The weather forecast has been a little questionable the past two days. Clouds and snow flurries were predicted for yesterday. This morning the website said that Trail Ridge Road was temporarily closed. We decided to stay at the lower elevations.

Yesterday morning we walked along the River Walk in Estes Park. Living in South Texas, we have been to the San Antonio River Walk several times. There the river is slow and peaceful. The River Walk in Estes Park is beside a rushing mountain stream. The water makes a delightful noise as it tumbles downhill over the rocks. We walked for nearly an hour and never came to the end of the paved path. But we were getting hungry, so we headed back the other direction.

We are sharing a condominium with a long time friend named Les. He and HH wanted to go to Subway for lunch. Subway is ok. I can always get a salad, but just around the corner from the Subway I had seen an India Buffet. While they got sandwiches, I went to the buffet. We met to eat at a table beside the river.

There were two vegetarian entrees on the buffet. One was mostly eggplant, so I didn’t taste it. The other was really good, after I picked out the cauliflower. There were three chicken entrees, and all three were outstanding. Chicken Curry, Chili Chicken (which is nothing at all like Mexican Chili), and Chicken Masala. They had green beans cooked with onions and seasoned perfectly. But the best dish of all was called Swag Mushroom. It was made with spinach and it was delicious.

The men had an ordinary lunch, but I had a feast. The irony was that I paid less for all I could eat Indian food than they each paid for sandwiches and chips.

When I got back to the condominium, I googled Swag Mushroom. I got a lot of random results from tents to urban slang, but no recipes. I’m so disappointed. I had wanted to make it when I got home.

After lunch we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park and went to the Alluvial Fan. Les and I climbed to the brink of the falls. There isn’t a trail. You just pick your way over the boulders until you are at the top. HH did not think his knees would like that kind of activity, so he sat in the shade and enjoyed the view.

Today we took the trail to Cub Lake. It is near Moraine Park, which is one of the places the elk are hanging out this year. Our trail passed 20 yards from a heard of elk resting under the trees. The unique thing about Cub Lake is that water lilies grow all around the edge. From the ridge above the lake the dark blue water and the light green lily pads are striking. The trail went through several aspen groves that were at their peak. I never put my camera away. I was taking pictures constantly. It was a feast for the eyes.

We had a gorgeous day for our trip to top of Pikes Peak on the cog train. Someday I would like to ride the train to the top and walk down, or perhaps even hike up the mountain and ride the train back down. But that would not happen this trip. It does take a day or two to adjust to high altitudes, and we only arrived in Colorado last night.

We had expected the view from the top of the 14,110 foot mountain to be spectacular. What we hadn’t expected was such a lovely ride up the mountain. The aspen were bright yellow, and the streams were sparkling white. We saw a golden eagle soaring on the wind currents.

When we arrived at the summit, the views in every direction were breath taking. We literally felt like we were on the top of the world. I was not surprised to learn that Katharine Lee Bates wrote the words to America the Beautiful after a trip to the top of Pikes Peak in 1893.

The people who run the food service at Pikes Peak have a rule against bringing picnic lunches on the train. They want you to buy their boxed lunches. I had asked in advance if they could prepare me a lunch without bread or potato chips. They said that they could not and were agreeable that people on special diets could bring their own food. I enjoyed my asparagus and salmon while those around me ate boxed lunches.

If I am going to eat an avoid, particularly wheat, I want to make it memorable. Ordinary, everyday wheat, like sandwiches, tortilla chips, rolls, and pizza, are not worth compromising for.

Pikes Peak is famous for something besides the beautiful views – high altitude donuts. A man named Lewis began making donuts to sell to tourists on the mountain in 1889. They are world famous, and I am told that they do not taste the same when they are made in mile high Denver, much less in the flat lands of Texas. I decided that the experience of eating a high altitude donut on top of Pikes Peak was worth it.

I bought one for myself and one of HH. They are cake donuts, so they do not melt in your mouth the way a hot fresh Krispy Kreme does. However, they probably have the best flavor of any donut I have ever eaten.

