Archives for: February 2006
Mike Staffieri: How the BTD tuned up up body and soul
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Mike, I think it is great that you agreed to tell your story into the Diet in my column as well! Introduce yourself!
MS: I'm a 40 yr old type O secretor.... I’m single, father of an 8 yr old girl... I live in Toronto, Canada. I'm a sales manager by profession for a Fortune 500 computer company where there are always people demanding my time. The BTD diet has helped me control my stress levels and has helped me be more of a resource to the people that report to me. I spend my free time playing golf, bike riding, roller blading, skiing, reading and playing guitar.
BR: Can you give us some insight into why you started the blood type diet? When was THE moment you knew that the BTD was more than just a diet?
MS: I came to the BTD through a reflexoligist I was seeing 18 months ago. After reading many health books and diet books, ERFYBT was the only book that was not a "one size fits all" approach. When I read in ERFYBT that type O's were most susceptible to Autoimmune Disorders, it really peaked my interest. About 8 years ago I lost all my bodily, scalp and facial hair due to an Autoimmune disorder called Alopecia Universalis.
BR: Are there any diseases that run in your family?
MS: High blood pressure runs in my family amongst my A type family members, and my dad; a type O… had his thyroid removed a few years ago.
BR: Mike, did you opt for the cold-turkey-version? Did you experience detoxsymptoms? And for how long?
MS: I can’t say that I did. I find that since being on the diet, if I happen to eat some avoids like wheat, I immediately feel the difference in my gut.
BR: And how long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!) What kind of changes did you experience?
MS: Within 2 weeks of starting the BTD I began to notice an increase in my energy level, physically and mentally. I always had a hard time concentrating on things for prolonged periods of time, like reading a book or studying new material. Since being on the diet, my mental acuity has vastly improved. Physically, I lost 20 pounds and 2 inches of my waist after 3 months and it was the first time I saw my stomach muscles in over 20 years without a sit up to show for. I wasn’t like I needed to loose weight, but I feel now I am at my optimal weight. My current BMI is 19. Also I tended to fall asleep easily or feel drowsy after a meal especially if wheat was involved. This rarely happens anymore. As I mentioned above, I lost about 95% of all my bodily and facial hair... Alopecia universalis (autoimmune disorder)... 8 years ago. Since being on the diet I’ve regained about 30% of it back in various places. I’m not really hoping or expecting that it will all grow back. There are many advantages of not having hair... like never having a “bad” hair day. I did have very weak, cracked and flat nails, but since being on the diet they have started to regain their proper shape and lustre.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet? We read that your mom thinks you should eat pasta!! Were you able to explain them why you started the Diet? And are they positive about it?
MS: About the only family members that know I am on the diet are my parents. My mom was not very enthusiastic about me being on the diet…She equates diet with eating less and Italian mothers love to feed their boys when they come to visit. It was hard to explain that I was not eating less but eating the appropriate food for my blood type…so she feeds me as many beneficials and neutrals (I gave her LRFYBT) when I visit. I’ve tried to get my parents on the diet, but they are set in their ways. My parents are always happy when I am happy and since being on the diet, my body has been happy, so yes they are positive about it.
BR: You told us in your bloggs that you are a single dad with 8-year-old daughter. What is her bloodtype and does she eat accordingly? Tell us how you manage this.
MS: I see my daughter every other weekend and odd times during the week. It is hard to manage her daily eating according to her blood type since her mother knows nothing of the diet (something I would like to change), but when she is with me she shares my type O diet. She is a very active healthy child and does very well at school. I think the biggest challenge for any parent is keeping their kids away from sugar-laden treats and foods. If you can do both, BTD diet and restrict the sugar, we would do well in getting our kids off to a good start in life, physically, mentally and emotionally especially in their earliest years before they pick up bad food eating habits.
BR: Eating Right 4 Your Type is not easy for you when you are on the road, at culinary company-events. You ‘pointed’ it out to us! What is your percentage of compliance with the diet? In times of stress do you increase your compliance?
MS: I’m about 99% compliant when eating at home, 90% eating out and at social events usually 75%. I take Deflect when need be which helps. In times of stress I find it’s harder to comply especially if I do not exercise regularly. The strenuous exercise, which is needed for O’s, helps me stay compliant because it lowers my stress levels.
BR: Looking at your daily diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
MS: Meat was very easy to integrate into my diet, especially lamb and veal. Pork, especially sausages, was hard to give up. Giving up the pasta and wheat food like muffins, cereals and bagels was difficult… I grew up in an Italian household in a Jewish area of town so I ate these foods for years and had a hard time giving them up. Milk and cheese always gave me digestive problems even though I love yoghurt and cheese cake, but I don’t miss it. Almond and Soymilk are now in my fridge and there are still some neutral cheeses that I eat like goat cheese. I love fish!! I have so many to choose from for my blood type. Lentil and kidney beans were some of my favourite beans but my chilli recipes now call for lamb and Aduke beans and I don’t even remember what lentil soup taste like anymore. The hardest thing to give up was Strawberry/Rhubarb Pie, coffee and French fries with vinegar. Lots of fruits and vegetables to choose from for my blood type…oranges I never liked so no great problem there.
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
MS: My doctor has no idea I’m on the diet because I have not had any reason to see him since being on it. I have a physical scheduled shortly. I could try convincing him of the benefits, but I find most medical doctors are too caught up in drug treatments rather than prevention of illness and disease.
BR: If you take medication: How is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
MS: The last time I took some medication was 12 years ago when I was miss-diagnosed with a fungal nail infection. I have not taken any anti-biotic or flu shot in over 15 years. I get the common cold maybe once a year. I have had the flu once in the last two years. I’m known as the “iron man’ at work because I have missed 1.5 days due to illness in the last two years. Since I have an over active immune system to begin with, flu shots and anti-biotics are the last thing I need to take.
BR: You live in Toronto, Canada: Can you buy the foods you need for your O-diet??
MS: Toronto, Canada is one of the most cosmopolitan (cleanest and safest) cities in the world. We have a complete mosaic of cultures and foods. Organic food and beef is easy to find and I have no problem buying food for my O blood.
BR: Mike, many others and I enjoyed your blogger contributions about your BTD-version of Sex and the City. You wrote the BTD-Blues!! Talking of inspiration! We could programme your nutritious music-lyric for the coming Seminar in Arizona in April 2005. We might select our BTD-Idol at the end of the Seminar! Are there any other aspirations you cherish, as a consequence of being on the BTD you want to share with us? This is your chance!!
MS: I’m glad you enjoy my blogs--I enjoy writing them and I am glad to be part of such a great group of bloggers. I like to inject a little humour and fun into my blogs from time to time because I feel we need to laugh and laugh at ourselves (especially when we are a little hard on ourselves for not being compliant). As far as aspirations, I would love to attend classes and become certified as a BTD practitioner if at all possible (if I could find time from my busy schedule). Since being on the diet, I have developed a keen interest in nutrition and microbiology. I think all of us who are part of the BTD community are all striving for one ultimate thing and that is to heal and be healed…our bodies and our souls (even though we ignore them) are ultimately striving for that. My aspirations are purely to help people (myself included) to “wake up” and “listen”
BR: Mike, thank you for your so in-tune interview! It is so important that people, and especially people with loads of healthproblems, that they ‘wake up’ and start ‘listening’ to their body and mind!! So good for you that the BTD also crossed your path and you were ‘awake’ enough to grasp the benefits for you!!Thanks Mike for your open interview and hope the BTD-Blues will be on stage soon!!
Carol Whitham: Mastering weight loss after 30 years.
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
CW: Hello. I'm 59 years old and I'm blood type O. I'm married, have 3 children, 4 stepchildren and 9 grandchildren. I am a substitute teacher and I teach nutrition and weight loss classes. I also publish a newsletter about eating healthier.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
CW: I have had trouble keeping weight off for almost 30 years. I have records of my weight and measurements since 1972, including the excuses of why I gained back what I had worked so hard to lose. 5 pounds overweight at 32 yrs old turned into 40 pounds at 58, but on the diet I lost 40 pounds in 4 months, thus reached my ideal weight and just feel great!!
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
CW: We have arthritis in our family, my mother has very little cartiledge left in her knees, suffers from pain and stiffness and my brother has had both knees operated on. We also have CFS, maniac depression, hypothyroidism and just feeling down or lazy, quite often. I have been diagnosed with sarcoidosis and had mononucleosis 5 times over the years. I also have arthritis in the early stages.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, healthpractioner, or other?
CW: My friend, an ND, told me to read ER4YTY when she found out I wanted to lose 40 pounds, AGAIN!!
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
CW: I pretty much went cold turkey combining ER4YT beneficial foods for type O and The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet Plan. This worked for me as an O because it is a high protein diet.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!)
What kind of changes did you experience?
CW: I began to lose weight right away. The bloated feeling disappeared, no more headaches, no more cancer sores or acid stomach and my energy level increased. One big change immediately was no more arthritis pain. I seem to require less sleep, sleep better with no more agonizing during the night for being overweight. I am happier with myself above all.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Healthproblems like losing weight, or what?
CW: I was tired of the diet yoyo and depriving myself of "normal" food. I also wanted to control my weight with a diet plan that I could use "forever" without having to sweat it off and then put it back on again when I stopped using the treadmill, etc. I don't want to take medicine to stay healthy either.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
CW: Luckily, my husband, (type
has been very supportive. At first, he was skeptical until he read the book himself. Now, he adheres to it himself. Ironically, (type he has an autoimmune disease, that runs in his family and he is doing great, a lot less pain from his neurofibromatosis.BR: How many bloodtypes are there in your family? How do you manage?
CW: There is just my husband, type B and myself, type O. We eat a lot of fish, 3-4 times a week, we eat lamb sometimes, turkey often and when I eat beef he has a veggie burger or dairy and veggies. I never buy chicken (avoid
and for the first time ever, we didn't grow tomatoes or cabbage in our garden. I keep a lot of type O & B beneficial or neutral fresh fruits and vegetables on hand as well as maple walnut granola and yogurt. I make an oat granola base and we each add whatever fresh or dried fruit is best for us. We keep both soy milk and low-fat cow's milk on hand. BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road?
CW: We have found that we don't like eating out as much as we used to because of the food choices. When we do, there is always meat, fish, salads and vegetables on the menu. It's easier to adhere to the diet when you don't have the avoids in front of you so sometimes I cheat. We try not to go out much anymore.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
CW: It was easy for me as an O to add more lean meat. I never cooked fish at home but did like fish and chips when we went out so we bought some frozen cod filets and from there we eat lots of fish now. My husband cooks almost all meat or fish on the grill outside and we love it, even salmon and lamb that we both hated before. My one downfall is chocolate, and when I succumb I try to buy dark and rich!
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
CW: I haven't had any reason to go back to the doctor yet.
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your healthproblems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
CW: I always used ibuprofen regularly for headaches and arthritis pain but don't use it at all now. My husband doesn't use pain medication any more either. Both of us needed an antacid quite often but don't use them any more.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
CW: In our small Vermont city, we have a food co-op and they carry a few organic foods, breads, oils and grains. They are very helpful and will order whatever they can to help. I do drive an hour or more for better selections. We also have a very nice small fresh fruit and vegetable stand open all year with organic eggs and local produce.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
CW: This way of eating and ER4YT has taken over our life. We are committed to spreading the word. I started a weight loss class, began writing a newsletter, over 100 subscribers, and took a nutrition class at the local community college. I am now working towards getting certified as a nutritional consultant. I now find myself in the nutrition and weight loss business and love it. It is so rewarding because it is all so natural and so many are helped. Thank you for changing my life.
BR: Carol, this way of life changed your personal life as well as your professional life for the better!
Same case with me! And I also love my nutritious job! Listening to people’s healthproblems, guiding them into the diet and enjoy with them the positive outcome of this wonderful way of life!
Thank you for your honest, sober but very impressive interview!
Wish you and your family a long and BTD-healthy life!
BTD in South Africa: The story of Sue Visser
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
SV: Hi, I’m Sue Visser, Type O and my husband Jim, is Type A. We have been happily married for over 28 years and have a daughter: Vivienne, an O and a son: Anton, an A. We have developed our own Health Products company and supply over 30 natural cosmetics and supplements to outlets in South Africa. We research and develop the formulations ourselves and use many of the indigenous South African herbs. I do a lot of writing for health magazines and make regular contributions to both local and international radio services. As a backup to my programmes, I supply free information and research on our website – including, by the way, a lot of practical advice for blood type initiates. In our country people are reluctant to change their eating habits and think that pills and medications should solve all their health problems. Jim and I spend most of our time trying to educate them with regards to: “Eating Right for Your Type: We are both fitness and health enthusiasts and as a typical O, I am into Karate & Kickboxing and Jim prefers A type activities like bowls and yoga. We are both Tai Chi instructors for common territory, along with hiking in the gorgeous Cape Town scenery. For stress release, I have a punch bag in the garage and I go jogging every other morning. Jim does his yoga and stretches, reads or plays solitare on the computer.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
SV: As an avid health researcher, I talk to a lot of people in the health industry and I usually end up personally experiencing whatever diet, supplements or activities that seem to be making waves. From there, I have to evaluate the good, the bad and the ugly points, to obtain an honest insight. As you know, there are many contradicitions in the alternative as well as conventional medical fields and it’s not a case of getting the same results as the people who are promoting a certain product or train of thought. When people began enthusing about the blood type science It made a lot of sense to me. In South Africa, many of the descendents of the Dutch and Huguenot families suffer fron heart conditions. It is our tradition to eat a lot of meat, potatoes and mealies. Type A’s on such a diet are heading for disaster and so was Jim, as an A type Dutch born Visser!
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
SV: Yes, ignorance and blatant denial of correct eating habits. Although most people tend to think they are on a "healthy diet", most of our relatives seem to succumb to cancer and heart disease. It upsets me, now that I see how "Wrong for their Type" they eat.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, health practioner, or other?
SV: My Dutch friend, Bart Schubert is the editor of Health Counter news and we share an interest in trying to help people with health problems, especially the low income groups, who cannot afford what I call "elitist" medicine, with loads of hi-fi supplements and expensive therapies. Bart encouraged me to buy the book, as he offers it as part of a mail order service for his magazine.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
SV: Getting started, a few years ago was not easy and after hours of trying to make sense of an eating schedule, we both shook our heads. It seemed that only broccoli and rice would agree with us both. After a lot of frustration, we drifed back into more comfortable and communal eating habits, but felt guilty, as we had not mastered the techniques as outlined by the first book: "Eat right for Your Type"
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!) What kind of changes did you experience?
SV: Jim was the first to feel less stressed out and his energy levels improved. He was rebellious about giving up most of his meat dishes. I did not have the time to look up every single food and for convenience sake, began to opt for a more vegetarian, but wheat free diet, so we could eat together. As an O, I noticed my energy levels drop afer a few days on only fruit & veg, for instance.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Health problems like losing weight, or what?
