I'm tweaking, not twerking

As a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, the world's largest nutrition school, I am learning about hundreds of different dietary theories. Why? Because there isn't just one diet that will help everyone, but it's important to understand how different diets can affect the body. We are encouraged to test out these theories on ourselves so when we begin to coach people we can say, "Been there, done that." 

Most recently, we learned about the blood type diet, made popular by Dr. Peter D'Adamo. I had no idea what my blood type was so I ordered a home test kit for $9.95. Turns out I'm O+ like 45% of the African American population. In doing my research on this diet, I read a lot of great testimonials about the effectiveness of this lifestyle.

My test results with the at home test kit.

This of course peaked my interest. 

The basis of this dietary theory is that your genetic heritage is passed on to you through your blood. Your blood gives you a nutritional blueprint for dealing with chronic health problems, increasing energy and vitality levels, slowing down the aging process and improving emotional strength among other things. 

Webmd.com summarized it like this, "The right diet for your blood type comes down to lectins, food proteins each blood type digests differently  D'Amado maintains. If you eat foods containing lectins incompatible with your blood type, he says, you may experience inflammation, bloating, a slower metabolism, even diseases such as cancer. The best way to avoid these effects is to eat foods meant for your blood type."

My overall daily diet is pretty darn healthy - outside of occasional slips like my wheatastic weekend. However, there is always room for improvement! I have decided to tweak my diet based on my blood type over the next 40 days to see if I notice any improvements. I'm not looking for any huge improvements because D'Amado says it can take up to a year of eating for your blood type before you see any marked changes. I have realized in my old age, that good health shows from the inside out. If my insides are improving first, that is ok with me.  

Now that I have figured out I was type O, I was very interested to see if I currently consume a lot of the offender foods for my blood type. 

Yep, I sure do. I don't eat a ton of terrible foods, but this is the short list of my biggest offenders:

Bacon (say it ain't so)
Dairy including cheese and eggs
Cauliflower (I started eating a lot of cauliflower because I used it as a substitute for rice)
Peanut butter 
Smoked salmon (regular salmon is fine)
Grits
Avocado (no more guacamole)
White wine (red wine is acceptable)

The good news is I need to eat red meat 3-4x a week (no problem there)! Type O folks have the digestive enzymes needed to digest red meat unlike a Type A, for example. I also get to eat more salt water fish and seaweed (can we say, more sushi please)!

The type O diet isn't drastically different from the way I eat now, but the biggest challenge will be to eliminate eggs. Because I am of African descent, D'Amado says it's best to eliminate eggs and dairy altogether. If you're not of African descent, you can have limited eggs and cheese a few times each week. And let's not even talk about the bacon. I guess I'll be going back to turkey and beef bacon for the duration. *sigh*

But hey, I can do anything for 40 days! 

Based on my limited research thus far, I think a few of these suggested tweeks to my diet could be beneficial. At the end of the day, I no longer subscribe to the 100% elimination rule and neither does Dr. D'Adamo. I fully subscribe to the 90/10 rule. Eat what makes sense for your body and your situation at that time. You best believe I will be eating good old fashioned cake made with pure flour, sugar, butter and eggs at my wedding! 

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted on my type O diet progress. 

If you know your blood type, he's a brief summary of what foods are best for you. 

Source: http://glamomamas.com/blood-type-diet-eating-baby/

On a completely different note, I just wanted to share my workout results today from a good old cross training session at Unite Fitness Studios. I haven't been in a week and I sure did miss it! I feel so good when I'm done. Yay me!