DD is married. I thought about blogging about wedding preparations, but decided against it for one reason – it didn’t have very much to do with BTD issues.

When DD and her husband started dating, I called him ESS in my blogs. He was finishing his bachelor’s degree as an Exercise Sports Science major. One of the things that initially attracted them to each other was their interest in exercise and nutrition. By the time they met, he felt called into the ministry. He is attending seminary and preparing to be a preacher. The other thing that initially attracted them to each other was their love for Jesus and their desire to honor Him in all that they do.

DD changed her name when they married, but she will always be my Darling Daughter in these blogs. ESS, however, no longer seems an adequate name for DD’s husband. So as of today, I’m changing his blog name to SIL. Perhaps you think that stands for Son in Law, but you would be wrong. It stands for Son in Love. He loves DD and demonstrates that in ways that makes this mother so happy. We have welcomed him into our family as a beloved son.

While I didn’t blog daily about the wedding, let me tell you three BTD related stories about it.

From the start, DD and SIL did not want their wedding to be glamorous. They chose as the theme “Build your house on the Rock of Jesus Christ” from Matthew 7. They wanted everything about the ceremony and the reception to reflect their conviction that a wedding marks the beginning of a covenant relationship. Because of that they did not want a stressful wedding. As they sat around DD’s apartment making decorations for the church, they watched Bridezilla on TV. They would look at each other and say, “Our wedding will NOT be like that!” And it was not. We made some of the food for the wedding, so the last few days were busy, but they were never anxious or stressful. Often DD said to me, “Mom, that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that at the end of the day will be married and God will be honored.”

She had an afternoon wedding at the church where they met, and the reception was in the church gym. These days, some kind of dinner is expected at a Texas reception. DD and SIL decided to do sandwiches plus fruit and veggie trays. She started off thinking that she would buy sandwiches from a local deli. A friend of mine is a caterer, and we also got a bid from her. By the time we factored in paying someone to keep the food trays replenished, along with the plates and the beverages, the caterer’s cost was about the same as the cost to do it ourselves.

DD and SIL chose wrap sandwiches because there was less bread. Some were turkey (for Type As) and some were beef (for Type Os). The caterer wanted to do another sandwich on regular bread, and she suggested ham salad or cheese. DD and SIL wrinkled their noses. The caterer said that children were not going to like wraps. I suggested peanut butter. DD loved the idea because peanut butter is beneficial for her. The caterer loved the idea because it would lower her overall cost. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a wedding where they served peanut butter sandwiches, but I think it’s a pretty good idea for a BTD wedding.

When DD’s roommate got married a year ago, she served fruit flavored water at her reception. DD and SIL had loved that idea. The caterer had three large clear carafes. In one she put iced tea. In the other two she had water with fresh fruit floating in it. It was beautiful and refreshing.

Dessert for the wedding was a more difficult choice. Neither DD nor SIL like cake - particularly white cake with rich white icing. When they priced wedding cake, they were quoted $4 - $6 per slice. So they decided to do family favorite desserts. SIL’s mother and grandmother made some. I made some, and DD and SIL made some. We set up a dessert table with antique crystal trays, some of which had been in the family for years. I made hundreds of tiny carrot cake muffins and hundreds of pecan muffins.

Then I made two layers for a carrot cake. I trimmed one layer so that there was a small layer on top of a larger layer. I frosted it with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting. On top of the small layer was the bride and groom cake topper that was on my parent’s wedding cake in 1951. DD and SIL cut the ceremonial cake. The rest of it is in my freezer waiting until their first anniversary. The guests enjoyed a variety of cookies and muffins, none of which were too sweet.

The two of them are now settling into married life. They are cooking together in the evening using the beautiful wedding gifts that they received. They are running, swimming, and bicycling together just as they did when they first met.

