Grain-Free Diet

[pharmboy]

Starting a Grain-Free Diet for the new year. I have been convinced that grains are relatively new dietary addition to humans and that many of us have not evolved to stomach the massive amount of grains that most foods contain. I am eliminating all wheat containing products. The only grain that I will occasionally eat is corn, which is not a vegetable as most people think. Corn is at least partially digestible raw, while other grains are not, leading me to believe that some corn is OK. I will eat a diet similar to Steve's with one big exception. I will eat high quality meat once a day. The fossil record bears out that humans have always hunted and consumed meat, therefore I believe that our bodies have adapted to it and probably need it. There weren't too many grains, fruits, or vegetables available in the winter, making hunting a necessity. I will also enjoy some frozen and canned fruits and vegetables. I have read some studies showing that they do have nutritional benefit and will use them for convenience and cost savings.

My reasons for starting this diet are that I have always had some GI distress and have noticed it getting better if I cut out starchy carbs. Though, to look at me, you would think that I am in perfect health, I generally am tired and have what I could only describe as "brain fog". I have dealt with some joint pain and a mild case of psoriasis over the past few years. I'll let you know if this helps.

Dr. Mercola recommends a similar diet, but cautions against sweet fruits and vegetables. I believe that humans have always eaten these and, like Steve, will enjoy them freely. Comments? Suggestions?

[Jennihul]

You must have all the same books as me.

I love Dr Mercola too but I feel that Dr Peter D'Adamo with the Eat Right 4 Your Type books, and his new book "GenoType," has a more customized concept of diets based on more solid research. Mercola's ideas are good, based on personal metabolism but so are D'Adamo's and his are much more specific to actual foods that are customized to your ancestry.

Dr Mercola occasionally says postive things about D'Adamo's work, yet he will turn around and sell people coconut products when he knows they are an AVOID for all blood types according to D'Adamo.

I've just started the GenoType book and it's the absolute most fascinating thing I have ever read regarding ancestry, genetics, food and evolution.

Highly, highly recommended for people that think like you and me.

Jennifer

[Andrew Brunelle]

Dr. Mercola is a great guy. And even though he is wholly against grains, for me, they help me in some way, so I keep eating them. Of course, I only eat whole grains and not those refined ones. I would say that meat should be consumed in small quantities at least four times a week. Nothing too big, just enough to satisfy the B12 or B6 requirement. Just make sure it is cruelty-free.

[Jennihul]

Andrew, maybe you are blood type B or AB. They are adapted, through their agricultural ancestry, to grains. Dairy too.


Jennifer

[bwb]

Originally Posted by Jennihul

You must have all the same books as me.

I love Dr Mercola too but I feel that Dr Peter D'Adamo with the Eat Right 4 Your Type books, and his new book "GenoType," has a more customized concept of diets based on more solid research. Mercola's ideas are good, based on personal metabolism but so are D'Adamo's and his are much more specific to actual foods that are customized to your ancestry.

I encourage you to read John Robbins' "The Food Revolution", particularly pages 71-79 where he examines the "Eat Right 4 Your Type" diet (along with a number of other contemporary fad diets). Robbins cites a number of nutrition experts and widely-trusted sources, including the Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter, which published:

"The author speaks of his `work' and his `research' throughout the book but doesn't reference a single study he has published in a scientific journal. In fact, D'Adamo's `work' appears to consist entirely of anecdotes he has gathered from his caring for his `patients' (he's not a physician) and articles he has published in a non-peer reviewed journal that he himself founded and publishes. Not recommended-Tufts' lowest rating.