SV: It was not easy to begin with and after a few months, we did not much progress. We did not have any serious health problems to begin with and were doing it on a purely academic and somewhat detached basis and began to hate it. One hears about so many wonderful health foods and because I have to help low income groups improve their nutrition, my starting point was to eliminate wheat, sunflower oil & sugar from their diets. I had to find appealing substitutes and used to go for lentils, dates, barley and lots of parsley! The lentils, rye bread and barley made me gain 6 kg.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
SV: My family view me with suspicion anyway and there are always freshly baked cakes, cookies and apple tart waiting when we pay a visit. All that white flour, sugar and margarine. Nobody gets the message, even though I have been tested and they know I have a wheat allergy. I’s all in the mind, they say!
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? How do you manage?
SV: We are mainly O and A. Ironically my husband has a few O type relatives who are type O vegetarians, but they have oodles of yogurt, eat lots of wheat and suffer from candida. I wonder why. At home we have now come to terms with O and A regimens and have developed a new eating plan that really is working, and we feel absolutely great on it.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road?
SV: It takes planning and discipline. Best to pop a few back up foods into your car or handbag in case of a pasta and bread attack! I usually go without if they can’t even provide me with a simple piece of fruit. People get insulted, but usually they know I eat funny! No point in getting sick from gooey lasagne. Let them know for next time, or better still: warn people in advance. I was guestspeaker at a breakfast once and they knew I was going to talk about diets. What did I get for breakfast? White toast, bacon & eggs! I sent it back & asked for fresh fruit.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
SV: At first, it was so difficult we gave up. It was only two years later, after a few months on fruit cleansing using Professor Ehert’s philosophy on fruit for breakfast and eating lots of fresh greens that I really saw a remarkable change in my body. I knocked off 8 kilos, although I wasn’t fat at first glance, all those lentils, barley and even rye had had rather an anabolic effect on my body. Jim, on the other hand, is trying to gain weight an giving Type A papaya for breakfast had a drastic effect and he lost 5kg, much to his disgust. This began to tell me something about blood type eating, now it made sense. It was this lucky break and the new: Live Right for your Type book that got me back on the road, and now I find it well worth the effort.
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
SV: We don’t have a medical doctor as we are never sick, but we associate with many doctors and therapists. Some of them are very open minded but they do not have the time to educate their patients and and explain that they come to them for pills, not common sense! My dentist lost 12kg with fruit only for breakfast and the O type diet sheets I typed out for him.
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
SV: We are not on medications, but take vitamin and mineral supplements. As an O I need extra B vitamins, especially as I do not react well to Rye bread.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
SV: In Cape Town, South Africa we have the very best health foods and our friend is a health food importer and wholesaler. She has an very exciting and ever increasing range of foods, from blackeyed beans to millet flour and flaxmeal. It is a pleasure to cook here.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
SV: I have shared the basics of blood type eating as well as many delicious recipes with my family and friends, and with all my radio listeners and people who read my articles in health magazines. It’s easy as we have a wonderful and very informative website to back up the community work we do. It’s all free and whenever I get inspired I add more wonderful ways to enjoy making foods that are guaranteed to suit you and your family. It’s easy, once you have identified foods that I call ALL TYPE foods. Then only a few adjustments are needed if "alien" blood types come for dinner and you can serve some of the dishes separately. I’m so glad chocolate is neutral for all blood types! I am working on a research paper and recipes on using cocoa therapeutically. It will soon be at: www.naturefresh.co.za Many thanks for the D’Adamo website, I visit it every day and gain a lot form the intensive data base you provide.
BR: Sue, thank you for this great interview! Seems to me you are on the right way to promote the Blood Type Diet in South-Africa!! As you say, the diet will be followed for life once people really get started and feel so much better by eating this way! I for myself, I started and never got back to my old eating habits! The BTD just completely filled the ‘gaps’ in my health!!
How Belinda Rupert marveled over marvelous ER4YT and found happiness again...
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
Belinda: Hi, my name is Belinda Ruport. I am a type a, secretor, CA native. I have been married for 19,5 years to amarvelous man named Marvin.We have a daughter, Abigail Rose, who is almost 6 years old and a son, Tyler James, that is 3 years old. I am a retired kennel owner/operator/RVT who is now thrilled to be able to stay at home to concentrate on raising, training and home educating our children.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
Belinda: I have a bladder condition called Interstitial Cystitis (IC). This is a constant bladder inflammation that had plagued me for the last 13 years. There were times that my bladder pain was just mildly annoying and there were times that it was very painful but for 13 years the pain was always there. I had tried everything that the Doctors recommended, including a special diet, but nothing helped much with the exception of a fairly new drug. The drug did help the pain but had too many unpleasant side effects for me to continue using it so September 2003 I stopped the drug. Within a few weeks the pain returned full force along with extreme fatigue. I decided to see what I could do to help with thefatigue since I figured there was nothing I could do about the pain.That was when I stumbled on Eat Right 4 Your Type and decided to give it a try.
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
Belinda: There has been some cancer in distant relatives and my paternal grandmother also has IC.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues,health practioner, or other?
Belinda: Other – I came across the book at the bookstore.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
Belinda: Cold-turkey. When got the book I went right to the food lists. I later read the rest of the book and fout out that maybe wasn’t the best approach.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!)
Belinda: 2 weeks!!
BR: What kind of changes did you experience?
Belinda: I started to see a change in my IC pain after about 2 weeks. After 1 month the pain was completely gone. I had also struggled with lower back pain prior to the start of the diet which was also gone after about 2 weeks. I also lost close to 10# after 2 weeks and continued to lose weight over the holidays even after splurging for a week on chocolate cheesecake and brownies! Since the beginning of the diet I have been eating these great wheat-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies several times a week and I still lost weight!
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started?
Belinda: It was a challenge at first.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
Belinda: My husband is supportive but does not want to change his diet to eat right for his type O.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? How do you manage?
Belinda: I am an A, my husband is an O. I will find out what the kids are next week when I get the tests in the mail. I think from their personalities that dd is an A and ds is an O. I have managed for my diet by fixing a large amount and then freezing in serving sizes. I have not changed anyone else’s diet but I think as soon as I find out the kids for sure I will gradually start to get them changed as much as possible.
BR: Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant?
Belinda: I don’t work and when we go out it’s pretty easy to get salad and chicken. On the road? Haven’t tried it.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
Belinda: It is easy for me to stay away from red meat. After being off of it for 1 week just the thought of eating a steak didn’t appeal to me at all. It is hard to stay away from wheat but it is getting easier.
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor?
Belinda: I haven’t bothered to try.
BR: Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
Belinda: I think I have convinced my urologist to at least check out the book.
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
Belinda: I was only taking Motrin for my back and I no longer have to take any.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
Belinda: No.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
Belinda: This diet has been a God-send for our whole family even though right now I am the only one on it. It is true that “If mama isn't happy, ain’t nobody happy! For the best part of 13 years sexually intimacy was a real pain. Now we can enjoy each other again. We feel like newlyweds! Also I look forward to enjoying horseback riding again in the spring. Thank-you Dr. D’Adamo! A thousand times thank-you!!!!!!! And may God bless you richly, as I am sure He already has, for the wonderful work you have done!
BR: Belinda, thank you so much for your open interview! A healthy, happy mom certainly is the center of a happy family! Happily you ‘stumbled’ on this healthy way of life as we, all BTD-followers did in the past. As you, we all are very grateful!! Wish you all the best with your husband and kids!!
Type A Diet shaped a whole New World for Carl Rossetti
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
CR: My name is Carl Rossetti and I live in Hawaii with my wife and our cat Sneakers.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
CR: I’ve always been interested in staying healthy. So I always took plenty of vitamins and minerals to make up for what they say food no longer has in it, because of our depleted soils. I’ve always worked out since high school and I enjoy being fit. I’m always looking for better ways to stay healthy, especially out side of orthodox medicine.
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
CR: None that I know of.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, healthpractioner, or other?
CR: I was working as a photographer in a restaurant here in Hawaii and I got to talking to the hostess at this place. She started to go on about this new diet, about eating foods for your blood type. Boy did I think that was crazy or what. But I did go get the book and started to read it. That’s when I was convinced it was the right thing to do.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
CR: I opted for the cold turkey approach.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!)
CR: It made a change the first two weeks.
BR: What kind of changes did you experience?
CR: I had a 10 lb. weight loss and all my clothes got baggy on me.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Health problems like losing weight, or what?
CR: It was easy to get started, because my favourite foods are berries and being an “A Secretor” I can eat lots of them. I do miss eating red meat, I will not eat it any more.
I’ve never been over weight per say, but I weighed 170 at 5’7”. Now I weigh 150 at 5’7”. It feels way better.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
CR: My wife saw the change and started on the diet herself. Our cat didn’t seem to care much, he still ate what he wanted. J
BR: How many bloodtypes are there in your family? How do you manage?
CR: My wife is an “O Secretor” and I’m an “A Secretor” so there are plenty of veggies we can eat together in salads and stir fries. When we go out we just swap the things we can eat.
BR: Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant?
CR: Easy at work, because I bring my own food. I hardly ever eat out anymore, which saves me money. Like I said when we go out, which we do a lot, we swap, but we also ask the restaurant if they can swap items. Most restaurants are ok with this and if they are not, then we don’t go back to that place.
On the road?: We eat what we find that is for our type’s.
Even if we have to go to a store and buy food to eat in our hotel rooms.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
CR: I used to slobber over having to watch my wife eat her fat juicy steak, but I’m ok now. I usually get salmon which is cheaper than steak most of the time. The biggest problem is the ingredients labels on most food items in the stores. They are pretty basic and some times we don’t know what the ingredients are, like natural flavours, or vegetable oil and things like that. Also foods that are not listed in the books or on the web page are difficult. Especially if it’s a food we like.
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor?
Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
CR: I haven’t been to a doctor in years, so I couldn’t comment on this.
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
CR: The only medication I ever take is muscle relaxers once in awhile (Advil or similar brands). I haven’t taken these since I’ve been on the diet, over two years now.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
CR: So far it has not been a problem, Except berries here in Hawaii are very expensive even on sale. With the internet most things can be had these days or we show our health food store where to get them for us.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
CR: I have been trying to get my body to look like I workout. Muscles to show, especially my abs and before this diet that was always a problem. Maybe because I couldn’t workout as much as I wanted. But now being on this diet and not having to spend any more time working out. My wife and I can see where it seems like all my muscles are showing, because I lost the fat around the muscles. It’s been over two years and I’m still looking better than any other time in my life, even when I used to dance, which you know keeps you in top shape. And I have more energy than I have had in a long time. Thanks to Peter and all those who are assisting him. Like the Aladdin song, which by the way we had as our wedding song, “It’s a Whole New World”. We are getting younger by the minute.
BR: Carl, you told us your way into the Diet! Your wife being an O and you being an A: two diets easy to combine. It is the way your body responds in such a positive way (more energy, losing fat!) that gives a thrill!
Life becomes so much more pleasant to live…
A way of life that provides us with loads of energy and will inhibit diseases to launch on to our system….
You are so right Carl, there is a Whole New World out there….
Thank you so much for your Pacific Contribution!!
Taking charge of your health: The story of Donna Haimes
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
DH: My name is Donna Haimes and I'm a Canadian citizen living in England for the last s six years. I'm 60 years old.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
DH: Mr. L. Stonfield, a Canadian doctor, put me on a partial type B diet due to allergies, food intolerances and irritable bowel problems as I ended up with Crohn's disease.
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
DH: Heart, diabetes, stomach cancer and arthritis.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, health practitioner, or other?
DH: A medical doctor, psychiatrist in Canada who practiced environmental medicine and friends who had a book called Eat Right 4 Your Type.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
DH: Canadian doctor put me on a partial diet but there wasn't that much I could eat due to allergy testing which was done at the same time so didn't have a full list of what a B type could eat so gave up following the B type diet until I moved to England and met Tom Greenfield, a naturopath and cranio-sacral therapist, who convinced me to try again with a complete list of what a B type could eat. I followed the diet except I left chicken in my diet. I was gaining weight. A few months ago when I saw Tom again he told me about the new book out called Live Right 4 Your Type which deals with secretors and non-secretors. I then read the book and started the B type diet for non-secretors and took out chicken also. I first started the diet 10 years ago in Canada but I've only been following the non-secretor B type for less than six months.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!)
What kind of changes did you experience?
DH: Noticed changes right away. I no longer felt bloated and no longer had stomach pains. The only foods I'd taken out of my diet were chicken, wheat and potatoes. I also found that I no longer needed to take the plant digestive enzymes that I've been taking for ten years. About a month after being on the diet the arthritis stiffness is decreasing and continued. Plus after being on the diet for two months I lost 20 pounds.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started?
Health problems like losing weight, or what?
DH: Yes it was easy to start the diet because I knew that from first trying the B type diet it was working for me but felt there was still something missing and when I started the non-secretor diet and that was like finding the secret to better health plus I wanted to lose the weight I'd gained.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
DH: They've accepted but think it's strange and as long as I don't force on them they are OK with it. My husband has just had the testing done and when he gets the results will also be going on the diet that suits him.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? How do you manage?
DH: I'm a B non-secretor and my husband is an A and is waiting for results of testing on whether he's a secretor or non-secretor.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant?
On the road?
DH: I don't work and the diet is easy for me to follow at home but eating out can sometimes be a problem.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
DH: I enjoy most foods, so didn't have a problem with the diet but miss eating chicken, bread and potatoes.
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
DH: No! No! They are in the dark ages here!
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
DH: None except homeopathic remedies and I don't need to take the plant digestive enzymes now.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
DH: No, in England the normal supermarkets have organic fresh foods and other products.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
DH: If I follow the diet I no longer have any bowel problems. I've tried many different diets and was a vegetarian for about a year and went on a gluten-free diet for two years and that helped with the Crohn's disease. I no longer have problems with that disease but if I try any brown whole wheat bread even once I have the bowel symptoms returning.
BR: Donna, thank you very much for this 'enlightening' interview, as I read about the Dark Ages still prevailing in the UK?! So good for you and others to have found Tom Greenfield to assist you!
Also for you as a B non-secretor wheat is the 'bad guy'! Wheat THE grain subjected to modification to nourish the world and see what happens! Wish you and your husband all the health possible!!
Cric Johnson: How ER4YT drastically changed his personal and professional life
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
CJ: My name is Cric Johnson. I am a 32 year old prospective naturopathic student, living in Alexandria, Virginia. Currently I am taking my prerequisite classes (biology, chem., etc.), and hope to attend Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (located in Phoenix, Az.) next fall.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
CJ: My first exposure to blood type-informed dieting came upon visit to a local nutritionist. At the time I was suffering from a laundry list of pretty severe health problems, and was making the rounds with a variety of holistic medical practitioners. An osteopath recommended that I see a certain nutritionist, who turned out to have ideas about blood type nutrition, based on her own research. Her ideas were not dissimilar from Dr. D’adamo’s, but there were a few point of disagreement. She made some general recommendations, such as: more protein, alternative grains, more vegetables.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, healthpractioner, or other?