We have driven to Estes Park and checked into our condominium. We are looking forward to a week’s hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.

When I think back on today in years to come, I will probably not remember the donut. But I will remember the majesty of the mountains, and my heart sings...

“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!”

We had two delightfully uneventful travel days. No bad weather, no car trouble, no problems with reservations. The worst difficulty was that wifi at the hotel the first night didn’t work, so I am late posting this blog. I am thankful to God for His travel mercies!

We had a Fitness Room in one of our hotels. The equipment was really nice and I got in a much needed workout after a long day sitting in the car. One wall of the room was a ceiling to floor mirror. As I ran on elliptical machine, I watched myself in the mirror. I was confronted again with how I appear to be a combination of Hunter and Gatherer. The top half of me looks like a Hunter. I am sinewy, bony, and angular. But the bottom half of me is just the opposite. I look like a Gatherer. There is just no denying when I'm in running shorts that I'm well padded on my legs and thighs.

I thought I had put this conflict with the GTD out of my mind, but I’m revisiting everything since finding the two polyps. Someone posted a great idea on the Forum about asking their dentist to clarify about Carabelli's cusp and incisor shoveling. I’ve made a note on my calendar to do that at my next dentist appointment.

As we drove through New Mexico, we saw a record number of antelope. HH and I laughed as we remembered an early vacation when DD called them cantaloupe. We sent her a text, and she texted back warning us to stay away from Colorado cantaloupe because of the listeria problems. I guess we can’t order fruit salad as a side dish without checking whether it contains cantaloupe.

We asked at our hotel in Manitou Springs where we could get a meal with meat and vegetables. They recommended the Mason Jar. We were happy with a good and BTD friendly dinner. Today the weather is good, so we are going up Pike’s Peak.

¿Sabían que el cerebro representa menos del 2% del peso corporal, pero utiliza aproximadamente el 20% de nuestras calorías diarias?

El cerebro es un verdadero gourmet. Exige un suministro constante de glucosa, obtenida principalmente de los carbohidratos como las frutas, las verduras y los granos. Las golosinas
proporcionan el tipo equivocado de glucosa dañando las células, incluyendo las del cerebro.

Un estudio en la Universidad de Aston en Inglaterra sugiere que las comidas frecuentes, nutritivas pero con bajo índice calórico ayudan al funcionamiento óptimo del cerebro. Descubrieron que el cerebro funciona mejor con unos 25 gramos de glucosa circulante en el sistema: cantidad encontrada en un plátano.

El cerebro es 60% grasa. Ácidos grasos esenciales: los Omega 3 son alimento cerebral!

El 20% de la circulación de la sangre esta dedicada al cerebro.

No coma demasiado! En un estudio efectuado en la Universidad de Wisconsin encontraron que existe una respuesta inmune a demasiada comida y puede provocar déficit cognitivo.

Estudios con ratas atiborradas de grasas altamente saturadas durante varias semanas mostraban daños en el hipocampo, área del cerebro crucial de la memoria.

La corteza frontal es el CEO (Chief Executive Officer) de nuestro cerebro y particularmente sensible a caída de niveles de glucosa. Cuando disminuye el nivel de glucosa, se encadena el pensamiento confuso.

Hay que seguir cultivando al cerebro. Su cerebro continúa desarrollando nuevas conexiones a través del aprendizaje a lo largo de su vida.

Ejercitese diariamente! El ejercicio físico ayuda al cerebro a mejorar la circulación y la memoria, así como al equilibrio, a la coordinación y a los reflejos, todo ello mejora con ayuda del ejercicio. El ejercicio mental puede ayudar al cerebro mediante la construcción de nuevas conexiones neuronales, potenciando la memoria y compensa los efectos debilitantes de la edad y las enfermedades.

Algunos estudios sugieren que el ejercicio puede mejorar hasta la visión mediante la reducción de la presión intraocular manteniendo alejando al glaucoma. Es aconsejable suplementar con su multivitamínico (como Polyvite O, Polyvite A, Polyvite B, Polyvite AB) para asegurarse de que está recibiendo suficientes cantidades de antioxidantes. El contenido de luteína, eyebright y arándanos (Ocubright)ayuda a mantener la salud de los ojos.

