisles and Vegetarian! All Soy! No Fat! advertising, I’ve found there’s plenty to eat. There’s one single avoid for us in the whole meat/poultry list, to start with. Only 11 avoids appear in the 80+ seafood entries. Adding only the vegetables, fruits, nuts... suddenly we have hundreds of choices, many of which will do you more good than all the medicine in the world. If it helps boost your enthusiasm, think of all the stuff we can have that nobody else can eat!! Frankly, I’m sort of grateful for my food list, even for the challenges it sometimes sets for me.
If you look carefully at my little food plan, you’ll find evidence of a Type A nonsecretor in the house. I eat more turkey, chicken and the occasional OK-for-A-non bean dish than I would in an all-O household. If you live alone, or with others of your own polymorphic persuasion, the food plan doesn’t change much but the ease of shopping and recipe choice does.
The main thrust of the O-non diet is meat, fish, vegetables, nuts/seeds (and fruit in the summer). For a type A, it might be the same in reverse order with the addition of more beans and grain. For Bs and ABs, dairy can play a greater part. Let the seasons be your guide to some extent. Try to keep an eye on what’s fresh from the local producers. (I note you're in a farming area ~ these are general recommendations! :-)) Look into community organic food co-ops, visit websites like eatwild, and see if someone not too far away is raising something you want. You’ll be getting more nutrition for your dollar, and new confidence in the kitchen, as well as the satisfaction of supporting your local hard-working organic farmers and ranchers.
This plan confers treasures upon those who follow it. We’re doubly encouraged to try things we’ve never had before, expand our involvement in the basic ecology of food and people, and do more home cooking (quality-for-quality, it’s cheaper in the long run). Over time, the avoids you long for now will elicit a grimace instead of a drool. I think the key to enjoying the O nonsecretor diet is to let its balance take you where it wants you to be. It’s a good place. Give it time, and let your beliefs and habits change gently according to the evidence of your sharpening senses. It WILL become effortless... I promise!
Coalfish? Pollack? Os? Bs?
October 20th, 2002 , by admin
Question:
Hello, Norway! Must be nice to catch your own fish and eat it fresh! :-) (a little envious here in New York City!)
After an hour spent searching references, I can understand your confusion. Let's try to sort it out.
The short answer is: coalfish is not listed in the blood type books, and we have no new rating for it. Technically, that means that if you are in good health, treat it as a neutral.
However, we can look at this question in more detail, and perhaps get a more thoroughgoing answer. I think it bears more scrutiny because coalfish has confusing nomenclature -- and pollack is an avoid for Os and Bs -- so let's take a look.
Many authoritative websites about fish describe coalfish as a variety of pollack. There are differences noted between Pollachius pollachius, Pollachius virens, Gadus pollachius and Gadus virens. Gadus, of course, is the cod genus. However, some sites call pollack by two or three names; some call all pollack Pollachius pollachius; and some say that variety isn't the familiar "pollack."
Jing International, a fish processor in Washington State, USA, says:
"POLLACK (Pollachius, or Gadus Virens): A North Atlantic fish of the cod family, Gadidae. It is known as saithe, or coalfish, in Europe. The pollock is an elongated fish, deep green with a pale lateral line and a pale belly. It has a small chin barbel and, like the cod, has three dorsal and two anal fins. A carnivorous, lively, usually schooling fish, it grows to about 1.1 m (3.5 feet) in length and 16 kg (35 pounds) in weight. It is caught commercially for food and also affords sport for anglers.
"The pollock classified as either Gadus [pollachius] or Pollachius [pollachius] is a related species of no commercial value found inshore in European waters."
Does that sound like your fish? and do you catch it at sea?
A history of fish species names can be found at the USDA's "Regulatory Fish Encyclopedia." The relevant page is here: the RFE entry for pollack. They assert that what is called pollack in this country is Pollachius virens (nicknames, "saithe" (close to the Norwegian "sei"?), "coalfish," "coley," and of all things, "green cod." :-D) They also note that the same fish has been named multiple times over the centuries, hence the gadus/pollachius/virens confusion.
Does this look like your fish? 
Sea-ex, a commercial fishery organization, agrees with the USDA, saying "saithe" is Pollachius virens... but they list Atlantic Pollack, Alaskan Pollack and Saithe as separate fish species.
We may be at an impasse.
With this information at hand, perhaps you can compare your coalfish to the various experts' descriptions. If it does bear close resemblance to the USDA's "pollack," I guess I'd have to recommend fishing for something else, just to be on the safe side. But if your fish ain't their fish, well... as I indicated before you fell asleep reading all this, treat it as neutral!
Soy Sauce... with wheat?
October 19th, 2002 , by admin
I am a type O (I suspect a secretor, but have not had it tested). I am a bit confused over the status of Soy Sauce. I have checked the labels on several different brands of soy sauce and all of them (so far) contain wheat as an ingredient. Since wheat is an avoid for type O's, I wonder why it is OK in soy sauce??? Thanks for any light you can shed on this.
You're right. Soy sauce that lists wheat as an ingredient is not recommended for type Os. There are many food items in the various blood-type diet books which are products rather than whole foods. These items are present in so many kitchens that it made sense to offer readers the convenience of a rating for them. In every case, it's prudent to read labels when confronted with a product rather than a single, unprocessed food.
The good news is that there are several brands of wheat-free soy sauce. The thing to look for, actually, is either wheat-free organic tamari (San-J makes a widely-available product -- look for the gold label with the red globe) or a product put out by Bragg, called Bragg Liquid Aminos, a non-fermented soybean sauce containing only non-GMO soy extract and water.
Visit your local organic grocer, express your concerns and see if they have suggestions, too. Most well-stocked HFSs have favorite brands of soy and tamari sauce, and perhaps can introduce you to others beyond the ones I mentioned. Ask them to order one of the above if they do not currently carry an acceptable product. That way, you can get what you need and educate at the same time! :-)
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