CJ: A few months later my step-grandmother gave me a copy of Eat Right For Your Type. This was in spring of 1999. Although I was intrigued by the book, there were a number of discrepancies between Dr. D’Adamo’s and the nutritionist’s specific recommendations. Being in an unstable and confused state of mind, and not having made much progress on the basic type O diet so far, I played around with some of the different suggestions, but ended up shelving the book to avoid further confusion regarding my path to healing. I had suffered so much chemical damage from my time in the commercial painting industry, the diet alone (at least as I understood it then) wasn’t doing enough.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
CJ: It wasn’t until a full two years later, after a myriad of different treatments and adjustments (including time with Dr. Jesse Stoff, a Tucson physician renowned for his work in viro-immunology, who put all his patients on the Blood Type Diet) that I came back to Dr. D’Adamo’s work. At that time, I had been fooling around with a semi-vegetarian diet for several months, while undergoing heavy-duty mercury detox-- to disastrous results. I was down to 128 lbs (I’m 6’1"), and my gut was destroyed. It was like a miracle when I walked into a book store and picked up (quite randomly) ER4YT. I realized what I had been doing wrong. I started that day on the blood type principles, and have never looked back.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!)
What kind of changes did you experience?
CJ: Progress was slow of course, but, in a manner highly unusual for chronic disease, linear. Every month I could look back and see small improvements. Every person I knew, including doctors, told me there was no way I could gain weight eating veggies and protein. I gained twenty pounds of muscle in two months.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Healthproblems like losing weight, or what?
CJ: More than just an eating program though, my discovery of blood type genetics was a spiritual revelation. It created an entirely new and surprising mythology in my life. Already proud of and fascinated by my Irish and Scandinavian ancestry, insight into my genetic origins was like being connected to an ancient tribe (of course, as a type O, non-secretor, MM, I really am old as dirt!). The way Dr. D’adamo delineates the anthropology of blood type evolution (taken to new heights in the opening pages of the more recent encyclopedia), is profound, and transcends science.
When "Live Right For Your Type" came out in January of 2001, I was able to further refine my diet based on secretor status. And my participation in the (now defunct) BTD on-line board, brought new insight as well (thank you, Heidi!).
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
CJ: I will say, it has taken me quite a while to find how the BTD works for me. For several years I tried to adapt to it. In other words, I took an overly rigid approach. But now I see the elegance of Peter’s work, in its open-ness to adaptation. It seems that he tries to not be overly specific, wherever possible. For instance, I am an ectomorph (skinny body-type), which is unusual for type O’s. Therefore my emotional constitution tends a bit more to the commonly ectomorphic type A side, though bold and highly extroverted like most O’s, I also value privacy, calm, and quiet, and possess sensitivity and mental intensity. Also, as I lean toward a catabolic metabolism, and because of healing nervous and endocrine systems (I am chemically sensitive), I require a bit more fat than is generally prescribed to non-secretors-I eat a good amount of nuts, and a moderate amount of olive and walnut oils, and some coconut oil and butter as well. For the same reason I focus more on resistance training than cardio, and keep exercise moderate (compared to my mesomorphic type O brothers and sisters, with their broad frames and hearty musculature-- God bless ‘em!).
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road?
CJ: In a typical day I will have eggs and/or some leftover fish for breakfast, steak with grilled veggies for lunch, and fish with veggies for dinner. I sometimes have a little fresh fruit before and/or in between meals, and I nibble on raw carrots, celery, ginger, etc during meals as well. I eat fatty fish (mackerel, rainbow trout, etc.) at least once a day, and nuts (esp. macadamias and walnuts) are omnipresent in my life, with and between meals. Almost everything I eat is organic, meat is grass-fed.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
CJ: I live in a major metropolitan area, so obtaining the goods is no problem (paying for them, on the other hand, can be!).
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
CJ: I am planning on pursuing a career in natural medicine because it has been instrumental in assisting my life’s process. I feel that it also holds promise to heal broader society. As psychologist Jeffery Maitland says, "the spiritual crisis at the heart of fibromyalgia [read: CFS/MCS/etc] is the same one at the heart of our modern world". As someone who has struggled with this illness I have learned its lessons, and am determined to bring them into the public sphere through naturopathic medicine. In this interview I have spoken mostly of the physiological, but of course the spiritual and emotional are at least, and usually more, important in altering the disease process. As is becoming increasingly clear, a pill can not cure chronic disease. The only way out is through the slow, un-glamorous process of lifestyle transformation. In this sense, the holistic approach offered by naturopathy is truly alternative, like a light in the fog of our overdriven world. I can testify that such a path is, as theologian Matthew Fox says of all authentic spiritual pursuit, "joyful and familiar".
BR: Cric, thank you so much for your deep, spiritual and honest interview! Bless the day that you picked up ER4YT in that bookstore! Your story is one to be recognized by many of us! What a good change in life to start the study naturopathy!! So there will be another compassionate ND in time! We just experienced our first Bloodtype Seminar in Southwest College in Tempe, hosted by our Dr. Peter D’Adamo himself! No better University to start your Naturopathic classes! Cric, enjoy your regained health and I wish you a ‘sunny’ study in Arizona!!
To 'B' or not to 'B': The story of Sarah Cheta
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
SC: My name is Sarah Chetah, I live in the Westcountry in England. I am blood group B (secretor status unknown at present), I am 47, married for 24 years and have 3 children (2Bs and 1O) and 2 grandchildren (both Os). I have 2 sisters and 3 brothers all As. My husband is O.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
SC: I have always battled with my weight. A friend told me about this 'diet' that her friends at work were on. My actual response at the time was "oh! whatever will they think of next, what a load of rubbish"!! Two months later my eldest daughter commented upon my increasing visits to the bathroom. Soon after this I was in a book shop with time hanging heavy, I glanced up and saw ER4YT, as I knew my blood group I casually opened the book at 'my' page and started to read. I could not put the book down. The small paragraph identifying the phlegm for Bs had me hooked - as I have suffered all my life from this.
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
SC: The family as a whole have all been prone to 'allergies' for as long as I can remember. My mother and older sister both have a Thyroid deficiency, my birth father died of heart disease in his early 50s, athletes foot on the soles of the feet is a common family complaint. Both my maternal grandparents died of cancer.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
SC: The key word here was Slowly. I stopped eating wheat straight away. The other avoids were more difficult, some that gave me an unwanted physical response were very easy to eliminate such as corn and tomatoes, but I have to admit that the foods with 'hidden' consequences have been far harder to conquer, but after my last brush with avoid foods that left me feeling very poorly, both physically and mentally, I know I shall never knowingly deviate again. I have recently started to follow the recommended daily/weekly frequency and portion size (larger end of the scale to start) in a bid to lose weight - I am confident that I will lose weight. My downfall to date has been being able to eat within the beneficial and neutral food lists in quantities, especially cheese and milk without feeling ill. I have found that I become unwell if I do not eat substantially from the vegetable lists on a regular basis though.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!) What kind of changes did you experience?
SC: The most remarkable difference was being truly AWAKE - something that I had not experienced for a lifetime. It is just wonderful to go to bed tired and wake up, and actually be awake. Every day prior to this was a struggle with a tangible fog that prevented me from functioning. I never wish to feel tiredness like it again and with this eating plan I know I never will. I do not recall how long it was before I 'woke up' but I think it was a gradual awakening over about a month. Within a week the desperate, instant burning diarrhoea was considerably better and is now non-existent. The fact that the ache in my bones and hands was caused by tomatoes is something I still find hard to get my head round. I experimented with this result 3 times before I could believe that a simple food could have an effect as specific as that. The athlete's foot on the soles of my feet began to clear up spontaneously; my skin, and especially my scalp, stopped itching. I no longer get hives behind my ears or down my spine. My sense of taste has improved over the months and I no longer hanker after foods I would once have considered 'staples'. PMT is almost a thing of the past, the hot flushes are completely gone (except when I have eaten 'off plan' and then only mild), my periods have returned to that of pre the birth of my third child. I am no longer bloated. Mentally I am more alert, calmer and a very much happier person. I know I will continue to feel better and better now that I am "fine tuning" my eating plan.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started?
SC: After the initial elimination of wheat from my diet gave me such huge health benefits I just knew that eliminating the other avoids would probably make me feel even better - and they did! I also wanted to lose weight, I did lose 12lbs initially which has stayed off, I now want to lose the remaining 42lbs - with the feeling of wellbeing the plan gave me weight loss became a secondary issue to that of feeling good! I have found the transition from my old eating habits to the new difficult in a lot of ways as I love food, but I have eaten "off plan" for the last time. Each month gets easier and easier. I am now far more organised in the kitchen, with shopping and with cooking.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
SC: They thought I was mad! Then they began to see the 'new' healthier me. My demand for instant access to the bathroom has brought sighs of relief from everyone. My husband says I am much nicer (I believe he means calmer and more rational!). My eldest daughter (married with 2 children and living away from home) switched from white supermarket bread to homemade Spelt bread - her stomach problems have gone.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? How do you manage?
SC: I am lucky that I have to prepare food for only Bs and Os. I have introduced more meat of better quality for my husband and try to get him to cut down on wheat. Even seeing the difference in me does not give the family as a whole the impetus to follow suit.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant or on the road?
SC: I have found it very limiting and usually eating 'off plan' has occurred when I have been out for a meal. However, I have discovered that most establishments will cater for 'special' diets and allow me to make a meal by taking one or two options from several different meal choices. I now take my own packed lunches to work, as buying things out can be a real hazard.
BR: Looking at your diet: what parts were easy to integrate into your lifestyle, which still give you problems?
SC: I had no trouble with any of the basic foods in the diet - I liked them all. I try make the majority of my meals by using foods from the Beneficial lists, I think it is now 50/50 for Beneficial and Neutral. Eliminating some of the avoids was difficult - tomatoes had always featured on a daily basis, chicken 3 or 4 times a week. I had always enjoyed eating the fat off all meats. Dispensing with pork and pork products was extremely hard, bacon was the hardest but I have at last conquered this one as well. Pop corn, sweet corn, cornflakes etc featured strongly in my pre-plan days and I did miss them.
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
SC: I had consulted my doctor about the awful constant tiredness but my children were young at the time and he put it down to being a mum. The diarrhea was investigated during the initial phase but nothing found, and it did seem to clear up some for a short while - probably when I was on yet another diet. I have not been to see him for a year now - the last time was when I developed asthma from household sprays (gone completely by avoiding antagonist substances and breathing exercises from my Yoga). I have always found him to be very supportive and suspect he would be prepared to look at the plan.
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
SC: I never took anything except one course of asthma inhalers which I used for 2 weeks only.
BR: Is finding organic foods difficult where you live?
SC: I am able to buy meat from a local butcher; fruits and vegetables are available locally without any problems.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
SC: The longer I follow this plan along with the evidence I have gathered from my own failings, just continues to strengthen my belief that this plan is the way forward not just for me but everyone if only they would give it a try! My eldest daughter and husband have always disliked potatoes and would groan when jacket potatoes, cheese and salad appeared on their plates while I, my son and youngest daughter all salivated - it now makes perfect sense. I could never understand how anyone could not like potatoes! For years I tried the ‘Slimming World’ diet. The ‘Red Plan’ made me feel physically sick. The ‘Green Plan’, I now know to be responsible for keeping me a prisoner of the bathroom, as I ate loads and loads of pasta! I talk about this plan as often as I can, to anyone who will listen. I have sent copies of the books to friends and family and frequently lend out my duplicate copies to people who agree to 'have a look'. My brothers and sisters are all As. My mother AB, my father I do not know. My elder sister has suffered for years with serious abdominal complaints, thyroid deficiency, extreme tiredness, bloating, pale blotchy skin etc. After my 'cure' I enthused so well the plan that she decided to give it a try - all else had failed. The difference in her in staggering - she is like a new person. Two stone lighter and still losing, she has colour in her face and looks so well. She has energy. She enthuses about the plan to her work colleagues and friends, the same as I do. My other siblings are still on-lookers. I am delighted that I am a B, the other blood group plans just do not appeal to me. But if I were different then maybe they would appeal.
BR: Sarah, you had the same experience when first reading Eat Right 4 Your Type as I had. ‘This is MY diet!’ ‘Eating Right’ is just the answer for everybody, once they are ready to get started. Getting started is essential in personally experiencing big changes in mental and physical health. Sarah, thank you for your open interview!
Keeping it all in balance: A chat with Martha D'Adamo.
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Martha, could you tell us something about yourself I mean, where you were born, your parents, your childhood, how many brothers and/or sisters, where you lived.
MD: My story is a very "American" story. My mother was Irish and my father was Hungarian, both children of immigrants who came to America for a better life. I was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in New Jersey. There are seven children in my family - six girls and one boy! - and I am the middle child. Life was very active in our household with all those children, as you might imagine. As a child, I loved biking, reading, writing, and I enjoyed a marvelous fantasy life...I was a star reporter, a detective, a teacher, a poet, all within the walls of my bedroom.
BR: Could you tell us about your professional life? Before and after your marriage?
MD: I started out as a secretary at a small ad agency in New York City, and the man I worked for was a magnificent individual. He took me under his wing and taught me the advertising business, and I was promoted to an Account Executive. My love of the printed word took hold and I switched over to the magazine business working as an advertising sales representative. I spent seven years at Esquire, and during that time I received a number of promotions, ultimately becoming the Vice-President/Marketing Director for the company. I left Esquire in 1986 when I moved to Canada after my marriage to Peter. We stayed there briefly, and when we returned to the states, I went over to Conde Nast, a big publishing house, and became the Advertising Director for House and Garden Magazine. From there, I became the publisher on a start up hybrid newspaper/magazine called 7 Days. My job at 7 Days was thrilling, as we were doing very innovative work. I worked with a terrific group of people, and it was enormously challenging and fulfilling to build a fledgling publication. Although we had tremendous acceptance in the market, our owner decided to close the publication after two years. The week after we closed, we received a National Magazine Award for general excellence - I guess you could call that "poetic justice".
This break in work was a natural opportunity to begin our family, and Claudia was born one year later in 1991. I knew I did not want to commute into New York City, and made the decision to create an opportunity for myself in Connecticut which would allow me flexibility. It was at this time that Peter and I developed and launched The Journal of Naturopathic Medicine. Peter was the editor, and I was the publisher. As the magazine grew, it was too much for us to continue doing on our own, and we gave the magazine to the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. We felt that we had created a strong template for the profession, and that it was a good time for them to take over and continue to build it.
Just as this was happening, we started North American Pharmacal. I was the "business side" and Peter was the "technical advisor/formulator". Our first and only product at that time was Ara-6 powder, and we were selling it in bulk as well as in the single units that we have today. The business started in our attic, and it rapidly took over our house. We moved into our first office space in 1996. That same year, Eat Right 4 Your Type was published, and we saw an opportunity to create a line of blood type specific products which supported the Blood Type Diet. The first products were Fucus and Taraxacum as they were simple to formulate and source and now we have over 50 products. Next year, we expect to launch a new line of Pre-Natal vitamins, a line of protein powders, and a woman's specialty formula. Peter's publisher will release Peter's latest work, Eat Right 4 Your Baby in the Spring of 2003. We are just in the process of copyediting the manuscript, and I was privileged to write the introduction. This book is really a "labor of love" as having our children was and continues to be the greatest and most rewarding collaboration Peter and I have ever undertaken.
