diffy,

The up side is that, when you have all the avoids cleared out of your system, your body runs like a Lamborghini Countach on jet fuel.

...and that's a good thing.  (I think.)

Ron, that is a worthwhile goal! Thanks for the encouragement; it'll help me keep smiling through the btd....

Victoria...but it is truth ....really ...... I am able to gain weight whithin days ..... ....ok
I know I should move more, please tell this to my brain again tomorrow .....fffttt.....I am soooo jealous about those bl. secretors who can eat sugar at their ease without getting fat ......yech what
a poor one I am  

Quoted from diffy

You gotta come see it to believe it: Whether it be a fruit, ice cream, cookies/cake....with every bite I take, as it makes its way down my esophagus and into my tummy you can actually see my tummy expanding. .

this happened to me yesterday when eating almond butter, cocoa and agave............bloated my stomach. I was pretty    about that, cause I thought it was a pretty 'compliant' snack.    

Some individuals find that they tolerate avoid foods better the longer they have been practicing this lifestyle; while others find that they are overly senstivite to avoids if they eat a new avoid food item or reintroduce something that they have not eaten for a long period of time.

This varies from individual to individual and is dependent on one's personal cellular make-up, their past eating habits, and their present food choices.

Alia

I had half a glass of ginger beer yesterday and my leg was double as painful as normally throughout the night. Must have been the sugar in it.  

hope you feel better soon!

Thanks Lola, I think I am one of those nonnies that should not eat any avoids at all. It takes quite a while to get them out of my system.

yeah we need to be extra careful!

Quoted from Curious

I think I am one of those nonnies that should not eat any avoids at all.

That's me too!  

Curious,

I found that I really, really have to avoid carbs.  Like mad.  I'm willing to bet that if I ever took the Lewis test, I just might be a double-negative, because of all the crazy sensitivities I've always had.

join the club! lol

Does anyone share my thought that it might be healthy to re-introduce avoids periodically just to remind the body what they are and what it's function is supposed to be towards them? I don't recall reading anything about the long term effects of being fully compliant (if that's even possible). So then, I was wondering if one of the drawbacks of being so healthy and being fully compliant over a long period of time might possibly be that the our bodies would forget how they used to deal with avoids. Could it be like an allergy (the stronger the reaction each time), so that, if fully compliant for a long enough period, and then along came an avoid, that it might become life threatening at some point instead of just a tummy ache as it used to be. So I wonder how safe the BTD is in that regard.

teri

it fortifies your immune system to deal with life threatening disease, and not waist time in constantly dealing with pesky avoids, and unnecesary inflammation!!

how wrong can that be?

Quoted Text

Does anyone share my thought that it might be healthy to re-introduce avoids periodically just to remind the body what they are and what it's function is supposed to be towards them? I don't recall reading anything about the long term effects of being fully compliant (if that's even possible). So then, I was wondering if one of the drawbacks of being so healthy and being fully compliant over a long period of time might possibly be that the our bodies would forget how they used to deal with avoids. Could it be like an allergy (the stronger the reaction each time), so that, if fully compliant for a long enough period, and then along came an avoid, that it might become life threatening at some point instead of just a tummy ache as it used to be. So I wonder how safe the BTD is in that regard.

teri,

I've had the exact same thoughts as you in regard to it perhaps being important to "clarify" and "remind" the body about the dangers of avoids, by indulging in the want to "cheat" on the diet.  I think that cheating -- provided it's done with a kind of conscious, monitoring eye towards the change of physiological state that the body is going through -- is of vital importance in terms of a healthy retraining of dietary habits.

However, I don't think that the answer lies in simply forcing or acclimating your body to accept avoids.  I say this because I've struggled with serious allergies and irritable bowel syndrome all my life due to the foods I'd been eating, and no "acclimation" ever, ever occurred.  All that happened was that I probably have sustained irreversible, permanent damage to my GI tract and bodily development, as so much of my biochemical energy over the years was diverted towards fighting a never-ending immune battle, and driving inflammatory reactions.

It wasn't until the BTD that I ever had any understanding of why I'd been going through hell for all those years, or how I could possibly control when I had such disorders.  So, I'm afraid that the option of "toughening up" my body with avoids just isn't an option for me, much as we'd all like to be tougher in general.

Quoted from teri

Does anyone share my thought that it might be healthy to re-introduce avoids periodically just to remind the body what they are and what it's function is supposed to be towards them? I don't recall reading anything about the long term effects of being fully compliant (if that's even possible). So then, I was wondering if one of the drawbacks of being so healthy and being fully compliant over a long period of time might possibly be that the our bodies would forget how they used to deal with avoids. Could it be like an allergy (the stronger the reaction each time), so that, if fully compliant for a long enough period, and then along came an avoid, that it might become life threatening at some point instead of just a tummy ache as it used to be. So I wonder how safe the BTD is in that regard.

teri

Teri,

Since there are not antibodies that are built when eating avoids, I don't think that there will be any benefits to eating them occasionally.  The reason the body reacts less (or seems to...) when you have been very non-compliant is that:
  1) it doesn't have the energy to react more
  2) the nerve centers have been so overloaded (and numbed) that you din't feel it with the same intensity.