Fredrick J. Stare, M.D., Founder and former Chairman of the Nutrition Department at the Harvard School of Public Health wrote:

"Eat Right For Your Type is not only one of the most preposterous books on the market, but also one of the most frightening. It contains just enough scientific sounding nonsense, carefully woven into a complex theory, to actually seem convincing to the uninitiated. Based on his and his father's `research' and observation of patients, D'Adamo has pieced together the outrageous hypothesis that blood type determines which foods an individual should or should not eat . . . Browsing through what at first glance appears to be a fairly impressive list of references, we found none that seem to support a connection between diet and blood type. . . . Selecting the blood type gene as the same one that governs food and digestive capabilities is a purely arbitrary and we think irresponsible decision. He could just as easily have chosen to link food with eye color --and he would have been no farther off target. . . . This outrageous theory is nothing short of sheer nonsense. Were there any truth to it, it's reasonable to hypothesize that the human race would have died out centuries ago.

[pharmboy]

I have read the A'damo books and, at first, thought that they made sense. I also read the information contradicting the blood type diet. For me, a type A, I was supposed to eat a ton of grains, fruits, and vegetables, and little to no meat. I would feel awful eating this way and was hungry all of the time. I also found his food charts confusing and contradictory. He seems to change his mind often on what foods are beneficial for each blood type from book to book. His website would also change recommendations based on "new research". I just couldn't keep up with him and base my whole diet on an unproven science.

I feel pretty good, so far, just cutting out grains.

[Jennihul]

Actually, D'Adamo says that grains are not good for type A so it makes perfect sense that you are feeling better off them. Only very certain ones and not in large quantities. Are you a secretor or non-secretor? Most of the so called "conflicts" in D'Adamo's claims come from people not paying attention to that important factor.

I have not a shred of disrespect for any doctor who modifies his plan or his ideals as new information becomes available or one that hunts down anomalies in his own research and has the balls to retract his own data. Dr D'Adamo is a Naturopathic Physician and researcher which means he has as much, if not more, education than an MD, just a different title. MD groupies will undoubtedly disagree but MDs, their drugs and actions in America kill more people than any other cause of death so I'd be wary of worshipping them or their methods 100%.

I actually have less respect for docs that think what they learned in med school is the end-all, be-all of medicine and that how silly it must be to think that anything could have evolved after they graduated. Yet, so many of our country's MDs think just that way and treat their patients with less than a 10 minute medical history. Nowadays, they are almost inextricably beholden to profit-seeking drug companies and the financial whims of insurance providers. This is not a good combination for the health of America. Mind you, the conventional medicine industry puts food on my table and has for the last 25 years. I am not just making this up.

If conventional nutritionists like Fredrick J. Stare, M.D. were any good at their jobs and working from correct ideals, would we be so sick in this country? So obese? So cancer-ridden? Would heart disease dominate our lives as we grow old? Their plan, and the atrociously designed food pyramids, have killed more people than all the wars and car accidents put together.

John Robbins wants everyone to eat fruit and vegetables. What about the people that have tried and can't survive in a peak state that way? His diet is healthy, but his ideals are philosophical, not based on research. Dude is a businessman and an author, not a researcher. Not a doctor. That's not to diminish the total respect I have for him but he "feels" the world would be a better place if everyone was just like him: a vegetarian. Not exactly a well-researched opinion.

The blood type diet is not an unresearched fad. If you think that, you really didn't read his books or, like Dr Stare, you have a vested interest in things having to do with $$$ and the food and drug industry and less to do with actual data. The problem with Dr Stare and other conventional nutritionists and MDs is that, if D'Adamo is right, and he is, he makes a total mockery of everything Dr Stare makes money doing. Sucks for him.

Peter D'Adamo continued his father's life-long research so the diet in fact is so well-researched, for decades longer than most diets people try, that his book Live Right 4 Your Type is a very very boring book to read. I'm used to reading peer journals and I could barely get through it. But you don't need to read "Live Right.." to be successful at this diet.

You could say I am the poster child for his diet. As a type O/Hunter, my direct DNA comes from the oldest humans on Earth. I am the least evolved to live well in this day and age. When I veer, I suffer. Greatly. When I comply, I am vibrant and healthy. I've tested allergic to over 25 foods and every single one of them was on the AVOID list for my blood type. My type O mother as well. None were on the neutral or beneficial. Those odds are astronomical to be merely a coincidence. He is also correct with my exercise needs for type O. If I try other forms of exercise, I gain weight easily. If I comply, I am mentally and physically super well.

