Anyone tried the "Blood Type Diet?"

[Gemini529]

I guess this diet is kind of old news, but I'm wondering if anyone's tried it and benefited from it? I looked up my blood type (o+) and apparently I'm supposed to be avoiding all of the foods I love (corn, wheat and cheese) and eating more meat. meh.

I'm wondering if this is all a bunch of baloney or if there's any merit to it? I'm not really trying to lose weight (not that it would hurt me to, lol), but came across it while researching possible treatments for my eczema. Some guy said he cured his by following the diet plan for his blood type. Any thoughts on this?

There is currently little to nothing in my fridge that is "on program" for O+ blood so even if I give it a go, I'll probably have to wait til next week's grocery trip

[Llyra]

I've read quite a bit about that, and I'm going with "bunch of baloney" as my vote. I'm quite sure there are plenty of people who have followed it, and felt healthier-- but I'm not buying that it's blood type that's the reason for why it works.

[tatsu15]

Yes I'm on it right now. I'm B+ so I can eat alot of dairy, but I can't eat chicken =(

[ryleigh'smama]

I think that the reason it works for people is because it advocates eating a diet free of processed food, and low in grains. No matter your blood type, that is pretty universal. I am a type O+ so technically I should eat a bunch of meat, no grain, no dairy diet. My intestines do not function when I eat like that. I tried everything to make my body work well with that way of eating, and really only discovered it was all the meat that was causing the problem on "accident". We were out of town and I didn't eat meat for a couple of days because there wasn't any, and all of a sudden my digestive system started functioning. I eat dairy and eggs, and that works for me. Before anyone asks, I ate meat from a grass fed organic cow that we bought only, and pastured chickens from a local farm. I took a ton of digestive enzymes, tried coconut oil, ACV, all sorts of things. I ate really well, supplemented really well, and my intestines hated it. I am eating lacto/ovo vegetarian right now and I don't need any of the supplements.

That's the long way of saying that, for me, the diet was wrong.

[Gemini529]

hmm, that is pretty interesting...so the diet was pretty much the opposite of what your body needed!

@ Tatsu15: are you noticing any benefits or results at all from following the diet?

[LeahBoo]

Originally Posted by tatsu15

Yes I'm on it right now. I'm B+ so I can eat alot of dairy, but I can't eat chicken =(

This got me curious, because I have family members intolerant to dairy, and have often thought I shouldn't eat it, but have found it causes me no problems and I feel better when I eat dairy. I also found out by accident that if I stop eating chicken, I lose weight. And I'm type b.

My sister is also b, she is very sensitive to corn, probably wheat, maybe dairy.

My mom is overweight, has thyroid issues, ulcers, acid reflux, fibromyalgia, you name it. She is type O, and consumes a lot of milk and grains, but also can get away with eating way more meat than a person should ever be allowed to consume.

Then my mom's (half) sister, is little and petite, doesn't eat wheat (dairy either?), doesn't do well with meat at all, and is type A.

I agree that the diets likely work for weight loss because they restrict grains and processed foods, but for the other issues, fibromyalgia, etc, it makes sense to me.

I think I might try it. Who knows, maybe I can convince my mom to go along with me.

[MoonStarFalling]

My family follows it, my ILs and some friends. We have all had very positive results over the last 8 years. We had all noticed, after starting the diet, that we are intolerant to the foods on the "no" side and are all doing a lot better without those foods. I had everything from seasonal allergies, IBS to eczema. FIL got off all is bp meds. MIL finds that her "no" foods were causing her arthritis. My kids have followed it since they started solids.

[Gemini529]

Originally Posted by MoonStarFalling

My family follows it, my ILs and some friends. We have all had very positive results over the last 8 years. We had all noticed, after starting the diet, that we are intolerant to the foods on the "no" side and are all doing a lot better without those foods. I had everything from seasonal allergies, IBS to eczema. FIL got off all is bp meds. MIL finds that her "no" foods were causing her arthritis. My kids have followed it since they started solids.

Wow that is pretty amazing! Maybe there is something to it after all! I guess I was just bummed about the fact that i am supposed to eat more meat. Not that I'm a vegetarian or anything...it's just not exactly my favorite food group. Sometimes I'll go 2 days and realize I haven't had any meat at all. I wonder if I would even be able to stick to it. There just seemed to be so many rules as to which foods are allowed/not allowed but I didn't totally understand why.