La vista es sin duda nuestro más preciado regalo. Por ello tiene sentido seguir estos sencillos pasos y proteger nuestros ojos y nuestra mente para poder apreciar de la vida plenamente!

La salud no es un estado: es un proceso, y muy dinámico. ¡Por tanto, siempre puedes reforzar tu salud si trabajas tus emociones! La mejor tecnología que se conoce para lograr un peso permanente, sustentable y saludable, es a través del placer como modalidad terapéutica. El amor comienza con profundo afecto y respeto hacia uno mismo.

Somos extraordinarios los que generamos creencias sanadoras. Estimulando a través de nuestra actitud la capacidad auto curativa dentro de nosotros! Jamás hay que abandonar la esperanza de mejorar, de luchar por la salud propia. Trabajemos el amor, la relajación, la meditación, y la nutrición. Abrazando las fuerzas de la salud, y de la vida. Este proceso cambia tu bioquímica: estás sano, ¡vives! Todo lo que como, pienso y siento va tejiendo mi salud, y podemos aprender a tejer.

Today I've been packing for vacation. For breakfast I ground flax seed, pumpkin seeds and almonds. I measured rice bran, nutritional yeast, and lecithin into plastic containers. We will eat out one meal a day. For the other meal I have packed canned meat and vegetables. I have sweet potatoes, olive oil, cilantro, prunes and fresh fruit. I've got green tea, natural soda, walnuts and peanuts in the car in case we need snacks.

We are headed for Colorado for a week of hiking, animal watching, and aspen admiring. I can hardly wait for cooler temperatures, not to mention some rest and relaxation. Enough blogging for the moment. HH is ready to load the car.

On a current Forum thread, a poster despairs of making tofu palatable for her A husband.

I didn't want to derail that thread, but I do want to tell what I've said to those who haven't yet found the keys to Delicious Tempeh as well:

1. Pay attention to brand. Different brands can have very different tastes.

2. Some brands have "flavored" (i.e., pre-marinated) varieties. These might actually be delicious. You could find one you use all the time.

3. With tofu: Density is an important factor. There is "firm" tofu. There is "silky" tofu...

4. With tofu: You've got to express its water before you cook it. In the package, it is soaking in liquid, and you have to press this out. You can put the block of tofu on a plate, then cover it with another plate, and put a weight on that upper plate. Periodically pour off the liquid that has come out, until no more water is expressed. Now you can work with the tofu.

5. Frying and baking are the methods that I find most successful with someone who "doesn't like" tofu. You want to BROWN the tofu, give it a little crust that will contrast with the inner soft chewiness.

6. Tofu will absorb and nicely reflect the flavors you cook with it, so choose your oil and other ingredients carefully.

Lately my computer has become a black hole, and all too often exercise falls into it. I love my work as a photographer, writer & graphic designer. I also love corresponding with friends and family. I brought boxes of interesting family history documents home from my parents’ house that need to be scanned and preserved. All of this activity involves a great deal of computer time.

I start the day with a plan: take care of morning correspondence, spend a couple of hours on my business, exercise before lunch. After lunch spend another couple of hours on professional business, then spend an hour or two taking care of the house or working on family business. Then it would be time to fix dinner.

It’s a great plan…but. Sometimes I get bogged down in correspondence. Sometimes I get so involved restoring pictures that I lose track of time. It is as if I fall through a black hole when I am in front of the computer. I look at the clock, and it’s time for lunch. No exercise.

I adjust the afternoon plan. If I work really hard, I can exercise before dinner. That black hole opens up again, and suddenly it is dinner time. All too often I end up squeezing in an exercise video before bed time.

Of course this doesn’t happen every day, and I have some excellent exercise videos. Some are aerobic. Others build muscle. But the exercise I like best is to get outside and run or bicycle or haul rocks around the yard. I also feel intuitively that exercise does me more good when it comes earlier in the day.

I feel like I am sitting too much. I need to make some adjustments in my schedule, and I need to side step that black hole.

