I am a non-secretor O, and when i read the question from september 3rd, my antennae shot up! the laboratory diagnosis, "blastocystis hominis" could be very important for this woman to heed. i was diagnosed with this parasite in june, 2002 --- and i was sicker than i have ever been in my life, for over two months. i was spiraling downward for many months before that. my doctor was not much help, as she had only encountered it once before. my boss, who is a practicing internist, had never heard of this parasite. my longtime friend in washington, d.c., who is a family practitioner, had heard of it but never encountered it in her medical practice.

the data on blastocystis hominis is contradictory, controversial, and scant. i had to move forward with it on the energy of my family practitioner friend, who said, "if the data is sparse or contradictory, why side with the naysayers? treat it!" so i did, with the standard treatment -- high doses of flagyl. since the woman who wrote you can not take antibiotics, she would need a naturopath to prescribe for her a different treatment for this parasite, but she should treat it! she may have had this parasite in her weakened gut for 6 years or longer. (she wrote that the laboratory diagnosis of it came 6 years ago.)

i was much better after starting the antibiotics, and continued getting better within the course of the 10-day treatment. but i was still very sick and recovered very slowly, i presume because of the parasite's damaging my intestinal tissue. food choices that worked for me: homemade chicken broth for weeks. no solid foods. water and diluted pineapple juice. later food choices that worked: plain, well-cooked meats. i was especially drawn to plain chicken. also some banana (first cooked puree, then frozen, then regular). continued with water and diluted pineapple juice.

i did try rice and blueberry juice. while i tolerated both, they did not seem to help me, and in fact the rice seemed to just sit in my stomach for a bit. on the other hand, the homemade chicken broth instantly felt like elixir (and i believe kept me alive), and i actually began to get energy from the meats, when i added them in later. i craved the plain, cooked chicken! my theory on this is that the tissue damage required animal protein to get it on the mend. and as a non-secretor O, rice is ok but did not feel truly helpful.

i wish this woman the best. blastocystis hominis has the ability to make one very, very sick. it is possible that in addition to seeing a naturopath, she could also benefit from speaking with an infectious disease specialist who has treated it successfully. hope this helps someone. melissa

---

Melissa!! Thank you so much for offering your experience and advice on this condition ~~ I deeply appreciate it, and I am sure there are others out there who will benefit from your generosity!

Dear Readers: If you see a topic here on which you have information to relay, please be encouraged to do so! My gratitude goes out to all of you, the seekers and the guides on the BTD path!!

Hi, Paula! Well: Ezekiel toast with ghee, jam and scrambled tofu with onions? Or... beans and eggs (a campfire favorite)? Miso soup and steamed vegetables? An open-faced sandwich of sauteed tempeh with greens and sprouts on toasted rye? A one-egg omelette filled with leftover chicken/rice/veg from the night before? Or a small salmon patty (flaked canned salmon with toasted Ezekiel crumbs, minced parsley & onion, an egg and lemon juice ~ makes several patties from one can of salmon) made the night before, warmed in a pan and wrapped in crunchy radicchio leaves? This morning, my type A man had a cup of coffee, then a piece of the kamut double-crust apple pie I made for Thanksgiving. I could keep going, but you get the idea!



The first key to breakfast, as I see it, is planning it the night before. The second key to breakfast is: you are free to eat ANYTHING at breakfast that you'd eat at any other meal. Anything goes, girl! Use breakfast to pack in the Beneficials, and choose lighter or heavier as your daily activities and inclinations dictate. Boredom inspires temptation... so let breakfast be an opportunity for creativity! :-)



&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&



Dear Heidi, I'm 43 years old and my background is Greek. I'm 5'4" and 153 lbs. Although I enjoy good health I don't feel great. My mum is a diabetic and my father died of cancer when I was 14. I also don't like to take medication and I'm lucky that I don't need to. I like to take the natural approach and this diet sounds like it could help. I found after reading the book that I do suffer from the symptoms described (but not all) and I've had a hell of time trying to loose weight even though I eat well and excersise regularly. I would like to do this diet with proper monitoring. Do you know of any doctor/nutritionist/clinic/hospital here in HK that has used this programme and could assist me? Also, In ER4YBT p.68, Type O should avoid all cabbages. In Blood Type O Food, Beverage and Supplement Lists, p. 29, all cabbages are neutral. Which is correct? Pauline



Pauline! I do not have a listing for any BTD practitioners in Hong Kong, but the instructions in the books can safely be followed by healthy people like yourself who seek a higher level of well-being and a protective diet. These diets are one of the premiere "natural approaches" -- and the only dietary system specifically designed for the needs of the individual rather than based upon the generalized statistics of the many. Give it a good solid testing for one month, and write again! The single blood-type lists have the latest secretor-neutral updated values for foods. Let me know if you need more information, and thanks for writing!!



