I have written many blogs about summer fruit. This year I have been enjoying winter fruit. Our grocery store has carried fresh guava and fresh persimmons all winter.

I love adding guava to my breakfast mix. It tastes especially good with pineapple or pineapple juice.

I buy several persimmons whenever I see them in the stores. I let them ripen on the counter until they are soft, then cut off the top and scoop the fruit out with a spoon.

Imported cherries this winter have been less expensive per pound than summer cherries. I have kept fresh cherries in the refrigerator almost all winter.

We received a box of ruby red grapefruit as a Christmas gift. We just ate the last one a few days ago. They are always delicious eaten out of the rind with a spoon. I also like them chopped up in my breakfast mix, especially when I add a scoop of vanilla flavored egg white protein.

Mangos this year have been disappointing. I don’t know a thing about growing mangos, but the growing conditions must have been less than ideal. The ones I have bought have been stringy and not very sweet.

On the other hand, pineapples seem to have been especially good this year. Sweeter and juicier than I remember from previous winters.

My husband and I are not the only ones enjoying winter fruit. We put all of the cores and peelings out for the deer to eat. They love persimmon, mango, and pineapple. I sometimes wonder what Hill Country deer think when they are munching on tropical fruit. Probably their taste buds are just as happy as mine.

Three bits of background before starting this blog.
1. When I first started the BTD, I learned that kale, a vegetable I had never heard of, was highly beneficial. I ate it often at first, but because my family wouldn’t eat it and it smelled terrible when it was cooking, I gradually stopped buying it.

2. I was in a health food store and they had free samples of a new product. Kale chips. They were delicious, outstanding, crunchy, yummy! I said, “I’ll buy a bag of those.” Ouch. I didn’t look at the price: they were really expensive. Double ouch. I didn’t look at the ingredients: they were coated with lots of salt and nuts.

3. DD has been dehydrating vegetables in her oven to take to work as a snack.

So, I decided to make my own kale chips. I bought kale, washed it, dried it, and broke off chip size pieces. I sprinkled on onion and garlic powder. I put it in the oven according to DD’s instructions. It did not stink up the kitchen while it was cooking.

When it was finished, I popped a chip into my mouth. First impression made me smile. It was light and crunchy. As I kept chewing, the tougher it got and the more it tasted like. . . kale. I think the thing that made the packaged chips so delicious was the nuts.

I decided to cook the rest of the kale with onions like I used to. Pew! The kitchen smelled terrible. But kale cooked with onions tastes good. I added ground turkey and had a nice lunch.

I hope I will continue to buy kale, even if I am the only one who eats it. I’d like to experiment further with kale chips. There is potential here, I just haven’t put it all together yet.

I was watching TV last week and came across a show on grilling. The host was grilling hamburgers and was using Evoo to coat the grilling surface and brushed some of the Evoo on the burgers to add some flavor.

Since Evoo is good for Type O's and my SWAMI, I thought I would give it a try. To my surprise the Evoo had a rather unpleasant reaction to my digestive tract, causing me to have some diarrhea. I thought the first day was a fluke since I started feeling a little sick. When it continued for the next 2 days and then stopped when I discontinued the Evoo, I knew what the culprit was.

This is just another example of individuality when it comes to ERFYT, GenoType and SWAMI.

Tweaks in your diet are to be expected. You are an individual.

Many things happened since I blogged in November 2011.
Perhaps you remember that last June I wrote about ´Living my dream` somewhere in France? I had some great feedbacks! In essence we all want the same things out of life.. And now I want to let you know that my dream is coming true in the northern mountainous area of the Ardeche!

Since my articles in Magazine Spiegelbeeld appearing now every month since September, lots of people found the way to my practice for consultations.
The contacts with the editor of Spiegelbeeld, who knew of my French dream sped up things. I will relate below..

