Customer Reviews

Allergies: Fight Them with the Blood Type Diet: The Individualized Plan for Treating Environmental and FoodAllergies, ChronicSinus Infections, Asthma and Related Conditions

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I cannot believe what a difference this book has made in my life. I did not realize how tired I was until I began following the guidance of this book in avoiding certain foods and including others in my diet. Within a week I was feeling better. I had no idea how tired and sluggish I had been--I have so much more energy now, particularly in the evenings when I was usually tired after coming home from work. I highly recommend that you try this book. It's easy to read and well worth the time and money.

While a lot of the material in this book is necessarily duplicated from other books published by D'Adamo in case the reader starts with this book, the real medical assistance offered has been very helpful to me - teaching me to manage my allergies proactively!

...i've had some issues with it personally. this theory was introduced to me by a health care provider, and my profile as a blood type a seemed to fit me well. during a recent pregnancy, i was plagued with terrible allergies, and my options were limited in terms of medications. i clung to this book and followed it as best i could. for the first few days my allergies improved, so i tried following it to a tee. suddenly, the allergies came back, and i knew that i was eating something that was making them worse. i gave up and returned to a regular diet. after my pregnancy i was tested for allergies, and in addition to my environmental allergies, i am allergic to soy and peanuts, two of the foods that were "highly beneficial" to me. in addition, i had sensitivities to a plethora of other foods on my "blood type a" food list. i may be unique in experiencing this, so i don't want to throw anyone off if this works for you, i just want to let you know about my experience. good luck to you!

Some of the concepts in this book are not fully scientifically supportable, but the diet may still make lots and lots of people feel a whole lot better and attain a much greater level of health! These two things are not mutually exclusive.

Reasons the claims made about the scientific merit of the exact food lists provided for each blood type are unconvincing (on the whole) to me include:

1. I have read more than half a dozen detailed and methodical explanations of why the scientific concepts in the 'Blood Type' books are based on sketchy and incomplete science. While some of the theory makes sense, they found holes in the theory and the way the food lists have been compiled big enough to drive buses through. These were not in books which deny the validity of anything that is not 'mainstream' - quite the opposite in fact. These were by some of the best health and nutrition authors around. Their arguments were very compelling (although I don't have the time to go into them here). There are also numerous articles online that contain this information which you can find by Googling. The general consensus is that the author has part of his theory right, but the way it is being presented as a complete theory with all questions answered is not correct.

2. Even if it's true that our blood type has an enormous amount to do with what we should eat, the concept of biochemical individuality would still mean that there would be just as many differences between what people with the same blood type would eat, as similarities. People are remarkably individual on a biochemical level as the book Biochemical Individuality explains.

3. Family members with the same blood type often do well on very different diets. This illustrates the above principle, and also the concept that different diets suit you at different times of your life in response to all sorts of bodily changes, disease processes and so on.

3. The topic of this diet comes up now and then in chat groups and I have only very rarely heard it discussed favourably - perhaps by a single person? Most say very clearly that it didn't help them and was a waste of time and effort.

The book The Body Ecology Diet: Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding Your Immunity explains that the blood type diet books provide valuable clues about which foods may suit us best, but that it should be considered a theory still in development. The author points out that:

- The research has not been adapted for those with Candida issues, acidic conditions or other serious immune disorders.
- The blood type diet does not emphasise the importance of eating cultured foods. For example, type Os are advised to cut out brassica vegetables such as cabbage entirely as they affect thyroid function. This may make the diet needlessly limited. But all that is needed is for these foods to be cultured, and they pose no problem! (That is a MASSIVE MASSIVE oversight for those of us with already very limited diets!)
- No protein guide is given for vegetarian type Os and Bs.
- Food combining is ignored.
- All blood types are advised to avoid apple cider vinegar, which is highly medicinal, aids digestion and is alkalising.
- Food preparation methods are not discussed which can make some foods well tolerated. (Soaked almonds and cabbage made into sauerkraut are very different to raw or roasted almonds and plain cabbage, for example.)
- Lots of foods that feed yeast are recommended on the diet.
- Unfermented soy is recommended, despite the fact this is difficult to digest and unhealthy.
- Dairy is given undue importance and over recommended.
- Wheat may cause problems for all blood types yet it is recommended on this diet for some blood types.
- The blood type diet advises avoiding coconut oil, and supports many of the myths surrounding this excellent food as explained in Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol.
- No distinction is made between refined and unrefined oils.
- Many of the fruits and vegetables on the allowed lists and the avoid lists for each blood type do not seem to tally with the author's experience with patients and for the most part, all the blood types do well eating the same fruits and vegetables (with the exception of tomatoes).

But this blood type diet book can still improve your health possibly, because:

1. It advises cutting out junk food.

2. It advises choosing higher quality *organic* vegetables, fruit and meats and eggs.

3. It advises upping your vegetable intake.

4. It advises lots of people to cut out foods such as dairy, grains and legumes - which are some of the most common food allergens, which most people have no idea they are allergic to. The lectins in grains and legumes also cause a lot of problems for many people.

