Blood Type Diet Plan
D’Adamo’s book, Eat Right 4 Your Type is the source of the blood type diet plan. The idea is that human blood type is key to weight loss.
Selection of different foods to eat depends on if you are blood types A, AB, B, and O. D’Adamo groups together by ABO blood group, each type within this group having unique dietary recommendations:
- Blood group O is the hunter, the earliest human blood group. A higher protein diet is recommended.
- Blood group A is the agrarian or cultivator, a more recently evolved blood type from the dawn of agriculture. The diet recommends vegetables and no red meat. A more vegetarian diet.
- Blood group B is the nomad and has a strong immune system and a flexible digestive system. The diet states that people of blood type B can thrive on dairy products.
- Blood group AB is the enigma, the most recently evolved type. This blood type diet treats this group as an intermediate between blood types A and B.
Blood type diet foods
Depends on which classification of diet is recommended according to blood type.
- Blood group O :
- Recommended: meat, fish, vegetables and fruits
- Not Recommended: wheat, beans, corns, cabbage, brussels sprouts and cauliflower
- Recommended for weight loss: seafood, red meat, liver, spinach and broccoli
- Blood group A :
- Recommended: vegetables, seafood, tofu, beans, grains, legumes and fruits
- Not Recommended: meat, dairy products, kidney beans, lima beans and wheat
- Recommended for weight loss: vegetables, pineapples, vegetable oil and soy foods
- Blood group B :
- Recommended: meat, dairy products, beans, grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables
- Not Recommended: peanuts, corn, sesame seeds, lentil and wheat
- Recommended for weight loss: eggs, greens, liver and tea
- Blood group AB :
- Recommended: meat, seafood, dairy products, beans, legumes, grains, tofu, fruits and vegetables
- Not Recommended: red meat, kidney beans, lima beans and corn
- Recommended for weight loss: seafood, dairy, greens, tofu and pineapple
How much can I lose on the blood type diet?
D’Adamo does not state how much you would lose on it but it would depend on how much food you restrict yourself from consuming.
How does the blood type diet work?
Here’s the science bit. The idea is that human blood type is key to weight loss. Lectins in foods react differently with each ABO blood type and with an individual’s secretor status. Lectins interact with the different ABO blood types and therefore the selection of different foods for A, AB, B, and O types is important to minimize reactions with these lectins.
D’Adamo bases his ideas on the ABO classification of Karl Landsteiner and Jan Janský and other tissue surface antigens and classification systems. In particular the Lewis antigen system for ABH secretor status is relied on.
Other blood type identifiers, such as positive/negative, or secretor/non-secretor play relatively insignificant roles. More than 90% of the factors associated with your blood type are related to your primary blood type, O, A, B, or AB and hence the diet focuses on this.
Blood type diet review
May result in weight loss but difficult to follow and epecially in the long term. Other diets may be easier to follow and be based in more scientific roots
Blood type diet pros
- Weight loss is likely due to restricting food intake
- Type O diet relies on proven diet principles followed in other diets such as Atkins diet
Blood type diet cons
- Difficult information to follow depending on blood type
- Impractical for a group of persons of varying blood types to follow
- No proven scientific basis
- Nutrient deficiencies
- For type O refer to the disadvantages on the Atkins diet
Blood type diet books
References
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What Diet: Blood type diet plan
