Eat Right for Your Type

[Veg4Life]

I recently took my son to a nutritionist/allergist. He's been having all sorts of trouble with his skin, itchy eyes, dripping nose etc. He's had these problems on and off since he was a baby, but it seems to be worse in the past 6 months. I can't put my finger on what has changed. This Dr. advocated the Eat Right for Your Type book. I got it from the library and it's very interesting. My blood type is A which the books describes as someone who should eat primarily vegan and as "fresh" as possible. So, that of course indicated to me and my lifestyle.

I'm just curious if anyone has read this book or has any opinions about it. I think if my son was an A like me, we'd be fine, but if he ended up being a different blood type and meat or dairy was encouraged, I would run into some moral dilemmas. Right now I feed him 100% vegan, and very high raw and have been for well over a year. He is still having some severe health issues, so something needs to be tweaked. We are also running some blood tests to see about food allergies and environmental allergies.

Okay, I'm rambling now. Any thoughts on the book? It was quite an interesting read and had some valid points, but...yeah, the but is where I'm having trouble. :) Thank you!

[Hedi]

Hi! According to D'Adamo, I'm supposed to be quite the carnivore. I can just tell you that, based on years of eating a high-protein diet, it didn't work. :) Even if he offers some common-sense advice, there has been quite a bit of clamoring against what he offers as scientific evidence. . .like so many diet/health texts out there.

Have any of your son's personal care products changed -- shampoo, soap, toothpaste? Even laundry detergent could be a culprit. If he eats soy, could that be the issue?

Best of luck to you and your son!!!

[MelanieM]

I have a lot of chemical sensitivities and skin irritations, itchy eyes, sinus troubles are all things that happen to me when I'm around any kind of fragrance. That includes perfume, scented candles, cleaning supplies, scented bath products, dryer sheets (really bad one), febreeze (kills me!), etc. Do you have things like this in your home, or other environments where he spends a lot of time? Or perhaps even on the people that spend a lot of time around him? For me it doesn't have to be directly in my home... there's a lovely boy next door to us that comes to play and they use febreeze in their home. Every time he comes here I can barely stand to be in the same room with him. This might not be your issue, but just in case it resonates...

Good luck!

[freshlight]

Melanie, congrats on having such a sensitive and intelligent body. It's great because it does all the thinking for you :)
After being raw for 5 years I had to stop using perfume because my body became extremely sensitive to everything we don't need (=rubbish).
That book doesn't make any sense to me because then the raw food would be a senseless thing too, which can't be right. Jmho

[MelanieM]

freshlight, that's so true! I give thanks all the time for coming to my senses (through my senses ;)) about what toxins I allowed in my personal space. It is amazing how much my overall health improved when I removed those things from my home and switched to more organics several years ago. Our bodies are truly miraculous!

[Revvell]

Check out what's changed w/in your environment ~ cell tower? new furniture? carpeting? had interior closets redone? Do you have pets?

All of the former could be outgassing. (except the cell tower and that's sort of outgassing). With pets, until one gets their immune system built up, it's a battle.

Hope you find the cause.

Revvell (http://LetsTalkRaw.com)

[Soka]

Those symptoms are an allergic reaction to something. It could be anything. I had horrible allergies as a child and would have to take allergy meds every day just to keep the symptoms at a minimum. Then almost at once, they stopped and didn't come back for a long time. Today, they still come back from time to time and I think that is only when my cat decides to sleep on my face (I've never had cat allergies until I got my long haired cat)


So allergies can be caused by anything and they can come and go. I would try and find the source of the allergy. It could be dust, mold, pets, a food allergy, ect. There is no need to change his entire diet because some book says his blood type needs a certain diet. ( I think that book is rubbish, personally. No offense) You could take him to get tested for allergies. Thats what my parents did to me and we found out tons of things I'm allergic to.

[Stina]

I read from one source that the average life expectancy for blood type A is 62years and it's 82 years for blood type O. What?!
One raw foodist said it's the way to go if you're eating cooked food but that raw food transcends the issue. dr. Gabriel Cousens is blood type O and is in his 60's having been a raw vegan for decades and is amazingly healthy.