The editor of Spiegelbeeld and his wife live the bigger part of the year on their Domain La Vie Tara (www.lavietara.nl) in Lalouvesc. Lalouvesc is a small pilgrimage village in the most northern part of the Ardeche (1100 m. altitude). A village that used to have the status of Centre Climatique many years ago, a ´kurort´ where patients came to get healed from their lungdiseases.. The area is 100% agricultural, no industrialization whatsoever, so clean air all around.
And this status of Centre Climatique the Mayor wishes to reestablish again in Lalouvesc. So the editor mailed me in the beginning of November, after his conversations with the mayor, if I was interested in brainstorming and working on this plan and invited Hans and me to stay for a week at the Domain La Vie Tara to discuss things and to get to know eachother.
This Centre Climatique will be located on the Domain of La Vie Tara and will have wellness facilities like hot tub, Turkish bath, massage, magnesium therapy, aromatherapy, healthy nutrition and other healthy complementary disciplines.
Really a place to regenerate, rejuvenate combined with outstanding beauties of the Ardeche, like hiking, rafting, swimming, you name it! I remember I wrote in my previous blog these words:

´A center where there is peace, stillness, gorgeous nature, nearby lakes, canyons, with good food, good company and silent and dark nights.. No noise nor light pollution. Just basic, simply enjoying the gifts of nature in its purest form..
A place to regenerate, rejuvenate, to enjoy the beauties of nature like hiking, rafting, swimming, just to find how awesome life is once you open your eyes and heart for the beauty around you.´

And this description I wrote then about my dream, exacts fits in the Centre Climatique!
Amazing how things go in life once you cling to your dream!
We had a great time on the Domain with Albert and Joke and spent time together outdoors by working in the garden, collecting woodlogs for the fireplace and designing the interior of the cottage Hans and I are going to rent as per the beginning of July so we will be 'commuting' between France and Holland this year! Then after I will put my appartment for sale. Selling property is difficult right now..
I am still flabbergasted about the speed of my dream coming true! Is this really happening? Yes it it..

La Vie Tara is a holiday and workshop resort during the bigger part of the year. Workshops on yoga, painting, music, meditation, transformation therapies are held. And now my Workshop ´Voeding voor Gezonde Genen´ (Nutrition for Healhy Genes) is scheduled from the 12th till the 19th of May. See the agenda under the button Programma on www.lavietara.nl. My husband Hans is of course the Chef for this week!
As La Vie Tara is a resort for vegetarians, Hans and I attended a workshop in the Librije, a famous Dutch restaurant by Jonnie Boer, to get more knowledge about how to prepare nutritious vegetarian dishes and how to compose it in a appetizing way on your plate! That was my challenge! Hans, as a professional chef will also attend the Masterclass Vegetarian dishes for Chefs later in March.
If you want to see pics go to www.facebook.com/variatieindekeuken or go to my wall on facebook!
It was a great fun preparing veggie dishes on the 4th of February in Zwolle! A group of 12 students prepared gorgeous veggie dishes and ate them afterwards as you can see in the pics!

So big changes ahead for us in France! I am looking forward to grow my own veggies in my garden, to bake my own spelt bread but also to explore the area for gorgeous goatcheeses, ruby red wines, and to find a baker to bake spelt-baguettes for our guests and to visit the local pizzeria (the best in the area!) to bake speltpizzas topped with beneficial veggies and cheeses, according to every Genotype! All conform to my slogan: There is more to eat than wheat! Right?

Hmmm…. there is much work to be done!!

I’m not feeling so good this morning. Last night my family celebrated Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for trees. My personalized diet plan only allows my half a cup of fruit per day, but it’s hard to keep the portions so small when there’s a holiday designed for feasting on fruits! We had a large platter with a variety of fruits, all sliced up for sharing. I’d meant to serve a few kinds of nuts as well, since nuts are also from trees, but I forgot to serve them.

I also made two kinds of berry spreads with goat cheese, tuna salad, broccoli, and served it all with sparkling grape juice, rice cakes, crackers, and homemade spelt bread for the kids. I probably ate more fruit than is really good for me, and slightly fewer vegetables than usual. My grain servings were just about right, and I had enough protein. But I still managed to overdo the sugars. I’m not sure if it was from the sheer quantity of fruit, the agave I mixed into the fruit spreads, or the few “avoids” I ate. I limited my consumption of dates to about ¼ of one date, but that might have been too much for me.

