Eat By Blood Type

There is a correlation between your health, your blood type and what foods you need to eat according to that blood type! Peter D'Adamo wrote the books and has a website, www.dadamo.com, but you should know is a lengthy study as his father started the research. Both are naturopaths. I think Western medicine could be better complimented with holistic ideas and research findings rather than limiting itself!

I am an O blood type and thus do well on eating meats, especially red meats, however leave out the chicken! Other blood types could do better as a vegetarian or a combination. I tried to make a table of foods I should eat and thought about carrying it around with me at the grocery, but I gave up on that, instead similarly structured I eat the ketogenic diet. I lose weight on it and it does a body good. High in fat, protein, and low on carbohydrates. Do some research and find out what you should be eating.

O blood type is the oldest. We started out as hunter-gatherers. Then as food started to be cultivated and we created camps and gardens; then our genes began to mutate into A, B, and AB blood types. Some people are better able to digest and process grains than others.

"Your blood type is a key to unlocking the secrets to your biochemical individuality." www.dadamo.com Check it out!

Here's some quotes to get you enticed:

"The Type A emerges into the 21st century with many more complex challenges than their ancestors could have imagined. The key factor in the development of Type A can be traced to the struggle for survival long ago, when there was a rapidly dwindling supply of hunting game stock. Having exhausted the great game herds of Africa, humans pushed farther out from their ancestral home into Europe and Asia. The cultivation of grains and livestock changed everything. For the first time, people were able to forego the hand to mouth lifestyle of the hunter/gatherer and establish stable communities. Over time the adaptations that produced Blood Type A were based on the need to fully utilize nutrients from carbohydrate sources. These biological adaptations can still be observed today in Type A's digestive structure. Low levels of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and high intestinal disaccharide digestive enzyme levels permit the more efficient digestion of carbohydrates. According to Dr. D'Adamo, these are also the very factors, along with low levels of intestinal alkaline phosphatase, that make it difficult for Type As to digest and metabolize animal protein and fat.

Blood Type B developed in the area of the Himalayan highlands, now part of present day Pakistan and India. Pushed from the hot, lush savannahs of eastern Africa to the cold highlands of the Himalayan Mountains, Blood type B may have initially mutated in response to climactic changes. It first appeared in India or the Ural region of Asia among a mix of Caucasian and Mongolian tribes. This new blood type was soon characteristic of the great tribes of steppe dwellers, who by this time dominated the Eurasian Plains. As the Mongolians swept through Asia, the gene for Type B blood was firmly entrenched. The Mongolians swept northward, pursuing a culture dependent upon herding and domesticating animals - as their diet of meat and cultured dairy products reflected.

Of all the ABO types, Type B shows the most clearly defined geographic distribution. Stretching as a great belt across the Eurasian plains and down to the Indian subcontinent, Type B is found in increased numbers from Japan, Mongolia, China and India up to the Ural Mountains. From there westward, the percentages fall until a low is reached at the western tip of Europe. The small numbers of Type B in Western Europeans represents western migration by Asian nomadic peoples. This is best seen in the easternmost western Europeans, the Germans and Austrians, who have an unexpectedly high incidence of Type B blood compared to their western neighbors. Modern sub continental Indians a Caucasian people, have some of the highest frequencies of Type B blood in the world. The northern Chinese and Koreans have very high rates of Type B blood and very low rates of Type A.

Type O was an early success formula. It is the only blood type that carries two opposing blood type antibodies (one blood type A and another against blood type B). These antibodies undoubtably conveyed some survival advantage, as many of the common diseases that plagued our ancestors possessed markers (antigens) that simulated the other blood types. Thus, what is commonly considered a transfusion complication was, in type O, a very useful defensive benefit. However, when misdirected, this innate immune reactivity can sometimes get in the way of good health. Blood Type O may be predisposed to certain illnesses, such as ulcers and thyroid disorders. In the 1950’s it was discovered that Type O’s had about twice the instances of ulcers of all kinds than the other blood types. These findings have been replicated many times since then.

Type AB blood is rare – it’s found in less than five percent of the population. And it is the 'newest' of the blood types. Until ten or twelve centuries ago, there was little to no Type AB blood type. That is because type AB results from the intermingling of Type A with Type B. Unlike virtually every other gene, which have 'dominant' and 'recessive' variations (alleles), the A and B alleles are 'co-dominant,' meaning they quite happily co-exist with each other. Type AB is the only blood type whose existence is the result of intermingling rather than evolution and environment. Thus, they share both the benefits and the challenges of both Type A and Type B blood types. Type AB has a unique chameleon like quality – depending on the circumstances, this blood type can appropriate the characteristics of each of the other blood types. Type AB is sometimes A-like, sometimes B-like and sometimes a fusion of both. Today, as we look back at this remarkable evolutionary revolution, it is clear that the genetic characteristics of our ancestors live in our blood today." www.dadamo.com

When you go to dadamo.com/txt/index.pl?2006 you can see all the books by Peter D'Adamo.

Just a side note: Dr. D'Adamo researched which exercise activities are best for you blood type as well...