My husband suffers from a form of blindness. He can be standing right in front of something and not see it. This blindness most often occurs when he opens the fridge. For some reason he can’t find the last of the leftovers and I will hear him call for me. Of course I get annoyed that I have to get up from another room to locate something I know is ten inches from his face.
“Ah”, he’ll say, “I didn’t see that”.
No kidding Sherlock.
My in-laws live on the edge of a cornfield that attracts a lot of wildlife. Turkey, deer, groundhogs and an abundance of songbirds visit the field. A favorite pastime at their house is to sit around the kitchen table, drink tea, talk and enjoy the view out the wide, glass double doors. Now here is where my blindness is acutely evident. My husband will sit there and pass comments like, “Looks like that Blue Bird is mad at something… that groundhog is eating dad’s vegetables again…” and, “Wow, 23 turkeys this time.” He can’t see his socks on the floor but he can see a gnat on the back of a humming bird at 150 yards! Meanwhile I’m like a kid lost in a Where’s Waldo book, but once I see what he sees we enjoy the moment together.

We all suffer from some blindness at times, the sort where we’re looking at something but not really seeing it. I found this image on the Internet. The FedEx logo has an image in it. Can you find it? 50% of people will not see it, while the other 50% will see it right away.

Did you see it? I won’t tell, but you click here it will take you to the answer.

When my husband and I first heard and read the concepts for the Eat Right diet we knew, without hesitation, that they were right. The idea of using our blood type as a marker for the foods we eat made total and complete sense. “I got it” right from the start, it was really that simple for me. I never hesitated to try it and after all these years we’ve never looked back. It is one of the things we see eye to eye on.
I find that some people are just like us, they just “get it,” while others need someone to take them by the hand and show them, like pointing out a deer in the forest. Others, sadly, will never see, and sadder still is the fact that they are often those closest to us.
It’s unfortunate but I understand some blindness will never be cured, but my wish for all of you is to “get it”, to see. And if you are one of those people that needs to be led by the hand I encourage you to join www.dadamo.com. It’s a wonderful group of people willing and waiting to guide you through your journey toward better health.

To me, Tempeh has always been one of those strange foods that conjures up images of communes and vegans. Lets face it, it looks weird, like some sort of bean cheese and in the grocery store it is all the way at the top of the shelf, not at eye level where they put the regularly purchased items. But alas, for me it is a diamond food and since I am a vegetarian I feel it is an important source of protein and vitamins. I also believe that as a healthy blood type A, tempeh is good for me. I have been eating it for over a year now but it was only recently that I discovered a new way to prepare it that is in short - delicious!

I buy mine in the dairy aisle at Whole Foods. They carry several types, vegetable, flax and smokey. I always buy the flax variety because the other styles contain avoids for my genotype. Checking the dates to make sure they are the freshest, I'll usually buy three or four at a time. It comes tightly sealed in a clear plastic wrapper, and as long as it remains unopened it keeps well in the fridge for quite a while. I am not sure why they would package it like this because you can actually see the white and black mold growing on it through the plastic. I am certain the average consumer does not find this very appealing (probably why it is on the top shelf).

Over the years I have thrown away my fair share of tempeh just because I did not know how to cook it properly. For the past year I have been steaming it prior to cooking,prepared this way it was Ok, but it still had that beany taste. With enough curried peanut sauce slathered on it, I found it tolerable, so I was content. Then a few months ago I stumbled across a recipe that said to boil it for 5 minutes then marinade it for a few hours or overnight. I thought, now that makes sense, boiling will loosen the compressed cake of soybeans and allow the flavor to infuse the tempeh. I took the rectangular block and sliced it half length wise then into small bite size pieces. Boiling a pot of water, I dropped it in and set the timer for 5 minutes. Afterward I drained it and placed it in a glass container with my marinade and placed it in the fridge. Asian flavors work really well with tempeh, so I stuck to a basic recipe of tamari (wheat-free soy sauce), a little olive oil, garlic, ginger and lemon juice. Letting it stew over night it had absorbed almost all the marinade and it smelled good too.

At dinner time I just cooked it in a pan with a bit more oil. Some of the tempeh came apart but that was fine, I just scooped it up and put it over brown rice. I served it with a green romaine salad with homemade white miso dressing. I have been thinking about that meal for a week and couldn't take it any more; I just bought four more tempeh cakes at Whole Foods.

