A Pioneer Diet

I just took an on-line quiz to find out the type of diet I should take. It's based on my blood type, so I know it's configured just for me (and the millions of other people with my same blood type). I'm O negative, so I thought that maybe the diet would be tooled more specifically, but it was just for all O's. Here are the results:

Diet Profile : High Protein: Meat eaters.

Allowed : Meat fish, vegetables, fruit.

Limited : Grains, beans, legumes.

Food to avoid for Weight Loss purpose : Wheat, corn, kidney beans, navy beans, lentils, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mustard greens.

Food that help with Weight Loss : Kelp, seafood, salt, liver, red meat, kale, spinach, broccoli.

Enlightening. I do like meat, but I've been trying to limit it a bit more (my triglycerides are running a little high). I love beans, especially with cut-up onion and a dollop of sour cream (like the black beans at Rubio's -- LOVE them). Everything on the "avoid" list is on my "YUMMY" list (except mustard greens). I eat all those foods and really enjoy them.

The "help" foods are okay. I'm surprised to find salt there, especially since I spent two weeks tracking every bite I ate to make sure my salt intake was lower (which worked; I lowered my blood pressure by 20 points without meds). I like spinach, especially when it's lightly sauteed with crisp bacon and a little garlic. How dietetic is that?

I wonder if the pioneers ever wondered about the food they ate or if they were just darn glad to have it. I've got a huge suspicion that they were more concerned with getting enough to eat as opposed to worrying if they were eating too much. All their manual labor likely wiped any excess fat from their arteries quite nicely.

To look as slender (okay "gaunt") as a pioneer, I'm going to need to up the exercise. It won't matter if I'm eating a block of cheese a day if I can move enough to burn the calories. Sitting here at my computer is burning very little of the bag of Munchos I ate earlier today (curiously, potato chips are not on my list of foods to avoid; they must be okay because they're salty).

At least the beans I've just planted are the pole variety instead of the kind that gets dried. I'll bet the calories from most beans comes from the juices/fluids used in packing them in cans. I always drain and rinse mine, which removes at least a layer of salt and preservatives.

In the meantime, I'll continue to limit my grains. I sure do love them, though, especially when they're deep-fried and rolled in sugar! With bacon on the side.