Blood Type Diet

What is the Blood Type Diet?

The Blood Type Diet generated popularity in early 2000 from a various books released by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo and is based on looking at how different foods effect the main blood types in humans and how those effects translate to positive and negative health.

What are the Different Blood Types?

The various blood types in humans are type 0, A, B, and AB. What the various types means is that if you are Blood Type A, then your have Type A antigen(s) on your cells. An Antigen is basically a chemical marketer that is found on the cells of our bodies which are used to initiate the production of antibodies. A blood type of “0” does not contain an antigen on the cell.

How Does Your Blood Type Have an Effect on Your Body Based on What You Eat?

When we eat foods, our bodies process the foods by creating a chemical reaction to help break down the food for digestion. Within the food are proteins called, Lectins, that have sticking properties that affect the blood. If you were to eat something that didn't agree with your bodies blood, the Lectins basically attach to organs and in a very basic sense cause sticking which in turn can irritate and interfere with processes such as insulin production, metabolism, hormonal balance, digestion, and more. All of these processes, of course, are factors that can cause issues with weight and health.

How Does this All Fit with the Blood Type Diet?

By eating foods that do not present negative impacts on the blood, depending on your blood type, you can give yourself a step forwarding in healing current ailments and weight issues. From the thousands of positive responses to the blood type diet and from my own personal experience we know this can be the case.

Let's Take My Test of the Blood Type Diet for Example:

A number of years ago I was given a book to read by a friend which was based on the Blood Type Diet. I read through the book and I thought a lot of what was said made sense so I decided to give it a try and see if I noticed any differences. I walked down to the closest medical lab near me (I happen to live a 5 minute walk from one) and paid $15 to get my blood type taken. If you have ever donated blood, the place you donated from will have your blood type on file or you can ask your doctor where they recommend you get your blood taken to determine your blood type.

I have type O blood and according to the Blood Type Diet here is a very small list of things I should be eating and things I should be avoiding (this is a small list, I'll providea link at the end of the article to learn more):

Eat: beef, lamb, salmon, yellowtail, olive oil, pumpkin seeds, brown rice, kale, onions, romaine lettuce, plums, turmeric, seltzer water

Avoid: pork, catfish, most cheeses and dairy, corn oil, peanuts, lentils, wheat and breads, corn, olives, strawberries, oranges, cinnamon, coffee

As you can see I just gave a very brief overview of some common foods to eat and avoid... there are a large number of foods on both lists as well as a large neutral list for each blood type.

Let's flash back one month prior to me starting the Blood Type diet. I have had perfect vision ever since I was young but recently I noticed my vision was getting slower. I'll explain what I mean by slower... I went to the eye doctor because I noticed that when I rapidly turned my head to the side there was a slight blur, kind of like a delay in having my vision catch up to my head movement. The doctor said he was very surprised that I noticed this blur and it was just a part of aging. I was told as one gets out of their teens, their eye sight starts diminishing and as you get older this blur will become more pronounced over time. So, of course, I thought no big deal, I will just live with it since it really does not effect any part of my life. One week into the Blood Type diet I was sitting at my desk working and I couldn't quite put my finger on it but something was different about me. It took me two whole days to realize that the blur I had been noticing for the past year had gone away... completely gone.

So, what changed in my diet to make this go away. I really only changed a few things on the Blood Type Diet from my normal food diet (I was almost on it with my normal food diet). The big factor for me was wheat. Eliminating gluten was the key for me which is part of the Type O diet plan. It was actually quite easy to eliminate gluten. It has been many years now since I went gluten free but since gluten free is so popular these days, it is even easier to maintain a gluten free lifestyle. This is in no means an advertisement for you to go gluten free, but it does show that eliminating a food that could have possible negative effects on your body could be something you eat every day and never knew it.

One month after going on the Blood Type Diet I had my annual physical and explained to my regular doctor about the diet and my experience with it. My doctor explained the diet like this, “The Blood Type Diet is basically an elimination diet for most people and in your case you only needed to eliminate a few foods to be on it. There are two ways to do the blood type diet and that is to follow it exactly as written and eliminate all the foods on the negative list or take the basic elimination diet approach and eliminate one (1) food that is on the negative side at a time, wait a little while and see if you notice changes, then move onto the next food. You may find that only 1 food item effects you to the degree that change happens.”

Regardless of going all in with the Blood Type Diet or taking a standard Elimination Diet approach, if you are considering the Blood Type Diet, I would highly recommend that you present the diet to your health care professional and see what they think about it. They may already have experience with the diet and can provide a detailed path depending on your body type and goals. When I did the diet I had no clear goal in mind, I just wanted to see if anything changed and fortunately for me I had a change I never expected.

Tip: If you read one of the books about the Blood Type Diet, make sure you use the charts provided on the website and not necessarily in the books. The website is updated far more often and foods can get moved from the good side to bad side as they research each food.

Blood Type Diet Encyclopedia Listed By Food Type:
http://www.dadamo.com/typebase4/typeindexer.htm

Sources:
Cook Right 4 Your Type – Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo 1999
Dadamo - http://www.dadamo.com/