In doing a short internet search to see if this method was mentioned any place, I found that it is but I must have over looked it. I hope you try this. Leave a comment and let me know how it goes.

I added the recipe here.

Ever since I began this journey/way of life I have always hoped that support groups would begin to pop up around the country and abroad. I have been waiting for years for this to happen and just when I gave up on the idea of it ever becoming a reality.... on a visit to Dr. D'Adamo's office I found a little card on Barbara, the receptionist's desk. It announced Nancy Kuhn's Blood Type Support group, Nancy is an exuberant long time follower of Dr. D'Adamo, that is meeting once a month at the D'Adamo Personalized Nutrition store in Danbury Connecticut. Not long after that Sharon (NYC) from the Eat Right Forum began asking if anyone wanted to meet in the city at a local restaurant. Over the years I have seen other people try this meet-up method and fail, but Sharon was persistent. Sharon is a beautiful young women who has a very compelling weight loss story and is a patient of Dr. D'Adamo's. She felt that she wanted to meet other people who shared her belief in the diet as a way of life. Since her first meeting she has had three other meetings and the group is growing.

It is exciting to see support groups being started by people who have a vested interest in their diets as a way of life. Encouraged by these two women I have decided it is time to start my own group here on Long Island. My group will begin in the spring and meet once a month. If you join my Facebook group you will receive an announcement in the next few months. I am looking forward to meeting like minded people in a small group setting and sharing our journeys. I now have a renewed vision of support groups all over the world. One at a time is all it will take.

Breath Hydrogen
I have been working with the professional version of the SWAMI program. I don't fully understand all the settings of this software but have confidence that Dr. D' Adamo is aware of the limitations of some users and has thrown hidden switches based on the information entered for a person. One of these entry fields is for breath hydrogen levels. It is an optional value and SWAMI will work without it, but in order to achieve optimal results for a client, let’s say with gut issues, having these values is helpful. With this in mind I set out to see if I could procure one of these gadgets. I had seen it used on patients at the University of Bridgeport clinic and again at Dr. D'Adamo's office so I was confident that I could operate one. New, a Breathe Hydrogen meter costs approximately $2000.00. Though a worthwhile tool, I was just not prepared to part with that kind of money. Then Lola, my cyber-friend from the forums, had the bright idea of looking for a second hand one, and so began my quest over the internet. I hit pay dirt at DOTmed, a medical auction site and scored one for 30% of the cost. It was new in the box, a trade show table display. It arrived as stated in the auction, in perfect condition and with a working battery. I confess, I had a few moments before it arrived, where I thought, “am I nuts” buying this thing but I would immediately console myself with, "you don't eat out, never go to the movies, and your hair color comes in a box, this is your hobby, enjoy it." What made it easier was the fact that my darling husband had just bought himself a car and I can't tell you the price but it was more then the $heckles I spent.
How does breath hydrogen relate to the Genotype and Blood Type Diet? Our bodies are colonized with thousands of organisms or flora. We have flora on our skin, in our noses and even in our ears. The gastrointestinal tract has the most diverse and abundant flora but the health of our bowel flora is hard to measure and most of us just hope we are getting it right by eating yogurt and taking acidophilis tablets. A breath hydrogen meter helps in determining your bowel health. High numbers mean you have an overgrowth of bacteria and low numbers mean you don't. It really is that simple. The SWAMI then uses that data to calculate food choices.
It’s easiest to do this test first thing in the morning since you need to fast for 10 hours. A baseline is obtained by blowing into the instrument. Then you drink a sugar syrup called lactulose. Once the client drinks the lactulose syrup, a breath hydrogen sample is measured every 15- 20 mins for an hour. The hour is about how long it takes for the lactulose to move through the gastrointestinal tract and the bacteria to produce the necessary hydrogen to be measured. The bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract produce hydrogen as a metabolic byproduct, some of that hydrogen is then absorbed through the gastric mucosa into the blood stream and released through your breath. Hydrogen is exhaled as you breathe and the meter measures the excreted hydrogen. The amount of breath hydrogen is directly proportional to the amount of gut bacteria. Dr. D'Adamo says that after three months of following your individual diet the clients breathe hydrogen levels will decrease, a sign of restored balance in the gut flora.
What is nice about this test is that it is objective, so the data can be collected as proof that the diet is working. The data from thousands of people who have been following their respective diets is able to be collected through the SWAMI software and used as further proof of the diets effectiveness on bowel health. It is an exciting time to be involved in this work and I constantly feel privileged to be part of it. I want so much for all of you to be healthy so you can enjoy life. We have a long road ahead of us, and I am confident that we can meet the challenges. Anyone locally interested in a breath hydrogen test let me know I would be happy to perform the test.
Andrea

