The USDA Food Pyramid and the older ‘Four Basic Food Group’ theory represent a uniform approach to human nutrition. However, since they are based on a concept of disease treatment, their recommendations revolve around the prevention of deficiency diseases. Vitamin C, an important component of our immune system, is only recommended in amount (64 mg/day) sufficient to prevent scurvy, a deficiency disorder. Yet it is known that in instance of infection and in many other disease states, our amount for vitamin C can rise twentyfold. The prevention of deficiency diseases has little to do with functional need in our society, so the recommendations are for the most part useless in more specific treatment.

These dietary recommendations do have their value, however. They attempt to rectify malnutrition, which is a major worldwide dietary problem. They now promote the use of high fiber whole foods rather than processed foods, which for the average Westerner is a major step forward.

Unfortunately, conventional dietary recommendations are just that – conventional. What if you’re not suffering from malnutrition and have already begun using whole foods? Unlike Hippocrates, who counselled,

‘Let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food’

, our modern nutritional principles are based on a separation of food and medicine.

The Blood Type Diet allow us to restore the interrelationship of the two. It has accomplished this by studying a diverse collection of factors, some of which would seem to be unrelated to the specific science: anthropology, genetics, immunological response, disease and so on.

When you choose your diet based on a comprehensive understanding of all these factors, you will find – perhaps to your amazement – that you have not chosen a diet at all. The truth is, the correct diet has already been chosen for you by your own blood type.

None of us have been created identically; each of us is unique, so we must be treated individually too. Different DNA, different blood type, thus different treatment and different diet.

For certain blood types, the Food Pyramid recommendations make a fair amount of sense. Fundamentally, however, the pyramid is based on the reductionistic model. It is based on a concept of disease treatment, in which the recommendations revolve around the prevention of deficiency diseases. Meaning that it doesn’t take into consideration dietary variations. For example, Type Os should not follow the basic pyramid recommendation of six to eleven servings of grain- based foods each day. And only Type B will benefit by eating the recommended amount of dairy foods. The Food Pyramid is probably closest to the needs of type A. However, even foods within categories – which are not distinguished from one another in this model – can have a huge impact. For example, while Type Bs thrive on regular portions of meat, chicken can cause havoc in their digestive and immune system.

Best advice is that you should not try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Create your own Food Pyramid based on the foods that are listed on your specific blood type chart for Type O, Type A, Type B, or Type AB.

All blood types should eat the recommended three to five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, but there is a wide divergence of choices in the level above, with two to three servings of dairy products as well as two to three servings of meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts. For some blood types, such recommendations can be a very poor choice, indeed! The top of the pyramid, in which fats, oils, and sweets are located, recommends using these items sparingly, ignoring the fact that for many people 40% or more of their diets are from this section. The Food Pyramid was created to help people understand what a healthy diet entails. As with many other things, we’ve grown more sophisticated in our assessment of such recommendations. They are well-meaning but inadequate.

The pyramid really was created to provide minimal nutritional standards that would avoid malnutrition. As with many guidelines, the data are far too broad to really shed light on individual needs.

References:

1. ” Eat Right 4 your Type”, Dr. Peter J.D’Adamo and Catherine Whitney, London: Century Books, 2001
2. “Cook Right 4 Your Type”, Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo and Catherine Whitney, Century, 2001
3. www.wikipedia.org

The Science of Blood Type has been evolving ever since the beginning of  known human history. It is the science of individuality – an acknowledgment that each of us has a genetic fingerprint located in the cells of our bodies.

First of all, you need to understand the reason why your blood type can make such a crucial difference in how you live and what you eat. Blood type is not a neutral factor. Rather, it behaves as the control valve of your immune and digestive systems, a biological watchdog that enhances your body’s ability to survive and thrive.

In his great first book, Eat Right 4 Your Type,  Dr.Peter D’adamo fully explains the mechanism by which your blood type responds to the food you eat – either for good or for ill. It details the scientific and anthropological reasons for the four distinct blood type. The following is a brief summary of that information.

The Key to Survival

Almost everyone, including doctors, considers the importance of blood type only in relation to transfusions. The gross limitations imposed by such a narrow view become readily apparent when you consider the central role blood type has played in the survival of  the human race. Consider this: were it not for the unique adaptations that have taken place within the blood, the human race would not have been able to survive.