I want to settle the calcium issue in my mind. I wrote a blog in June, but I kept reading more. Here is some of what I have learned:

• Asian and African cultures with low calcium intake (300 mg daily) have little osteoporosis.
• Vitamin K2 is necessary to prevent bone loss and most healthy adults are deficient.
• A study from Holland revealed a relationship between K2 and a lower incidence of calcification of arteries.
• K2 deficiency causes calcium to not be deposited in bones where it belongs but to be deposited in arteries, in soft tissues (including breast and kidneys), in feet as heel spurs.
• Calcification of arteries to the brain is felt to be a component of Alzheimer’s Disease. About 25% of people who have a particular genetic risk for developing Alzheimer’s Disease all have low levels of Vitamin K.
• The problem is not too much calcium, it’s not enough magnesium. Magnesium keeps calcium dissolved in the blood stream and in urine.
• If you don’t have enough magnesium you can experience muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, hardening of the arteries, or dental cavities. Too much calcium and not enough magnesium in the kidneys can lead to kidney stones.
• Magnesium has more to do with bone density than calcium.
• Magnesium relaxes the muscles; calcium tightens the muscles.
• High calcium levels interfere with Vitamin D and its role in preventing viral infections and cancer.
• Vitamin D3 may be better than other forms
• The classic Calcium:Magnesium ratio is 2:1, but some research shows that it should be 1:1.
• Acid substances tighten; while alkaline substances relax. Magnesium is alkaline and relaxes the tension, stiffness, and spasms, as well as headaches, muscle cramps, constipation, and heart palpitations.

Aaargh! The internet gives too much information. I can’t absorb it all, and I don’t know what to believe when statistics are in conflict.

Everyone my age worries about Alzheimer’s. Every woman my age is concerned about bone loss.

I am particularly interested in the idea of calcium in breast tissue, because my mammogram shows this. I blogged several years ago about being called back for a second screening when a doctor was worried about calcium deposits.

I decided to experiment with myself. I have been taking a lot of calcium at a 2:1 ratio. I’ve cut my calcium back to just under 1,000 mg per day. I changed the ratio to 4:3. I’ve ordered some K2, but it’s not here yet.

At first the results were not encouraging.
I’ve had muscle cramps in the night and a crick in my neck. Is this because I’m not getting enough calcium or because after years of getting too much my body automatically discards minerals? I’ve had a slight metallic taste in my mouth. Is that because I’m taking too much magnesium or because unnecessary minerals are leaving my tissues?

I’m going to give my body a week or so to adjust. I also want to see how the K2 works into the mix. I may switch to Magnesium Malate. I’ve read interesting things about how it is absorbed.

Knowing that every Blood Type has different needs and within the Types different people have different requirements, I’m working to come up with a plan that is better for me than what I have been doing.

It’s a wonderful thing to feel better than you did the day before. The wonders go on when one can look back over several days, weeks, months or even years and note improvements. That is also true even if you aren’t feeling your best. There are relative levels of feeling good, great, or for those less fortunate, to feel less bad.

After dealing with various levels of fatigue for more than a few years, sometimes it feels wonderful to have half the energy I had at times in the not too distant past. Ecstatic. Joyful. I would never have dreamt that I could feel this good while still, well, dealing with fatigue.

About two months ago I acquired a new waste disposal unit to install in the kitchen sink. The old one broke over the winter. As a convenience rather than a necessity, I chose to wait until I felt good enough to do the installation myself and save a few shekels. Sure enough, the day came when there was enough improvement in my fatigue to plan installing the disposal in the very near future.

Since that time it has been one thing after the other. Unplanned events happen and the only thing that one can do is to deal with them. Some I had a degree of control over, others no control. The end result is that the disposal unit is still waiting to be installed and I have many hours of chores that take priority before I can even think of working on the installation.

Most days recently I feel better than I did in the weeks before I was prepared to do this disposal project. When the time becomes available, I will be able to do it. It’s a wonderful thing. Ten years ago I would have had all the chores completed and the disposal installed. Today, I can look forward to installing the disposal sometime in the coming weeks or months, and it’s a wonderful thing.

There is no fortitude involved. I choose to do what I am capable of. That means doing what I can to improve my fatigue issues. The latest puzzle pieces have been trehalose, homemade yogurt, more sunshine and a different approach to exercise. Not the answers in and of themselves but part of the solution. Having gotten to the point that I am at, I’m still dealing with fatigue. And I feel better than I have for much of the last couple years. It’s a wonderful thing.

We were having breakfast with some friends last week, and I was drinking cranberry juice. “T” asked if I had been reading the reports that cranberries were dangerous. I had heard no such thing, but I was curious.

