I really not sure why I chose to start this diary. I guess it started from a comment by shmuelman back in April of this year. He recommended that high intensive training played havoc with your body and recommended that I read some of the works of Stu Mittleman and Phil Maffetone. Well, I took him up on his challenge.
I have now read all of Mittleman's Slow Burn, and have begun to re-read a few sections. One of the more interesting chapters involves his research into how our blood type may/should influence our diet and exercise program. Mittleman was not the first to review this literature but it gave me a start to thinking about where this might lead us.
Join me below for a diary filled with more questions than answers. Hopefully, the life experiences of some of you will help us all find some answers.
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Our Blood Types
There are 4 distinct blood types: O, A, B, and AB. Have there always been 4 types? Many scientists and historians say no. In fact, the blood type AB was only discovered in the first few years of last century.
We know that the energy for our bodies is supplied by our blood as it makes it deposits into our cells whether it is organ, bone, fat, or muscle. So through the evolution of the human race, our blood has adapted to the foods we consume and the environment in which we live.
Most historians postulate that the original Neanderthals were all Type O blood types. Type O is still the predominate blood type in the world but it varies considerably based upon location and nation. Since Type O was probably the first blood type for our race, it is adapted to processing diets heavy in meats and proteins. As the movement out of Africa began back around 50,000 BC, the movements into different areas and environments slowly changed our blood antigens and thus our blood type. As people did less hunting of game and more cultivation of crops and grain, we begin to see Type A and B blood developing. Only in the last 2,000 years has the smallest of the blood types, AB, been developed.
Combine blood types with Acidic or Alkaline Foods
All foods involve protein lectins. Lectins are very diverse. Some lectins are consider toxic to our bodies but really they are toxic to our blood. Toxic lectins cause agglutination of these toxins in our bodies. Remarkably, our bodies have evolved to handle these antibodies in the vast majority of the cases. However, it can also cause severe allergies for some people.
We all know that foods run a range of alkaline to acidic. Type O blood typically have more stomach acids and have evolved to handle the digestion of most meats. But does this excess acidic in our systems have problems? Maybe cancers?
All of us know that we eat some foods that simply "don't agree with us". It may run from a mild stomach discomfort all the way to hives or even worse. Over time we have learned to listen to our bodies and recognize a few foods or additive ingredients that trigger an averse reaction. Beans cause gas. You get the picture.
Stu Mittleman claims to have moved beyond the research of James and Peter D'Adamo (father/son) on how foods effect the blood lectins. He actually does muscle/strength testing based upon a person's reaction to a food. Mittleman who is an endurance athlete has refined the foods he consumes and his theories on moderate exercise at 60-80% of max HR to help people burn fat and not deplete the much much smaller calories in the body stored as glycogen. He teaches his clients to warm up properly and burn fat throughout the exercise and never run into the wall of lactic acid buildup that almost all of us have faced. Imagine running a full marathon and being so energized after the race that you would immediately board a plane to attend a conference the next morning.
Over the next few months, I plan to do more reading on this issue. Although the D'Adamo website is very commercial (hey, everyone has to make a living), it gives you a glance into what his research has shown for your blood type.
Type O
Type A
Type B
Type AB
As always, I thank you for reading.
One last point as an addendum to my diary on Tonalin CLA, I noticed yesterday that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has given a thumbs up to CLA. After this diary, I contacted a PR rep from Cognis who has a license for Tonalin and we talked about this issue. It now appears that by late next year, the UK will have foods that are enriched with Tonalin CLA. Based upon a call to FDA, it is now considering CLA as a safe food for consumption. It is only a matter of time before we see milk fortified with Tonalin CLA just as it is with Omega-3's now. Eggs may be next.