Blood Group Diet

Knowing your blood group not only helps you in crisis but also helps you to determine a healthy diet schedule for yourself. Dr. Peter D’ Adamo a naturopath discovered that people with different blood groups responded in different ways to certain diet patterns. This led to further research in the same field and formulation of a diet plan for every type of blood group. He published all his findings in his book titled ‘Eat right for your blood type’. This type of diet became an instant hit in Hollywood. Hollywood stars like Liz Hurley, Courtney Cox-Arquette and others have taken to the blood group diet.

Principle of blood group diet

According to Dr. Peter D’ Adamo, the blood group of a person determines how the body deals with various nutrients. The principle behind this is that each blood type has its own exclusive antigen marker (a substance that the body identifies as being foreign); this marker responds badly to a few types of food thus causing all kinds of potential health issues. This difference hinges on the fact that lectins in foods react differently with each blood type.

The stomach acidity levels and the digestive enzymes in a persons body is linked to the person’s blood type. Hence following a diet schedule designed specifically for a particular blood type helps the body to digest and absorb the food more efficiently and thus results in weight loss. An interesting part of the diet principle states that different types of blood groups were developed at different times. It is highly recommended that we follow the specific diet pattern that was followed by our ancestors who lived during this period (while identifying the new blood groups).

Diet for the different blood types

O group: This was the first blood group to be recognized. This group is supposed to have evolved with our huntsmen ancestors around the 50,000 B.C. They ate a lot of meat, thus people with this particular blood group can eat a protein rich meat based diet. Their diet must be a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet. Their diet must include a lot of meat, fish and should exclude dairy products, grains, and wheat.

Eat excessively – Meat, fish, olive oil
Eat moderately – Seeds, nuts, eggs, certain vegetables and fruits
Totally restrict eating – Beans, cereals, dairy products, rice, pasta, and wheat products.

People belonging to this blood group should be physically active and should involve themselves in aerobic exercises, running etc., they should be as busy as our huntsmen ancestors were.

A group: This was the next group to be identified around 15,000 B.C. People then learnt farming and were not dependant only on meat from hunting. They included a lot of vegetarian food in their diet. According to this diet plan, people with this blood group should adhere to a vegetarian diet schedule.

Eat excessively – Vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, pasta, cereals, beans, and rice
Totally restrict – Meat and meat products

People belonging to this blood group must follow exercises that will calm them and their mind. It is suggested they practice yoga and play golf.

B group: Next blood group to be identified, B blood group was identified around 10,000 B.C. Our forefathers by this time started to travel extensively; leading the life of nomads and were eating anything they found. People with this blood group can usually eat any type of food. They can eat anything from dairy, meat, vegetables to grains, of their choice.

Eat excessively – Can eat all types of food
Eat moderately – Nuts, seeds, and any carbohydrate-rich food
Totally restrict – Eating processed food

One out of ten persons has this blood group; people with this blood group have to do a lot of exercise that includes some thought process too. This is because our ancestors with this blood group did a lot of thinking, thus activities like swimming, tennis, hiking etc are recommended for their fitness schedule.

AB group: The last group to be identified in this series, it was identified 1,000 years ago. This blood group is very rare and people with this blood group can eat a combination of food from the A and B blood group.

• This diet plan encourages consumption of fresh food like fruits and vegetables and meat.
  
• It cuts out on processed food like chocolates, aerated drinks, coffee etc.
  
• Makes the person realize what he/she is eating.
  
• Members of the same family have different blood groups and it is highly impractical to follow different diet plans for different members of the family.
  
• In case a person does not know his/her blood group, he/she should go to a nearby health centre to identify his blood group. Only after identifying the blood group can they follow this diet plan.
  
• Few essential food items are totally cut off for few blood groups; this could come in way of a balanced meal.