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Date:   6/19/2005 10:05:47 AM ( 19 y ago)

Yesterday was one of the better days I have had in a long time. While I'd like to take credit for that (and I do, just a little), the truth is, I think my heightened sense of well-being was due in large part to....

Caffeine!

I had a cup of coffee (espresso, actually, so comparably less caffeine) in the morning and I felt ridiculously fantastic all day long.

This might seem like a pretty mundane observation, but it never ceases to amaze me how much coffee "works" for me. It doesn't just wake me up. It makes me feel G-R-E-A-T. And there is no "crash" afterwards. I feel continuously great for hours and hours.

Which brings up two important points for me to remember (I have a feeling I'm going to be focusing on food a lot for a while...)

1. Every single thing you put into your body really matters.

2. The blood type diet is dead-on accurate in my case.

I am a type A, which I believe is the only type for which coffee is not only allowed, but recommended. If I remember correctly, I think the reason has something to do with A's metabolisms being sluggish or having low acid (or both), so caffeine helps put things back in line.

I can't vouch for the blood type diet's effectiveness for everyone, but I remember very well the first time I read it--I was astounded to see that the A food lists were a compilation of virtually all of my own personal observations about foods effects on me.

There are a few tenets that don't work quite as well for me, namely:

a) Though I Iove the way they taste, I do have problems digesting unfermented soy products (tofu and soy milk in particular), which are recommended for A's. This is a pretty common intolerance though.

b) I love, love, love tomatoes. I can give up lots of things without too much strife, but I do not think I will ever completely give up tomatoes. To tell the truth, I love all the nightshades (except green bell peppers), but of all of them, I am most unwilling to part with tomatoes.

But the vast majority of the foods on the list were just right on. I wasn't surprised at all to see that dairy and meat were avoids (I think they make many people feel sluggish or sick), but there were a lot of more obscure observations that I was amazed to see. Like: I absolutely hate cantaloupe, which is one of few fruit avoids for A's. Same with lobster and shrimp. When I was little, I was not a picky eater at all, but even smelling shellfish (I'm not allergic, just don't like them) was enough to make my stomach turn. Though loved by many, they are avoids for me. As is Iced Tea. And even though I grew up in the south, I always hated Iced Tea.

Orange juice also gives me a terrible stomachache (it's an avoid, too), though I have to admit I will occasionally brave that for a small cup of fresh-squeezed juice--is there anyone who Doesn't like fresh-squeeezed OJ? It is so delicious. Grapefruit juice is fine (and a beneficial), but it is definitely Not The Same. However, OJ is something I'm definitely willing to have rarely, as it really does make my stomach hurt. I do have a true obsession with tangelos (tangerines are an avoid, so I assume tangelos are as well), but fortunately, their season is short, so I just eat them only in season.

Anyway, I'm sure most of us following any regimen for health make our own adjustments to tailor it to our life. After all, the only health regimens that work are those that are adhered to. If adjusting makes it possible where otherwise too daunting, it's silly not to adjust.

But I find that the Blood Type Diet provides an excellent set of guidelines. What I have found it to be most useful for, however, is in guiding my choices among the foods that I do not feel strongly about. I have no personal preference between collard greens and mustard greens, so I might as well pick the collards, which are a beneficial (as opposed to a neutral for mustard).

It also provides a great checkpoint for me when tempering my response to diet fads. Many current fads work great for others, but are not good for me. Even when my physical response is unfavorable, I have sometimes had trouble not trying to force myself in with the crowd. This is most notably true with reference to the Atkins diet and Coconut oil, both of which were disastrous for me, making me very sick. Not surprisingly, coconut and meat and dairy fat are all big avoids. In these cases, the blood type guidelines help me listen to myself better.





 

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