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Taking It Easy: Life in the Normal Lane
I confess: I've never really sweat this diet much. I've been more or less compliant at different points along this 14-(!) year-long path thus far. I go a year here or there without a tomato product, and then a year of having some tomato sauce once a month - much longer without peanuts, buckwheat or lentils - that sort of thing. But I generally opt for my beneficials wherever possible. Dr. D'Adamo has written that he doesn't have a problem with 60-70% compliance as the norm for someone in good health - as we B-secretors so often are! So I'm no stickler.
Maybe B is the easy blood type. We're the most omnivorous, after all, and we're frequently recognized for easy-goingness and "balancedness". That holds true for me, thanks be to God.
Being of the Nomad genotype, I've found that diet to open up even more former avoids to occasional use.
I generally avoid most: Corn, soy, buckwheat.
I'm not a big bread-eater.
I don't go for hard liquor.
I lay low on tomatoes, pork, lentils, peanuts, shellfish.
But most important is that I favor lamb, turkey, fish, eggs and beef as my animal foods, plus some dairy, almonds as my nuts, rice as my starch, that sort of thing. I favor beneficial vegetables and fruits over "avoids". I favor green tea over black, generally. I drink coffee on-again-off-again (usually year-long breaks between months-long morning coffee ways). I don't smoke or take medications/drugs.
I think it's important to remember that any American who generally opts (as I do) against corn, soy, chicken, tomatoes, pork and shellfish, say, is already an oddball. To add plenty of other items to that list is really unusual. And then to favor one's beneficials goes a lot further. So I'm definitely "on board" with D'Adamo, even though I'm casual about it.
If you're one of those B's who takes an approach similar to mine and is also sensitive to the positive effects of certain permitted foods (the energy-zap of hot peppers, for instance, or the power-station that is eggs), then there's room for you, too, at the dadamo table, IMO. Pull up a chair.
1 comment
I am somewhat bummed about the Geno type diet. I am a foodie. Very healthy, 6', muscular 240 lb. green eyed mesomorph Bpos. apparently a Nomad, and I 'm told I should not eat chicken, pork, bacon, potato, tomato, corn, and shellfish, not to mention ricatta, mozzarella, mustard, mayo, soy sauce and bananas and mango, wheat and all bread. May as well shoot me, where the heck am I going to find a restaurant serving rabbit, mutton, caviar and emu?? No more sandwiches, italian food, pizza, chicken wings and popcorn. No more movies or meals out. I'd rather die young and leave a pretty corpse, but I'm going to try. The hardest to leave will be tomato and chicken.
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Sante responds: First of all: Congratulations on that phenomenal cholesterol-lowering. Yoga is often beneficial for B's, generally, but that's quite the testimony! The numbers were high for a reason, however, and it looks like you're "going to try" to do something about that, though you say you're healthy.
You might consider following the Blood Type diet, for type B. Find out if you're a secretor or not, via a test available through the dadamo site. Then, take a look at Dr. D'Adamo's book, Live Right 4 Your Type, and learn about the B type's particular strengths and weaknesses, and use beneficials, food-group proportions, fitness (to which you're a proven responder), supplements, and the "lifestyle suggestions" to skew your program toward a best case scenario. I'd start there.
If you eat out a great deal, and - again - you're healthy, you probably don't have to "sweat the small stuff" at restaurants. I don't consider pizza, popcorn, chicken wings and sandwiches, the foods you say you'd rather not omit, indicative that you're a "foodie" at all. The word has a very different connotation here in San Francisco, anyway! But at restaurants do make an effort to choose the salmon or lamb or halibut, or even "neutral" beef, for instance, over the chicken or pork, and to find restaurants that provide the kinds of dishes healthiest for you. I'm partial to Indian food, myself. And a few of my favorite pizzas have no tomato sauce! When ordering juices, choose among the beneficial fruits. Vegetable dishes - likewise: Start favoring the beneficial options. Leave the tomatoes at the side of your salad plate. Search my Blog archives for my numerous posts on ordering at different types of restaurants: Just for B's. Delis, Mexican, French, Mediterranean, BBQ...and more. It sounds like you're, like me, a typically easy-going B/Nomad personality-type: You don't want to get bogged down and picayune.
As a B, I have found The Genotype Diet helpful, too with certain things, such as in its encouraging me to experiment with dairy, to notice that certain types of cheese/milk are more easily digested and less likely to cause weight gain. In THAT regard, the "Nomad" guidelines may be better for me than the B.
Ultimately, the Blood Type Diet can be an excellent life-long/maintenance program for the healthy. I suggest you take your time finding out how to navigate it in the manner that is best for you as an individual.
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