D'Adamo claims that type A people who try to lose weight on a diet like Atkins will be unhealthy and suffer gallbladder issues. My type A sister refused my advice and within six months, had her gallbladder out after trying Atkins. He claims that type A people are more prone to diabetes, arthritis, obesity and mucous formation if non-compliant. My dad who is type A is extremely non-compliant and is now diabetic, obese, has arthritis of his spine so bad he cannot bend and is constantly coughing up phlegm.

D'Adamo claims type A people are more prone to cancer. My non-compliant sister had an endoscopy done and has hundreds of stomach polyps that are baffling her MDs. They each have the potential to become cancerous.

My coworker who is type B has chicken, which is an avoid for B, nearly every night for her dinner and when she is non-compliant, she ends up on Prozac for mood swings and depression. When she tried a variation with no chicken, she didn't need her meds anymore.

Some people say "this diet isn't for everyone" when discussing the latest fad to come down the pike. But the Blood Type Diet and the new more specific variation, the GenoType diet literally ARE for everyone. I consider it a gift to humanity. I'm glad I received it.

Jennifer

[pharmboy]

Originally Posted by Jennihul

Actually, D'Adamo says that grains are not good for type A so it makes perfect sense that you are feeling better off them. Only very certain ones and not in large quantities. Are you a secretor or non-secretor? Most of the so called "conflicts" in D'Adamo's claims come from people not paying attention to that important factor.

I have not a shred of disrespect for any doctor who modifies his plan or his ideals as new information becomes available or one that hunts down anomalies in his own research and has the balls to retract his own data. Dr D'Adamo is a Naturopathic Physician and researcher which means he has as much, if not more, education than an MD, just a different title. MD groupies will undoubtedly disagree but MDs, their drugs and actions in America kill more people than any other cause of death so I'd be wary of worshipping them or their methods 100%.

I actually have less respect for docs that think what they learned in med school is the end-all, be-all of medicine and that how silly it must be to think that anything could have evolved after they graduated. Yet, so many of our country's MDs think just that way and treat their patients with less than a 10 minute medical history. Nowadays, they are almost inextricably beholden to profit-seeking drug companies and the financial whims of insurance providers. This is not a good combination for the health of America. Mind you, the conventional medicine industry puts food on my table and has for the last 25 years. I am not just making this up.

If conventional nutritionists like Fredrick J. Stare, M.D. were any good at their jobs and working from correct ideals, would we be so sick in this country? So obese? So cancer-ridden? Would heart disease dominate our lives as we grow old? Their plan, and the atrociously designed food pyramids, have killed more people than all the wars and car accidents put together.

John Robbins wants everyone to eat fruit and vegetables. What about the people that have tried and can't survive in a peak state that way? His diet is healthy, but his ideals are philosophical, not based on research. Dude is a businessman and an author, not a researcher. Not a doctor. That's not to diminish the total respect I have for him but he "feels" the world would be a better place if everyone was just like him: a vegetarian. Not exactly a well-researched opinion.

The blood type diet is not an unresearched fad. If you think that, you really didn't read his books or, like Dr Stare, you have a vested interest in things having to do with $$$ and the food and drug industry and less to do with actual data. The problem with Dr Stare and other conventional nutritionists and MDs is that, if D'Adamo is right, and he is, he makes a total mockery of everything Dr Stare makes money doing. Sucks for him.

Peter D'Adamo continued his father's life-long research so the diet in fact is so well-researched, for decades longer than most diets people try, that his book Live Right 4 Your Type is a very very boring book to read. I'm used to reading peer journals and I could barely get through it. But you don't need to read "Live Right.." to be successful at this diet.