After the meal I felt spacey, almost drunk. But getting drunk isn’t quite as intense a feeling as I had last night after dinner. I can only guess my blood sugar was sky high. I went to bed early, but woke up two and a half hours later STARVING. There was no way I could have fallen back to sleep without eating something.

So I got up and ate a handful of almonds and then some of the roast sweet potatoes I’d made for dinner and forgotten to serve. I stayed up and read for a while, and got hungry again while I was still up. I finished off the tuna salad, ate some of the leftover broccoli, had a couple more rice cakes with goat cheese spread, and then went to bed around 2:00 AM. I was also very thirsty all night.

I wasn’t very hungry when I woke up this morning. I’m drinking lots of tea and water and didn’t have breakfast until about 10:30 AM, which is about an hour and a half later than normal for me. I plan to eat lots of protein and greens today, and NOT eat all the fruit I’d intended to eat since it’s still Tu B’Shvat. I think I’ll stick to nuts today.

¿Por qué es tan popular la dieta del Tipo de sangre y/o Genotipo (de acuerdo a la individualidad fisiológica) para la perdida de peso?

Durante décadas, los investigadores han identificado más de 1.000 alimentos comunes que contienen potentes proteínas llamadas lectinas.

Aquí radica el meollo del asunto: estas lectinas contenidas en los alimentos pueden o no interaccionar ya sea para bien o para mal de acuerdo a su tipo sanguíneo.

Por ejemplo, después de consumir cualquier cantidad de alimento con contenido de trigo, tanto el tipo de sangre O como el tipo A llegan a experimentar hinchazón y otros problemas digestivos.

Esto puede ser más que una simple "intolerancia alimenticia". Las paredes del estómago e intestino están revestidas por receptores sensibles que interactúan y responden a la lectina del trigo, denominada WGA (Wheat Germ Agglutinin).

Al principio, podrá experimentar dicha interacción de la lectina del trigo como si fuera un problema meramente digestivo leve o inclusive llegar a sentir un cierto grado de letargo al consumir alimentos que no sean los adecuados a su fisiología.

Con el tiempo, el resultado viene siendo un constante deterioro de salud, pérdida de energía y aumento de peso.

La buena noticia es que, mediante la eliminación de alimentos específicos y sustituyéndolos por alimentos adecuados a su fisiología y/o tipo de sangre, empieza a experimentar los beneficios de un cuerpo más ligero, más limpio de lectinas nocivas y más enérgico.

Esa malteada para "Adelgazar" en realidad lo esta engordando

Más del 80% de la gente no puede tolerar la mayoría de los productos para 'perder peso'.

La mayoría de aquello denominado 'Shake para adelgazar' trata unicamente de limitar la ingesta de calorías sin tomar en consideración sus necesidades bioquímicas. Se ha preguntado ¿por qué tantas personas pierden una considerable cantidad de peso, tan sólo para volver a subir todo aquello que perdieron y mas? O ¿por qué muchos llegan a bajar de la cara y el cuello, pero siguen cargando el peso en la cintura? La pérdida de peso inadecuada y poco saludable conduce a una distribución de peso desequilibrada y poco saludable.

La genuina pérdida de peso y la salud sustentable se logran cuando se considera la forma de interaccionar del cuerpo al consumir alimentos y bebidas. La investigación pionera e incansable del Dr. D'Adamo confirma que nuestro tipo sanguíneo es la prioridad determinante en como interaccionan el cuerpo con los alimentos y si estos causan inflamación, problemas digestivos o aumento de peso.

