I feel like I’ve made some progress since my last blog. At least one of my meals every day has been beneficial or super-beneficial protein. I have lost more than a pound – a noticeable part of which has come off my belly. I feel encouraged.
This week I focused my reading on vegetables and fruits.
When I first started the BTD my Type A daughter was in Middle School. She and I explored the food lists together. I remember being jealous that the Type A food list said Type As could have unlimited vegetables, while the Type O food list said three to five servings a day. Over the years, I probably misinterpreted that, especially as I read other non-BTD research about carbs. I felt I had to limit the amount of vegetables I could eat. A really big salad could easily wipe out all my veggie portions for a whole day.
I was so excited when I read in Dr. D’s Cardiovascular Disease Book that I could have unlimited portions of beneficial and super-beneficial vegetables. And I can still have 2-5 servings of neutral vegetables. What this means is that I am eating vegetables for snacks when I get hungry between meals. One day I had leftover okra. Today I sliced a sweet potato and had oven baked sweet potato fries in the afternoon. I feel like this is so much better than snacking on nuts or dried fruit or chocolate.
The Cardiovascular Book says “Mushrooms, broccoli, and greens support cardiovascular health.” I eat a log of broccoli and greens, but on the regular Type O list mushrooms were all neutrals or avoid. Now I have one super-beneficial mushroom and six beneficials. There are only two mushrooms that are avoid.
I also read, “Seaweeds help Blood Type O regulate thyroid function.” Wait a minute…are thyroid and cardiovascular related? I didn’t mention it, but in my bloodwork, my T4 was right in the middle of normal, but my TSH was a little high. The doctor said that TSH goes up first and T4 follows.
I was fascinated with seaweed when I first started the BTD. I used sushi nori papers for all sorts of creative things. I guess I burned out on them, but this week I have pulled them back to the front of the pantry along with dried seaweed.
Mustard greens were avoid on the BTD, but they were super-beneficial on the Hunter diet, so I have been eating them. They are avoid on the Cardiovascular diet because they inhibit thyroid function. There is another thyroid/cholesterol connection. I need to know more about this.
I’ve been getting turnips from the Organic Garden. I think my favorite way to eat them is grated in a salad. Since they are beneficial and carrots are just neutral, my salads are decorated with more white and less orange. Romaine is the only beneficial lettuce for me. I can get Romaine lettuce from the Organic Garden as well – which is nice with the e-coli scare going around.
I wrote a blog a while back when my weight had crept up and mentioned that I had been eating fruit as a snack when I was hungry between meals. Someone commented, “Why would you increase your fruit, it’s high in sugar.” I probably took that rebuke too seriously – but I cut my fruit back to 1 portion a day.
The Cardiovascular Book says, “Eating plenty of fruit favorable to Blood Type O can improve your overall metabolic function and help you maintain a healthy weight.”
I can have 3-5 cups of fruit a day. Wow! That’s a lot. I have eaten every super-beneficial fruit since I got my blood test results.
The only disappointing change is that apples have moved to Infrequent Neutral, along with grapes, raisins, and strawberries. Everywhere I read such good things about apples – except from Dr. D.
I have increased my fruit intake, but I’m still way below 3 cups a day. Something to work on in the coming week. Next blog will be about how grains radically changed on the Cardiovascular Diet.
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