So I'm really goin' good on the GTD and feeling stable and balanced as I've posted before but I've had my fingers in a few black dot items here and there.  So I was wondering who else has been dipping and what you have been dipping into!   And how you feel about it.

Now these are Hunter Black Dot Items:

I've had coconut meat (in a coconut/pineapple bar with rice syrup sweetner); guar gum in Hazelnut milk - which is also a black dot; Eziekel Bread (used in french toast once and had a slice for breakfast one day); Pure Maple Syrup (on the french toast); Cherries (had one day in a shake); parsley (by accident); Nutmeg (by accident); Homemade rice milk (not sure if this is a black dot); coffee (very little and only when completely exhausted, desperate and when Mate is not doing the job!)

I've been cutting back on the Hazelnut milk; I most likely will still lightly indulge in the coconut bar and the homemade rice milk.  I will try and not eat the Eziekel bread at all...(unless I just really have a Jones for French Toast!); And finally I will keep trying to completely eliminate the Hazelnut milk and cherries.

I certainly  have not felt any ill effects from the black dot items but as I understand it, you really most likely will not.  I have had virtually NO avoids at all for 7 weeks.

The only thing that's been going on is this perimenopause I'm in has caused breast tenderness and an inability to really see the scale move much so I'm working on that with progesterone creme.

However, I read a study where they found women in menopause who indulged in grapefruit juice had a higher incidence of breast soreness.  And recently I have been drinking at least a cup every morning and my breast tenderness has been really intense... so I'm going to pull back on that and see if it goes away.

We have been completely avoiding going out to eat and even when I'm very very tired we come home and I make something up and we feel so much better because of the effort.  

Tonight in my extremely tired condition, I managed to get hubby a nice rack of lamb cooked and me a NY steak.  We had a green salad with compliant salad dressing to boot.  

So I'm rambling on here... but I guess this is more like a check in and I'm interested to hear how others are doing... especially with the black dot items.  

I have only added one black dot food so far. The tomatoe. No adverse reactions or anything that I can tell.
I don't plan to add many more for a bit longer since I still have a few pounds to lose. But otherwise I think I am ready. I made it through 3 months with 99.8% compliance. I still feel like I am "cheating" though.

I occasion get some black dots that sneak in. For me, personally, when it is in very small quantity, it did not impact me as much.

But I do have a diamond that makes me go funny and that is pineapple juice. It will clog up my throat and made me cough. That's about it.

banannas for sure.
nomad = black dot
but for b's = beneficial
i love them and i never gave them up!!!

Quoted from Heidi

I have only added one black dot food so far. The tomatoe. No adverse reactions or anything that I can tell.
I don't plan to add many more for a bit longer since I still have a few pounds to lose. But otherwise I think I am ready. I made it through 3 months with 99.8% compliance. I still feel like I am "cheating" though.

Hey, what wonderful compliance.
I was so thrilled at getting some black dot Warrior foods back from previous BTD avoid status that I broke ranks fairly early in the piece. But only as accidental eat out, or use up foods!!! I still try not to buy them deliberately, and do take my lists with me on big shopping days.
I am really well and am happy to be a Warrior, and consider that for the past 6-7 years as a committed BTDer on the A Sec. diet I have really been doing Warrior for that time on the whole. Being allowed to have regular tea, pawpaw, peach and other items have made my diet even more enjoyable now.
Just hope that the science doesn't leap ahead too fast as I don't want to change this current plan anytime soon!!!

I have added former B bennies back like: feta , yoghurt, kefir ,bell peppers banana
a few former neutrals like eggs decaf coffee and chocolate

and I must admit   small amounts of milk ( a former bennie- now avoid )
BUt I try to keep a high amount of superfoods/diamonds in my diet - I simply can´t go for the explorer diet 100 % .

ghee hits the back of my throat and I feel like I'm going down with a sore throat - is this an allergy?

Wow... all levels.  I feel a bit jealous your compliance Heidi but that's  my old competitive dieting maniac voice coming back...

like you are doing better than me or getting ahead faster... (A Hunter thing?)  But I squash that voice because in my old dieting days, it would just become a mean voice of authority telling me I couldn't have this or that and then i would feel deprived and end up binging!  What a mental trip, huh?!  ha..

Anyway... I'm thrilled for everyone and how we are each working the plan as best we can and following our bodies wisdom.  At least we are not out there eating junk anymore.