Office space continues to challenge us as we are growing so rapidly, and I am just in the process of purchasing a building in Norwalk, Connecticut which I hope will be the "worldwide headquarters" for NAP for many years to come.
BR: Mothers are vital factors in the lives of their children. Tell us about your relation with your mother, and you being a mother yourself, of Emily and Claudia. Tell us about the relation with your daughters!
MD: My daughters are two of the greatest joys in my life. For many years, I thought I would not have children as I was very career focused. When the time came to start a family, I was quite nervous. But the moment I saw Claudia's face, my life changed forever. Claudia was born in 1991, and Emily followed in 1994. I learn from my daughters every day, and in each of them I see different aspects of myself. In many ways, this is similar to the relationship I had with my mother. We both had a piece of each other in us, and we grew up together. My mother was a strong woman, who worked very hard to raise her family. She had a wonderful sense of humor, and a deep faith in God. We enjoyed a close relationship, and she loved the time she had with our daughters before her death in 1998.
BR: We know from Peter's interview that you two met in his clinic. What kind of health problems did you experience to visit Peter's clinic? And how compliant are you since then with the BTD.
MD: My major health complaint when I saw Peter was stress - I traveled constantly for work, and I wasn't very focused on taking care of myself. He helped me turn that around and make my health a priority. I would say I am 80 - 90% compliant on the program in general, and when I am feeling stressed or worn out, my compliance goes to 95%-100%.
BR: Martha, you are married to Peter! How did you two meet, and enlighten us about the secret of your happy marriage!
MD: Many people have full and rewarding lives without children. For me, and for Peter as well, we would not be who we are today without our children. As we have raised them, they have raised us. They bring great joy and inspiration to us, along with those moments of total exasperation! Our marriage has been strengthened because of our children, and I believe the secret to this is no secret at all. It is respect - of your partner, of your children, of yourself. If you truly understand and have respect for each other, you leave room for each person's individuality, for their moods, for their self-expression.
BR: Martha, you have a busy life, being a mother, partner, running a busy household, being President of NAP. Are you at home often enough? Do you get criticism from your daughters?
MD: Life is full, and with the company going through a growth stage and with our daughters entering those pre-adolescent and adolescent years, there's a tremendous amount of work and coordinating of schedules. Each week, I put a lot of miles on the car, going from one place to another. I am fortunate that I have flexibility with NAP, so if one of the girls needs something, I can be there for them. Although the weekdays are full, we try very hard to keep weekends easy and family oriented. Just "hanging out" together is one of our favorite things to do.
BR: Being President of NAP is a tremendous job! Please give us an impression of how your average day looks like?
MD: It's funny, but no day is the same, and I try to look at a week's time to make sure I get it all in. I am up early every day, answering emails and managing my correspondence. During the school years, I get the girls together for school and drop them off. I either come back to the house, go to the office, or on Tuesday's and Thursday's go to karate class with Peter. I have weekly staff meetings to keep on top of NAP events, and I have weekly management meetings with German Ramirez, the CFO of NAP, and with Merita Peterson, the Customer Service Director, to make sure all the key aspects of our business are funning smoothly. Through the fall, I'll be heavily involved in the new building renovations and the move into the new space, so this will take a big chunk of my time.
BR: You live a fully occupied life! Is there still time left for your hobbies? And if so, what hobbies do you have?
MD: I have a number of hobbies. At the top of the list is karate, although it really is more than a hobby for me. It has become a very significant part of my life as it integrates a wonderful physical workout with a spiritual and energetic focus that is very grounding. All of us practice it, and we try to schedule some time each week where we can train together. I love reading, particularly good mysteries, wonderful novels and books on Jungian psychology. I love to garden, but I must admit I've been beaten down by the local deer population, so I am limited as to what I can do. We hope next year to fence in some of the property and create a zen-like space with beautiful plant specimens as well as some vegetables.
BR: How well organized is your household? We know already that Peter cleans floors with Swiffers and gets into trouble by doing so!! Do your daughters have tasks at home as well?
MD: Some days we are really well organized, and some days we are not. I am very aware that this reflects my state of affairs, so I try to work very hard to stay on top of this. Peter is a wonderful, active participant in our household as are the girls. As they get older, they get more involved which is terrific. They recently put together a chore list which says who takes out the garbage, who recycles, who's on dish patrol, who feeds which pet...we have 3! Marcel, our 6 year old bichon, Artemis, a 2 year old dwarf rabbit and Sebastian, a 2 year old hamster.
BR: Peter is an A. You are an O! O's stand for rationality, A's for emotionality! Or is there more to it? Please tell us about it!
MD: O's can be irrational, and A's can be emotional although these are general tendencies, each person is an individual with their own personal psychology and dynamic. Peter and I are extremely fortunate that we are in-tune with each other and can sense each other's moods even before they happen. When we are strong, we both can respond supportively to each other. When we are worn out, it's more difficult to do so. That's why we work so hard to keep ourselves grounded and balanced.
BR: What is it like to be married to a (for some years already!) worldwide famous man? And is there an effect of this fame on your daily lives?
MD: The important things to remember are that when we married seventeen years ago, Peter wasn't famous. He was simply his wonderful, brilliant self. And although he has achieved great notoriety in his life, he still is fundamentally the wonderful, brilliant self he was when I married him. He has never suffered from an inflated ego or become to full of himself. In many ways, his fame has made him more humble, as he is acutely aware of the dangers of "false gods". The only change this has made on our daily lives is that we have more to do and a greater sense of responsibility to do it well.
BR: Martha, I want to express my thanks for this open, honest interview giving our readership a full insight in your lives!! It is a gift of character to remain the persons you were many years ago! In Dutch we have an expression for it: 'Alleen sterke benen kunnen de weelde dragen' translated: "Only strong legs can carry the luxury." You both are great people!
The story of Nick Bowler, European importer of NAP products.
February 11th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Nick, please introduce yourself! Where were you born, your family, how many brothers and sisters you have and where you lived.
NB: Hi Cocky, Here are my vital statistics: B+ NS MN INTP. I was born an only child in Bahrain in the middle east on the 17th July 1956, and lived there until I was shipped off to boarding school in the UK when I was 11. Awali, Bahrain was quite a surreal ‘back to the future’, time-warped little place, - a pre-fabricated fully equipped American town in the middle of the desert, and inhabited largely by about 4000 Brits. The reason for it being there was of course oil, and although it was an American company that ran it, the Royal Navy maintained a base there, so the ruler was very pro-British. After school I had a 3 year stint in Sheffield University before getting my first job selling industrial precious metals in London. Two years later I was stationed in Copenhagen, then four years after that I jumped ship and started my own business. That has continued until this day, but now I have moved to Scotland, and am working in the Natural product industry, which is a welcome return to my roots in regard to my scientific background.
BR: Could you tell us something about your professional life? You are a biochemist. You are in charge of Stacktheme Ltd. in Scotland (European distributor of NAP products). Are there other offices in Europe, or is the Dutch office the only one? What are your professional plans for the future?
NB: One thing you can say about this business is that you can take nothing for granted. Every day presents new challenges and opportunities to a much greater degree than in most professions. As the science has moved forward rapidly over the past few decades, and the internet has spread information to an unprecedented degree, business has boomed. Unfortunately the orthodox health establishment has used its influence to discredit anything deemed to be alternative, and the consequence is that it has been difficult to stand out from a crowd in which there are many charlatans. The BTD is a case in point of course, because in many people’s minds it is still just another fad diet, and many health care professionals hope it will stay that way. This is because rather than embracing it as a major new tool in their arsenal, they see only the threat posed by the undermining of their current understanding. We are planning for a future which will see the Blood type theory becoming accepted as the first avenue of investigation of every serious practitioner’s therapy regime, so we have to prepare for how we are going to facilitate that transition and deal with the consequences. Our business strategy in Europe is to build a central hub for distribution and administration, with local offices providing language and technical back up. So far we have offices in the UK, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, covering most of Northern Europe. We plan to open up similar representative offices in the Southern European arena over the next couple of years. We will be investing a lot of effort on our new website www.right4EU.com and in company communication infrastructure, as this kind of dispersed organisation demands good links between all personnel. Luckily for us, technology and the politics of the single market are working for us in this venture.
BR: You live a fully occupied life! Is there still time left for your hobbies? And if so, what hobbies do you have?
NB: My hobbies tend to be of the sporting kind, indulging my competitive instincts, as this seems to get me furthest removed from thinking about work. I find that a game of squash, a cycle ride in the countryside or a round of golf does the trick in terms of ‘getting away from it all’. Otherwise you can find me in the kitchen, trying out a new blood type recipe on my long suffering family.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet? And how you got started! Gradually or cold-turkey-wise? Tell us how you ran into the Diet and of the consequences for you personally and your family?
NB: It was just after I moved to Scotland in late 1997 that I read a synopsis of the book in a UK nutritional publication. I had been working in the food supplement business for about a year, and had been struck by the fact that the dietary advice offered by health food stores and nutritional practitioners often didn’t work as well as it should, given the power that I knew the products I was dealing with had. Reading the article was one of those ‘aha’ moments that you get when the truth hits you right between the eyes. You can take two steps forward from illness by using high quality supplements, but if you then keep taking three steps back by eating foods that burden your immune system, you don’t improve at all! There are going to be many more ways found about how to tailor health advice to individual need in the future, as the information available from the genome project is ‘mined’, but I doubt any system to be devised will turn out to be as powerful a tool for the practitioner to use as the blood type theory allows. I had personally run through a lot of different alternative healthcare methods over the previous years as I had a serious neurological condition which developed in late 1993, so I had a good understanding by then of what worked for me and what didn’t. What I noticed right away about the diet was that it controlled my blood sugar crashes which seriously aggravated my condition, and also my tendency to bloating and gas. However I had never been overweight, so nothing changed there. I reckon that I was fully on the diet within a couple of months, although travelling is always a major problem, so I use ‘Deflect’ a lot then. The consequences for myself and my family are profound – you might say that we work, eat and sleep the BTD now!
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
NB: On my mothers side there was a definite tendency to Breast cancer, but otherwise nothing particular.
BR: Nick, your family, your wife Eileen, your daughters Sarah and Lucy and your son George, how did they react to your following the diet? Are they ‘in’ as well, or are you a ‘loner’ following the diet?
NB: The family has followed my example with varying degrees of enthusiasm, however we are now all aware that the BTD is the ‘right’ path, but for the kids at least sinning can still sometimes be fun! At home we all eat what is available, and since we only buy items that are compatible with BTD there is no problem with distractions, but away from home is a different situation, then it’s a case of ‘damage limitation’ instead.
BR: How many bloodtypes are there in your family? How do you manage?
NB: Only two luckily, Eileen is an O and the rest of us are all B, which leads me to believe that I am probably homozygous B, and the kids are all heterozygous of course. The diet choices are more similar between these two groups than any other two, so there are few problems buying provisions.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult in Scotland: when at work, at a restaurant? On the road?
NB: As I mentioned, outside the home is where the problem starts, but as long as I am not away too long I can resist straying, but after a while hunger wins over any other considerations, and you end up just trying to make the least bad choice based on what you have felt in the past. The longer I am on the diet, the more sensitive I am to eating incompatible foods.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
NB: As a B non-secretor I have the widest choice of foods available, although not so many are beneficial as for a secretor. Nuts, grains and pulses are really the only things that I used to eat that I now avoid and there is no bread in the house any longer, but I don’t really miss these at all. I have a bit of a ‘sweet tooth’ so removing sugar containing foods from the diet is the hardest thing for me, but I have been working on that for many years now anyway!
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
NB: I really don’t know, I havent been under the regular care of an orthodox physician since I took charge of my own healthcare after I lost faith in my own doctor back in 1994, when I first presented with my health problems. He prescribed anti-depressants and referred me to a psychiatrist, even though I had hardly ever needed to visit a doctor for other than minor complaints before then. The MD’s that I have talked to in a professional capacity tend to be either very enthusiastic (rare) or ostrich like (common).
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your healthproblems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
NB: I found the best things for my problems are anti-inflammatory in their effect or are glutamate antagonists. Bromelain, cats claw, taurine, kava-kava, lactoferrin are all such examples. These days I get by with just the ‘basic pack’ products and only occasionaly need to ramp up on other specific products.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
NB: We live in the country so it is a long way to the larger food stores where we can find a good organic selection. However we are lucky enough to live near a large organic farmer who produces all kinds of seasonal fruits and veg, and also has an organic meat mail order business. We get weekly deliveries to our door so we are well supplied.
BR: Are there any other experiences, advice, you have in stock for us, as far as the BTD is concerned, you wish to share with us??
NB: Yes : just do it! It is the single most profound health promoting change you will ever make in your life.
BR: Nick, thank you very much for this open and very informative interview! Our readership (including myself as your Dutch ‘Stack’-Team office-manager!) has now more insight knowledge about the man behind the Stacktheme Company! With you I wish you many more foreign ‘stacks’ on your team! Enjoy working for you in the Netherlands! It’s challenging! Thank you!
Living the Blood Type Diet: An interview with Hayden M. McKaskle
February 11th, 2006 , by adminTITLE: LIVING THE BLOOD TYPE DIET: An interview with Hayden M. McKaskle
BR: Introduce yourself!
HM: My name is Hayden McKaskle. I am 45 and type A+ but my secretor status is unknown (I suspect secretor). I have been married for 22 years and my wife is O+. We have twin daughters aged 17 and although they have yet to be tested for blood type, I believe them to be A based on information I have read in Blood Relations. I am an executive in the electronics industry. We are all US citizens and although we live in Nashville, Tennessee USA, we lived in the UK for 3 years during the 1990s.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
HM: I am generally in very good health and have been all my life although I have fought a bit of a weight problem since I was very young. I am 5’10” and my adult weight has fluctuated from around 175 lbs. to as high as 220 lbs. The latter weight was as recent as summer of 2001, just before going on the ER4YT plan. Up until last summer, I did not exercise regularly. Although my blood pressure was not high prior to the diet, I was beginning to see a bit of an upward trend in this area. Blood tests in the last few years did not indicate any issues with cholesterol or other factors. I do not smoke and generally do not drink with the exception of red wine on occasion.
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
HM: My father died at the young age of 52 from a cerebral hemorrhage. He had a series of strokes during the 5 years or so prior to his death. He was a heavy smoker and did not exercise. My mother is in her late 70s and is in generally good health.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, healthpractioners, or other?
HM: My wife told me about it as she heard about it from a friend. I didn’t pay any attention to it at first but my eyes were opened when a Type B friend of hers began to see results. She has MS and within a week or so of going cold turkey, began to see moderation in her symptoms and generally felt much better. My wife and I both began to read ER4YT at the same time. I did not know my own blood type at first and prayed that I would be an O! I was quite sad when I got tested and found out my A status. It was just so radically different than my life long eating habits that I didn’t think I could make even a partial change. Lets face it: I was basically eating like an O with heavy doses of dairy, pork products, and breads.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
HM: Being basically an obsessive person, I went completely cold turkey from day one (day after Thanksgiving).
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!). What kind of changes did you experience?