As an example of the nerve center overload:  When I first stopped eating all corn products, it took three weeks to clear the corn junk adequately to feel an "spaciousness" in my head/neck area...  Just a slight amount a week later triggered a massive headache (akin to cranial lightning flashes) that took two days to be a dull compressed feeling in the same head/neck area that had just been spacious feeling and a week to return to the spacious feeling.

Teri,
I also think it is not worth eating the avoids. I tried sheep-milk yoghurt a while ago (did not have my secretor test result and thought that I could have it if I am a secretor). The first day after I had tried it I was fine, I tried it again the next evening and the following morning I woke up with very bad stomach/bowel cramps (my test-results a few days later showed that I was a non-secretor). I definitely won't eat milk products again because I don't want to have this reaction again.
However, it is completely up to you how you deal with the issue. I have some friends (she is a B, he is an O) and he has strong reactions when he eats wheat. So they decided to take an allergy test (by a kinesiologist) and it turned out he is strongly allergic to wheat. The kinesiologist did some treatment with him and she proudly told me the other day, that her O-husband can now join her for breakfast by drinking cafe late and eating a bagel. I am horrified by this and wonder what it will do to his health in the long-run - but it is their choice.

allergologists  rave over their immunizations!
I shudder at the thought!

perhaps if they wanted to immunize me being allergic to a superbeneficial, I might think about it!
but an avoid! no way!

I have successfully converted an allergologist from Barcelona, she will be doing secretor testing at her lab and wants to 'go by the BTD book' so to speak!
when we have gone out for dinner, she asks me to order for her, being also an O!
now that s what I call progress!!

Quoted from lola

I have successfully converted an allergologist from Barcelona,

That is brilliant, Lola!

she goes to every 'antiaging society congress' around the world as invited profesor
telling people what to eat!!!
I m sure she s doing a bit of editing by now, to the presentations she normally gives.
I have great respect for her open minded scientific professionalism, wish more people were like her!

just like you 'curious'!! excellent combination!

I wrote this response several hours ago but it seems to have disappeared, so here goes again...

Quoted Text

Some individuals find that they tolerate avoid foods better the longer they have been practicing this lifestyle; while others find that they are overly senstivite to avoids if they eat a new avoid food item or reintroduce something that they have not eaten for a long period of time.

This varies from individual to individual and is dependent on one's personal cellular make-up, their past eating habits, and their present food choices.

This is so interesting. The human body is such an amazing organism, always adapting and ever evolving. I wonder if a new blood type will emerge one day, one that will be tolerant of the abundant food choices that are available nowadays. Unfortunately, none of us would benefit from that miracle. So then, I am looking forward to reaping the rewards of eating a diet that is compliant with my BT for the rest of my life! To gain better knowledge of my own body along the way, though, I will probably test it periodically. Maybe one day I will have the same faith that you all seem to have in the safety of the BTD long term and not feel the need to do the tests any more.

One thing that I have noticed so far on this diet (one week now) is that my edema has disappeared. Something that I had lingering in my left ankle since my long flight to Florida in May. I am not sure exactly what to attribute this to. It may be the addition of blackstrap molasses to my diet, which I have read has many natural curing abilities, including edema, or it may be the elimination of wheat products, or maybe both. So already I'm feeling the need to get to the source. But maybe not this time. It just feels good not to be bothered by it any more.

All of your comments are very encouraging, "thanks".

teri

teri,
keep on doing what you are doing and thrive!

It's amazing how unique we all are. Some avoids make me feel miserable while potatoes make me feel good.  
Certain food combinations affect me also-some more than others.
I have been cheating in that area & am getting a sore throat now & have had a certain cough for a long time.
I was wondering the same thing about reactions discussed in this thread, but realize we are all exposed to pollution, etc. all the time. So I think we get our 'innoculation' of avoids anyway.
Cheerio,
Mrs "T"   O+

The O-nonnie diet is unbelievably primitive... essentially savage.  I can't believe how much meat I require.  I actually get a serious jonesing for red meat and oily fish.

My ND actually said that if I were to completely cut out wheat, I would be more sensitive to it.

Also, I'm not overweight, but my stomach expands noticeably when I cave in to desserts.  So I hear, "Daddy's having a baby," and similar comments.

My wife (Type A) wants to test our daughter's blood type and put her on the BTD.  Meanwhile, my wife and I have been eating fewer common avoids (like wheat) for several weeks.  Our daughter (almost 10yo) eats great, BTW.  Of course she loves mac-n-cheese and pizza.  But she'll wolf down such foods as brocolli, peas, string beans, steak, salmon, cod, tofu, eggs and turkey sausage, miso soup -- all the stuff we typically eat.

Last week, my wife made a big mac-n-cheese casserole, and my daughter and I binged on sweets at a Halloween dance.  She caught a bad cold the next day.  I think it was all the sugar (M&Ms and cookies), so I'm actually somewhat opposed to putting our daughter on the diet for this reason.  What could she have for lunch at school?  Or at sleepovers and Girl Scout campouts?  She very preceptively asked me, "Why is it that my classmates can eat all kinds of junk food and not get sick, but when I eat it I get sick?"  That's a simplification, of course, but there is some truth to it.

OTOH, she has progress from being diagnosed with mild autism 5.5 years ago, to Asperger Syndrome.  Nutrition (Mega B6 & Magnesium especially) definitely played a role in that improvement.  Some kids respond miraculously to gluten-free / caisen-free diets or to the Feingold diet.  So if the BTD can help her in this area, I'd go for it.