Yes me too... I don't shop for black dot items currently.  I have one bag of frozen cherries left from my O days and in time I will put them in a shake...

So like Dr. D said... it's what you are eating that is important or something like that.  Is that the quote?  

I eat black dots that were beneficial on the BTD without hesitation.  Especially those that were superbeneficial in the Health Library books (like collard greens and cherries).

I eat black dots that were neutral on the BTD (like carrots) but not as often as I used to.

I allow myself an occasional black dot treat of foods (like avocado) that were avoid on the BTD.

I have had black beans off and on...at first I thought they were ok, then I saw that ...alas, they were black dot but I still ate them cuz I really like them. And then there are a couple others...goat cheese, comes to mind....but many have not touched my lips.

Here's another question? So many common foods I was eating are now dots or avoids(bananas, avocados, br. rice & several veggies), that now I find myself eating lots of canned foods.
Which is better: canned beneficials/diamonds OR fresh dots??

I assume the canned bennies, but I'm eating LOTS of canned green beans, peas(which I did before), mushrooms[at least they are allowed for gatherers!], tomato paste, etc. I'm eating fewer carbs, but still have a huge appetite.
I am already taking 500 mg of chromium/day lately & think that is a lot. But I assume it would be safer to take an occasional extra chromium tablet than to OD on dots!! But I resist that. I'm going to have to just take more Chromium. I'm sure once a week or so of an extra pill is OK!? Whaddyall think?? [500 is already a double dose.]
Missing those dots,
Mrs "T"   O+            

Mrs. T. ...why not have brown or white basmati rice?

I made it about 6 weeks with the nomad black dot of chocolate... with a few cheats... before I decided that it was not a good time in my life to give up my "comfort" foods.

I have noticed though that my body really doesn't want spelt (another nomad black dot) anymore though. I still use it a little bit in baking combined with rice or oat flours. But spelt alone I just can't do....  

Quoted from 1323

So I'm really goin' good on the GTD and feeling stable and balanced as I've posted before but I've had my fingers in a few black dot items here and there.  So I was wondering who else has been dipping and what you have been dipping into!

Well, I won't say what they (my "dipping dots", so to speak) are, but they rhyme with "Dickens"!


Yup.  They taste gooooooood, too.  Um um UMMM!

As for the idea of dipping into dots occasionally, while it all depends on the individual and the dot in question, in general, I think a dot here and there is fine as long as you are in fine fettle and not trying to lose weight.  I probably shouldn't be dipping at all, since I am trying to lose weight, but there you have it.  I actually don't think this particular dot is going to slow down my metabolism at all.

I think a well-placed dot is a nice thing, myself.

I'm really trying to keep my focus, though, on ingesting superfoods daily.  That's the main thing, me thinks:  focus on getting those superfoods into you, which is a very positive way to go about the diet and really is the main key to success, augment the supers with neutrals, go for the occasional dot if wanted and if generally healthy, and avoid those TTA's if you possibly can.

That's the way I roll.  

I've had mozzarella cheese a few times (which isn't listed in the book for Warriors as a black dot but I read on this board at the beginning of the GTD threads that it was omitted from the book.

Can anyone confirm that mozzarella cheese IS a black dot food for Warriors?  I penciled in
the dot after reading it somewhere on this board.

I've tried frozen cherries in a smoothie, some cashews, macadamia nuts and some tahini.
Most days I don't eat black dot foods..I still need to lose more weight.  The fact that cashews
were an avoid for type A, I found an ice cream in an organic food store that's made from
raw cashews.  YUM....a few T and I had to hide it from myself.  It was a real treat to eat cashews again after avoiding them for so long.

I treat the black dot foods the way I treated neutrals on the BTD.....I know I can have them
but try not to make them a prominent part of my diet.  I try my best to keep focusing on those
diamond foods.

I already feel like some of the noisy genes have quieted down even with dipping into the black dots here and there.  

My cravings have certainly quieted down.  The best thing is that the cravings for JUNK are gone.

Went to someones house the other night and they were having Thai and of course offered me some.  I declined without any effort what-so-ever and was not sitting there salivating in the least.  In fact after I declined I forgot all about the fact they were all eating and enjoying their food.  

We go to Starbucks occasionally for hubby's Americano (it's a must for him), and we stand in front of the goodie case and look but again there is no aching child in side of me dieing to have something.  It's really something that this has quieted down for me after 49 years of wanting sugar/candy/pastries/chips, etc. for at least 2-1/2 weeks during each month.

