Toxic Food Syndrome
The toxic food syndrome
Everybody wants to be slim, healthy and happy with plenty of energy to enjoy life but a disease called “the toxic food syndrome”, or TFS has reared its ugly head. Steadily enlarging waistlines, weakened immunity, stressed lifestyles and high medical bills indicate that we are not feeding ourselves properly.
Hippocrates said; “let your food be your medicine” but it can also be the cause of many illnesses. Today we live in a food paradox whereby quick meals, breakfast foods and snacks are inexpensive and readily available but they contain little if any nutritional value. Convenience foods are compulsively enticing but they consist mainly of simple carbohydrates like white flour and sugar with trans-fatty acids, chemicals and preservatives. This sets the scene for weakened immunity and auto-toxicity to undermine your health.
It is well known that we have many parasites and pathogens dwelling inside us. They are usually kept under control by the liver and immune system, but foods that cause acidity within our blood, organs and tissues encourage a proliferation of unwanted bacteria, flukes, worms, yeasts, moulds and fungi. Eating food that is not compatible to your blood type can cause immune disorders, allergic reactions, cell agglutination and a proliferation of mucous. Our food has indeed become our poison.
Food lectins behave differently in each of the blood types
The main problem with food is that most people are intolerant to many popular items in their daily diet without even knowing it. Wheat products, glucose, soya, beef, lamb, chicken or potatoes are the main culprits. This is due to a genetically based sensitivity to lectins that occur naturally in these and many other foods.
Lectins are minute substances that initiate reactions to food and encourage cells to stick together. Lectins also stimulate the release of mucous or histamine, causing problems relating to: digestion, asthma, weight gain, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, brain fog, depression, weakened immunity and autoimmune conditions. We react differently to lectins because we do not all have the same type of blood. However, some lectins can have a beneficial effect on us but it depends on the type of antigens we have inherited to control the activity of these lectins. Antigens are linked to the immune system. They identify the food particles and carry out a positive or a negative response to the lectins they contain.
The antigens we all have on our blood cells or the ones that certain groups of people secrete in their saliva and digestive juices can deflect specific lectins so they do not have this agglutinating effect. For example: some of us are vulnerable to wheat lectins because we are blood type O or B and do not have a wheat or gluten-friendly antigen. Even fresh, wholesome, raw foods contain lectins that can make your cells clump together and interfere with insulin activity or wreck the immune system and cause untold misery. One man’s meat is indeed another man’s poison!
Some of the most basic health foods such as: soya products, lentils, kidney beans, maize, tomatoes, potatoes, oranges, whole wheat, wheat germ, peanuts, sunflower seeds, coconut, milk or fructose are not suitable for all blood types and may even be undermining your health. On the other hand, the foods from this list that are recommended for your blood type will be very beneficial to you.
The four basic blood types
Hippocrates inspired the philosophy that doctors should consider the type of patient that has a disease rather than the type of disease a patient has. Blood type reasoning will simplify this process as people can be classified into four basic categories as dictated to them by their blood types: A, B, AB and O. Each blood type has typical weaknesses, strengths and lifestyle preferences.
Believe it or not, there are even personality and behavioral characteristics that fall into blood type categories. Blood type O has a physical reaction to stress that is best relieved with strenuous physical activity like using a punch bag whereas blood type A needs more calming activities like Yoga or Tai Chi. Their immune systems are different, with the O type being more prone to autoimmune disorders in contrast to the A type susceptibility to some forms of cancer, due to a slacker immune system. Even “attention deficit” children behave differently because of inherited blood type characteristics and the wrong food or medication can make matters far worse.
Well-researched studies by Peter D’Adamo and his team in California have resulted in his best-selling book: “Eat Right 4 your Type”. He claims an 80% success rate for people who use his food recommendations to recover or maintain their health and to lose weight. The aim is to select all the foods that are free of lectins for your blood type. Other foods to be avoided are those that stimulate the activity of polyamines, the substances that cause purification or bacterial complications within the various blood types.
Eating exclusively lectin-free food to suit your blood type is not as mystifying as it sounds. Certain foods are either good for you or bad for you, regardless of their high protein, vitamin or mineral content or their low fat and carbohydrate levels.
The determining factor hinges around the antigens you have in your blood that relate to specific food tolerances. People who opt for high-protein and fat diets that eliminate carbohydrates and sugars are not always better off. They may be putting insulin to rest, but severe heart and kidney problems can be experienced by Blood type A individuals who are genetically suited to eating grains and carbohydrates rather than rich meats, oils and fats. On the other hand, calorie-restricted diets that are high in carbohydrates, cucumbers and cauliflower will not really help the O-type constitution that is wheat-intolerant and sensitive to cucumbers and cauliflower!
Fruit and juice fasting can interfere with diabetics who are not geared for sugar, especially from fruit they do not tolerate too well. Blood-type eating is a safer way to slim down and it becomes a balanced way of life, not just a quick and punishing diet.
Secretor and non-secretor variants
Some fine-tuning within the four basic blood types is required to identify and cater for additional antigens that some people secrete in their saliva and digestive tract. The secretor and non-secretor variants help to pinpoint some of the major differences that exist within each group. A non-secretor only has antigens in the blood and a secretor releases antigens in the saliva and digestive tract, allowing a better tolerance to more foods, especially sugars and starches. For instance: the blood type O secretor can tolerate soya products, but for the non-secretor, soy can cause extreme obesity, thyroid malfunction, hormonal imbalances and breast cancer, regardless of being a highly recommended health food or supplement.