HM: Within a week or two, I began to notice profound differences in my mental state. I seemed to have a clearer head in general, particularly mid mornings and mid afternoons. A typical breakfast prior to the diet would have been a bagel with lots of cream cheese or some commercial cereal with milk. Prior to the diet, lunch would often be a cheeseburger or a deli with heavy amounts of cheese, mayo, etc. Since going on the diet,I no longer have those down periods following such meals or the need for caffeine during related down periods. I have more energy than I have had since my high school days. Weight loss has been steady since day one and my regular exercise has accelerated this loss. As of June 12, I weigh 188 and the trend is continuing.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started?
Healthproblems like losing weight, or what?
HM: I have never had trouble going on diets before or losing weight for that matter. ER4YT was easier than any diet plan I have ever tried because I never felt starved between meals. My energy level seems fairly constant too. My main objective in the beginning was to lose weight and find a steady lifestyle. If I had it to do all over again and knew that I wouldn’t lose weight but would feel as good as I do, I would still go on the plan.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
HM: My wife has been very supportive since the beginning and has followed the O plan since I started the A. She did not need to lose much weight but did lose a bit in the beginning. That has stabilized but the greatest benefit she has seen is in her overall health. She has long suffered from allergies and much of this has been reduced. She feels great! Our children have been supportive and recently expressed interest in following some of the plan. I think it will be harder for teen A types to follow this regime than it is for adults. Our culture is so geared toward unhealthy eating habits.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? How do you manage?
HM: I am type A, my wife is an O and we suspect our twin daughters are type A. For dinner, I will often grill meat, perhaps steak for my along with Tempeh for me. I have grown to really enjoy Tempeh and have it several times a week. At least once or twice a week, we will all have Salmon, Tuna, or Chicken on or off the grill.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant?
On the road?
HM: I have started taking lunch to work so that hasn’t really been very hard. Going out for lunch can be harder but many restaurants offer vegetarian dishes or fish. On the road is not hard at all because I plan and take what I need with me.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
HM: For the first 2 or 3 months, I went totally Beneficial only and this was very restrictive. In the last couple of months, I have started adding Neutrals and this has helped a great deal. I have grown to enjoy all kinds of soy products, especially Tempeh and Soy Milk but these seem to generate excess gas. I could become a complete vegan except I still enjoy salmon too much! One issue I have noted for me is sweets. These really weren’t an issue per se for me prior to the diet, but I find myself wanting them at times now. I wonder if this is related to the dramatic reduction in fat intake since going on the plan. I really have to work on this although having occasional sweets has not hurt my weight loss at all.
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of theblood type diet on your health?
HM: I have my first appointment and physical (since going on the diet) with him later this month and for the first time, I am actually looking forward to it. He is very open minded for an MD and I look forward to sharing this with him. I have convinced so many lay people of the benefits and one other MD so I feel like my own doctor will likely read the book at least.
BR: What kind or medication did you take for overcoming your healthproblems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
HM: This is not applicable to me personally as I was not taking any medications. My wife (type O) however, has eliminated Sudafed and greatly reduced her need for Claritin since going on the plan. Her allergies have subsided greatly.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods that you need?
HM: Nashville is a fairly large metro area and there are a number of organic stores near our home. Travel seems to be an issue at times as many areas do not have this convenience. You just have to plan more.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
HM: A good friend of mine (also an A) started this diet about a month after I did and has seen similar results. We have both become something of evangelists for the plan and recommend it to someone pretty much every day. A number of people have come back to me later and reported positive results. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the exercise / lifestyle recommendations Dr. D’Adamo makes for As and this has caused some problems for me. As is true to my personality, my exercise regime became more and more strenuous in frequency and weight and in the last couple of months I have developed several stress related injuries. As I rehab these, I am moving toward less impact / strenuous forms that I can live with the rest of my life. I have believed the dietary plan is correct since the beginning. I now believe based on personal experience that Dr. D’Adamo is also right about "living right" in terms of exercise and other life factors. My advice to beginners is to pay attention to the Whole Body concept and not just the food when you start the plan. I would also suggest that you try to eat some Neutrals from the beginning and not just Beneficial foods. My people, including myself, make the mistake of only eating Beneficial foods in the beginning.I think Dr. D’Adamo should next write about Teenagers and the Plan. The benefits of this lifestyle are so great. I can only imagine how much healthier I would be if I could have started this at an early age. Peer pressure is so great at that age and they all eat terribly. My own teen twins are starting to move toward the plan but very, very gradually. It would be great if a book could speak to them in their words and offer a way to get there over time.
BR: I want to thank you, Hayden, for sharing your experiences in this interview! As I am also an A, I recognize the ‘cravings’. I take dried apricots, peanuts and figs in the afternoon. I can then ‘hang on’ till dinnertime!! Regarding the excercising regime I have similar experiences! Now I have finally decided to take yoga lessons next to my moderate fitness practice! Hayden, thank you and no need to say to stay with us in this healthy way-of-life!!
Beating MS with the BTD: The story of Debbie Cardone
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Tell us a little about yourself - your age, blood type, marital status, children, nationality, profession, country in which you live.
DC: My name is Debbie Cardone, I’m forty-six, type O non-secretor. I’m married twenty-five years this September; I have six children, two boys and three girls. I have four grandchildren. I’m German and English. I’m a health coach; I work for Dr. Hoffman a Chiropractor. I live in the USA.
BR: Give us some insight of your health problems. Are there any diseases running in your family?
DC: I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis fifteen years ago. I’ve been in a wheelchair, used a walker and a cane. I’ve had Optic neuritis, Urinary tract infections, IBS, Esophageal spasms; Colitis, Hepatitis, Hypothyroidism, Allergies and I had my Gallbladder out, and a Hysterectomy. My family has a history of Cancer and Diabetes.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet (I rather call it way-of-life!) Was it through friends, colleagues, health practitioners, or other?
DC: I was so depressed and tired of being sick, I prayed and went to the library to look up books on eating healthy. I remembered my brother telling me about eating for your blood type for health and weight. So I got the book and started reading.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
DC: I started right away eating beef and stopped wheat. I ate all the beneficial foods I could and stayed away from the avoids.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!). What kind of changes did you experience?
DC: It was a week when I started thinking clearer and had more energy. I felt pretty good. After a month I stopped all medication and felt ten years younger. After four months I went off disability, lost forty pounds, and went back to work. Now I help others to eat right. All our patients are tested for their blood type and we go from there.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Health problems like losing weight, or what?
DC: It was pretty easy to get started. I had to learn my food lists and get off sweets. I had to learn to prepare food and plan meals. Not grab anything I could find. It is a way of life a healthy new way. My main purpose was to get healthy stay out of the wheel chair, lose weight and enjoy my family.
BR: Your family; how did they react to your following this Blood type program? Are they supportive, tolerant or negative?
DC: At first they thought it was silly to think a diet would do what my medication and Doctors couldn’t do. Then when they saw me get better and better they started to believe and wanted to be on it also.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? Is it easy or time consuming to prepare foods, how do you manage?
DC: There are three types in my family. It is now easy for me to prepare meals, I buy my beef, chicken, turkey and fish and put them into Baggies for single portions, so when I want a steak I can pull out one portion of another meat for someone else. I make two veggies and salad. We have our own breads and pastas. I also circled all the foods we can all eat.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road? Looking at your diet, what was easy to integrate, what still gives you problems?
DC: I started preparing some foods in advance, so then I can pack what I need. I eat type O bars a lot. I have found some really good restaurants that we can all eat at and I always speak to the cook if I any questions. I’m very careful with seasoning and sauces. On the road I bring my bread and rice crackers. It was easy to eat veggies and meat I love the way I feel when I eat protein. The hard thing is when you go over anyone’s house they always have wheat, hamburger rolls, bread and dinner rolls.
BR: Do you get support from your medical health practitioner? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the BTD on your health?
DC: No! I don’t get any support from any of my doctors and one of them fired me as a patient. I’ve been healthy for eleven months no hospital stays and no medication and still they say I’m wrong. I wish I knew of a MD somewhere around here that understands this. I’m grateful for Dr. Hoffman a Chiropractor and very much into nutrition I go to him for most of my needs. I work for him and we use the BTD for our patients.
BR: What kind or medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the BTD?
DC: I took Avonex (an interferon) injection; I took once a week. I also had to take medication for my stomach and pain. On and off I took medication for depression and water pills for swelling. I haven’t taken any medication since I was on the BTD for a month ten months ago. No hospital stays for steroids, for which I was in every three months for, the last two years before the BTD.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic /green foods/meats you need? How do you cope with it?
DC: I live in the USA (Cape Canaveral, FL) I can find the food I need at different health food stores. The only problems are traveling and not having what I need in stock. Also a lot of the foods have an ingredient that has an avoid in it. So I go to the managers and let them know what I need and explain the diet. More and more people are getting familiar with it. I also go out and find out information for my patients. This week is where to find Essene bread that’s my mission.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us? Now you have the chance!
DC: I have found that if you feed your body with what it needs it works. I’m very grateful to Dr. D’Adamo for all his hard work and research. He’s saving so many lives including mine. One lesson I also have learned doesn’t take anything unless you check if it’s good for your type. Most of the time we are told what is good for a disease or cholesterol or weight. They don’t think about we are all different blood types. It is different for each blood type. I was told evening primrose oil was good for MS, without checking I took it. I didn’t feel so good. Now that I’m now living different I can tell when I have had an avoid
BR: Debbie, quite an impressive story. You came a long way. More proof of how right Dr. D. is and how grateful we all are to have found our healthy way-of-life! Re-integration in professional life, full participation in family-life! Debbie, thank you very much for this wonderful and moving interview!
Using the BTD for multiple health problems: The story of Amber Malek.
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Tell us a little about yourself - your age, blood type, marital status,children, nationality, profession, country in which you live.
AM: I am a female, aged 31, blood type O non-secretor, I live with myboyfriend in Toronto, Canada. We have no children. My family is all fromGermany. I was the first one to be born here. Currently, I groom dogs fora living but I am also in school taking a Holistic Nutrition course.
BR: Give us some insight of your health problems. Are there any diseases running in your family?
AM: Since childhood I've suffered from depression, constant nasal congestion and a lot of gastrointestinal problems. Gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea. I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome in my late teens. In my twenties I developed hypoglycemia, migraines, constant fatigue ( I would take 2 hour naps almost every day), all chemical smells would make me ill, I had horrible PMS, I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids and wounds on me would take a long time to heal. I had rhinoplasty done three years ago and the skin just healed from that recently. The only family I have is my mother and my grandmother. My grandmother is very ill with many things and my mother also had uterine fibroids.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, health practitioner, or other?
AM: I've been reading about natural approaches to health for a few years now and when Eat Right 4 Your Type came out I bought it, read it and it made complete sense to me. I didn't follow the diet properly but when I took certain things on the avoid list like echinecea and Evening Primrose Oil I had bad reactions.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey version?
AM: Like I said, at first I didn't follow the diet properly so of course my health did not improve. I kept looking for "the answer" to my health problems and I even went down to the Hippocrates Health Spa for 3 weeks (a living foods resort in Florida). I ate 100% raw for 4 weeks after that, then I was a vegan for another month. Being an O non-secretor, the vegan diet did more harm to my health. I became more depressed and was having anxiety attacks. I finally picked up Live Right 4 Your Type, read the whole thing and have been following the diet properly since May 7, 2002.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!). What kind of changes did you experience?
AM: After about a week my depression started to lift, my constant gas and bloating were gone and I wasn't needing to take naps daily. After about 3 weeks I noticed that my cravings for wheat, chocolate and corn chips were gone. Also, my nose is not constantly running and congested and the suture wounds from the rhinoplasty are finally healed. It's been a little over 2 months now and I've never felt happier and I've never had so much energy. I went for a 2 hour bike ride last week and I was not tired at all. I loved every minute of it. My hypoglycemia is gone, I don't get headaches anymore, I can handle chemical smells in small doses and my PMS is a lot less severe. My skin in general is also a lot better. My skin used to get very dry and crack even after putting cream on. Now, I don't use any creams or lotions and my skin is quite soft.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Health problems like losing weight, or what?
AM: I am very thin and always have been so weight loss was never my intention. I just wanted to be healthy. I found it quite easy to get started mainly because I love eating meat and that is a large part of my recommended diet.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following this Blood type Program? Are they supportive, tolerant or negative?
AM: My boyfriend is very supportive because he sees a difference in my health. My mother and grandmother don't seem convinced about the program but they are not negative. My mother supports whatever decision I make.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? Is it easy or time consuming to prepare foods, how do you manage?
AM: My boyfriend does not know what his blood type is (we're working on that) so he just eats what I eat. He enjoys meat and vegetables. He also eats foods that I don't, like wheat. Cooking is easy for me. It's quick and simple. The summer is great because now I can bar-b-que a lot of my
eat.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant, on the road?
AM: I usually take lunch with me to work and school but if I don't there are restaurants that I get meat and vegetables at. They are not free range or organic but it's better than eating grains. Also, most restaurants will substitute salad for the grain or potato the meal comes with. So no, it is not difficult. On the road is a different story... everything has wheat! So I always try to take snacks with me like fruit or vegetables like carrot sticks.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
AM: Eating more meat was the easy part. Like I said I love to eat meat. Having very little or no grains is still a problem. I know I feel better when I don't eat grains at all but I still like having manna bread or some rice once in a while. I'm working on this.
BR: Do you get support from your medical health practitioner? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the BTD on your health?
AM: I don't really see my doctors anymore. The two that I do see if I need to are very open to other methods. One of them is also a Homeopathic doctor and the other one always hears about my newest program that I'm following and has always been supportive and open to them. I haven't seen either of them since being on the BTD.
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication intake after having started the BTD?
AM: I was on Zoloft (antidepressant) for 3 years and went off of it 8 months ago. I don't need it now. Other than that I used to take many pain killers for headaches. I don't need them anymore either. I've tried to stay away from medication for the last few years. I haven't taken anything (not even aspirin) since being on the BTD.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the biological/green foods/meats you need? Are there any problems in this field, and how do you cope with it?
AM: Toronto has numerous healthy grocery stores. 95% of the food I buy is organic or free range (meat). It's everywhere and I'm finding the prices to be comparable to conventional stores. We also have organic farmers come into the city on certain days to sell their fruits and vegetables.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us? Now you have the chance!
AM: I'm not too familiar with the other blood types and what they should eat and stay away from but being an O non-secretor, I find, is a challenge at first. All sweeteners are avoids, even stevia, so desserts or treats are out. At first it was hard and I felt deprived but after a few weeks I found that eating the right foods made me feel satisfied and I no longer felt that I was missing out on great things. I have had a few "treats" in the last couple of weeks but I actually didn't enjoy them the way I used to. I don't need them anymore. I am so happy that I tried the diet and stuck to it. I've never felt better.
BR: Amber, thank you very much for your story! So many complaints since childhood.You are back in full action again! Thanks to the decision of Dr. Peter D’Adamo to publish his findings (and his father’s of course!) on food and health. No need to tell you to hang on to this way of life! It is the only way to survive.Enjoy your healthy life for long!!
Carol Whitham: Mastering weight loss after 30 years.