&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&



Hi Heidi, Can you help me figure out a problem? I am Type O secretor and follow the diet 100%. Right now I am making smoothies out of egg protein and want to find another(not rice or soy) that I can use. I found a triple filtered whey protein(no cassein in it) and have also read many reports that whey has an added benefit of helping to strengthen the immune system, so I was wondering do the benefits outway the the negatives for using whey. I would like to use it once a day. Is there anything I can do to make it acceptable to use on a daily basis on the blood type diet?? thank you and I sure miss you with the old forum, but everything changes....... James



Hello, James ~ man, I miss you, too! :-} Howzit goin?



If you really want a powdered "smoothie additive," have you tried nutritional yeast? B vitamins, protein, and other added benefits all in one little scoop. Some nutbutter popped in there makes a 'taste divine.' :-) I can't recommend milk proteins for type O, neither whey nor caseins ~ our immune systems (already the most "active" of the types) are made calm & strong by exercise and the proper selection of whole foods on our diet. Did the reports you've read sort results by blood group? I'd love to see them if you have a chance to pass them on to me! And what are the benefits of whey that something like Rhodiola rosea couldn't replace? :-D Now you're wondering why I've got more questions than answers here... but these are the answers I get when I ask myself the questions you offered. Let me know, OK?



&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&



I'm a type A+ Is sprouted wheat or rye bread better for me? Thanks in advance -- Robert



Hmmm... that's a new question! I tend to think that sprouted rye, an older grain than the commercial wheat hybrids, is marginally more nutritious and digestible than sprouted wheat, but the difference is probably esoteric and not at all an overriding one for purposes of the diets. I've no authoritative basis to prefer sprouted rye over sprouted wheat for these reasons ~ it's just my personal feeling about the thing. Technically, either is fine for you!



&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&



Dear Miss Heidi -- Thank you for your efforts in advising and helping people. I am 38 years old. Unfortunately last year I became menopause. My blood type is A negative. After reading BTD I began to avoid red meats and began to increase lentils and white beans in my diet since there isn't any soya beans or soya products in our country. Thanks to Dr. D'adamos' efforts in ER4YT the side effects of menopause like hot flushes and mood swings diminishes. My concern now is about the relationship between early menopause and osteoporoses, although there isn't any case in the history of my family of such thing. I also have read that the amount of protein consumed must not exceed 40 mg/day, otherwise the Calcium in the bones will counterbalance. I eat dairy products like yoghurt every day to have enough Calcium but I think that I exceed the amount of protein mentioned above. I lost weight in persuing ER4YT now I am 51 KG and my height is 168cm and I want to gain some weight. I am also interested in brisk walking and aerobics for and hour daily to help me avoid such thing in the future. Is this enough? What can I do please advise me. Sincerely, Rula



Greetings, Rula ~ From your results with hot flashes and mood balancing, I believe you are on your optimal diet, right now!



The study quoted in Peter's column, "Will Type Os Eating Protein Lose Bone?", indicates that getting adequate protein in your diet stimulates the production of intestinal alkaline phosphatase -- the very secretion needed to assimilate calcium efficiently from food. It is a rather outdated idea that more protein = less calcium, or that eating the correct "A" sources of protein in the proper amounts for you means your bones will begin giving up calcium! The best thing for you as a type A is to get good food sources of calcium, like dark green leafy vegetables, almonds, broccoli, soy, sesame, and boost your calcium assimilation by including foods high in carotene along with those high-calcium items.