Blood types have different emotional and spiritual needs
Ever wondered why some members of your family don’t handle stress as well as others? Why do certain people curl up with a book, do Yoga or Tai Chi or meditate when they have had a stressful day and others rush off to the gym for kickboxing or play a game squash? It’s all in the blood! Blood type O’s were formerly hunter-gatherer types and are better suited to letting off steam physically whereas blood type A’s were grain cultivators and preferred more peace and quiet.
A’s react badly to stress and release too much cortisol that tends to make them ill.
Blood type B is not so good with stress either and is no always inclined to reflect inwardly, like the A’s. It’s quite amusing to note how many group leaders, networking agents and party leaders are blood type B! It’s in their genes as they were herders of sheep and goats. They have a balanced outlook on life and are pretty easy-going people.
Blood type AB have inherited characteristics from types A and B but they tend to be hardheaded people who know what they want. When it comes to food preferences, blood type AB has many sensitivities that can relate directly to many of their illnesses. They are often spiritually perceptive and gifted people, but only make up about 2% of our population.
Overcoming illness and losing weight with blood type eating
The big advantage of eating according to blood-type guidelines is the independence it gives you. Most of your food tolerances and genetic preferences will fall within the parameters of the recommended foods for your blood type and all you have to do is stick to the lists as best you can.
In cases of extreme food, medication, environmental or substance allergies one can undergo tests using kinesiology, QX (quantum Xerrid), Acumeasure or other methods to have them identified. Fruit fasting, detoxification or vegetarianism will be more advantageous if you select the appropriate food according to your blood type.
Type O vegetarians need to watch out for meat substitutes that contain wheat, lentils and other lectin-laden ingredients they do not tolerate. Many ailments including those that require expensive and copious therapy and medications, can be alleviated by simply eating food that suits your blood type. Success rates of over 80% have been achieved with: diabetes, obesity, depression, constipation, arthritis, heart problems, fatigue and even cancer, multiple sclerosis and a host of other debilitating conditions.
People who are on a special “healthy” diet are equally vulnerable to the pitfalls of faulty nutrition. This is because the technique of eating food that suits your blood type, body type and metabolic rate is poorly understood by clinical nutritionists and natural therapists who fob this theory off as being too impractical. After all, time is money! Watch out for universal health and slimming rules and remedies that are imposed on each patient! We are unique and the way we eat has to be modified to suit each individual. The proof of eating this way is evident by an improvement in the way you look and feel.
Babies and children and the blood type connection
Most of the common niggles with babies and children occur as a direct reaction to their first foods. This is evident by the incidence of skin rashes, fevers, mucous and breathing problems, hyperactivity, irritability and weakened immunity that are side effects of a food intolerance. If you investigate further, you will find that the babies will best tolerate the food that is recommended for their blood type. For instance, O type babies react badly to wheat products and cow’s milk.
Orange juice can cause constantly burning urine and urethral irritations in O and A type babies. Once the offending foods are removed, these conditions usually clear up. Blatantly cutting out wheat, cow’s milk, sugar and all artificial foods will not be as effective as starting your baby on the right foods to begin with. To be on the safe side, try to cook your own vegetables, staring with butternut, gem squash, carrot or rice puree as a good all-rounder. Pumpkin and chicken are not good for B type babies, but orange juice and milk are better suited to them than the other babies.
Prepare fruit juices and smoothies with fruits like apples, peaches and pears or those listed in blood type recommendations. Watch out for milk substitutes and cereals that contain a lot of maltose, dextrose or fructose as these sugars do not suit everybody.
Food lectins that interfere with the immune system and digestion will constantly harm your child for life, leading to chronic illnesses in later life. If only I had been reared on a blood type diet! My mother nearly killed me with wheat and cow’s milk but little did she know that my O type blood was playing up. It continued to do so for the rest of my life, causing weight problems, chronic fatigue and asthma. All that has changed now and I will continue to eat what suits me and my new figure for life!
It is wonderful when you can eat together as a family, knowing that the food will suit you and help you all to achieve abundant health. Brides to be and pregnant moms who know how to feed their loved ones the food best suited to their blood types have a distinct advantage.
Books and online support for blood type eating
Hundreds of detailed blood type case histories are available for scrutiny at: www.dadamo.com This website offers online support for therapists and patients as well as helpful books by Dr Peter D’Adamo on blood type eating: Eat right 4 your Type and Live right 4 your Type as well as the new Blood Type Encyclopedia and Eat Right 4 your Baby.
A lovely new cookery book by Karen Vago and Lucy Degremont called: “The Blood Type Cook Book “is now on sale in South African bookshops. Learn how to cook gourmet dishes for with these practical recipes inspired by French cuisine and share the case histories of patients who have overcome their weight problems and ailments with this revolutionary way of eating.
Blood type eating in South Africa
You can download blood-type food lists for free (PDF documents) and keep up to date with this way of eating in South Africa. We welcome interaction from doctors and therapists as well as individuals who need support. The new South African book: “Sue Visser’s Illustrated guide to Healthy Happy Eating for all blood types” will be available early next year. This 160 page book about food includes advice for vegetarians, fasting, detoxification and slimming and includes recipes to make your own kitchen remedies. The handy food charts help you to select the right food at a glance and over 500 colour pictures will inspire you to create delightfully healthy food for the family, including international and party dishes or a braai.