Here is a concoction I came up with that might interest Explorers that are craving something sweet and easy.

Grind 1/2c. pecans into a fine meal. (I use a coffee grinder)
Place in a small bowl and add 1Tbs. honey and 2Tbs. carob powder. Mix well and form into small balls about the size of an inshell hazelnut. Refridgerate until firm and enjoy. (makes 12)

I have been missing my dark chocolate and these have a somewhat similar flavor.

I've also been working on cookies, and almost have my recipe ready to post.  

Heidi, those honey-carob-pecan balls sound good really good! Plus that's probably now the only use for my coffee grinder since coffee is off limits . Will try! Please post the cookie recipe soon!

Heidi,

That's such a good idea. I am not eating sweets now, because I used to be too addicted to sugar, and I am not really capable of moderation so I decided to avoid them completely.
Have you tried maple syrup? It's so nice, but only the pure stuff. The darker the colour, the more minerals and flavour (grade C). Grade B is lighter and grade A is lighter still. Grade C is my favorite, and it tends to be less expensive. I noticed it's a super food for Explorers (LUUUCKY)  
ps. maybe I can send you some from Canada- too bad the shipping costs would be insane.
  

Heidi, Looking forward to the cookie recipe, too!

I use my coffee grinder to grind flax seeds but I guess I won't be doing that for a while.

When I have a sweet craving I take a bunch of pecans (I keep them in the freezer so they are very cold). I pour on some fancy molasses which I keep at room temperature. Really good! Haven't tried it with honey or maple syrup but there is something about molasses......

I was on the Explorer diet for about 5 days. I was grumpy and hungry. I thought I would try it for 3 months but decided I just couldn't do it. SO I am back to the BTD A nonsec
(Yeah molasses,oatbran,blueberries and soy milk)

I am going to incorporate some of the  Explorer superfoods and drop some of the Explorer avoids over a longer period of time. A local health food store is going to order some dried elderberries for me! After a couple of days of oatbran I feel much more centered.

Quoted from PrincessRenee

Plus that's probably now the only use for my coffee grinder since coffee is off limits .

There are decaff organic whole beans available at least where I live. Decaffeined with some safe process i believe.

Here is the cookie I came up with. I think they came out pretty good without the normal cookie ingredients like eggs, sugar and vanilla. A lot like shortbread cookies.  

Macadamia Shortbread Cookies

1/4c. Ghee @ room temp.
1/4c. Honey
1/4c. Tapioca flour
3/4c. Brown rice flour
1/2tsp. Baking powder
1/4tsp. Baking soda
1/4c. Lightly chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat over to 375deg.
Cream together the ghee and honey, add in the flours and sodas. Mix till combined. Stir in the nuts. Roll into balls and chill until firm. Place on cookie sheet about an inch or so apart and bake for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack. (makes about 2 dozen)

Note: I used lightly salted nuts, if your are unsalted you might want to add a pinch of salt.

You can also add a little carob powder for variety.

Quoted from Heidi

Here is a concoction I came up with that might interest Explorers that are craving something sweet and easy.

Grind 1/2c. pecans into a fine meal. (I use a coffee grinder)
Place in a small bowl and add 1Tbs. honey and 2Tbs. carob powder. Mix well and form into small balls about the size of an inshell hazelnut. Refridgerate until firm and enjoy. (makes 12)

I have been missing my dark chocolate and these have a somewhat similar flavor.

I've also been working on cookies, and almost have my recipe ready to post.  

Thanks for the inspiration Heidi- I chopped macadamias, pecans and dried apricots, mixed with 2 tbspn cocoa, then poured over this mixture a melted tbspn ghee and 3 of maple syrup, mixed it all up, put spoons of it on plate, put plate in fridge to set, and they are really really yum. they look like a rough chopped mess though, yours sound fine and round!

wish i could source some carob powder too..

Mine is from Bob's Red Mill. Nothing but toasted carob.

Thank you that sounds so YUMMY
will try some of this in the weekend.

Where are all the O blood type explorers?

Hi Shari, O explorer here - by my own measurement Im hunter, but Dr D says Im explorer, so Im taking that.   Lets compare notes

Quoted from Maldo

by my own measurement Im hunter, but Dr D says Im explorer, so Im taking that.   Lets compare notes

Interesting. I see no possibility for an O+ secretor male Explorer in the book. Maybe there are a few combos that we don't know about?

I'm still watching this thread, Shari!

Excellent!     I was starting to feel all alone here    I was wondering if there were any differences by blood type and possibly secretor status, especially among us explorers  .

These questions are especially to the O explorers that I was looking for, but they are open to everyone.  How long have you been on the explorer GTD (and BTD before that?)  And how are you finding it?

I have been on GTD fully for a month now (partially for a month before that), 5+ years BTD now, the last 3 and a half as a fully compliant O non-secretor and the last 3 fully on the O non-sectetor diet for anti-inflammation.  

On GTD so far I haven't been able to find all of the diamond foods on each explorer food list but it doesn't seem to matter much because I'm still finding lots of good eating and variety with the diamonds I can find.  The most I've had of any neutral food is chicken, mostly because I already had a lot in my freezer already.

