Success on the Blood-Type Diet

The pictures above represent me from some different actual holidays this year. The picture of me (bald) with my daughter is taken on July 4, 2010. The picture of me in the black shirt/pink tie is from Easter (April 4). The picture of me with the green shirt on is St. Patrick's Day (March 17), all three dates from this year. I hope the pictures speak at least a little of what I'm going to talk about.

I'm going to break from my norm here today with just a brief telling of a diet I have been strictly following for the last 3.5 months. It is called the "Blood-Type Diet" and if you're interested, you can find the books pretty cheap on Amazon.com, "Eat Right For Your Type", "Live Right For Your Type," and other books under the author Peter D'Adamo.

You will find a lot of interesting information, but you do need to be discerning with your reading. The books are filled with popular psychology and an evolutionistic world view, deductions that D'Adamo makes based upon his findings. Being a Christian, I have a very different take on his findings, though for those alone, you will find this very helpful.

You'll need to figure out your blood type for this diet, which isn't too hard--just call your doctor to find out what's on file, or order a blood-type test online for about $10. Your blood type is really important to know, more than you might think. Your blood creates antigens that can either work with or against the foods that you take into your system. The diet is plain and simple for the most part--there are foods that are beneficial for your blood type (they work like medicine); there are foods that simply act as food, and are ok to eat (just don't go crazy pigging out); and there are foods that are to be avoided which can cause your specific blood type problems.

My allergies have improved greatly since I started this diet; just today I hit the -30 lb mark in following this diet; I have greater energy, far less hunger, and a sense of fullness has returned (vs. eating until I was stuffed). The weight will slowly but consistently come off on this diet, though there may be some significantly long periods of plateau, but not to worry, this is due to your body resetting the glands and hormones within. Though you may feel like it's not working at times, it is, it's just changing inside, too.

I prayed many times to God to help me to find something that would work and that I could stick to. I guarantee you that if you follow your protocol, you will see lasting results (but don't expect 50 lbs to be lost in a month!).

If you have tried lots of different diets but only to your eventual burning out, consider this diet. You will have to learn to not eat whatever you want, but believe it or not, we generally only eat 25 different food items as it is!

My wife and I are both on this diet, and have been on it together for about three months. How did we make the transition? One of the biggest things was to go through our cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer and to get rid of all foods that neither of us could have. My wife is a type B, I am a type 0--and as far as I know, most kids are one of the two parent's blood types, usually one of the two winning out in their cases. Both of our kids are type B's. So my wife has lots of dairy products, meat, has to cut out wheat (though there's a brand called Ezekiel bread that's very much the same, more expensive, but we can both have it), corn, pork products, certain beans, some vegetables, no chicken.

You might be reading this and thinking, "there's no way." Well, it might seem hard, but the blood type diet will make sense as it supports some of those people who find success on the Atkins diet, or a raw foods or vegetarian/vegan diet, or the absolutely balanced approach. Blood types are very relevant to the success of these diets to certain individuals.

I follow this diet and do eat plenty of meat, fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans, olive oil, etc., and it really isn't bad at all. The thing about the blood type diet, too, is that it is a stepping in to a lifelong change, because you can't change your blood, and you can't really change how your blood reacts to certain foods. If you can make the change lifelong, weight and immunity and many avoidable health concerns could definitely be issues you tackle well. I can only imagine what one year on this diet will do--as Dr. D'Adamo puts it, it takes about a year to heal your body from perhaps years of lectin damage, lectins being the things found in foods that either assimilate with or attack your system (different bad lectins can attack different areas of your body, such as joint pain, weight gain, cognitive function, sinuses and allergies, etc.) I will mention that I still have some issues with my sinuses when I sleep at night, and I'm wondering if this is a reaction to some chemical in my bedding fabric.

Nevertheless, I have read this book fairly through, and have pretty much memorized my list of foods both good, neutral, and bad and stick to it fairly well. I will say, too, that when I do eat something that's an avoid food, I always, always, ALWAYS pay for it--it's pretty incredible. If you know your blood type, and just want to look at the lists, you can go to:

http://www.dadamo.com/typebase4/typeindexer.htm

It's much easier just to get the book--think about it, there's a lot of science to this diet, not simply hype. You will definitely become a healthy individual if you follow the prescriptions given!

P.S. This diet is probably more do-able, too, because you will learn why certain foods don't work with you, and I can't tell you how much that has helped when I've felt like caving. Even at that, following the diet will quickly draw you away from your past cravings. I fasted one day recently and found it way easier to do from taking a day off this diet than when I fasted and ate like I normally did. Did you know that if your blood type doesn't tolerate standard wheat products, it can inhibit the sensor that tells your brain you are full? I never "pig out" like I did before--this isn't a food deprivation diet(you don't have to count calories here), but it is a particular-foods deprivation diet, ok? Hope this helps and if you have any questions, just ask!