Más del 80% son tipo O o A. Productos con contenido de trigo y maíz son dos de los alimentos claves en la subida de peso para los de tipo sanguíneo O y A. Sorprendente-mente, las barras de dieta "bajas en calorías" y los 'shakes' más populares contienen suero e ingredientes derivados del maíz que para los de sangre tipo O causan lo siguiente:
• Lastiman la capa de su tracto digestivo e interfieren con el proceso digestivo, causando inflamación
• Disminuye el grado metabólico de los alimentos, no dejando quemar eficientemente las calorías en energía
• Compromete la producción de insulina
• Altera el equilibrio hormonal, causando retención de agua, trastornos de la tiroides y otros problemas

Con simplemente reemplazar los alimentos clave de subida de peso en su dieta, puede empezar a ayudar a su cuerpo no sólo a perder peso sino también a obtener más energía.

Es muy sencillo

Paso uno: Es fácil que pasen desapercibidas lectinas dietéticas: alimentos llamados "bajo en calorías" y otros alimentos tipo 'snack'. Tome un nuevo vistazo a los snacks o bebidas proteicas que pueda estar usando ahora.

¿Alguno de ellos contiene cualquiera de los productos alimenticios que son perjudiciales para su tipo de sangre, o tenga lectinas que crean inflamación y aumento de peso?

Considere la posibilidad de reemplazar estos con aquellos diseñado por el Dr. D'Adamo como son las barras, bebidas proteicas y los tés. No sólo son más ligeros a su sistema--estos alimentos tienen un impacto inmediato sobre la reacción en cadena de cualquier lectina.

Paso 2: Fíjese en su dieta. No trate de cambiar su vida entera en un fin de semana. Reemplace al menos dos de los alimentos que se encuentren en su listado 'a evitar' por otros alimentos que sean neutrales o incluso beneficiosos para su tipo de sangre.

Ejemplo de remplazo para los de tipo O y A: los panes de trigo y las pastas por panes de escanda o espelta que se toleran mejor y son neutrales para algunos secretores. Hasta haber alcanzado su peso y estado de salud ideal es preferible consumir menos de estos granos y agregar más verduras y carnes de calidad a su dieta diaria. Sin embargo, eliminando el gluten ya viene siendo un enorme paso en la dirección correcta.

Ejemplo de remplazo para los de tipo B y AB: muffins de maíz y tacos por pastas y panes de escanda o espelta que se toleran mejor y vienen siendo neutrales para algunos secretores. Hasta haber alcanzado su estado de salud y peso ideal, deseará consumir menos de estos granos y agregar más verduras y carnes de calidad de acuerdo a sus lineamientos.

Seguir la dieta del Genotipo nunca había sido tan fácil con la ayuda de este Video, para determinar su genotipo. Contáctenme con sus dudas acerca de alternativas en como correr el swami, se sorprenderán!

The Jewish Holiday of Tu B’Shvat is the Jewish New Year for Trees. The name literally means “the 15th of Shvat” so it’s similar to the way American Independence Day is known as “The 4th of July.” As with all Jewish holidays, the exact date on the Gregorian calendar varies each year, and all holidays begin at sundown and end at nightfall the following day. In 2012, it falls on Tuesday night and Wednesday, February 7th and 8th.

Back when the Great Temple in Jerusalem was standing, Tu B’Shvat was used to calculate tithes on fruits and nuts that grow on trees; anything harvested before this date counted as last year and anything from this date forward counted for the coming year. Since we don’t pay tithes or our harvests anymore, Tu B’Shvat has a more symbolic meaning these days.

There are a variety of ways in which Tu B’Shvat is celebrated within the Jewish community. I’m planning to serve a “fruit and nut course” before my regular family dinner. Some families hold a Tu B’Shvat Seder, similar to the Passover Seder, but not nearly as formal. Others serve a wide variety of fruits and nuts alongside the meal but with no special ceremony. There may or may not be a large group of guests at the meal, or a party-like atmosphere. All serve several kinds of fruit. Some have 15 or 20 different kinds of fruits and nuts in all; most will serve all 7 of the special foods associated with The Land of Israel: wheat, barley, dates, figs, grapes, pomegranates, and olives.