[katacykls]

Hope you find what is giving him allergies and hope he gets well soon.
Have you tried aromatherapy in your house ?

[cherrypie]

a friend of mine swears by this book and was actually able to cure a lot health related problmes , for eg her recurring candida issues. i had a look at it but discoverd that according to my blood type I had to stay away from almost everything i love and eat a lot as young coconuts, mangos, citrus fruit etc

[ShantiLove]

I use to be into blodtype diet many many years ago. From what I found out later was that there is actualy no science that supports the eat right for you type diet. Non. And im really surprised that G. Cousens (that I respect really highly) even mentiones it seriously in his book.
The diet dident change a thing for me, but I have had several customers in the health food store who had huge imrpovements in their health. In most cases is because they, acording to the diet, have to stop eating wheat and or dairy. So many people have problems with thies to things. A wholestic therapist I know says ok for the diet, because as he thinks that it helps people on SAD to start thinking about what they put into their body and are helping them getting some good eating habbits.
The diet is still growing in popularety, why I dont know, but maby there is somthing there ? maby some new science has discoverd somthing ? dont know. I gues you have to serch it a bit and make up your own judgement :D

[IamLoved]

It says that I should not eat meat. Hahahahahahaha!

[Veg4Life]

Thanks for all the replies...it's a frustrating situation. We replaced all our home care products for natural ones when he was a little guy and was showing signs of allergies. We have a heavy duty air purifier, shower filters, aromatherapy diffusers, the list goes on and on.

The only thing that has changed (which is kind of big) is that we moved. All the carpeting in this place was new except the livingroom and I know the previous owners had cats. I have steamed cleaned the carpet, sprayed tea tree oil and other stuff on it...could it really just be the carpet?

I have been to two nutritionists who are very pro-holistic methods and they both spoke highly of this blood type diet...that's the only reason I was looking into it. I do know that my son has a hard time with acidic foods and I have to keep his diet very alkaline, even when I feed him mostly raw. Maybe I need to just go back to feeding him high raw and choose a lot of alkaline foods. His main problems are skin rashes (ezcema) and dry, itchy eyes. Poor guy!! I am still going to get a bunch of blood work done as well.

[MelissaO]

I would also have the airduct in your house cleaned if you have not done so. If the previous owners had pets there is going to be allergens in your heating/air system.

It could also be something from the new carpet or new paint- those have toxins that are released when they dry if they are new. When we moved into a new home that was built I had headaches for a few months from the all new things in it- we opened windows a lot to air things out.

[miabella]

I highly recommend this book, Your Body's Many Cries For Water by F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.

Your son may be suffering from dehydration (not necessarily cronic dehydration). This book explains that when the body is dehydrated that it produces histamine which causes the symptoms you described.

I to had suffered from allergies but once I read this book and consistently increased my water intake the symptomes vanished and if ever I neglect my water intake sure enough the symptomes reapear.

My husband and sister have also had success hydration. I couldn't recommend this book any higher. I have purchased numerouse copies over the years to give to friends and family so they to may bennifit from this knowledge.

[Raw Angel Mom]

According to that, my husband is supposed to do good with meat and he isn't and he is vegan and do great with this diet. I am supposed to do well with dairy. It isn't the case for me because i cannot digest dairy well and i had skin problem.

So take and leave from this book. It may work with some people but not everyone. We all are different.

[solarliving]

I'm a type O and feel best on a vegan diet. Especially fruits and greens.

[ltcartwright]

I read this book before I didn't even know what "Raw Veganism" was, and it told me that I was a carnivore. I didn't eat red meat and didn't like it, I felt better eating vegetables, and thought it was kinda silly to force myself to eat steak just to loose weight.

I tried everything out there to come to the point of Raw Foods; so I just have to make the journey to getting myself (finally!) healthy, regardless of my blood type.

[gs4life]

i followed the blood type diet for a few years, but still had troubles. i'm type A and d'adamo suggests soy products...well, i ate lots of soy products because he said they were highly beneficial. however, it wasn't until i discontinued eating soy products that i felt MUCH better! for me, soy is almost as clogging as dairy...so, i just can't believe in eating right for your blood type anymore.
the only "diet" that has truly helped me is raw foods!