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
CW: Hello. I'm 59 years old and I'm blood type O. I'm married, have 3 children, 4 stepchildren and 9 grandchildren. I am a substitute teacher and I teach nutrition and weight loss classes. I also publish a newsletter about eating healthier.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
CW: I have had trouble keeping weight off for almost 30 years. I have records of my weight and measurements since 1972, including the excuses of why I gained back what I had worked so hard to lose. 5 pounds overweight at 32 yrs old turned into 40 pounds at 58, but on the diet I lost 40 pounds in 4 months, thus reached my ideal weight and just feel great!!
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
CW: We have arthritis in our family, my mother has very little cartiledge left in her knees, suffers from pain and stiffness and my brother has had both knees operated on. We also have CFS, maniac depression, hypothyroidism and just feeling down or lazy, quite often. I have been diagnosed with sarcoidosis and had mononucleosis 5 times over the years. I also have arthritis in the early stages.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, healthpractioner, or other?
CW: My friend, an ND, told me to read ER4YTY when she found out I wanted to lose 40 pounds, AGAIN!!
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
CW: I pretty much went cold turkey combining ER4YT beneficial foods for type O and The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet Plan. This worked for me as an O because it is a high protein diet.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!)
What kind of changes did you experience?
CW: I began to lose weight right away. The bloated feeling disappeared, no more headaches, no more cancer sores or acid stomach and my energy level increased. One big change immediately was no more arthritis pain. I seem to require less sleep, sleep better with no more agonizing during the night for being overweight. I am happier with myself above all.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Healthproblems like losing weight, or what?
CW: I was tired of the diet yoyo and depriving myself of "normal" food. I also wanted to control my weight with a diet plan that I could use "forever" without having to sweat it off and then put it back on again when I stopped using the treadmill, etc. I don't want to take medicine to stay healthy either.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
CW: Luckily, my husband, (type
has been very supportive. At first, he was skeptical until he read the book himself. Now, he adheres to it himself. Ironically, (type he has an autoimmune disease, that runs in his family and he is doing great, a lot less pain from his neurofibromatosis.BR: How many bloodtypes are there in your family? How do you manage?
CW: There is just my husband, type B and myself, type O. We eat a lot of fish, 3-4 times a week, we eat lamb sometimes, turkey often and when I eat beef he has a veggie burger or dairy and veggies. I never buy chicken (avoid
and for the first time ever, we didn't grow tomatoes or cabbage in our garden. I keep a lot of type O & B beneficial or neutral fresh fruits and vegetables on hand as well as maple walnut granola and yogurt. I make an oat granola base and we each add whatever fresh or dried fruit is best for us. We keep both soy milk and low-fat cow's milk on hand. BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road?
CW: We have found that we don't like eating out as much as we used to because of the food choices. When we do, there is always meat, fish, salads and vegetables on the menu. It's easier to adhere to the diet when you don't have the avoids in front of you so sometimes I cheat. We try not to go out much anymore.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
CW: It was easy for me as an O to add more lean meat. I never cooked fish at home but did like fish and chips when we went out so we bought some frozen cod filets and from there we eat lots of fish now. My husband cooks almost all meat or fish on the grill outside and we love it, even salmon and lamb that we both hated before. My one downfall is chocolate, and when I succumb I try to buy dark and rich!
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
CW: I haven't had any reason to go back to the doctor yet.
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your healthproblems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
CW: I always used ibuprofen regularly for headaches and arthritis pain but don't use it at all now. My husband doesn't use pain medication any more either. Both of us needed an antacid quite often but don't use them any more.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
CW: In our small Vermont city, we have a food co-op and they carry a few organic foods, breads, oils and grains. They are very helpful and will order whatever they can to help. I do drive an hour or more for better selections. We also have a very nice small fresh fruit and vegetable stand open all year with organic eggs and local produce.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
CW: This way of eating and ER4YT has taken over our life. We are committed to spreading the word. I started a weight loss class, began writing a newsletter, over 100 subscribers, and took a nutrition class at the local community college. I am now working towards getting certified as a nutritional consultant. I now find myself in the nutrition and weight loss business and love it. It is so rewarding because it is all so natural and so many are helped. Thank you for changing my life.
BR: Carol, this way of life changed your personal life as well as your professional life for the better!
Same case with me! And I also love my nutritious job! Listening to people’s healthproblems, guiding them into the diet and enjoy with them the positive outcome of this wonderful way of life!
Thank you for your honest, sober but very impressive interview!
Wish you and your family a long and BTD-healthy life!
Living Right helps her body 'fight': The story of Marilyn Holasek Lloyd.
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Tell us a little about yourself - your age, blood type, marital status, children, nationality, profession, country in which you live.
MHL: Hi Cocky! My name is Marilyn Holasek Lloyd, and I am 56 years old. I have type A negative blood and I'm a secretor with Mn status. I've been married to a physician (retired) for 28 years, and have a son 26 and a daughter soon to be 25. They are all type O's. Considering the diseases running in my family, I am grateful theydo not have my blood type. My heritage is Bohemian, or as my aunt would say, "Say Czech, they'll think you're a gypsy." I am also only a second generation American since almost all of my grandparents came from the "old country." I have had many professions. First of all I became an RN and was a psychiatric nurse, and then an obstetrics office nurse. Then I went back to college and got a liberal arts degree and began to teach stress management and self help subjects, and after that got a Master's degree in mostly English and taught part-time in a community college in the English/Lit courses and did some free lance writing. But then 1996 came, and my life and focus changed.
BR: Give us some insight of your health problems. Are there any diseases running in your family?
MHL: In 1996, I was diagnosed with Stage One breast cancer. Because of my nursing school experiences, it was like one of my worst fears come true. This started a journey like no other. Until that time, I had been fairly healthy with some exceptions. I was prone to yeast infections since my early 20's. I'd had a bad case of mono at 28 and that seems to have altered my immunity. From that point on I had a low white count, and was prone to viruses and suffered from environmental type allergies. My family history was loaded withbad stuff. My paternal grandfather and father died at 68 with stomach cancer. My mother died at 33 when I was 8 weeks old of probably a blown mitral valve due to rheumatic fever as a child. My paternal grandmother diedof Heart disease and my maternal grandparents of strokes. My aunts and uncles also had colon cancer, parathyroid cancer, and heart disease. It was this family history that made me a believer when I first studied the bloodtype way of life. (By the way, my grandfather was a butcher, and although poor, they ate lots of meat and they were all probably type A's.)
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet (I rather call it way-of-life!) Was it through friends, colleagues, health practitioners, or other?
MHL: After my recovery from breast cancer surgery modified radical and simple mastectomy, and the other treatment I chose, oophorectomy to reduce my risk of recurrence, I embarked on a life-changing journey. I signed up with an altmed practiononer and detoxed my body, and changed everything physically, emotionally, and spiritually with the thought that everything in my life that led up to breast cancer needed to change to get well. I started going to medical meetings. At an alternative/complementary medicine conference in 1997, I first heard of the blood type diet. I was fascinated. You could say I had a "gut" reaction. When I read about type A's with cancer and heart disease, I know that Dr. D was talking about my family. When I read that type A's are more prone to breast cancer, and have a less than desirable outcome I freaked out. When I calmed down, I realized that Dr. D seems to know things about breast cancer that NO other doctor KNEW. I wanted to see this doc! I had to wait a year, but in the mean time. . . .
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
MHL: I jumped right into the diet cold turkey. I felt I didn't have a day to waste. Breast cancer is highly motivating.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!). What kind of changes did you experience?
MHL: The eating plan gave me peace of mind, and let me tell you with this diagnosis it is in short supply. I finally felt that I found the Wellness-Groupfor life. Eliminating dairy helped with my allergies/sinus/mucous got counselling, joined a list serve for the alternative treatments of breast cancer-called Amazon, ran a small support group myself and a few friends with a cancer diagnosis, and began proselytising every where I went. I also took meditation classes, meditated regularly, and began a walking program (I was a couch potato before 1996) I also found a wellness technique called NAET (another story) which helped me conquer long standing allergies and also helped me emotionally. I started writing about the prevention of breast cancer. I am a completely different person than I was in 1996, and I owe a great deal of it to finding ERFYT.
BR: Your family; how did they react to your following this Blood type program? Are they supportive, tolerant or negative?
MH: My family has been very supportive of all my choices including the blood type program. My husband in particular who practiced medicine for 50 years saw to it that I got the organic food I needed, that I could see any doctor or practiononer I wanted, and chauffeured me to see Dr. D'adamo on an ongoing basis. (Va to Connecticut and another doc in NY) When he met Dr. D'adamo, he felt he was extraordinarily knowledgeable in every facet of the human body. Both of us were impressed on how empathetic, kind, and down to earth he is.Even with all I do, my family has been slow to adopt the blood type diet themselves, but as for my husband, since I do the cooking he's on the program more than he realizes.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? Is it easy or time consuming to prepare foods, how do you manage?
MHL: Since most of the time there is the two of us, I have found foods that work for both of us for dinner. For example a good O and A combo would be salmon, sautéed veggies, and a salad. When I eat my sautéed snails in a salad, or my tofu or temper in a salad, I give my hubby a meal with meat.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road? Looking at your diet, what was easy to integrate, what still gives you problems?
MHL: We do eat out, and my other restrictions are harder on me in finding foods than the blood type diet. For example, I rarely eat chicken out because I don't want to eat the additional hormones. Recent research shows that dairy even organic has growth factors that most blood types should avoid if they have had breast cancer. So I have to stick to mainly fish, rice and veggies eating out. We travel on cruises, and I can always find myself something to eat because they serve a lot of fish and salads. However, my family laughs at me because I take a lot of food whenever I travel, even on a cruise: My tofu, soymilk, snacks, desserts, and breads. This helps because I stick to my ERFYT, and don't feel deprived while watching my travel companions eating those enticing but not healthy foods. (I'm not saying I never cheat, but taking one's food lends itself to more compliance.)
BR: Do you get support from your medical health practitioner? Could you convince him/her of the positiveimpact of the BTD on your health?
MHL: I had to pick a local doctor who was tolerant of my choices and open to what I do. For Christmas, I load up docs I want to thank with books like Live Right For Your Type and other health related books. Maybe allopathic Western medicine will learn something.
BR: What kind or medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the BTD?
MHL: I take no medications. From the beginning with the first alt/med doc, I was on mega doses of vitamins and minerals. Then I got yet another virus and my liver functions went off due to probably a combination of the virus and a vitamin overdose. This was about the time I first got to see that NY doc and Dr. D'Adamo). I still take a number of vitamins and minerals, but have found through the ensuing years that the ones that agree with me the best are guess what-The blood type ones. With Dr. D's interest in breast cancer, specifically, he has made specific formulations for just that with his snail pills (type A and A
, and Aromastat plus the ARA powder to protect my liver, Proberry and lastly Cortiguard for stress. Because of my choice of an oophorectomy, I'm going to be osteoporosis prone so I feel more secure using his form of calcium too. (I also take other supplements) I have had much fewer virus' now that I've been taking these supplements and eating according to the blood type plan. I've had no attacks of yeast, since I started with alternative complementary medicine in 1996. At first my gut had a hard time with more of a plant type diet, but now it's happy and I feel it was of extreme importance for cancer prevention to get that polyamine level down.BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic /green foods/meats you need? How do you cope with it?
MHL: We do not have a big organic food store in our town. Locally you can get some organic produce, but it isn't as fresh as I would like. Therefore, we drive every two weeks or so about 50 miles one way to go to a bigger store. It has become a way of life.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us? Now you have the chance!
MHL: Contrary to what medicine would have women believe, there is no cure for breast cancer. Therefore, the best anyone can do with this diagnosis is make the appropriate medical decisions on treatment with lots of self study and second opinions, and a proper diagnosis of the extent of one's disease. I have a personal interest in this statement. After 8 mammograms, a CAT scan of the breast, and an ultrasound, medicine missed that I had a second tumor in one of my breasts. So, I want women to know that a proper diagnosis is very important in choice of treatment. Better yet, at least TRY to prevent breast cancer. This goes for primary prevention or preventing a recurrence. Although medicine is slow to look for cause, (Too many drug companies involved with pesticide manufacturing) there are still things one can do. Follow Live Right For Your Type way of life. That is the best way I know. (Which gets the polyamine level down, uses lectins to one's advantage, keeps immunity up, and decreases risk factors for other diseases as well. Also, avoid pesticides, radiation excesses, hormones in meat, balance hormones, control stress, and get exercise. Obesity is the highest risk factor, so maintain a good weight. (Read and follow The Safe Shopper's Bible by Samuel Epstein to stay away from carcinogens.) For women, self-care is important, since family seems to get most of our time. And I might add that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my faith. Faith helped me in the beginning of the journey to make the right choices for me. My faith showed me the way to Dr. D'Adamo for which I owe a tremendous debt, and faith helps me through each day. I am very thankful.
BR: Marilyn, may I thank you for this ‘search-and-find’ interview! You show us never to stop being critical, curious and eager to absorb more knowledge despite accepted medical dogmas!
And most of all: To have faith in our body!
Our International Community: The story of Yaman Akalin
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Tell us a little about yourself - your age, blood type, marital status, children, nationality, profession, country in which you live.
YA: Hello Cocky, wish you a great start with your column. I am Yaman Akalin, 49 years old, male, type O, married for a second time, one son each, my wife and my son type O, her son type B. I am from Turkey and we are living in Istanbul Turkey, except that my son has been studying in The Hague, Holland since 1999 and he will be attending the Webster University in Leiden, Holland. I am a chemical engineer (M. Sc.) and after 12 year career in as an engineer, I am now working in Marketing Research business for more than a decade.
BR: Give us some insight of your health problems. Are there any diseases running in your family?
YA: I was not so healthy when I was a young boy. Always underweight, I frequently suffered from problems with my digestive system. I had my secondary and high school education in boarding schools that contributed to these problems. I enjoyed a healthier period in my thirties and early forties. We have moved to live and work in Istanbul in 1995, and soon after my health problems started. In late 1996 I was diagnosed as hypertensive (130/100 to 150/110) with elevated levels of cholesterol, lipids and tryglycerides. I was put on medication and started dieting, classical “no red meat, high carb and veggies”. Within a year I had put on a lot of weight, and suffered from sluggishness and fatigue. Then I decided to look for alternative ways of improving my health. As a believer of natural healing, I have concentrated on healing power of foods, studied various diets etc. I have tried the Montignac diet (food combining) which somewhat improved my situation (later I would see why, it recommends to stay away from carbs in the early phase and rely on lean meat and veggies, nice coincidence for type O?).
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet (I rather call it way-of-life!) Was it through friends, colleagues, health
practitioners, or other?
YA: I have lost 3 kilos with the Montignac diet and enjoyed some recovery in my health but that was all. Then I have heard from a friend the blood type solution. The first thing I was told was that I should avoid all wheat as type O. I tried it for two weeks and it made a remarkable difference. Then I bought the Eat Right 4 Your Type and read it in a couple of hours. (A quick note for Peter: I bought and read the English original. Then I saw the Turkish translation and noticed some translation errors, e.g. “buckwheat” being translated as “dark wheat”, which is listed as “neutral” for O’s while all wheat are avoids for them) BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
YA: I always prefer the cold-turkey version when it comes to health issues. I stopped the medication (blood pressure and cholesterol) and dived into the diet, or the way you put it, into a new way-of-life.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!). What kind of changes did you experience?
