Ancestry of Blood Types

Alright, let's dive into this blood type thing. First, I want to say that this entire "series" of posts regarding blood type are not my own knowledge (unless I note in some way that something is), everything is information I received from this book (which I gave the details of in the previous post). So whenever I randomly place a sentence or thought in quotations, unless specified, it is directly from the book. Just wanted to clear that up so everyone knew I wasn't plagiarizing or anything =]

Let's begin with a quote from the book. This quote is from the authors father, James D'Adamo. Both he and the author are naturopathic physicians - what a career choice!
"I believed that no two people on the face of the earth were alike; no two people have the same fingerprints, lip prints, or voice prints...Because I felt that all people were different from one another, I did not think it was logical that they should eat the same foods. It became clear to me that since each person was housed in a special body with different strengths, weaknesses, and nutritional requirements, the only way to maintain health or cure illness was to accommodate to that particular patient's specific needs." - James

Based on James' belief, he did years and years of research on his hypothesis. His son, Peter, took his findings and made the information available to the public, in the form of this book. One thing that is pertinent to understand is that your blood type is not just one little small fact about you that has no relevance. "It is a genetic blueprint for who you are, a guide to how you can live most healthfully."

How did we get these four different blood types - O, A, B, AB? Well, although I am not an advocate of the evolutionary theory of people deriving from apes, I am a believer in the fact that humans have changed - or evolved - over time based on their environment. In the early days, our ancestors were fighting to survive and would have to eat the food sources they came upon. As our ancestors changed what they ate over time, their immune systems and digestive tracts had to adapt to be able to number one, survive and then be able to thrive on the foods being consumed. Here is a breakdown, taken directly from the text, of these adaptations:
1. The ascent of humans to the top of the food chain (evolution of Type O to its fullest expression)
2. The change from hunter-gatherer to a more domesticated agrarian (essentially - farming/plant eating) lifestyle (appearance of Type A)
3. The merging and migration of the races from the African homeland to Europe, Asia and the Americas (development of Type B)
4. The modern intermingling of disparate groups (the arrival of Type AB)

The book spends several pages discussing more in depth how these types came about and what it was like as they were adapting. I do not find it necessary to present that here. So, if you are interested, check out the book. But, let me just give you the general characteristics of the blood types, based on their "evolution":
TYPE O: The oldest and most basic blood type, the survivor at the top of the food chain, with a strong and ornery immune system willing to and capable of destroying anyone, friend or foe.
TYPE A: The first immigrants, forced by the necessity of migration to adapt to a more agrarian (again, farming/plant eating) diet and lifestyle...with a more cooperative personality to get along in crowded communities.
TYPE B: The assimilator, adapting to new climates and the mingling of populations; representing nature's quest for a more balanced force between the tensions of the mind and the demands of the immune system.
TYPE AB: The delicate offspring of a rare merger between the tolerant Type A and the formerly barbaric but more balanced Type B.

"Our ancestors left each of us a special legacy, imprinted in our blood types. This legacy exists permanently in the nucleus of each cell. It is here that the anthropology and science of our blood meet."

Well, take time to digest this information for now. Next I will explain exactly how it is that our blood deals with different foods differently. This will be a difficult thing to do, because there are a lot of difficult concepts that I can somewhat understand, but it can be hard to reiterate the information to you. I will do my best. For now, read this and ask any questions you have!

Goal

Hello my faithful readers. So, my last post was about eating right for your blood type. I had been without that book of mine for a few days and just got it back. I flipped through it and decided that there is so much information in there that I want to read it through completely before explaining it on here. I know that it shouldn't be a problem for me to grasp and understand it and then explain it to you. Face it, it's nice to know that maybe we should eat differently based on our blood type - but why? This book addresses that and I want to get the why before we go further. So here is my goal/promise to you. I will take the next week to read it and then will give you guys the information in a condensed version. I will probably do different posts for the different blood types. So, by next Wednesday at 1pm, I will have posted on all 4 of the blood types. Do we have a deal? Good. Also, if you are interested in picking up the book for yourself, it is pretty cheap on amazon.com. Here are the details on it:

"Eat Right For Your Type" - The Individualized Diet Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer & Achieving Your Ideal Weight
By: Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo with Catherine Whitney

There are several other interesting books by them on this topic - such as "Cook Right For Your Type". So if you want to check it out feel free. But I will make sure to give you all the info you need in my future posts so that you won't HAVE to read it.