You could say I am the poster child for his diet. As a type O/Hunter, my direct DNA comes from the oldest humans on Earth. I am the least evolved to live well in this day and age. When I veer, I suffer. Greatly. When I comply, I am vibrant and healthy. I've tested allergic to over 25 foods and every single one of them was on the AVOID list for my blood type. My type O mother as well. None were on the neutral or beneficial. Those odds are astronomical to be merely a coincidence. He is also correct with my exercise needs for type O. If I try other forms of exercise, I gain weight easily. If I comply, I am mentally and physically super well.

D'Adamo claims that type A people who try to lose weight on a diet like Atkins will be unhealthy and suffer gallbladder issues. My type A sister refused my advice and within six months, had her gallbladder out after trying Atkins. He claims that type A people are more prone to diabetes, arthritis, obesity and mucous formation if non-compliant. My dad who is type A is extremely non-compliant and is now diabetic, obese, has arthritis of his spine so bad he cannot bend and is constantly coughing up phlegm.

D'Adamo claims type A people are more prone to cancer. My non-compliant sister had an endoscopy done and has hundreds of stomach polyps that are baffling her MDs. They each have the potential to become cancerous.

My coworker who is type B has chicken, which is an avoid for B, nearly every night for her dinner and when she is non-compliant, she ends up on Prozac for mood swings and depression. When she tried a variation with no chicken, she didn't need her meds anymore.

Some people say "this diet isn't for everyone" when discussing the latest fad to come down the pike. But the Blood Type Diet and the new more specific variation, the GenoType diet literally ARE for everyone. I consider it a gift to humanity. I'm glad I received it.

Jennifer

Wow! You are passionate about A'Damo's work. I thought that whole grains were good for type A's who are basically agriculturists. I'll have to revisit the book. As I said, before, that many of the things that he said made sense to me, particularly on exercise and in my case arthritis. I am definitely one who does not thrive on heavy exercise, though I am capable of it. I have no idea about my secretor status. I am tied to the drug industry and speak with gastroenterologists every day. However, I don't base my health decisions off of their advice. I view medication as a last resort, but this does not stop the droves of people that go to Doctor's looking for a quick fix, because they refuse to change their lifestyle, or have tried and failed with lifestyle modifications.

Health is a complex mix of factors, and sometimes conventional medicine is the only answer for some people. I am not the one who called a A'Damo a sham. I simply came to my own conclusions based on the diet that seems right for me. Certainly A'Damo's work has not been proven wrong. Interestingly my Dad eats exactly wrong for his type and Doctors tell him that he is a perfect physical specimen for people who are 10 years younger than he is. Anyway, you and I probably agree more than we disagree.

[pharmboy]

Originally Posted by pharmboy

Wow! You are passionate about A'Damo's work. I thought that whole grains were good for type A's who are basically agriculturists. I'll have to revisit the book. As I said, before, that many of the things that he said made sense to me, particularly on exercise and in my case arthritis. I am definitely one who does not thrive on heavy exercise, though I am capable of it. I have no idea about my secretor status. I am tied to the drug industry and speak with gastroenterologists every day. However, I don't base my health decisions off of their advice. I view medication as a last resort, but this does not stop the droves of people that go to Doctor's looking for a quick fix, because they refuse to change their lifestyle, or have tried and failed with lifestyle modifications.

Health is a complex mix of factors, and sometimes conventional medicine is the only answer for some people. I am not the one who called a A'Damo a sham. I simply came to my own conclusions based on the diet that seems right for me. Certainly A'Damo's work has not been proven wrong. Interestingly my Dad eats exactly wrong for his type and Doctors tell him that he is a perfect physical specimen for people who are 10 years younger than he is. Anyway, you and I probably agree more than we disagree.

OK, so I revisited "Eat Right for your Type". Most grains are good for type A's , with the exception of wheat, which is neutral or an avoid if you have problems with mucus or allergies. It appears that my diet plans are right track with D'Adamo with the exception of avoiding all grains and he basically says that I should be a complete vegetarian. Fish, chicken, and turkey are Ok a few times a week, and beef should be avoided. I love a good steak and jerky and will not be compliant in that guideline, though I'm not eating beef every day. Overall, I'll be doing well with the guidelines that I am adopting. I may add rice to the plan based on my reading. It's hard to fill up on fruits and vegetables. The exercise and disease generalizations are strikingly accurate with most of the people that I know. My Dad being the exception. Dr. A'Damo admits on his blog that his blood type diet is right for about 6 out of 10 people and the genotype data should cover the rest. Interesting!

