On the night I made andoulle beans I also browned a flank steak on the grill with the salmon. That went in the fridge until the next morning when I put it in the crock pot with onion, garlic, cilantro, carrots, chicken broth and 3 types of hot peppers to cook on low until dinnertime, when I shredded it. It made the best tacos! I took a shortcut and used storebought teff tortillas (not as good as homemade, but good). My 8 yo helped make the taco fixings and set it all out... refried pinto beans, cheese (as allowed, none for me), tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cilantro, salsa.

Next night was enchilada night, homemade sauce with sweet rice flour instead of wheat flour, and no tomato sauce in it this time. I used chicken or beans for the As, more of the beef for me, soy cheese for my milk allergic son, no cheese for me, colby jack for my Teacher type husband, each in their own mini loaf pan. Top with fresh lettuce, onions and tomatoes as desired.
Fruit salad: peach, organic pear, organic cherries.

Last night I made gumbo with more andouille sausage,
bell peppers, celery, onions and okra
Fresh peach, pear and cherry salad

Tonight was easy, had:
leftover quinoa, chicken, beef, and chicken andoulle, refried
top with tomatoes and green onion
steamed broccoli
frest melon

Lots of repeats, to make use of leftovers and Costco surplus (always have a bit too much). Breakfasts are usually eggs with mushrooms or veggies on hand, did have a green smoothie one of the days. Snacks include more slushies, an occasional Reed's honey sweetened ginger ale, and my favorite craving-buster: sesame nori chips. I have had 3 squares of dark chocolate as well.

I avoid most grains except quinoa, millet and teff, but have less than a tablespoon of rice on occasion, due to cooking with sweet rice flour.

All that considered, I'm seeing the expected good results from better planning and compliance. By planning good meals, and following through, I'm not tempted to cheat. I've lost a good amount of weight in just these few days, and I feel quite satisfied with the food. This isn't my first time with losing weight on BTD, but hopefully it will be the last, and my weight will stay down from now on. Pre-BTD I gained weight due to poor health, lost it on BTD, then gained with pregnancy and lost it again fairly soon. My 2nd pregnancy was harder to recover from for a number of reasons and issues, but I'm happy and confident with the course I'm on... I CAN take care of myself no matter what stress or pressure I'm under, I AM making it a priority.

Good health is a lot about nutrition. It also has its exercise and spiritual components. But in addition, sometimes you just need some fun. These have been fun days at the Graham household.

Both of our kids were home for a weekend in July and they were back last weekend. This makes me happy!

My sister got to spend five days with me. We talked, we shopped, we cooked, we floated on the river. Sister time makes me happy.

My niece is staying with me for 3 weeks. She is doing an internship here, and she is practicing her driving skills. I love having this enthusiastic teenager cooking and exercising and watching movies with me. Watching her success with parallel parking makes me happy.

A good friend who has had a long struggle with Multiple Sclerosis and celiac disease saw pictures I took of tubing, and sent me a message wishing she could still do things like that. I knew two places where we could float without the dangers of white water. I encouraged her to come for a weekend, and she did. We floated and talked and floated and ate gluten free food and floated some more. We called it “water therapy” and it made us both happy.

My Honorable Husband and I are making friends at our new church that will be lifetime friends. It makes us happy to walk into Bible Study and be greeted with smiles.

I don’t ever want to get so caught up in work, or the news, or the responsibilities of life that I neglect being with people and doing things that give joy! I don’t want to have so many rules about food and exercise that I miss out on happy days!

I have to admit, my meal plan blogs are as much for me as for my readers, as sometimes I wish I had kept track of what I ate when I was compliant and doing really well with the diet. That way I can remind myself later when I feel like I don't know where to start.

So here is my meal plan for the week, this is an non-secretor O plan with a side of explorer. I don't eat rice or any dairy, due to food allergy teasting and SWAMI results. I make a few modifications for type A family members... although they often get O foods because they aren't as strict and sometimes I feed them what they will eat...they don't eat much red meat, at least.

Saturday:
Dinner:
Italian turkey sausage with marinara sauce
tinkyada pasta for them, spaghetti squash for me
green beans

Snack:
nori sesame "crackers"
pomagranate slushy, unsweetened

Sunday:
Breakfast:
green tea almond milk latte with agave and v. glycerine
3 boiled eggs with olive oil, lemon juce, garlic sea salt, and nori crackers

Snack: pom slushy, unsweetened

Lunch:
repeat of yesterday's dinner

Dinner:
chicken andouille sausages with great northern beans, onion and carrot
grilled salmon (for kids who won't eat andouille beans
steamed quinoa
broccoli

Advance prep flank steak and quinoa tortillas for Monday's tacos.
flax muffins or focaccia for snacks
What to do with a fennel bulb I bought?

More to come...

I went to Google News tonight looking for financial news. It must have been a big day for research result releases. Here are tidbits from stories that had BTD and women’s health connections.