YA: Within two weeks time I have realized that I was more energetic and my digestive system was relieved. No more reflux or other digestion problems. Within a month my blood pressure was approaching toward normal values. Thereafter I started losing weight, half kilo per week and I came to a balance in 6 months. Since then (been 3 years now) I am around 66-67 kilos (height 172 cm). The diet helped to keep my blood pressure between 110/70 and 130/90 until early this year. Since January I am taking one capsule of Nitricycle every morning and now my blood pressure is stabilized (120/80). I have nearly forgotten what sort of a feeling “craving” was. No more shaking hands or other hypoglycemic
symptoms. The bottom line is, I cannot definitely know whether I will live a longer life, but I am pretty sure that I am and will be living a “younger” life..
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Health problems like losing weight, or what?
YA: Considering all the difficulties of type O diet in a “wheat oriented” society, it was an easy decision for me, as I was determined to find a way of life without being in medication for an indefinite time. An old friend of mine (who was then studying medicine) used to say “medicines and poisons are the same thing of different dosage”. And you know the once you start relying on medication for hypertension and cholesterol, you are done, you have to take them as long as you live. Well, I didn’t want to live like that. That was my main drive, and also I would very much like to get my slender figure back.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following this Blood type Program? Are they supportive, tolerant or negative?
YA: My wife, being a type O, though not apparently overweight, wanted to lose some weight. So she joined me that of course avoided potential problems. My father (type O) and my mother (A) are also doing their best to follow the food lists I have prepared for them and they are feeling better too.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? Is it easy or time consuming to prepare foods, how do you manage?
YA: Well, I am the cook in the house (I recommend it to all males, it’s a great therapy after a long day’s work, women only complain probably because they don’t want us to take it over!) (Note BR: I never complain, as long as my dinner is BTD-compliant!) As I love cooking, doing it in compliance with ER4YT is another challenge for me and the reward is worth doing it. Cooking is now more fun because I am now doing it not only for good taste but also to make us healthier. As in our house we are 2 O’s (3, when my son joins us in his vacations) and one B, we go for grilled lamb and salad, fish and salad, or just vegetables for dinner. Well, we O’s envy the B having cheese as side dish and take our revenge by gulping down chunks of juicy red tomatos. When B eats cauliflower, we enjoy our black-eyed beans etc. Breakfast is a bit problematic as in Turkey we are used to having cheese. Well, we can find a variety of goat cheese and also sheep cheese, plus naturally born eggs. I used to bake rye bread until last year but now I can find 100% rye bread too.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road?
YA: We have an hour of lunch break at work. That is enough for me to find a place where I can give directions on what I will not like to have in my dish. I prefer to have some rice or lamb and lots of green salad. On the road, one can come across a lot of barbecue restaurants/places. But I always keep handy an extra dark (min 70% cocoa) bitter chocolate or a pack of walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts in case of emergency which I admit is very rare as I only feel hungry but do not crave any more. So the “emergency” is just not to skip a meal. (Note BR: the protein bars are great as well in emergencies)
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
YA: Luckily, (or naturally perhaps) all the beneficials for type O used to be among my favorites. The problem is mainly with the avoids. For example avoiding wheat (and corn in many cases) can sometimes appear as an impossible task. They are found almost in every packaged food item, in home-cooking when visiting friends, in restaurant dishes when eating out. I have to carry my reading glasses everywhere around to try and read those tiny lists of ingredients. The other thing is that I can hardly do without yogurt. I have found out that I feel better with yogurt made from sheep or buffalo milk is giving less or no trouble, so we replaced yogurt of cow milk with those (could it be that sheep/buffalo yogurts are neutrals for O’s?) (Note BR: Yes, you are right! Sheep/buffalo yogurts and cheeses are Neutral for O’s)
BR: Do you get support from your medical health practitioner? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the BTD on your health?
YA: Of course I had a lot of controversy with my MD in the beginning. Now it has changed. Last time he checked me up and then asked if I could tell him more about ER4YT. Now and then he asks my free advice for some of his patients.
BR: What kind or medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the BTD?
YA: As I said, I was taking medication for hypertension and cholesterol. I quitted taking them when I started type O diet. Also I had to take anti-acid pills for stomach burns. My MD recommended that I had to take a 300 mg aspirin tablet every morning. I have forgotten what an anti-acid pill looked like ever since I started the ER4YT and I am not taking aspirin anymore. I am regularly taking supplements Nitricycle, Fucus, Larch, DGL and Catechol.
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the biological/green foods/meats you need? Are there any problems in this field, and how do you cope with it?
YA: Turkey is currently exporting 97% of its certified organic products to EU countries. To our luck, we have a number of organic food stores in Istanbul, one chain bringing in certified organic fresh fruits and vegetables once every week. I manage to sustain a diet based on organic foods at home. As for meat, we do not yet have certified free range organic meat. I can easily find “walking hen eggs” and prefer to eat lamb rather than veal or beef, as the former is closer to free range organic meat. Also it is possible to find “naturally grown” (though not certified) vegetables and fruits as most of Turkey is still “virgin” as far as pesticide and fertilizer use is considered. We still have a lot of small family owned agriculture. They bring in their products and market them in open public bazaars.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us? Now you have the chance!
YA: I think I have covered a lot already. I am grateful to the day I heard of this diet. I am grateful to Peter and his team for making it possible for us to live a lot healthier.
BR: Yaman is lucky to be living in a great country like Turkey with such abundance of sun-grown and natural fruits and veggies. During my many holiday visits to this beautiful country I really have enjoyed the fruits and always fresh veggies. My favorite breakfast was always watermelon with goat cheese (Feta, or beyaz peynir!). And think of it, this was all before my ER-time! My kids loved the peaches, fresh apricots, figs! And do not forget the famous Turkish red wines (HB for my A-blood type!) I want to thank you Yaman, very much for this wonderful ‘sunny’ Turkish interview! Y
YA: Thank you Cocky.
Sick baby to healthy toddler:
The story of Jared Abramson.
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
(The interview is by Jackie Abramson, his happy mother!)
BR: Introduce yourself!
JA: Jared Abramson, will turn 3 on 7/11/02. The entire family is Type A, so it was easy to incorporate diet.
BR: Give us a global insight of your health(-problems). Are there any diseases running in your family?
JA: No diseases that run in family.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet (I rather call it way-of-life!) Was it through friends, colleagues, health practitioners, or other?
JA: I had been constantly complaining to my mother every time Jared was sick. She would always ask me what his doctors said, which was ‘young children get sick all the time.’ She was speaking to her chiropractor and he recommended your book which she sent to us, and overnight we changed Jared's diet.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
JA: We started cold turkey, threw the milk and cheddar cheese out and shopped for soy and rice milk, part-skim mozzarella, spelt bread, etc. Very easy, my son took the bottles of soy and rice milk right away, did not even notice a difference!
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your son?
JA: I noticed a change with Jared's bowel movements immediately. Prior to giving him milk at age 1, he was breast fed, which gave him the typical loose stools. After putting him on milk, no change, his diapers were always full with loose stools - I didn't even think there was anything strange about it. Immediately after stopping the ingestion of cow's milk, he had normal (solid) bowel movements, I couldn't believe it. Now I realize that his system was not really able to handle cow's milk! If I hadn't changed his milk, I never would have known! The next change I noticed was that he stopped getting sick.
BR: Was it easy to get started?
JA: Very easy to start, all the same type of blood. My purpose of starting was to have a healthy child - I was helpless watching him get sick all the time.
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following this Blood Type Program? Are they supportive, tolerant or negative?
JA: Everyone was extremely supportive and I tell everyone about the book and what changes Jared has experienced since his change of diet.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? Is it easy to prepare foods, or is it time consuming. How do you manage?
JA: One type, very easy.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant?On the road? Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
JA: Very easy to eat out. Can order chicken and fish anywhere. Easy to purchase soy and rice milk at any supermarket. Travel with the small box containers - easy to make bottles - don't need refrigeration.
BR: Was your medical practitioner supportive? Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the BTD on your son’s health?
JA: I have not even had a chance to tell Jared's doctors since we have not been to see them in about 7 months!! We just moved also and now he will be seeing new doctors.
BR: The area you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic/green foods/meats you need?
JA: We live in suburban NJ. Very easy to locate organic products. Notice huge differences in prices from North Jersey to South Jersey (So. Jersey being more expensive!!!) Trader Joe's is a great place to stock up on spelt bread!
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us? Now you have the chance!
JA: The best experience is after watching Jared getting sick every other week- literally and twice, catching back to back viruses (and constantly catching everything everyone else had) to now having him 6 months of not one day sick - is the BEST! We had even traveled and stayed with family who were all sick and he didn't get sick! He is healthy, thriving and I am so happy my mother sent me this book! This has changed our always sick little boy to a wonderfully healthy boy! Thanks a million!!!!!
BR: Being a mother myself as well, I so do recognize the feelings of grief, sometimes of anger, of not being in control of your kid’s health despite all the ‘right’ efforts on your side. The feelings of irritation of all the ‘good’ advice people give you. And as a consequence the stress a sick child imposes on the parents and grandparents. Jackie, you have a wonderful mother! She gave you the only right advice. Great that Jared responded immediately to eating right. Jared looks like a healthy, naughty guy with loads of life in him. All the best for all of you!!
Alma Raffaghelli in Italy: Found out her secretor status, and it made all the difference in the world.
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Introduce yourself!
AR: Ciao to everyone! My name is Alma Raffaghelli (0 nonnie). I live in Milan, Italy, where I was born 40 years ago. I am a Project Support in a Publishing House but whenever I can, I do my favourite hobbies: Raku ceramics, painting and etching.
"Piccola Donna" -- Alma Raffaghelli
"Al fiume" -- Alma Raffaghelli
Recently, I’ve also taken a fancy to physical fitness.
BR: Can you give us a bit of insight into why you started the blood type diet?
AR: In 2001 I started to have some health problems which in the past had never been so evident and close by: water retention, aerophagy, heartburn, eczema, migraine and, in winter, several days in bed with flu. Also anxiety started to worry me. After my trip to Tibet, in 2002, my conditions got worse and I realized that something had to be done. I received treatments from a dermatologist and an acupuncturist: they helped me temporarily relieve my problems, but I was aware it wasn’t enough.
BR: Are there any diseases that tend to run in your family?
AR: My father died at 42 after he was operated on for gallstones. My mother had the same operation 15 years ago.
BR: How did you find out about the blood type diet? Was it through friends, colleagues, a health practitioner?
AR: While looking in a bookshop for some publications re medicinal property of the aloe plant, (note BR: Aloe cosmetics are okay for O, but do not take Aloe Vera products orally!!) the shop assistant showed me a book on the blood type diet: it was like love at first sight; it sounded convincing and I started investigating.
BR: How did you get started? Was it gradually, or did you opt for the cold-turkey-version?
AR: It was gradually, as my being used to the Mediterranean diet was a difficult obstacle to overcome, it’s almost unthinkable in Italy, the idea of avoiding “pasta” or bread during the meals, so I started by substituting whole wheat products with neutral grains and increasing animal proteins and vegetables. The strange thing is that, right before discovering the ABO diet, I was about to become a vegetarian! A big help was given to me by Heidi Merritt who, in her column, has been training me in a funny, clever and intriguing way.
BR: How long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!)
AR: About 2 weeks.
BR: What kind of changes did you experience?
AR: More evident changes were the vanishing of migraines and water retention. First the swelling of my feet and fingers reduced significantly; later on, my mental concentration and attention improved astonishingly and my old anxiety stopped troubling me. I had had moments in which I was even afraid of driving a car or going for a trip. However, the big change occurred last April, when I started following the non secretor regime. Now I’m full of energy, sleep very well, my hair and skin have never looked better and my temper is always positive. Also my aggressiveness has almost disappeared.
BR: Was it easy to get started? Or difficult? What was your main purpose to get started? Health problems like losing weight, or what?
AR: Health problems, I should say. It wasn’t so bad to get started, I was curious and I like changes from time to time. On the contrary, I had quite a shock when I discovered I was a non secretor. It took me 2 weeks to adapt myself to the new regime but now I feel so good!!!
BR: Your family, how did they react to your following the diet?
AR: In a positive way; I’m a single and only my mother, she too is an O, got started with me; she is very happy with her results even if she’s not as strict as me (she’s a secretor, I suppose) She used to suffer from arthritis and bloating conditions which have almost disappeared.
BR: How many blood types are there in your family? How do you manage?
AR: Only my mother, who is an 0 like me.
BR: Is Eating Right 4 Your Type easy or difficult when you are at work, at a restaurant? On the road?
AR: Luckily in Italy there’s a wide choice of food: lot of vegetables, meat and fish; I never have problems in restaurants and the friends of mine who invite me for lunch or dinner already know what I need.
When I go abroad, I take with me some Deflect O in case of need.
BR: Looking at your diet: what was easy to integrate into your basic diet, what still gives you problems?
AR: It’s amazing to think of how much in the past I was addicted to sweets and wheat products while now I seldom think of them. Day by day I’ve changed my taste and added new flavours to my dishes without problems. There’s only one condition: if I don’t change ingredients and recipes often, I run the risk of losing appetite.
BR: Do you get support from your Medical Doctor?
Could you convince him/her of the positive impact of the blood type diet on your health?
AR: I haven’t’ talked to any doctor about it. No need of them for the time being.
BR: What kind of medication did you take for overcoming your health problems? And how is your medication-intake after having started the blood type diet?
AR: I had some acupuncture treatments for my heartburns in 2002 and I took some homeopathic medicines. Currently, I don’t need any medicine!
BR: The country, city, village you live in: Is it a problem or not to find the organic foods you need?
AR: I don’t have troubles in Milan, even if I have to buy some product, such as vegetable glycerine (veg gly!), in the UK. Every year in Italy new fields are converted to organic food cultures (not OMG) and many Italian biological products are now exported all over Europe.
BR: Are there any other experiences you had following this way-of-life, you want to share with us?
AR: My life has dramatically changed. If I think of my adolescence, I can’t ignore depressions, fears and obsessions that started then and accompanied me now and then till last year. Apart from countless improvements in my health state, every morning, when I wake up and start a new day, I have a positive and determined attitude that I can share with everybody and helps me enrich every moment of my life.
This is priceless...
BR: Alma, thank you so much for your great interview... Life in all its aspects has turned for the better for you!!
It is so important to have the secretor status tested! World population consists of 80% secretors and only 20% non-secretors, but this info is so vital to know in order to tune up your BTD-diet to full satisfaction and thus full health!! Thank you for having me profile you!!
Wishing you health and longevity...
Dr. Tom Greenfield succesfully integrates the BTD in his Naturopathic practice in the United Kingdom
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
BR:Hi Tom! I am very pleased you agreed to be profiled in my column! Please introduce yourself!
TG:I am a naturopath and osteopath based in Canterbury, UK.