Is the sugar monster a gene?     

Overall it sounds like everyone is really not dipping that much at all and having good success.

Quoted from Chloe

I've had mozzarella cheese a few times (which isn't listed in the book for Warriors as a black dot but I read on this board at the beginning of the GTD threads that it was omitted from the book.

Can anyone confirm that mozzarella cheese IS a black dot food for Warriors?  I penciled in
the dot after reading it somewhere on this board.

I've tried frozen cherries in a smoothie, some cashews, macadamia nuts and some tahini.
Most days I don't eat black dot foods..I still need to lose more weight.  The fact that cashews
were an avoid for type A, I found an ice cream in an organic food store that's made from
raw cashews.  YUM....a few T and I had to hide it from myself.  It was a real treat to eat cashews again after avoiding them for so long.

I treat the black dot foods the way I treated neutrals on the BTD.....I know I can have them
but try not to make them a prominent part of my diet.  I try my best to keep focusing on those
diamond foods.

Some time ago someone said that on the Geno board they had said mozzarella was supposed to be a black dot for Warriors. After some of the stuff that has appeared over there, who knows whether that is correct or not. It was in my book as an avoid.

Quoted from speedy

ghee hits the back of my throat and I feel like I'm going down with a sore throat - is this an allergy?

I guess it could be, but if I smell rancid oil it burns my nose. Is the ghee made from fresh butter? When I look at some of the dates on butter in the grocery, it knocks you back a little to see a date about three months out. So you know if you buy some that is only a month or so out, it is already OLD in my book! Who but a mega business of know-nothings could come up with butter staying fresh 90 days!! I saw some yesterday that expired sometime during 2007. This stuff was $5.+ a pound! Grrrr! And NO I did not buy any of it. It was made by Horizon and organic.

Back to Jaynee...
Only basmati rice is allowed. So even my rice flour & rice pasta(all brown) are dots!
The problem is I get so hungry & like today, ate 2 cans of green beans, a small can of tomato paste, & a small can of mushrooms in almost a pound of hamburger with seasonings to make it like spaghetti sauce. It was very good, but the average person would have been stuffed on half the amount-& half the amount of canned products!
We're out of fresh veggies I can eat. There is a cabbage waiting for my husband. As an O I gave up cauliflower & the cabbage. Now as a gatherer, I even have to give up the beloved broccoli, carrots, beets, etc. At least I can eat lettuce & tomato salads.
I will have to eat out tomorrow as we are going somewhere. As one who also avoids grilled food, it's going to be very difficult. Yeah, now even chicken is off limits!!
Let's hope they have baked meats. We're going to a small town, where they have more real, plain food on the menu.
Bon Apetit!
Mrs "T"   O+

Cod liver oil.  Definitely.  And fermented cod liver oil at that!  Supports my adrenals - surprisingly, that's the only black dot I need.  Ok, and one avoid: I just have to have some liver once in a while.  I didn't type out as a strong Gatherer, so I've been very surprised and pleased at how it's working for me other than those two items.

Quoted Text

p.185   "The softer cheeses such as ricotta and mozarella are often well tolerated by Warrior..."

versus p. 258 Dairy toxins to limit or avoid...Mozzarella cheese, and Ricotta *

page 185 should read gatherer, and the black dot should be added to Moz on page 258 is what I understood.

Quoted from Lola

page 185 should read gatherer, and the black dot should be added to Moz on page 258 is what I understood.

I wonder if also Moz should be black dotted on page 225 in the Teacher diet?

Well Hunters are covered... it's a black dot for us.  But now we have Manchego!!!  

I cut out all black dots yesterday, except we had one of those fantastic coconut bars... so yummy!

"Oskri Coconut Bar with Pineapple."

I'm going to try and go completely black dot free today however.  There are other goodies I could indulge in.  

If I'm out and about and there is little choice then I'll eat black dot foods in preference to avoids.  

Things I haven't given up are a few black dots which were bennies and super bennies on the O diet, such as carrots, kale and brocolli which I eat once a week with sunday lunch.   I do love kale and carrots.  Celariac makes a good substitute for mashed potatoes but nothing replaces carrots for me

Oooh and I have some fruits in the freezer, which I will be eating, berries mostly, possibly with an oaty crumble type topping mmmmmm.  Naughty... maybe, but better than throwing the food out lol.