My quest to genotype 50 people has been more challenging then I care to admit. I tried to put a few flyers around some of my local haunts but I did not get one call. So my new strategy has been to find people with large social networks (or big mouths) who need to lose weight or have expressed that they just don't feel good. My hope has been that one person would tell the next and they would come streaming in all wanting to know the secrets of their personal diet. It has not been that simple because many of my friends have given up on losing weight due to so many failed diets and being menopausal. Still I continue to bother them and have no shame in telling them that they need to shed a few pounds; that their future health and well-being is important enough to invest in.

My consultations with people go something like this...

First, I let them know it will take about 2 hours for the initial consultation. In the beginning I didn't tell people this and soon learned that they were, more often than not, stopping by between picking up kids and getting home to dinner. These distracted people are really hard to work with. I also realized some people need to know all the details while others just want the diet without the research behind it.
For those who want to know the whys and why nots, I have found Eric Morrison's blood type movie to be quite helpful. I can sit people down to watch the movie and know that in the end they have some basic understanding for the food choices. I have had a very good response to the video; two people actually watched it twice. Eric's “Explaining the Blood Type Diet” runs about 45 minutes so during that time I make a cup of tea for my guests to enjoy while watching, and then I get everything ready to measure and fingerprint them.

Once the film is finished I answer any questions and then take their health history. It’s interesting to see that many people don't really understand what diseases they have. I find many who are on blood pressure medication will deny they have high blood pressure because in some quirky way they consider it irrelevant if they take medication. They don’t realize that meds often only mask the disease. This is also common for those with high cholesterol who keep their condition under control with a prescription. Inquiring about their medications or the results of any tests they may have had is a good way to know their underlying health conditions.

Once I have their medical history I begin the body measurements; my husband Jeff helps me with this. I have a chair already measured that I know is 17 inches high so I always have them sit in that chair, it is my genochair. Standing and sitting height, weight (I let them write it down rather then say it), finger lengths, head measurements, waist, hips etc… Having witnessed Dr. D'Adamo and his team of interns measure people at the University of Bridgeport helped me understand the proper way to measure people, particularly leg bone length. I take all the information I need for an accurate Genotype and record it on a 5”x8” index card my husband created that contains data on one side and fingerprints on the other.

While I measure them I have a short discussion on what the measurements mean, this is often a bit abstract for most people. Getting them to understand how body measurements will somehow relate to the foods they can and can't eat is the most difficult part. They often look a little blankly at me, trusting that I know what I am doing. (I will mention Manning just incase they want to go look him up for more information.)
Once finished, our first visit is over.
In the beginning I used to figure out the genotypes of people and give them their diets all at the same time. But I have found that most people need some time to think through what we have discussed. The time between measuring and the receiving of their food lists helps them to prepare psychologically. It also gives me time to speculate what foods they might have questions about.

During the second meeting I go over the diet page by page. In this way I can address any initial concerns they have regarding its content. I like to show people the food on their lists that may not be familiar to them, so I make sure I have a few of those items around the house. I’ve even reached into my freezer to show them grass-fed beef or homemade flax meal bread. Samples sometimes become part of this second visit. O's always want to know where the bread is and A's want to see the fruit and vegetable list. Many A's have never eaten tofu or if they have it has only been served in some unappealing way. O's begin to freak out when they see the list of carbohydrates and wheat is in the red avoid section. This is when I begin to pull out bags of quinoa or millet to show them what they can have. Initially I was unprepared for the response of O's, thinking everyone would embrace the idea of not eating wheat, but the media has ingrained in us the idea that we can't live without wheat in our diets.

This sharing of information is the part of genotyping I enjoy most because I am able to impart years of food knowledge, both my own and from Dr. D’s work, with people. I send them on their way, knowing that in a few days they will be calling me as they wonder what ghee is, or how to buy fresh fish. And gladly I will be ready to share what I know.

When I told someone I was contemplating the start of a support group and possibly cooking classes so we can share our knowledge collectively,
I could see excitement in her eyes. At moments like those I know I am in the right place and doing what I love.