BR:You recently joined us columnist on the website! Can you give us a bit of insight why you were drawn to the BTD? What made the coin fall?
TG:My training as a naturopath was based on the ‘nature-cure’ approach, i.e.everyone should aim for a vegetarian/vegan, wholefood/raw food and food-combining diet, with fasting and hydrotherapy as first line treatment approach. In practice I did not always find it easy to convince many clients to stick to this system for long, if at all. Some people who did use this method even seemed to get worse rather than better. Then in 1998 a colleague told me about a book that based its dietary perspective on a person’s ABO blood group. At around the same time a friend of mine was importing Biodynamic bread to the UK from Germany, while planning to set up her own bakery. Some American customers had asked her whether the bread was suitable for their blood group, and didn’t know how to find out, so she asked me. It seemed to make complete sense that something in the blood could relate to how a person responded to food, so I got a copy of ‘The Eat Right Diet’ (as it was called when first published in the UK). When I began to understand that it was based on a sound naturopathic philosophy as well as science, I decided to use myself as a guinea pig. I first had to find out my own blood group, realising that if I turned out to be an O or B, I would have to change my eating habits radically, as I had been vegetarian for 15 years.
BR:We all know that the Blood Type Diet is the way to a healthy and long life! Do you adhere to the BTD yourself and to what extent? What is your blood type, secretor status and other statistics?
TG:My blood group (luckily for my vegetarian diet) turned out to be A negative. Later I found out my other blood groups: A1 secretor and NN. I have stuck to the BTD approach since I first found out my blood group, as I tend to suffer from eating avoid foods.Other genetic polymorphisms relevant to my diet and blood group are as follows: AGT (Angiotensin 1) - This means I am one of the 10% of people whose blood pressure can be affected by sodium intake, and together with my A and NN blood groups, this puts me in a higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Consequently I have a low salt diet, and I eat artisan bread, in which much or all of the salt has been replaced with seaweed.
COMT (Catechol-O methyltransferase) - This means that although I am an A secretor, I also have relative difficulty in clearing catecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline) which also puts me in a category similar to people with O blood group. When under stress my personality may not always be A-like, and I avoid alcohol because of this polymorphism.
CYBA*8 (Reduction-Oxidation Balance) - This means I am a fast oxidiser, and oxidise my food quickly – I am 6’3” (190 cms), but have never weighed more than about 160 lbs (73 kgs). My Oxystress urine tests always come out dark red. Combined with my A blood this puts me at higher risk of heart disease.
MTHFR (Methylation) – This would put me at a higher risk of elevated homocysteine levels without sufficient dietary folic acid, so I eat plenty of greens.
BR:And if the answer to the previous question is YES, how long did it take to notice change in your body (mentally and physically!) What kind of changes exactly did you experience?
TG:There was a fairly immediate improvement in my concentration and energy levels. I also lost some weight (which also happened when experimenting with food combining). Gradually mucous-related problems in my ears and sinuses and my coated tongue disappeared, and eventually my immune system settled down, so I have been in excellent health for years.
BR
oes your family adhere to the BTD as well?TG:The friend mentioned above who was setting up the bakery is now my wife Ingrid! She has exactly the same blood group as me, and we have similar taste in food. Ingrid finds cooking relaxing after a busy day as director of artisan bread, and has a talent for dreaming up new exciting and tasty recipes with our most A-beneficial food ingredients: we have tasty seaweed salads with fresh herbs; sugar-free carob and walnut oat brownies that taste like chocolate; tempeh dishes in exotic sauces, spelt vegetable pizza with home made soya cheese, etc. So it’s quite easy to eat according to our blood group all the time.
BR:How many bloodtypes are present in your family to cope with? How do you manage?
TG:My mother (O) is slowly coming round to the idea that the blood type approach is going to be with us for a long time. Of her two brothers (both O) one is now following the BTD and says it has relieved longstanding health problems. My father (A) died of cancer at 35 before we knew what we should be eating. My brother (also A) is more of a foodie, but also an excellent cook, and caters for us superbly when we eat at his place. I have two children, Jacob and Bethany, from a previous relationship. We haven’t found out their blood groups yet, but Bethany is vegetarian (and we suspect she is A). We tend to meet at restaurants, or at family gatherings with a buffet meal, so we can all choose what we want to eat.
BR:In your Naturopathic Practice you integrate the BTD as part of your healing capacities! Could you give the readership an example of how different naturopathic options coincide with the BTD?
TG:The British Naturopathic Journal published my article Blood Grouping in Naturopathic Practice, BNJ, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2003, pp.12-16, which explored how naturopathic pioneers have used various categorisations to explore the genetic limitations and capabilities of humans. This had largely been forgotten as a result of eugenics falling out of fashion in the first half of the 20th Century. With the advent of blood grouping naturopaths now have a scientifically-based opportunity to get a large part of their clients’ individuality and genetic risks/potential way beyond asking what illnesses there have been in the family. I have been presenting information on the BTD to UK naturopaths and naturopathic students for some time, but it is a slow process for it to filter through into practice: the UK tends to lag behind the rest of the world in so many things. I even set up my own blood grouping laboratory for public and practitioners in Europe to send in blood samples for testing, and incorporated full blood grouping and subgrouping into my holistic well person clinic health screen.
BR:Tom, in my view many ways of healing form a part of the puzzle. Peter D’Adamo is the first one who ‘completed the puzzle’, who found that missing piece, the blood type connection! What are your views regarding this Blood-Type-Connection?
TG:Once you start to see people in terms of how they are influenced by their blood group it can be very enlightening. Of course a person’s behaviour can also be affected by many other aspects, we are not just our blood group, but it is surprising how many ‘blood type attributes’ can be recognised in people. I can often guess a person’s blood group before I have blood typed them. It is also interesting to look at views on blood groups from various sources: I used to eat goats’ cheese, and people asked me why I didn’t also eat fish and chicken, but when I got hold of Dr. James D’Adamo’s book ‘One Man’s Food’ (now out of print), it gave me ‘permission’ to avoid eating all animal proteins: he says that the ideal diet for the A is to eat seeds, sprouts and tofu as main sources of protein, although one egg per week may be eaten. Note that this should be “worked into slowly, with great deliberation, and at your own pace”. It is the final stage of a long transition for many people who may have been on a meat-based diet, and is surprisingly similar to the ‘nature-cure’ diet that I learnt about in college.
BR:Next April 2005 the second Seminar will be held in Arizona. Loads of new research-results will be revealed!! So much BTD-news to be shared with a worldwide gathering of BTD-friends, in an accommodation perfect to talk and socialize! Tom, can you give the readership some of your expectations/views regarding this Meeting of the 4 Masters?
TG:This is going to be a great conference. Peter is, of course, an outstanding ,lecturer. Dr. Jeff Bland often lectures to us in the UK. His book ‘Genetic Nutritioneering’ published in 1999, was probably the first book apart from those written by the D’Adamo family to recognise the importance of blood groups. And of course he wrote the Afterword for Live Right 4 Your Type. It will be fascinating to hear the outcome of original research from his Functional Medicine Research Center in this context. Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, author of several naturopathic bibles, will be enlightening us on an aid to clinical decision making. Dr. Walter Crinnion (who was at the first conference) will tell us about his speciality: health risks from exposure to environmental toxins and the blood type polymorphism connection. And of course it will be a chance to catch up with colleagues I won’t have seen for two years, even though many of them live in the UK. If my wife hires a Harley and takes me on tour around Arizona like she did before the 2003 conference, of course that will be a bonus too.
BR:Are there plans/wishes/views for the future with respect to the Blood Type Science you wish to share with us?
TG:I welcome the day when the UK accepts naturopathic treatment, as people with health insurance can’t claim for naturopathy at the moment. It probably won’t be long before genetic testing will be ‘cheap and cheerful’, and as freely available as blood grouping. Then researchers such as those speaking at the 2005 seminar will help us to further individualise our ways of maintaining health. Of course if the life insurance companies get hold of this information it might cause problems for people with certain polymorphisms, but that’s another story…
BR:Tom, thank you so much for your clarifying and insight interview! As Dr. D. you also have the ability to explain ‘complicated’ medical matters in understandable language! A gift! As you, I am also looking forward to attending the upcoming Seminar in Arizona in April 2005, to catch up with friends and many others, met in 2003. Tom, I feel privileged to have profiled you in my column! Hope to meet you again in Arizona in 2005..
Man behind the medicine: A Rare Interview with Dr. Peter D'Adamo
February 10th, 2006 , by admin
BR: Dr. D., could you tell us something about yourself? I mean, where you were born, your parents, your childhood, how many brothers and/or sisters, where you lived? What kind of boy you were.
D’ADAMO: I was born in Brooklyn NY, specifically the neighborhood called Dyker Heights, renowned principally for the garishness of its annual Christmas lighting. My childhood (along with my brother James and sister Michele) was quite bucolic by 1970’s middle class standards. Rock and mineral collections. Butterfly collections. Read a lot of history – a love to this day. I was a ‘tinkerer’ type of kid (a legacy of my father no doubt). Constantly taking things apart and putting them back together. Very fond of electronics, robots, short wave, etc. My childhood friends (most of whom remain my closest contacts) were similarly inclined. We couldn’t afford records, so we would build little sound machines and sequencers and tape-record them: When we got a good groove we’d let the tapes play while we’d dance. We were out of step for the 1960-70’s, but were very much like today’s type of geeky kid.
BR: Where did your ancestors came from? And why did they go to America?
D’ADAMO: My ancestors are Italian on my father's side and Spanish on my mothers. The D’Adamo’s came here fairly early (for Italian immigrants). My mother on the other hand was Spanish -from the province of Lerida, outside Barcelona.
BR: Your father has been very important for your professional choice in life! Could you tell some highlights about the relation to your father, professional and relational?
D’ADAMO: Dr. James D’Adamo is a very cool guy. Perhaps the best thing I can relate to you about our relationship is a story I remember as if it was yesterday. I must have been eight or nine years old, and he was discussing where to locate a small privacy fence with a friend who was helping him build it. I piped in with a suggestion, plus the reason for my suggestion, and I remember looking at his face and thinking ‘Gee, this guy is actually evaluating what I’m saying seriously!’ Very common (perhaps too common) nowadays, but back then nobody actually took anything a kid said seriously. Dad is one of those guys perpetually ahead of the curve, though he doesn’t actually work at it. Just his Aquarian nature, I suspect.
BR: Mothers are vital factors in the lives of their children. Tell us about your relation with your mother.
D’ADAMO: Mom was all earth energy: Very grounded. Yet also very accepting and adaptable. Classic mom of Latin culture. Dinner-time calls down to the basement lab from the top of the stairs when I was brewing something or lost in a book.
BR: Dr. D, you are married to Martha. I met Martha as well last September. She is a great woman! You are a great couple! Please do tell us how you two met, and enlighten us about the secret of your happy marriage!
D’ADAMO: Having been advised by my dad early in my career to not mix business and personal lives, I then proceeded to break that rule the one and only time when I met Martha, who was a patient of the clinic. Secret of a happy marriage: Marry someone that you would not mind being friends with and never get in the way of their growth and development.
BR: You have 2 daughters Claudia and Emily. Are you a nice father to them? Are you at home often enough? How much criticism you get from them? What it is like to be in a female family: you being the only male! Can you survive? If there is, tell us about this female ‘blockade’!
D’ADAMO: My kids would probably tell you that I was home too much! I think I am an indulgent father. Martha recently did some calculations and it appears that I will be in a household simultaneously replete with one spouse in menopause and two offspring in puberty. As far as the male-female thing, I think today’s kid is pretty multi-faceted with regard to gender bending: Both kids love sports, books and games (‘Diplomacy’ is a current favourite) so there are lots of ways they can react with dear old Dad.
BR: Martha is an O. You are an A! O’s stand for rationality, A’s for emotionality! How do you manage?
D’ADAMO: Extra entrees.
BR:You are a very busy man. Books, an encyclopedia, educational courses, lectures to be given, a clinic with patients to attend!! Another book Eat Right 4 Your Baby in the writing stages! Is there time for hobbies? If there is, what is your favourite hobby?
D’ADAMO: Martial arts, woodworking and computer stuff. I enjoy composing electronic music, and wrote several scores for modern dance while in naturopathic school. Charles Dodge once said I was not so much a composer as a 'music systems pre-programmer' -since my hardware skills often created the tools other musicians used to make music, rather than me making the music myself. Now I mostly do it for fun.
BR: Recently I heard that you broke your ankle! How could this happen? Too hasty? Too busy to watch out? Tell us about your temporary handicap!
D’ADAMO: I was practicing a ‘spin back kick’ in a room with a Pergo-type floor. I had just cleaned the floor with a device called a Swiffer. Unfortunately Pergo floors have a tiny amount of Teflon in their coating and the Swiffer leaves behind a trace of a surfactant. Anyway, in the middle of the kick, I suddenly felt as if I was on ice, falling onto my ankle, breaking the fibula and in general making a mess of all the ligaments and tendons. The orthopod pretty much wanted to pin the ankle and put me in a non-walking cast to 4-6 weeks. I asked him to give me two weeks, went home, put my foot up and started pumping in all the nutritional stuff I could think of. Two weeks later: no pin needed. Three weeks later I resumed taking karate class (modified). Four weeks later: discharged. Now, five weeks later, I can do everything except major pivoting. Folks, this naturopathy stuff works.
BR: What was your naturopathic education like?
D’ADAMO: I was in the first graduating class of John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine, now Bastyr University in Seattle Washington. Very different from today’s naturopathic college. No student loans (I worked as a night watchman, insurance examiner and as a sexton in an Episcopal church) no campus (our classes were at Seattle Central Community College) and minimal amenities. Yet I still think we were perhaps the best trained naturopaths of all. Many of our mentors were the ‘classic’ naturopaths of the 1940-50’s- now most dead - and if we were hamstrung as far as things like test tubes and audio-visual machinery, our education was blessed with an indulgence and immediacy from some of the best minds in the field.
BR: Dr. D. you have ‘fans’ all over the world! Will you be planning other author tours, like you did in the past?
D’ADAMO: These are becoming a fact of life for me. I suspect the future holds more book tours, perhaps in the fall or winter.
BR: What does the future hold for Dr. D'Adamo?
D’ADAMO: I'm slowly cutting back on private practice. Although I enjoy it, it leaves very little time for research, which I am itching to resume. Now that Dr. Bronner Handwerger has joined the practice I'm much more secure in knowing that my patients will be treated effectively. He really is a phenomenal doctor. As for me, the availability of an entirely new generation of DNA-based testing systems makes me excited about basic research for the first time in a while. The Institute for Human Individuality at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine will also go on-line this Fall-Winter, so there will have to be a lot of policy-making done with regard to its research agenda as well.
BR: During my stay in your clinic, I was in awe with the way you treat your patients. Such patience and open mindedness towards everyone. I've never seen a doctor so dedicated! Your staff in the clinic are motivated and have worked for you for many years. That shows their dedication to you. We are happy to have you around to watch over our health! Thank you for this interview.
D’ADAMO: Thank you Cocky.
Photograph copyright 2002 Robert Messineo.
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