Blood type and diet...?

[kokonutmama]

So, what does everyone think about the suggestion that a person's blood type is related to the diet that suits them best?  I haven't read any research on it (I know, bad me) but I can tell you my personal experience.

I'm type O- which, according to the person who first introduced me to the idea, means I ought to eat a lot of meat for my best health.  Obviously, I don't.  I do, however, find myself eating a lot of protien.   Carbohydrates by themselves just make me hungrier. 

Does anyone else have a comment about the relationship between your blood type and your calorie balance preferences?  Has anyone read a good article about this?

[moogie]

i think i'm supposed to avoid sugar but everyone tells me that including my chiro.  I listen sometimes.   I'm an A-

[jnezmama02]

I believe the recommendation for type O is specifically meat (w/ lots of red meat), not other sources of protein like soy, beans or nuts. I think soy, nuts, etc are recommended for A's instead.  I think that diet is a bunch of hooey filled w/ lots of psuedo-science explanations to back it up, personally.  But, then again, I think most (all?) fad diets are hooey. 

Are you trying to lose weight or just eat better? If you are trying to just "eat right", then I think you should just go w/ the FDA's new food pyramid guidelines. However, if you want to lose weight....

I did do the South Beach diet (another fad diet) between pg with Jessie and Emily. I lost about 30lbs...I gained 10lbs back in about a week and a half,  when I switched back to a "normal" diet w/ fruits and regular carbs, when I found out I was pg w/ Emily (I didn't think that restricting carbs was a good idea during pg).  I'm sure most of that was water weight b/c I also increased my liquid intake, but some of it was "real" weight as well. So, SB definitely helped, but obviously, part of that weight loss wasn't sustainable after I switched back to a regular eating pattern.

I think that's something to consider when dieting...do you think you could realistically maintain the eating plan, even after you reach your goal weight?  I'm pretty sure that the weight loss I had wasn't about WHAT I ate as much as how *little* I ate. I think I was averaging about 1200-1300 cal/day by following the book's plan exactly and I also exercised 30-60min EVERYDAY.  Now that I have reflected on the diet, I think I would have lost that much weight with any calorie restricted diet...even just eating my "preferred" foods, as long as I didn't eat more than that many calories.  I don't think there is a diet plan out there that tells you to eat more than 1200-1500 cal per day to lose weight, depending on your starting weight of course. Unfortunately, with that few calories, you will feel hungry, no matter what foods you eat (although some may make you feel hungrier than others...see my post about corn syrup).

From my research, this is what I've found:
1. You need to reduce your caloric intake by 3500 calories to lose ONE pound of true weight (not just water weight). So, if you want to average a 2lb weight loss per week, you need to reduce your calorie intake by 7000 cal/week or 1000 cal/day.  Of course, you can offset this calorie loss by exercising. So, if you burned 200 cals a day by exercising, then you'd only need to reduce to 800cal/day to get that 2lb weight loss. So, if you were eating 2000 calories before (and you need to be realistic when figuring this out by writing a food journal, reading labels and maybe even measuring food)...then you'd now need to eat 1200 cal/day and burn 200 cal/day in exercising and you'd lose 2lbs a week.

2. Proportion sizes are SO screwed up on the labels. After some careful measuring, I realize that I eat 1.5-2 servings of just about everything to feel "satisfied" and 2-3 servings to feel really full. So, I know that when I read that my cereal has 110 cal per 3/4 cup serving, I know that I really eat 1.5 servings. Then, you add the milk in and I'm getting over 250 cal just for cereal & milk. Then, I usually have a glass of OJ w/ it and wow, I've just had 365 cal for a small breakfast. If I add fruit to my cereal, then that's another 100cal.  Yikes!

3. Figuring out how many calories you personally burn when exercising is tough. You have to consider the type of activity you're doing, the duration of the activity, the intensity you are doing the activity (for example, slow walking burns less cal than brisk walking), your weight (you burn more cals for activities if you weigh more, b/c your body is carrying more body mass) plus any weight you carry (like a baby), your body composition (fat vs. muscle, affects how you burn cal), and if you are doing anything that creates more resistance (like going up a hill or pushing a stroller).  I've seen all types of charts on the web, but haven't as of yet, found one that considers all of these factors. But, of course, you can "roughly" estimate that 30min of brisk walking or low-impact aerobics will burn 200 cal.

Ok, this is getting really long and I realize that this is probably WAY more info than you wanted to know. But, maybe this info will be helpful to you or someone else reading this. lol!

[moogie]

I personally love the Asian food pyramid(not sure if its country specific).  It has virtually no breads or meats or dairy.  I think its fantastic.  I say this but i just had a whole store bought pizza hut pizza for lunch.  i'm a piggy.  still i've only gained 6 or 7 kg this pregnancy.

Oh and i picked up electronic scales from the op shop for $4.  bargain, i was feeling a little lost these past few months without scales.

[kokonutmama]

Oh my gosh, Hope, I meant "diet" as in what we eat, not how to loose weight.  When I googled the blood type thing last night after my OP I saw that it's mainly for weight loss, and that you're right, it's meat in particular that O types are supposed to eat.  I also got the impression that it's a bunch of hooey.  (But then again, it may be because some things like soy and legumes that are a huge part of my diet are supposed no-nos for my blood type that I want it to be hooey so I don't have to change my habits. )

Since you mentioned it, though, I don't think South Beach is really a fad diet.  From what I have seen of it since my folks used it to loose weight, it's pretty much sensible eating with lots of whole foods and somewhat restricted carb intake.  It's a lot like the "best odds" diet from the What to Expect book.

[jnezmama02]

I guess I have weight-loss "diet" on the brain.    DH is doing a medically-supervised drastic diet to lose 175 lbs and I still need to lose 10 pg lbs, plus another 25 lbs to get to my ideal weight. 

[kokonutmama]

Wow! 175 pounds.  Is your dh super crabby?  If not, I want to know what kind of drastic diet he's on that doesn't make a person feel hungry.  Hey, what happened to our fitness thread?  I'll go start it again now.

[jnezmama02]

Yep, it's a lot. It's half his body weight. He's already lost 35lbs in 1 month's time. He's doing great on it and is really staying motivated this time around. His dr. told him that it was either this, or get bariatric surgery, b/c his weight is causing so many other problems. He doesn't want the surgery b/c although it sounds like the easy way out, it's not. It effects what you can eat for the rest of your life and has some serious digestive side effects that aren't pleasant. In addition, it's a major surgery, so there's some serious risks to that type of surgery.

As far as the drastic diet, believe it or not, the dr. recommended a more strict version of a liquid-based diet like slimfast. So, here's DH's diet. At 7:30am, he has a diet "shake" (really just skim milk w/ flavoring and lots of vitamins) which is about 190 cal; at 10:30am, DH has a banana (the only fruit he eats) which is roughly 100 cal; at 12:30pm, DH has another diet "shake" for about 190 cal; at 3:30pm he has a "snack bar" which is about a 100 cal; at 6:30pm, he eats a small dinner consisting of a piece of meat and some type of veggie that's not a potato (which means carrots, peas or green beans for DH since that's all he eats), which is usually around 500 cal. So, most days, he's eating between 1000-1100.  He's been on this for a month and says he still feels like he's starving all the time. He's not too crabby on the weekdays, but does get crabby on the weekends when there's less to keep his mind busy. Also, he feels shaky and dizzy all the time. But, has to lose the weight and regular "sensible" diets/meal plans were not working for him.