Introduction
I am
often asked what I think about blood type
(ABO grouping,
RH factor) dietary schemas which purport to tell people which foods to
eat and which to avoid. Here, in brief, are my thoughts. This
page will likely expand with the passage of time -- this is a work in
progress! Some Reservations
I, and others as well, have noted a number of
apparent
flaws with the blood type prescriptive schemas for diet, both in the
cooked
food realm and in the raw foods realms. I suspect that there is some
truth
to the idea that ABO blood types do broadly indicate which genetic
subtype
a person may belong to, but I believe that this schematic system is
very
broad and rather fuzzy, and, worse, obscures or ignores some important
facts common to ALL blood types, such as the fact (in my mind, at
least,
as well as that of other RVAF diet theoreticians and practitioners),
that
the vast majority of persons (of any or all types) show little
tolerance
for non-Paleolithic foodstuffs, for almost all processed foodstuffs,
for
processed and refined oils, for pasteurized dairy, and for most cooked
foods.
In 1996
through 1997, in two separate tests using
urine
Indican testing, I was able to demonstrate that although I was
chronically
(daily) eating large quantities of foods which are not, according to
D'Adamo's
book, suitable for my blood type, I showed no trace of urinary indoles
(which would indicate undesirable fermentation in the lower GI tract),
as repeatedly and strongly predicted by Dr. Peter D'Adamo in his book.
I
attempted to correspond with D'Adamo via his message board, about this
discrepancy, but never received a response from him. Interestingly, my
post to his board did elicit several private responses from others who
had
observed that their bodies simply did not react in the clockwork
fashion
to food as predicted by the "Recommended" and "Avoid" food lists
for their blood types from D'Adamo's book. I have since heard a number
of anecdotal, experience-based stories which tend to support what I had
noticed.
Recommendations
I suggest you forget all about the blood type
hoopla
regarding vegetables, dairy and other things, and instead listen to
your
body and your intuition. I further suggest that most folks are better
off eating a raw Paleolithic diet (a raw vegetation and animal foods
diet,
aka RVAF diet), or, if that is simply too much trouble, at least a
partially-cooked
Paleolithic diet, in order to avoid the foods to which almost all of us
may react poorly, and to maximize consumption of foods suited for our
bodies.
My
estimation as a scientist, as well as an
intuitive,
is that D'Adamo's Blood Type schema is an almost-hopeless
over-simplification
-- with lots of concomitant errors -- of a complex fact that each of us
has differing genetics, and that each of us reacts differently to
certain
foods. Unfortunately, I do not believe blood type to be a particularly
reliable way of decoding those genetic preferences. However, for
people eating cooked foods diets, I do believe that blood type schema
can
be a convenient starting point, and far better than no guidance at all,
in helping to set up an initial diet. However, even here I recommend
fine-tuning and tinkering based upon what your body really needs and
wants,
and what it does not want.