Soy tablets do not help build bone

This study contradicts the popular notion that soy isoflavones will prevent bone loss in menopausal women. I wish I knew the blood type breakdown of the women in the study. Soy is a neutral food for Type Os, but it is beneficial for Type As. I once read that isoflavones were supposed to help menopausal women, so I tried mixing some of my Type A daughter’s soy protein powder in with my breakfast. It didn’t settle with my stomach, so I abandoned the idea. I tried the tablets for a while, but didn’t notice that they had any effect on me at all.

I should have listened to Dr. D. In the Menopause book he writes, “Essentially carnivores when it comes to protein requirements, Blood Type Os should minimize consumption of beans and legumes…An exception for menopausal women may be soy beans. They contain isoflavones that help minimize symptoms, build up bone, and protect the heart.” Then he lists them as neutral, the same as he does in all the other books.

Loading up on calcium won't eliminate osteoporosis risk

The recommended dose of calcium for women over 51, is 1200 mg per day. I actually take a little more than that since I don’t eat dairy. This study indicates that the lowest fracture risk was with women taking 750 mg per day. The study also indicated that women who wait until they are older to start taking calcium do not decrease their fracture risk.

Interestingly, the Menopause book lists calcium last on the list of bone supplement protocols. Dr. D. suggested 1,000 mg. He puts Horsetail, Manganese, Vitamin A and Boron as more important than calcium. Looks like I may be wasting money taking as much calcium as I do.

Flaxseed is no help for hot flashes

Dr. D lists Flax as a beneficial food for Type Os of all ages. I eat it for the fiber and the essential oils. I didn’t know that it contained plant estrogens that were supposed to help hot flashes. The study contradicts the hot flash theory, and said that it had no more impact on hot flashes that a placebo.

osteoporosis drugs linked to femur fracture

This was the most peculiar of the studies. The very drugs that many women take to prevent osteoporosis are linked to fractures of the thigh bone. I have had my bone density checked twice, and I am not showing any signs of osteoporosis, so I haven’t taken any of these drugs. I’m glad I haven’t.

A lot of popular theories about menopause and osteoporosis were shot down today - if you believe the studies are completely accurate. I will continue taking calcium, but not as much. I will eat flax for its other benefits. I’ve already stopped taking soy, and I don’t plan to take the osteoporosis drugs.

Weight bearing exercise is looking like a really good choice for women my age. I’m halfway expecting to read a study about that tomorrow.

This is a follow-up to my 1 November 2010 blog, "BTD or GTD?"
Then and there, I wrote, "The jury's still out."
Well: It's back.

For this gal, it's BTD all the way.

Nor did I ever get with the SWAMI program (the computer program for individualizing one's plan according to Dr. D'Adamo's post-Blood Type research).

Back in 1996-97, I was excited - nay, galvanized - by D'Adamo's bloodtype teaching. His 1996 groundbreaking book,Eat Right 4 Your Type, is still a best-seller - Number 212 in sales at Amazon, almost 15 years post-initial publication! - for a reason. It resonates, and works, for millions of us.

It's more than diet: It's thinking. It's a cohesive way of seeing human life, gene-groups and migrations. I've always found the Genotype classifications to be hazier. On D'Adamo's website's forum, Genotype-SWAMI adherents admit that their classifications keep changing, over time, with all sorts of variable conditions. It's a program that defies group classification, and that's fine - even preferable - for many who desire to keep monitoring those factors.

Even the title of Dr. D'Adamo's last book has changed - from The Genotype Diet (the one I bought in 2008) to Change Your Genetic Destiny. While Dr. D'Adamo is of course not claiming to be able to alter anyone's genes, he is linking diet to the possibility of facilitating or hindering susceptibilities to illness and "premature" aging that are genetically sourced. There are those who enjoy learning and knowing about glycation and methylation, but nowhere near as many as believe the Blood Type model appropriate for their needs.

Eat Right 4 Your Type is readable and understandable - and followed - by people all over the world. It isn't for lack of grey matter that I am more comfortable with it than with the mutable computer program. Among bloggers at D'Adamo's site, I can be counted on to espouse, promote, and guide in Dr. D'Adamo's Bloodtype teachings, with the occasional foray into the Genotype diet, perhaps just to mention my use of or reaction to a component of the "Nomad" program from time to time.

The ER4YT/LR4YT bloodtype system stood me in good stead for nine years before I became a blogger here, and continued after I bought The Genotype Diet two and a half years later.

I still assist newcomers to Dr. D'Adamo's bloodtype work. And the beat goes on.

Ninguna teoría de dieta es capaz de abordar todos los aspectos de nuestra individualidad. Sería irresponsable afirmar que la soja, las carnes rojas, los cereales, el aceite de coco o cualquier otro alimento sean universalmente buenos o malos para todos.