I have blogged at other times about my journey from totally unhealthy eating, to being a health food nut, to the Blood Type Diet. One of the books that had an impact on my health food stage was Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition by David Reuben. His father died of colon cancer and he wanted to protect himself from that disease. His research said a high fiber diet was the best way to do that. He introduced me to bran and wheat germ which I ate for years. While his plan kept my bowels moving, the wheat worked against me as a Type O, and eventually led to indigestion.

When I started the BTD in 2003 I had to find alternate fibers to avoid constipation. I knew that colon cancer and colon polyps were also part of my genetic history. I applied Reuben’s high fiber research to the BTD.

I had my first colonoscopy in 2005. While the experience was terrible, the results were excellent. No polyps.

When I had my 2nd colonoscopy this year, I expected good results again. I did not expect two polyps, and I sure didn’t expect one of them to be pre cancerous.

I left the clinic with diet recommendations from the doctor. Since then I have been looking at his recommendations, the Blood Type Diet, the GenoType Diet, and Dr. D’s Cancer Prevention book.

The diet from colon doctor says that while fiber is important for other colon conditions – it doesn’t help polyps. Here is his list of things to do to reduce polyp formation.
* Reduce red meat intake to only 2 times a week or less.
* Eat more fruits and vegetables
* Calcium supplementation 1,200 mg per day
* Selenium
* Don’t smoke
* Be physically active.
* Maintain normal weight
* Take one baby aspirin a day.
* Study results on alcohol are mixed. Some studies show alcohol increases colon cancer, other studies show red wine may reduce cancer risks.

I already do most of what is on list yet my colon health declined. Why?

I eat more fruit & vegetables than I did before the BTD. I take more calcium than is recommended. I get selenium in my multiple vitamin, plus I eat many selenium containing foods. I have never smoked. I exercise 5-6 days a week. My weight is normal for my height, and lower than average for my age. I don’t drink wine, but I eat a lot of black and red grapes.

That leaves red meat intake and aspirin where there are conflicts between the anti-polyp diet and the BTD.

I am not going to take the aspirin. I have seen in myself and in my father what happens when type O’s take Vitamin E and aspirin as preventive measures. It leads to increased bruising and longer clotting times. My Type O blood is already thin enough. I will leave the aspirin for thick blooded Type As.

Red Meat – this is the tough one, because at first glance it seems to be in opposition to the BTD. Food portions in the Little Books – which I always reach for first since they are so easy to use, are: Lean red meat 2-5 ounces 4-6 times per week. Poultry 2-5 ounces 2-3 times per week.

Because red meat makes me feel so good, I had gone toward the high end of the scale eating 4-5 ounces 5-6 times a week. Since getting my lab results on the pre-cancerous polyp, I have made a slight adjustment. I am weighing my beef and eating 3-4 ounces. For lunch and dinner on one day I have fish and poultry. The next day I have fish and beef. Once or twice a week I substitute 3 eggs for a one of those portions. This puts me having beef about 3 times per week.

I looked at the portions in Dr. D’s Cancer Prevention book. There is a slight difference between it and the Little Books. In the Cancer Prevention book, he groups beef and poultry together saying to eat 2-5 ounces 6-9 times a week. My new plan is right in line with that recommendation. The book also contains a two page explanation of Dr. D’s position on beef and cancer. It is worth reading if you have concerns in this area.

Another slight conflict between the Dr. D and anti-polyp diets concerns apples. I used to eat an apple a day. After the GTD came out, I cut back to 1 or 2 apples a week. The Cancer Prevention book says apples are frequent neutrals. I am not eating an apple a day, but I am increasing my apple intake significantly.

I had taken myself off of almost all grain. There are no beneficial grains for Type O except manna bread, and the recommended portions for grains are 1 serving 1-6 times a week. I felt good with 0-1 servings. I am thinking that may be too extreme. I am trying to reincorporate 1 portion of neutral grains 3-5 times a week.

I won’t have another colonoscopy for 5 years. That is a long time to wonder whether my new program will succeed in preventing polyp formation.