[Jennihul]

Originally Posted by pharmboy

Interestingly my Dad eats exactly wrong for his type and Doctors tell him that he is a perfect physical specimen for people who are 10 years younger than he is. Anyway, you and I probably agree more than we disagree.

My grandfather, who is A but not related to me by blood, is one of those amazing people who looks fabulous, has gorgeous radiant skin, still cuts his 1 acre lawn himself at 81. He looks at least 20 years younger. He even smells healthy. I don't know how else to describe it but when you work with many elderly people you can tell the difference. But although he eats a fairly decent diet compared to most who don't study such things, he ate the same thing for lunch for almost 70 years: a balogna sandwich.

The funny thing is, I've read recently that lunch meats and their preservatives have been implicated in prostate cancer and sure enough he was diagnosed with prostate last year.

D'Adamo says that A's are frequently heard saying "I was never sick a day in my life...and then this hit me." Meaning cancer, heart attack, etc.

The GenoType book is fascinating. I have nearly an equal distribution of Hunter and Gatherer points but I haven't evaluated my fingerprints yet or bought the strips to see if I am a "super-taster."

Jennifer

[Kingston]

This info is a nice in relation to my detox thread! I checked out the amazon page, and I have a question about his adaptition theory. I am a typo O / "hunter" and thus, like you supposedly not adapted to the modern diets. I am very caucasian dutchman, an ordinary white male with dark blond hair. My ancestors are from Great Brittain and Western Europe, and there is nothing in my facial features from anywhere else.

So my ancestors have all characteristics of people living in an agricultural society. If D'Adamo theory applies to me, then the digestive system is the only thing in my ancestors that did not adapt to the environment, which seems unlikely to me. Or am I missing something?

I give him the benefit of the doubt until I have done a no wheat, no dairy trial. I'm glad his diet improved your life. Thanks again.

[goodsamaritan]

I have roughly the same opinion as yours. In fact I just blogged about it. Might be worth a read for you so we can compare.

I'm a fellow raw foodist and I follow the Wai Diet.

My Family Health Blog » Blog Archive » My current optimal diet theory for health and longevity

[Jennihul]

I think because we humans feel like a 100 year lifespan is a "long time," we misunderstand how long it really takes to physically adapt/mutate/change. It's takes millennia, even longer. These changes and the mutations that caused the blood types to develop were occuring over tens of thousands of years.

So whether you look English or like your immediate ancestors is fairly moot. The genotype adaptations, according to D'Adamo, occurred before racial differences even developed.

"These GenoTypes probably developed over the last 100,000 years of human history. They're older than ethnicity and they don't necessarily line up with your family patterns. You could be the only Hunter in a family of Gatherers...
Yes, your GenoType is the product of the genes you inherited from your family, but also of your prenatal experiences." ~PD, ND


Jennifer

[Jennihul]

Originally Posted by Jennihul

I actually have less respect for docs that think what they learned in med school is the end-all, be-all of medicine and that how silly it must be to think that anything could have evolved after they graduated. Yet, so many of our country's MDs think just that way and treat their patients with less than a 10 minute medical history. Nowadays, they are almost inextricably beholden to profit-seeking drug companies and the financial whims of insurance providers. This is not a good combination for the health of America. Mind you, the conventional medicine industry puts food on my table and has for the last 25 years. I am not just making this up.

Originally Posted by Jennihul

MD groupies will undoubtedly disagree but MDs, their drugs and actions in America kill more people than any other cause of death so I'd be wary of worshipping them or their methods 100%.

How timely. I hate when I am right....

France best, U.S. worst in preventable deaths - Health care - MSNBC.com


Jennifer