From South Africa to Sweden, my how the world is shrinking!

Thanks for a wonderful column. I am an O and must still determine secretor status, but am following the non-secretor list due to adverse reactions to almost all grains. I have 2 questions: 1) Your answer in the column regarding shopping for O-nons was very informative BUT my biggest dilemma is what to eat for BREAKFAST, except Essene bread and eggs? Meat & veggies sound unthinkable and I avoid nuts due to their high fat content, to keep my weight down. Meals for the rest of the day pose no problem. 2) In one of my juice books there is a recipe for Rejuvelac, a fermented drink from sprouted wheat seeds and water. It is supposed to have many beneficial enzymes and I was wondering if this would also be as beneficial as the Essene bread, seeing that O's may not have yoghurt. Amanda, South Africa.

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Hi! I´ve read in Ann Wigmores Living Food about somthing called Rejuvelac. It is a drink made from naturally fermented grain and water. I am a 0+ and wonder if Rejuvelac could be of benefit for me. Thanks, Rolf

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Greetings from at least 3000 miles away, friends! My gratitude that you speak English is profound, as I'm afraid my Afrikaans and Swedish leave a great deal to be desired. ;-}

Last things first ~ Rejuvelac: I haven't read Ms. Wigmore's book, but if her recipe calls for 100% sprouted grain and water, fermented without the addition of anything in your "avoid" list, it's absolutely fine. Since it's made fresh at home, I conjecture that it might be beneficial for all types, in fact. (I just received a note from a reader who says there is some concern over bacterial contamination with Rejuvelac, and some spas no longer use it. Proceed with caution....)

And... breakfast for type O: Amanda, if meat and veggies at 7 a.m. sound a little off the beaten path at the moment, how about steak and eggs? Or minced meat and scrambled eggs, with some onions and garlic thrown in? Thin-sliced salmon or other fish, cooked quickly, topped with poached eggs? There is a Spanish dish called a "tortilla," which is a large omelette made with any number of items (onions, peppers, garlic, a little homemade beef or venison sausage perhaps?) baked in an iron pan and served hot, warm or cold.

In my country, it is traditional to eat toast, eggs, bacon or sausage and homefries (pan-cooked potatoes) in the morning. This is easily adapted by using eggs, some leftover meat, fish or fowl, and sweet potatoes or yams. Experiment! Any of these choices might be modified to satisfy your taste for breakfast, and carry you through to the easier meals of the day! Good luck!

Hi, Diane ~ thank you for the compliment! :-)Yes, it does make a difference to Os, and a number of other blood types as well. Here's a question to which, happily, there is a definitive answer!

It started as a regional thing in the southern U.S. to call sweet potatoes "yams," with variations such as "garnet yams," etc. The dual usage has since spread countrywide ~~ and nobody cared, until BTD came along. ;-> In my organic grocer, they complicate the matter by using both terms. It all began with an imported word which canny veg distributors originally used to distinguish the heritage pale-yellow sweet potatoes from the darker-pigmented new-and-improved strain. The word, "nyami," was conveniently heisted from a food item which is botanically and physically quite distinct from the sweet potato. However, rest easy: all those little tubers, be they pale yellow, dark orange, dark red, etc. are sweet potatoes.

In your supermarket, I doubt they have true yams. They have them in mine, because I live in a predominantly Dominican immigrant neighborhood. If you frequent Asian grocers, you'll see species of yam there, too. They all have a dark brown, almost woody-looking, somewhat shiny skin and chalk-white innards. Their size varies from long-sweet-potato to huge -- the bodega a few blocks from me regularly displays torpedo-sized specimens.

The yams of food list and database fame have a dry, hard, starchy flesh, and belong to the Dioscorea family of plants ~ while our HB sweet potatoes (from meek yellow to outright magenta) hail from the Ipomoea clan, with the softer, sweeter qualities we're all familiar with.

Here's a great reference page from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Have a read, and spread the word! :-D

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The sprouted thing is a bit confusing, no? If the bread you've found is 100% sprouted, and the label confirms it, then it's fine. What the label, or the baker, says is the key to choosing breads in the market.

Essene bread can be baked at home at a low temperature for several hours. You needn't have a Mediterranean climate in order to enjoy Essene bread. "Nature's Path" here in the States are major commercial bakers of Essene bread, which they call "Manna" bread. You can find it online under that name.

That said, however, if I were an O with IBS, I would do my utmost to remove breads and pastries from my diet altogether. Revisit my paleolithic roots in a big way, so to speak. Gluten grains have been too deeply implicated with bowel complaints for me to recommend them to you at this juncture. When all symptoms have subsided, that's the time to very slowly and carefully re-introduce them.

In case you might be interested: my old friend Joachim (type A reported that he and many other people had success in resolving colitis through using the following protocol. Perhaps it will help you?

"Boil white rice in plenty of saltwater until the rice is very soft. As you probably won't be able to buy WILD Blueberries, soak dried wild blueberries in a little warm water (initially boil because you want to rule out any germs) and add the water + Blueberries to the drained rice. Eat this by carefully chewing and drink wild Blueberry tea (2 - 3 tablespoons, boiled in a cup of water, let rest for 10 Min.), also eat a few tablespoons of dried wild blueberries in-between meals, and again chew carefully. Forget the large cultured Blueberries; they are not half as effective as wild ones from colder northern climates like Maine. Alter that with soft white rice and soft-boiled Carrots or Fennel. Remember you are not interested in vitamins etc., just holding food down to absorb nutrients. Minerals should be your first concern, so boil rice and soak blueberries in a high mineral content still mineral water (unfortunately, most mineral waters have low minerals due to the low sodium craze here in the US. French Contrexville, German still Appolinaris or Fachinger would be ideal). Otherwise, introduce mineral substitutes slowly but make sure to follow Dr. D. on this one as well.



Might help, couldn't hurt... see what you think.

Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) is not listed in the Eat Right/Live Right books. It is common in Europe, but that species is not found here in the States. It's in the same polymorphic frying pan as halibut, dabs, and flounder: fine for type Os (there are few meats and fishes we cannot eat), although not recommended for all the other types. Like to read more? Here's a lovely page all about the flatfish: Alwyne Wheeler and the Pleuronectidae.

Soy for type O divides down secretor/nonsecretor lines. Neutral for secretors, no-no for nons. Since IBS is at issue, I'd avoid it for now. thank you so much for writing! :-D