In his book "Eat Right 4 Your Type," Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo suggests that your blood group dictates which foods will benefit your health and which foods are best avoided. There are four main blood groups -- AB, B, A and O. The O blood group is believed to the the original blood group of our hunter-gatherer ancestors and the other blood groups emerged as ancient man settled in communities and began consuming a diet containing more grains and cultivated fruit and vegetables. According to D'Adamo, type Os should eat very differently than the other blood groups.
Background
According to "Blood Types, Body Types And You" by Joseph Christiano, blood type Os thrive on intense physical exercise and animal proteins. This reflects the belief that Os are direct descendants of the original hunter-gatherers that roamed the planet many thousands of years ago and who ate whatever they could catch or scrounge. Hunter-gatherers consumed very little carbohydrate and ate mostly wild vegetables, nuts, seeds, berries and animals. Type Os thrive on high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate foods.
Foods to Embrace
Blood type Os, according to D'Adamo, thrive on foods that were present during Paleolithic times -- a period that ended some 10,000 years ago. This includes all "game" meats such as buffalo, venison, deer, and rabbit and freely roaming animals such as chicken, turkey, free-range beef and lamb/mutton. Organ meats such as liver and kidney are also considered to be very beneficial for type Os. Oily, cold-water fish including salmon and mackerel are likewise deemed to be very healthful.
D'Adamo suggests that type Os will also thrive on nuts and seeds as well as a wide range of leafy vegetables, root vegetables and bulbs -- onions and garlic. Fruit-wise, hunter-gatherers had little or no access to tropical fruit so should consume a wide range of berries plus apples, pears, lemons and limes.
Foods to Avoid
Hunter-gathers, and therefore blood type Os, were not farmers and did not have ready access to mass agriculture. As a result, if you are a type O, you should avoid any foods that are classed as Neolithic or new stone age -- Paleolithic means old stone age. Neolithic foods include all grains such as rice, wheat, rye, corn, spelt and oats. Author Joseph Christiano also suggests that large amounts of dairy, sugar and eggs were not part of a hunter-gather's diet and therefore type Os should minimize their consumption of these foods.
Benefits
D'Adamo states that blood type Os who follow the correct eating plan will lose and maintain their weight effortlessly, enjoy high levels of mental and physical energy and suffer a lower rate of digestive discomfort and food-related allergies. Type Os who follow the correct eating plan will also reduce their risk of developing diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease and some cancers, all of which, says D'Adamo, can directly linked to consumption of foods not compatible with blood type O's individual body chemistry. The type-O diet is also very low in refined sugars, which will help control blood glucose and insulin levels, both of which are thought to be responsible for many medical conditions including diabetes and obesity.
Considerations
Opponents to blood type O express concern over the lack of dairy-derived calcium and low amounts of grain-derived fiber and suggest that deficiency in these two vital nutrients may be detrimental to health. The type-O diet is essentially a ketogenic diet and shares many similarities with other low-carb diets such as Atkins and the original Paleo diets. Low-carb diets are often linked to low energy levels, rapid but unsustainable weight loss and high fat-intake levels.
References
- "Eat Right 4 Your Type: The Individualized Diet Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer & Achieving Your Ideal Weight"; Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo and Catherine Whitney; 1996
- "Blood Types, Body Types And You"; Joseph Christiano; 2008
- "Blood Type O Food, Beverage and Supplemental Lists"; Peter J. D'Adamo and Catherine Whitney; 2002
- Spelt; What is spelt?
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