[adiebabe]

There are lots of valid suggestions here, but to answer your question are carpet's really that bad for allergies? YES. I have allergies and reactive airways, I have hardwood floors at home but where I work part-time, there is carpeting. Every single employee who has allergies or sensitive airways has an issue at work. We've complained for years and most of us believe it's the carpets because it gets super bad whenever they do any replacing of them (or moving things-stirring stuff up) and yet, all air quality tests come back as good. I am fine at home but after two shifts at work, I spend days coughing (often, little white balls of phlegm). My nose starts running as soon as I get on the 'floor' (many of us are like that) too. I get an itchy inner ear and upper palate as well. I've had three asthma 'attacks' in my life...all three occured at work.

[BDraw]

Are they flame retardent? My little one had really bad excemza and nothing helped! Then spring came, I put winter (flame retartand PJs) in the top of closet in exchange for spring/summer ones. Didn't think about it, but excemza started clearing up. Several weeks later, she saw them and requested them again, to which Papa agreed. Within days, maybe sooner, I noticed flare up! I took PJs away; things cleared up. Amazing!!

She is not 100% cleared to this day and all of that was several years ago, but things are SO much better! I also notice that tomato products cause flare ups.

It is such a game we play with our environment. Hope this helps your little one!

[Veg4Life]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I go to doc. Tuesday to get all his allergy test results back. I have in the meantime put him on a very high raw, alkaline diet with lots of water and he is doing much better already. I'm hoping he will be all better very soon.

[green jeanie]

Hi vegforlife

I am a practicing holistic health provider and have treated hundreds of patients with all sorts of different allergies.

For environmental allergies, QUERCETIN alone usually alleviates at least 90% of my patient's symptoms.....(and rather than clarify that statement, I will say yes that would be both 90 % of the patients I treat,,,,, and 90% of their symptoms)

Quercetin is a natural bioflavinoid produced by the body that provides the membrane that lines the mucus membranes of the upper respiratory tract

by increasing the quercetin in the body we thicken the barrier that protects us from everything floating around in the air

I don't know his age and the specifics for adding such a supplement to his diet but google it and see what you find out

if you take it in combination with Nettles. there will be an additional benefit of flushing the body of what is already passed the barrier and irritating him

there is also a very simple and safe 3 herb chinese formula called YU PING FENG SAN, " Jade Wind Screen Powder"
the screen,,,,again is our protective barrier, the wind is what is carrying the allergens in.....

again depending on his age, body weight etc you could consider these supplements. Just google it with "pediatrics" kids etc

so this is just free advice from someone with experience please take it at that

I haven't met your son so have no basis for diagnosis but these are SIMPLE SAFE solutions that are by far the most effective things I have ever encountered for environmental allergies (not food allergies!!!!) that is a way heavier ball of wax!!

but if they work save yourself the impossible prospect of monitoring every single thing your kid puts in his mouth for hte next ten years....

good luck!

[wmilosh]

After doing quite a bit of personal research on nutrition I followed the South Beach diet for a while until I found the blood type diet. It worked wonders for me. No more meds for high blood pressure, weight normalization, reduction of allergies, and other benefits. BUT, as a type O, meat is recommended. Because I write posts for another site on nutrition, I continue to study this complex and contraversial topic. I just recently learned that our bodies produce white blood cells when we eat anything "dead" (lacking enzymes). In other words, the body is treating cooked food like an infection. The body produces the most white blood cells when we eat cooked and/or processed meats. It treats the meat like it was a poison. I already undertsand enzymes so I'm gravitating toward raw as possibly being the ultimate answer.

I joined this forum to see what others who have tried the blood type diet have experienced and to see how the raw diet reconciles with the theory that certain lectins are not compatible with certain blood types.

[time2change]

Hi

I have not had time to read all the thread so sorry if this has been said already but could your son be comming into contact with something outside of the home. My little girl has a very similar problem and I find its not so bad when she has not been to visit nanny because of the air fresheners at her house. I am thinking outside influences like schools, exhaust fumes, friends houses??