Since menopause, I’ve taken cranberry capsules 3-5 days a week as a preventative measure against urinary tract infections. It has worked great, and I didn’t want to give it up and go back to antibiotics.

I’ve been preoccupied with work, but I finally had a chance to do some research. Every site I went on had mostly great things to say about cranberries and cranberry juice, but there were a few warnings.

One site confirmed what my doctor once told me about cranberry. “People used to think that cranberry worked for urinary tract infections by making the urine acidic and, therefore, unlikely to support the growth of bacteria. But researchers don’t believe this explanation any more. They now think that some of the chemicals in cranberries keep bacteria from sticking to the cells that line the urinary tract where they can multiply. Cranberry, however, does not seem to have the ability to release bacteria which are already stuck to these cells. This may explain why cranberry is possibly effective in preventing urinary tract infections, but possibly ineffective in treating them.”

The danger my friend had heard about was the association between high consumption of cranberry and kidney stones. Even cranberry capsules raise urinary oxalate levels, so it is probably wise not to take cranberry - as a fruit, a juice, or a pill - every day.

Cranberry does react with several prescription medications. I didn’t know that, but since I don’t take any prescription medications, I don’t have to worry.

The thing I learned that surprised me was that cranberry contains salicylic acid - an important ingredient in aspirin. Drinking cranberry juice, like taking aspirin, can reduce swelling and prevent blood clots. In other words - it is a blood thinner. That is a good thing for thick blooded type As, but not so great for Type Os like me whose blood is thin already.

I had often wondered why on the BTD food list, cranberry is beneficial for three blood types, but neutral for Os. Perhaps its blood thinning properties have something to do with that. However on the GTD, cranberry is either beneficial or super beneficial for all Types.

I never found anything that recommended that everyone stop cranberry. You just have to weigh the benefits against the possible side effects.

Yesterday was visiting day at my daughters’ camp. It’s about a 3 hour drive away, and the camp visiting hours are 10 AM until 5 PM, so it was a very long day. I’ve been doing this for a few years now, so I know to pack enough food to eat during the drives there and back, plus snacks for the day itself. We always eat the lunch the camp provides, but breakfast and dinner are eaten in the car. My ex husband comes over the night before and he does the driving.

I packed about a dozen hard boiled eggs, 2 bags of baby carrots, and a large package of sliced muenster cheese (for the Bs) in a cooler bag with 2 large ice packs. In a separate bag, I packed a canister of raisins, a bag of almonds, and 2 packages of rice cakes. I also packed a box of Clif bars for the boys to eat for breakfast, plus a few things the girls asked us to bring up to camp for them.

Most of the stuff was packed up on Saturday night, but we had to actually put together the cooler pack on Sunday morning and load the car. We also had to make sure the dog was settled with my Mom. She can’t handle the walking around camp, so she doesn’t join us in visiting the kids at camp. She volunteered to watch Robbie for the day so I didn’t have to take him with us on the long drive.

The drive there took us 2 and a half hours, as expected. I slept most of the way, and wasn’t very hungry for breakfast. I had a hard boiled egg and some iced tea in the car, then some almonds and raisins before lunch. Camp lunches are always a compromise, nutritionally. I let my son eat whatever he wanted, including things with tomato sauce. I also let him get a small slushie at the canteen. He’s healthy enough to handle one day of imperfect food, and I want camp to be a positive experience for him.

I made the best choices I could, which is still less wholesome than I would have eaten at home. I had some tuna and egg salad, not worrying about additives in the tuna or what kind of oil is in the mayo. I had a large plate of iceberg lettuce, but skipped the salad dressing because I wasn’t sure WHAT was in those. I also had some canned beets, not worrying about sugar or corn syrup that might have been in them. Beets are a “beneficial” food for me, and I knew I needed some carbs with the meal or I wouldn’t feel satisfied. I also had some chickpeas, which are a “black dot” for me. This means that I can eat them once in a while, but aren’t the healthiest choice for me. I’ve found lately that I do well eating beans at lunchtime, and I decided that the negatives of eating a “black dot” were outweighed by the necessity of having enough food for the meal. The meal was satisfying and, unlike last year, I didn’t need to eat a few rice cakes after lunch to feel full.