5. It advises lots of people to cut out foods such as grains and legumes - which are very high carbohydrate. This will lead to easy weight loss for lots of people.

Considering these 5 factors alone, almost anyone would benefit from going on this diet. These are 5 pieces of simply excellent advice! But you would also get many of the same benefits from following any healthy whole food eating plan or at least any which avoided recommending grain and legume consumption, as all the Paleo diet books do.

If you do have allergies or a problem dealing with carbohydrates, or a need for lots of fat and protein in your diet, you better hope you are a type O though. The basics of the type 0 program happen to fit me well by chance (though it doesn't at all fit family members of mine that have the same blood type) but I bet lots of others that aren't Os do poorly eating such a high carb diet so high in grains and legumes! (This must be why the author has revised down the amount of grains it is okay for non-Os to eat, in more recent books.)

The author's belief in the blood type diet concept seems to have escalated to faith, as one reviewer said.

It cannot hurt to try this diet for a short time, probably. But there are far easier ways to go about getting healthy and losing weight that are nowhere near as enormously complicated, or as needlessly restrictive, potentially. You might start with a simple book on nutrition and eating real food such as Real Food: What to Eat and Why or, if you desire to lose weight as well as improve your health, Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats.

If you suspect that you may have an issue with grains and legumes (and/or want to lose weight while getting healthier), then you might want to read some of the books on the Paleo diet and try this diet for a while. There are lots of good books on this topic including The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy (Primal Blueprint Series) as well as lots of free information online.

If you suspect you have food allergies you may want to have ELISA testing done, do some pulse testing, go on an elimination diet and then a 4 day rotation diet. You may also want to look into issues surrounding having a 'leaky gut' which is one of the main causes of food allergies. Suspect leaky gut if you have been a heavy user of NSAIDs, aspirin, ibuprofen etc. Books such as No More Heartburn: Stop the Pain in 30 Days--Naturally! : The Safe, Effective Way to Prevent and Heal Chronic Gastrointestinal Disorders can be helpful in treating this condition.

To read about the fats we all need you may want to read Know Your Fats : The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol and Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food.

All of these books have a solid scientific basis. Eat real food, consider that you may have hidden food allergies and try to find the diet that suits YOU as an individual, I say!

At best this book promotes a very incomplete and flawed theory that only explains one small part of the science of what we should each be eating and why, rather than the whole answer. Unfortunately the issue relies on many other factors in addition to blood type and is far more complicated.

To read about how to best treat environmental allergies and chemical sensitivity I highly recommend Detoxify or Die.

I quite enjoyed finding out what blood type I was finally! I'm an O negative blood type. It always felt weird that I didn't know this.

The three stars in this rating are for the 5 excellent diet tips included in this book, as listed above, plus some of the information on common allergens in this book. (I read this book and 'Eat Right 4 Your Type' together and this is a review of them both really.)

Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

ALL I WANT TO SAY IS- I KNEW I WAS DOING SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY FOOD, ONLY I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT, AND THIS BOOK PROVED IT. I HAD SUFFERED HEAVY ALLERGIES ( COUGH, CONGESTION, HEADACHES) FOR A LONG TIE, BUT ALL I WAS BEING PRESCRIBED WAS TREATMENTS FOR THE CONSEQUENCES, NOBODY WAS TREATING THE ORIGIN.AFTER I GOT THIS BOOK, I REALIZED, THAT I WAS EATING VERY WRONG FOODS FOR ME, AND NOW I'M TRYING TO AVOID THEM AND INCLUDE MORE BENEFICIAL FOODS, TO IMPROVE MY HEALTH.
AND FOR REAL- IT WAS ALL I NEEDED !
THANK YOU DR. ADAMO FOR FIGURING THIS OUT ! DILIANA

I have enjoyed tremendous benefits from Dr. D'Adamo's work! I started to eat under his blood type plans for weight loss but the benefits specific to my other health issues have been AMAZING! I have been an allergy sufferer for 40 years and have not had great results no matter what meds I was given. I am down to one med for asthma and have enjoyed trmemndous results with this book.

Very informative. Will be hard to go by all of it but will try as I am tired of suffering.

This book has given me supporting theory on health issues which have bothered me all my life. After suffering Dr. solutions and treatments. Thank you Bloo Thank you Blood Type Diet.

Very good book on health- my brilliant primary M.D. recommended it.Following this author's diet I lost weight and my stomach is feeling much better.It takes time to get rid of allergies, but I am on the right path.

It has made a difference for me and my allergies by choosing the better foods to eat for my blood type from this book. It corresponds to the "Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type" but also puts values on certain foods that can effect allergies. I highly recommend this book by Dr. Peter D'Adamo.