[vbactivist]

Originally Posted by MoonStarFalling

My family follows it, my ILs and some friends. We have all had very positive results over the last 8 years. We had all noticed, after starting the diet, that we are intolerant to the foods on the "no" side and are all doing a lot better without those foods. I had everything from seasonal allergies, IBS to eczema. FIL got off all is bp meds. MIL finds that her "no" foods were causing her arthritis. My kids have followed it since they started solids.

I don't even know 2 out of my three children's blood types. I guess I feel like people didn't know their blood type throughout history, so how could they have eaten for their blood type?

[LionessMom]

i am gonna look it up and see what it says for me.

i have fibro. i know that "no" foods for fibro are dairy, wheat, sugar and chemicals (both on food, added to food, and used on, in, or near the body, like shampoo etc).

[MoonStarFalling]

Originally Posted by vbactivist

I don't even know 2 out of my three children's blood types. I guess I feel like people didn't know their blood type throughout history, so how could they have eaten for their blood type?

That's explained in the book. How the different blood types evolved and how it was related to the evolution of our diet. When I talk with people about it usually people naturally follow a diet very close to the one recommended in the book. My kids both naturally follow the diet almost all the time. But a lot of people fall prey to social pressures that tell them to eat differently than what their body tells them, such as they have to drink milk/eat meat at every meal/eat lots of wheat products etc to be healthy. I haven't come across one person IRL that wasn't a total believer after doing the diet.

[mum4vr]

Originally Posted by Llyra

I've read quite a bit about that, and I'm going with "bunch of baloney" as my vote. I'm quite sure there are plenty of people who have followed it, and felt healthier-- but I'm not buying that it's blood type that's the reason for why it works.

Originally Posted by ryleigh'smama

I think that the reason it works for people is because it advocates eating a diet free of processed food, and low in grains. No matter your blood type, that is pretty universal. I am a type O+ so technically I should eat a bunch of meat, no grain, no dairy diet. My intestines do not function when I eat like that. I tried everything to make my body work well with that way of eating, and really only discovered it was all the meat that was causing the problem on "accident". We were out of town and I didn't eat meat for a couple of days because there wasn't any, and all of a sudden my digestive system started functioning. I eat dairy and eggs, and that works for me. Before anyone asks, I ate meat from a grass fed organic cow that we bought only, and pastured chickens from a local farm. I took a ton of digestive enzymes, tried coconut oil, ACV, all sorts of things. I ate really well, supplemented really well, and my intestines hated it. I am eating lacto/ovo vegetarian right now and I don't need any of the supplements.

That's the long way of saying that, for me, the diet was wrong.

ITA!

I am O+ too, and I can. NOT. do this. It makes me feel much much worse and causes some health problems while exacerbating existing ones! My cousin is A+, I think? and her suggested diet is what I eat and she hates-- and vice versa, my suggested diet is what she eats and I hate! We laughed about a blood swap while we were both valiantly trying to make our "type" diets work for us.

I also do NOT buy the author's version of either dietary history or blood type history upon which the diets are based-- they seemed to me completely unsubstantiated. just MHO... tho.

[shnitzel]

I can't imagine figuring out dinner as DD, DH and I are all different blood types. I anyways don't but the theory at all.

[LionessMom]

i went and read it. i think it a bunch of baloney too. it said my type should eat wheat. wheat makes me worse. so.... i think if it is working for you it is a coincidence. jmho.

[Storm Bride]

I'm AB+. I don't remember what I'm "supposed" to eat, although I do remember that it was pretty restrictive.

However, I do know that my sister and I thrive on completely different diets, and feel good when eating different things. My sister is also AB+.

My mom was following the Blood Type diet for a while, and quit eating both tomatoes and chicken. It didn't cause her any problems, but I never saw any evidence that it benefitted her in any way...and we were living with her at the time, so I was quite aware of her day-to-day mental and physical state, yk?

I like it, just because it - unlike so much other dietary advice - acknowledgegs that people are different, and one size fits all doesn't work. I wanted to believe it. But, I've come down on the "bunch of bologna" side of things.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by shnitzel

I can't imagine figuring out dinner as DD, DH and I are all different blood types. I anyways don't but the theory at all.

I don't know any of my children's blood types, but it's possible that we have all four in this house. That would be an absolute nightmare at mealtimes!

ETA: (Oops - that's not true. I always get confused about the potential blood type of ds1. My ex was an O, and I have it stuck in my brain that this means ds1 could be anything...but he can apparently only be A or B.)