I did some snacking in the mid-afternoon, and didn’t make the best choices then. Even though I had plenty of hard-boiled eggs in the cooler, I still reached for the Muenster cheese. It’s so yummy on rice cakes! I did the same in the car ride home for dinner. I ate a couple of eggs, and plenty of carrots, but I still had several more slices of cheese with rice cakes.

When we finally arrived home, after 4 hours of driving in heavy rain and traffic, I wasn’t feeling satisfied. I had some leftover peas, rice, and turkey breast, and a glass of wine before going to bed. I also had to settle down a very unhappy doggie that’d missed us all day. None of us slept particularly well last night since Robbie kept waking up barking and we had to take care of him. At 5:00 AM, I took him out of his bed, let the boys hang out on the sofa in front of the TV, and went back to bed for a few hours. I think Robbie just needed some extra re-assurance that we still love him after we “abandoned him” all day yesterday.

I’m not feeling too well today, and neither is Jack. I’m sure part of it is due to the amount of time we spent in the car yesterday, part is due to messed up sleep, and part is due to poor dietary choices yesterday. I’m trying to eat extra-well today, along with taking it easy.

It would be interesting to have the ability to compare the bloodwork of high profile diet gurus.

One of the places I buy supplements always puts a free health newsletter in my bag or box. I have never seen this particular author write anything either pro or con about the BTD. I usually scan through his newsletter, occasionally making a note of something that might prove helpful.

In a recent issue he wrote about a medical exam and published the results of his bloodwork. He said that his numbers were a great except for a few. His blood sugar is high, as is his cortisol and homocysteine. His overall cholesterol is high, though his ratio is good.

I asked myself, do I want to follow a nutritional pro who has high blood sugar and high cholesterol? Probably not. If a nutritionist’s program doesn’t work for himself, I would not be inclined to place my health in his hands

Then I started wondering how Dr. D’s blood work would compare to some of his critics like Andrew Weil, Michael Klaper, and John McMahon.

I’m just a volunteer blogger. I don’t have the clout to propose such a challenge. But it sure would be interesting.

I’m dog-sitting for the next few weeks, while my Mom’s friend has knee replacement surgery. The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow, so she brought Robbie over today to get him settled in. She gave him his dinner here and then left while he was eating, so he wouldn’t run outside while the door was open. He’s part terrier so we need to be careful he doesn’t run away- this is NOT a dog that can be outside without a leash!

When he was done eating, Robbie started making these pathetic little sad-doggy noises. So I put on my sandals, grabbed my water bottle, cell phone, house key, and his leash, and off we went outside. We took a nice walk around the block, stopping to let him “water” just about every tree we passed. When we got back home, I gave him some water in a bowl and then we explored the whole house, letting him see that his “Mommy” wasn’t here. Since then, he’s been quite happy, dozing on the living room floor while I was able to start my own dinner and get some computer time.

It’s a hot day, and I probably wouldn’t have gone outside at all if Robbie hadn’t needed the distraction. The walk definitely did me some good. I was careful not to walk too fast and I had my water bottle with me, and I kept the walk short because I didn’t have any way to give him water while we were out. With my fibromyalgia, it’s important that I pace myself; exercising too much, too suddenly, can throw me into a flare-up. It’s a delicate balance for me to increase my exercise without hurting myself.

I think Robbie is the perfect walking buddy for me. He’s so tiny that he can’t walk too far anyway. I’d hoped to get in daily walks with him when I dog-sat him for a week in January, but one or more of the kids ended up taking him for walks and I didn’t often join them. Now, Leah and Hannah are away at camp and Jack has a cast on his left arm. I can’t let him take Robbie for a walk independently because he only has one hand to hold the leash; he doesn’t have a second hand to clean up dog-poop if necessary. This means that I’ll need to join Robbie on his walks, even if Jack’s the one holding the leash.

So much for trying to blog at least monthly!

My daughter Lily was born on April 5th, 2010, and blogging became a distant memory.

I still do the Blood Type O diet for the most part, and I feed the kids the same way. Not easy when every kids' menu everywhere has wheat, dairy, or corn on it. I usually order them a regular entree and they share it. Fortunately, they love salmon, which is pretty easily found in most restaurants that I can eat in.

No promises to blog regularly this time. I'll do what I can!