Por ejemplo, la persona de tipo O universal parece obtener importantes beneficios siguiendo una dieta que incluye carnes y aves de corral libres de hormonas y antibióticos. Hay una razón fisiológica muy básica para explicarlo: aquellos con el tipo de sangre O, tienen casi tres veces más altos sus niveles de una enzima llamada "fosfatasa alcalina intestinal" (IAP), que aquellos con sangre tipo A, B, o AB. Esta enzima realiza dos funciones muy importantes en el cuerpo. En primer lugar, IAP divide el colesterol dietético en fragmentos más pequeños, lo que permite su desglose adecuado. En segundo lugar, IAP mejora la absorción de calcio de la dieta. Ahora se podría pensar que esto es vanguardia, o noticia de última hora ya que es obviamente de enorme interés en estos tiempos de nutrigenómica. Sin embargo, las primeras observaciones fueron hechas hace más de cuatro décadas.

Además de estas dos funciones críticas, IAP tiene una influencia importante en la capacidad de cura del tracto digestivo. Así, en la mayoría de nuestros pacientes de tipo O (44% de la población) vemos una notable mejora en su IBS, colitis ulcerosa y enfermedad de Crohn cuando aumentan su proteína y reducen los hidratos de carbono.

El tipo B produce una cantidad considerable de IAP también, a diferencia del tipo A que hace muy poca. Esto explica el por qué la mayoría de los estudios que observan la correlación entre enfermedad cardiovascular y tipo de sangre muestran una tasa significativamente mayor de problemas en la sangre tipo A. Dicho tipo sanguíneo A debe seguir una dieta de tipo Mediterráneo.

Estudios posteriores muestran que el tipo A no sólo secreta poca fosfatasa alcalina en su sistema digestivo, pero que cualquier pequeña cantidad secretada de IAP era de por sí inactivada por la presencia de su propio antígeno.

Por lo tanto, aquí tenemos una de las más fuertes indicaciones sobre el beneficio a largo plazo de adaptar una dieta baja en grasa para la persona tipo A, tanto en lo que respecta a la susceptibilidad a enfermedad cardiovascular y (aunque no se ha mencionado aquí) su adicional susceptibilidad al cáncer. Siguiendo los lineamientos básicos de su plan A, con énfasis en grasa saludable apropiada, des enfatizando la proteína animal y todo aquello con contenido de fenilalanina.
Es el mejor método para maximizar su eficiencia digestiva del tipo A, reduciendo su nivel de disfunción intestinal e influir de manera positiva en su susceptibilidad a enfermedad cardiovascular.

No dejen de darse una vuelta a la tienda web y vean todo aquello que el Dr. D’Adamo viene diseñando en apoyo a su digestión

We had a wonderful, long weekend with family. My sister and niece were here from Europe. DD and ESS drove down from North Texas. SS came from Central Texas where his physical therapy practice is located. Saturday night I fixed a big dinner – roast beef, black eyed peas, artichokes, sweet potatoes, bread, and watermelon for dessert.

I tried a new sweet potato recipe, and all of the Type Os liked it. But the real key was how it would measure up to other sweet potato recipes. So we took a vote. The new recipe did pretty well. The winner was sweet potato fries. I think everyone agreed that was their favorite way to eat sweet potatoes. Second place votes went to baked sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes with cinnamon, and the new recipe.

“What I really need to know,” I said, “is whether to keep the recipe. Be honest, do you want me to fix sweet potatoes this way again?” The vote was unanimous – keep the recipe. On that recommendation, I will share it with you.

Sweet Potatoes with Agave Nectar and Fresh Rosemary

3 sweet potatoes, washed and cubed
3 Tbsp light Olive Oil
2 Tbsp fresh Rosemary
½ - 1 Tbsp Agave Nectar
Salt and pepper if desired (I didn’t use either)

Whisk together the olive oil, agave nectar and rosemary. Toss with the sweet potato cubes until the potatoes are well coated. There are two cooking options. I used the stove top option.

Cooking Option 1 – Put the coated potatoes in a large pot on the stovetop. Cook on medium high heat until they begin to turn soft – about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep them coated and to prevent sticking.

Cooking Option 2 – Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Spread the coated potatoes on the cooking sheet. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes at 400 degrees. Stir the potatoes every 15 minutes.

Back on July 8th I injured my knee at work while building a large pallet. I ended up tearing my Medial Meniscus and Medial Collateral Ligament.

While it was very painful and I could not put any weight on it, it did not swell up or get hot from the resulting injury. I thought about this unusual occurrence and can only relate it to following ERFYT/ SWAMI and Health Protocol #7.

You see, Eating Right for Your Type all by itself is an anti-inflammatory way of eating. Combining it with the Health Protocol #7 for Arthritis (which I am only using for preventative purposes) may have made all of the difference in the initial lack of inflammation.

The injury happened on a Friday and by Monday I could already start putting weight on it despite the injuries. I had surgery to fix the meniscus on July 19th and afterwards did have some swelling / inflammation, but nothing too bad. I could walk on it only 48 hours later and it felt much, much better. It’s now 1 week later and I’m on my feet again with no crutches and a slight limp from the knee area still stiff and just a little swelling left. I’ll be back to work on August 1st on light duty and by then well on my way to my old self. Eating Right for Your Type and or using SWAMI will give your body the best chance to heal and heal in a very quick way.