(For those of us still on the imperial measurements system, Rula is 5'6" tall and 112 pounds.) Rula, I suggest a daily brisk walk is a great idea. To gain weight -- by that, I mean active tissue mass, or muscle -- use yoga at least three times per week and do either a brief (20-30 minutes) weight-lifting session two or three times per week, or strength-building calisthenics daily -- or vary your routine daily between them. A wonderful series of simple, quick and easy exercises can be found at the Canadian Air Force site. Start with the Age Table, then go right on to Chart One. If you use these exercises daily, you will be a very strong and slender type A!



My best to you, and please keep us posted on your progress!! :-D



&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Hello! I am 37 years old female Caucasian from Finland, type O. I eat wrong for my type: I drink lots of coffee,(lots, indeed!) I eat bread (mostly of rye, however) and poatatoes and drink milk, and (I use milk in food, it is typical here) and beer - basically our "national" food! I am quite all right, I feel healthy, ecept some small problems: my stomach is problematic, also I am very stressed during my periodes, very angry and nervous and tired, I want only sleep.

But I have exercise, though. I cycle every day to my work and do other exercise also. last summer we did long cyckle trips with my daughter (10years) and we were so happy every day! For some time ago I also noticed, that during winter I got sick (flue) every time if I had spent my summer in Finland, but if I had had my vacation in South Europe (Provence) or in Africa, I didn't get anything, even most of the workmates spent days in bed because of the flue.

Two years ago me and my daughter, who is half African, spent our summer is Senegal. We ate mostly chicken, meat (lamb and cow) and seafood. Especially our evening meal was, in my opinion, not very healthy: we bought a plate of lamb meat in the nearest dibiterie and ate it all, only meat, and onions! It was made in the open fire. Or we went to buy a fried chicken and ate it, included some grean vegetables, not rice nor couscous. At the daytime we ate crabs and fish.

Fish and rice, fish and couscous, every day, and I decided that when I return to Finland, I won't eat fish any more in my life, I was so boored with fish. Local people there like it so much. And we drank tea, not coffee, because people there drink strong green tea with mynth. It is so strong, that i didn't feel like to drink coffee at all. The tea there is called "attaya".

But I had never been healthier in my life after my vacation and the following winter! I just read your book and I noticd, that the meat I ate there is excatly what is good for me, because I am the type O! I coulnd't imagine that the answer could be this simple!

Sometimes I have been annoyed by Africans, who live here and are not willing to eat potatoes ( I have felt that they are proud and don't want to adopt our culture as I try to adopt theirs when I am there, and I eat their food) and now I understand, that it is not even healthy for many them, but their food is healthy for me! Especially I was annoyed, when my daughter's father cooked liver-meals in the owen and that smelled so bad. Now, myself, I must go shopping and test it!

I made also the conclution, that my daughter must be O. I don't know her fathers type, but I assume it is O, because of his character and because of his African heritage, it is more likely that he is O. He likes to eat cow, lamb, liver, chikcen and crabs, doesn't want to eat pork, drik beer nor wine, and he is very very healthy.

When the school started here, my daughter got stomach problems at once. Then I read your book and I realized, that here in Finland, the food they eat at the schools, consists mostly meat and potatoes, bread and milk. We don't eat so much potatoes at home, we like rice. Now I am quite sure, that my dosuhter's stomach problmes after the school are caused of the food she eats there. She also have often very bad headache after the school.

We tried yoga one year and got boored by it at once. My daughter chose to play baskettball and when she is playing, I go to build my body, and after, on saturdays, our tradition is to go to eat nice beef - and I have done it with a bad conscious, eating so unhealthy, nonrecommended food! I am surprised, that even I am naturally the whitest, blondest person you can find, I have found my blood relatives in Africa and it seems to me, that West-African food is best for me! It is a joke in my life.

Actually I have already been almost on the O diet, without knowing it. I have tried to turn to vegetarian many times and felt bad because I haven't been successful. We eat mosty rye bread because we have wonderful amount of different rye breads in Finland - I recommend for eveyone O's to taste finnish bread. Thanks for the great book! ~~ Sanna

---

Well, stap me and sink me if that isn't one of the most moving accounts of body wisdom and finding one's own way I've ever seen. Dear Sanna! Thank YOU for writing out your marvelous story for all of us! Thank you very much, indeed!!