Some of those 7 special foods are problematic for my family: none of us should be having barley, only my son should be having wheat, he shouldn’t have pomegranates, I shouldn’t eat dates, etc. It’s HARD balancing our differing diets with the demands of religious Judaism. But I remember that these foods are merely symbolic; it’s not like Passover when there’s a commandment to eat matzah.

I’m going to make omissions and substitutions as needed for the health of my family. But I’m also bearing in mind that there are foods we *shouldn’t* eat and foods we really *can’t* eat. A crumb of wheat could sicken me for weeks, but ¼ of a date won’t do me any harm. I plan to serve the 5 fruits that symbolize Israel, even though they’re not perfectly compliant for all of us. We’ll each eat small amounts and enjoy them, guilt-free. I’ll make spelt bread for the children to symbolize the wheat, and rice bread or crackers for myself. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll make quinoa to symbolize the barley or simply omit it. I’ll also get a variety of other fruits; whatever looks good when I get to the store.

It’s a time to thank the Creator for the bountiful variety of foods that He created, and for making us able to appreciate them. The physical becomes spiritual when we use food for a holy purpose, both by making blessings over the foods we eat and by choosing our foods with a higher purpose in mind.

Certainly the laws of Kashrut are one such “higher purpose” to a Jew’s selection of foods, but physical health is equally important, and is applicable to everybody. If you knowingly eat foods that make you unhealthy, you’re defying the Creator’s will. How can you fulfill your purpose in the world if you’re sluggish from eating too much wheat or sugar, or if you’re bed-ridden from a chronic illness that a proper diet could have prevented? Dr. D’Adamo has given us the tools to nourish our bodies and help reach our physical potentials; I feel a moral obligation to follow those guidelines now that I know of them.

I can almost always find plenty to eat at a pot luck dinner, but last night was an exception. The funny part was what all of the ladies were saying after it was over.

My Honorable Husband sings in the choir at our church. Last night the choir had a party and a pot luck dinner. HH signed me up to bring a salad. At the grocery store I found strawberries and pineapple on sale. I thought that would make a pretty Valentine month salad. I served it in a bowl shaped like an apple that we received as a wedding gift.

The people who organized the party were so creative with music related games and table decorations. We had lots of fun playing and visiting. Then it was time to eat.

There were three salads: my fruit salad, a pasta salad, and potato salad.
There was one vegetable: hash brown casserole.
There were five entrees: spaghetti with meat sauce, chicken with a cheese topping, a chicken and noodle casserole, spicy venison sausage, and meat cooked with onions and green peppers.
There were at least six cakes and one plate of cookies.

You are thinking the same thing I was thinking as I approached the serving line – there is not much here for a Type O. I took some of my own fruit, some of the sausage, some of the meat, and a little of the chicken with cheese topping. The meat turned out to be pork, but even if I had known that ahead of time, I think I would have taken some, though perhaps not as much. There were just no other choices.

The funny part came at the end of the party when we were cleaning up. All of the venison was gone. There were a few stray strawberries in the bottom of my bowl. More than half of the meat and onions was gone. There were lots of leftovers in every other dish.

Suddenly the other ladies began trying to give their food away. The lady who brought the spaghetti said, “Someone take this home, we are both on a diet and can’t eat it.” The lady who brought the potato salad said, “This only lasts a few days and we don’t eat potatoes.” Several of the ladies who brought cakes were saying, “Please take some cake, I don’t need this in my house.” One lady was offered a take home plate. She waved it away saying, “Not for me, I don’t need all that starch.”

Someone could have brought green beans, or a green salad, or a crock pot of legumes. I’m not sure whether the high carb dishes were brought because our friends wanted to offer comfort food at the party, or whether high carb dishes are less expensive for people on tight budgets in this bad economy.

Regulars on the BTD don’t need me to spell it out, but for the benefit of guests I will gently and kindly say that the people at the party preferred the healthier choices when they served their own plates. Yet they brought food to a pot luck that they didn’t want to take home.