Each of the blood types evolved in response to both the physiological development of the species and changing climate conditions over the aeons since humankind first trod the Earth. This is the vital clue to the importance of blood type. The adaptations that occurred in the course of evolution not only strengthened our immune systems against new bacterial, viral and environmental assailants, but at the same time permitted our vurnerable digestive systems to adapt to a wide range of unfamiliar foods.

The Blood Type – Diet Connection

How does the composition of the sugars that make up the blood types relate to what you eat? A chemical reaction occurs between your blood and the food you consume. We know this because of a factor called lectins. Lectins are abundant and diverse proteins found in food. They are agglutinating – gluing or sticking – properties that affect your blood. When you eat a food containing protein lectins that are incompatible with your blood type antigen, the lectins target an organ and begin to agglutinate blood cells in that area. In effect, lectins gum up the works, interfering with digestion, insulin production, food metabolism, and hormonal balance.

Lectins

Many people never heard about lectins before and some were sceptical. In fact, hundreds of papers have been written about the effect of lectins. The fact that they haven’t had wider public exposure relegates lectins to the province of a well-kept secret. Apparently, Eat Right 4 Your Type was the first time that the results of the extensive scientific research had ever appeared in a mainstream publication.

Knowing about the potential danger of lectins does not mean that you should suddenly become fearful of every food you eat! After all, lectins are widely abundant and hard to avoid. The key is to avoid the lectins that agglutinate your blood type. For example, gluten, the most common lectin found in wheat, has a shape different from the lectin found in soya, and it attaches to a different combination of sugars. Gluten binds to the lining of the small intestine and cause substansial inflammation and painful irritation in some blood types, particularly Type O. Chicken, on the other hand, which is fine for Type Os  and Type As, contains a lectin in its muscle tissue that agglutinates Type B and Type AB blood cells.

What This Means for You?

Here’s the bottom line:  we are predisposed to certain strength and weaknesses according to our blood types. We can maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses by knowing what our bodies need and by feeding ourselves and our families accordingly.

The crux of Blood Type Diet is the fact that certain foods complement certain blood types. Other foods antagonize and debilitate particular blood types. By stressing complementary foods and eliminating clearly antagonistic foods, you can promote the best possible balance for your immune and digestive systems. Most of your compatible foods correspond to your  blood type’s evolutionary development. In other words, the foods that fit your blood type are often the very foods that were predominant at the time in history when your blood type first appeared. For example:

If you are Type O, you respond best to a high- protein diet, including meat, poultry, fish and variety of fruits  and vegetables. Many grains, legumes, and dairy products are incompatible with your blood type.

If you are Type A, you thrive on primarily vegetarian diet, including soya products, beans and legumes, grains, vegetables, and fruits, with small portions of fish.

If you are Type B, your optimal diet includes game meat like rabbit and venison as well as herd meats, such as lamb and mutton. However, Type B should avoid chicken. Unlike Type O and Type A, Type B benefits from a variety of dairy products. Some grains, beans and legumes cause problems for type B, but there is a wide selection of vegetables and fruits available. In almost every respect, the Type B Diet is the most varied.

If you are Type AB, your diet is more complex – a combination of Type A and Type B. Type AB can eat most of the foods that are good for these blood types, but must avoid or limit most of the foods that agglutinate them. The best diet for Type AB consists primarily of vegetarian fare, with modest supplements of meat and dairy.

To help you eat right for your blood type, refer to detailed food charts and information for Type O, Type A, Type B, and Type AB in www.blogofhealth.co.cc. That means emphasizing the foods you find on the Highly Beneficial lists, restricting the foods you should Avoid, and incorporating the wide range of Neutral foods in a balanced and healthy way. As I and  many people around the world  have discovered, eating right for your blood type can produce extraordinary and almost immediate results in combating allergies or other chronic conditions. Following your Blood Type Diet can also result in immediate changes such as:

• Weight lost
• Restoration of normal insulin production
• Cessation of troublesome digestive problem
• An increase in energy and stamina

The long-term benefits are even meaningful. The Blood Type Diet can help you:

• Combat serious illness, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease
• Avoid common viruses and infections
• Eliminate the toxins and fats that contribute to obesity, and
• Slow the process of cell deterioration that accompanies ageing
• Pass out kidney stones of your body in  natural way (as in my case)

And the best news of all is that you can achieve all these benefits while enjoying a healthy, satisfying, and varied diet. Good living  and good health are yours to enjoy.

References:

1. “Cook Right 4 Your Type”, Dr. Peter J. D’adamo & C. Whitney, Century, 2001
2. www.4yourtype.com
3. www.dadamo.com
4. www.wikipedia.org