I've had a lot of problems with arm pain so far on GTD (I have tennis elbow and wrist tendonitis).  It's happening whenever I eat the foods that were no-nos on the anti-inflammation diet, especially rice and mozza.  I went ahead anyway because I'm stubborn.  The reactions seems to finally be lessening this week.  I went through a large detox reaction but that seems to be lessening now too.  Maybe the inflammation pain was a part of the detox.

I'm kind of excited to finally know for sure that I'm an explorer.  I've always been a bit of an oddball.  I usually go my own way.  I've grown to accept it over the years, to accept myself as I am.  To find out now that explorers are supposed to be a little different...  Well, it feels like it validates who I am.  I didn't really need it anymore but it still feels good.  

you have gone through an interesting adjustment period!
great job!

Quoted from Maldo

Hi Shari, O explorer here - by my own measurement Im hunter, but Dr D says Im explorer, so Im taking that.   Lets compare notes

You say Dr D told you himself?  You've been to him?  What was that like?

I was on my own with the book and test kit.  There are no BTD experts in Saskatchewan, the last I checked.  Anyway, I tested as either a hunter or an explorer because I didn't know my secretor status.  I also tested strongly for both genotypes on the strength testing.  Either one would make sense for me because of all my inflammation problems, they are both reactive genotypes.  But the explorer sounded more like me and I had had a lot of succcess with the non-secretor diet.  I took a chance and ate like an explorer and took the explorer supplemnts.  I sent away for the secretor test to find out which I was.  When it came back non-secretor last Friday I was both vindicated and relieved.  Whew!

great job confirming your secretor status!

I'm starting to suspect that I'm a non-secretor, too.  I do better when I avoid soy.

Shari, I heard about the BTD in April, and I gradually incorporated the changes.  But I've never been 100% compliant.  Then after I tested as an Explorer, I made tiny changes in late January like cutting out soy, eating turkey instead of beef occasionally, switching from walnuts to pecans.  I seemed to lose weight, but I noticed some lethargy, which I assumed was from the turkey.

Looking back on that GTD period, I realize there were other things going on that might explain the weight loss.  We were going through anxious times, and my appetite was curbed as a result.

At this point I'm on a sort of hybrid BTD/GTD, but following BTD a bit more.

will you be doing your secretor test?

Lethargy was one of my detox symptoms on the explorer GTD diet.  I can certainly sympathize with how hard it is to get on the BTD diet, SquarePeg.  It is definitely more expensive than my original diet.  Which diet, GTO or BTD seems to depends on what you need from it.  

For example, my mother is a O gatherer and a 90%+ compliant BTDer for O's with allergies.  I had her do the BTD vs GTD quiz and her answers came up BTD.  She actually got so skinny just cutting out the wheat to help with her sinus symptoms that she doesn't need to lose any more weight now.  I wish I could say the same   sigh, but I guess we are two different genotypes, and definitely two different people.

I, myself definitely get sick from eating soy: sinus congestion and stomach upset.  There was an obvious difference for me when I switched from BTD secretor to BTD non-secretor.  All my sinus congestion went away (most of it went away from quitting wheat but there was still some and it was aggravating me) unless I cheated and ate some cheese or something.  I'm not sure that that such an eating test would work with GTD because there is so much detoxing going on with that diet, especially for explorers.  At first I had a lot of the old symptoms: sinus congestion, sore throat, and stomach problems as well as some new ones: serious lethargy and some small skin erruptions (tiny red dots on the back of my hands and forearms).  Sorry if this it TMI everyone  .  I'm just trying to be helpful  .

Thanks, Shari.  It's not TMI, at all!

I get stomach upset from soy, too, and probably sinus congestion, too.  But I've had sinus trouble for so long, I'm too accustomed to it to notice how it relates to food.

Lola, I'd like to do the secretor test.  But I will wait until the money situation improves.  (We're paying about $450 per month for heating oil these days.)  I'd like to get a kit for my Type A wife, too.  She has some undiagnosed auto-immune disorder and residual neuropathic issues from myelitis.

And our 10yo daughter still hasn't even been typed.

I followed the nonnie diet closely for a while, before I got tested......and that only confirmed my suspicion.
so if you do well following the nonnie diet, then do it!

Quoted from 2459

Heidi,

I am not really capable of moderation so I decided to avoid them completely.

I'm not positive I'm an explorer yet but I'm an all or nothing person for sure! Not just with sugar.  Is that an Explorer trait?

Thimbleberry, Do you live near Montreal by any chance? I'm in Vermont, another pure Maple Syrup area.

Quoted from podiecat

I'm not positive I'm an explorer yet but I'm an all or nothing person for sure! Not just with sugar.  Is that an Explorer trait?

Maybe: I'm the only explorer in my family and the one who thinks that way. If a food is an avoid, I avoid it completely, no compromise.  That's just they way I'm wired.

GTD is different from BTD that way: emphasizing the beneficials.  At least there are a lot of them to chose from!    Even if I or my health food store people haven't heard of a lot of them.  I got used to a limited variety on BTD.  Expanding my horizons is going to be interesting, I think.

BTW, I like the idea of the GTD black dot foods but that's a long way off for me, so I don't think about them much anymore.  I have a lot of weight to lose first before I consider myself done with the first stage of the diet.