Later this evening I will talk about lymph! =]

Eat Right for Your Blood Type

I am quickly losing topics to discuss. We did talk about a whole lot on my first weekend at school, but a lot of it was laying the foundation for things to come. It was an anatomy class and we went over all the systems of the body. Therefore there wasn't all that much that I can share with you that would be interesting to you. But, I have a few more I think I can touch on later.

I recently bought a book called "Eat Right for Your Blood Type". I have barely read it, so I won't even try to get too in depth - I will do that after I read some more. But, what a concept? Having a diet specific to YOUR blood type. Makes sense, doesn't it? When you eat, your digestive tract, but mainly small intestines, absorb the nutrients and they are taken right into your bloodstream. Well, if your blood has or doesn't have certain cells or attributes of those cells, that would affect the way in which your body handles the things you are bringing in. That is why they are careful when taking blood, donating blood or giving a person someone else's blood - because the types are all different. They have different qualities, therefore they do things differently.

I am a blood type A. I found this out from a blood type test. We had to prick my finger and squeeze out some blood on test sheets. I couldn't do it myself, so my dad did it for me. (I can't handle blood at all! That's why I got into this sort of health care =] ) Based on the results I am an A. So I have been doing a lot of in depth research on my blood type - then I will learn about the rest. As for me and my blood, we thrive on vegetarian diets. Not only no meat, but also no dairy (or very, very small amounts) - so more of a vegan diet. That has been pretty hard. I am focusing on those first - cutting out the dairy and bringing in soy and cutting out the meat. After I get a handle on that, I will get into avoiding the other foods it recommends I avoid. It is tough for sure. I have never really been much of a meat eater, but for some reason knowing that it would not be good for me to have it makes it worse. And guess what else? Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) are NEGATIVE to my health because of my certain lectins they have in them. Do you understand the significance of that? NO HUMMUS! I almost cried. That is basically the best food ever. And no olives or pickles or mangos. That is really rough but that isn't even the half of it. I know it sounds weird, but those foods, although some are healthy and natural, they have certain qualities that inhibit the health of us type As.

It is one hard pill to swallow this whole thing, but I see the benefit of eating according to your blood type. This shows why diets work for some people and not others. If you know your blood type, let me know and I can give you some details on what to avoid.

Toxic Stress Cycle

We learned a lot about the Toxic Stress Cycle. This was the first I had heard about such a thing as this, so I'm sure some of you may not know what it is. The Toxic Stress Cycle is how your body deals with stresses that come upon it. Now stresses are not necessarily always just mental or emotional stress. You know the kind when you say "I'M SO STRESSED!" The body also gets stressed from the following few things:

depleted food – this includes processed foods, microwave foods, foods that aren’t naturally occurring for the most part;

poor food combinations – the way you combine the foods you eat totally affects the way they are digested. For instance, carbs and fruits do not digest well if eaten together. AKA – pie is not good for and can stress your body;

liquids with meals – drinking while eating dilutes digestive juices so they do not work to their full extent. Also, the body can only assimilate (make proper use of) 3oz. of water at a time. So, you should be drinking inbetween meals not more than 3 oz per 15 minutes. If you drink more than that – it does NOTHING to hydrate you. Consider that the next time you guzzle down some water when you are really thirsty.

pollutants – (this one is interesting) Pollutants are things like insecticides, hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, stuff like that, that are in our foods. When these are in your body, your body has no way of breaking them down or dealing with them, so they just sit there. When they sit there for awhile, the body will encase them as to prevent the body from further harm. These encased pollutants are……any guesses? Tumors! (The exclamation is not a happy one, because this is not a happy thing. But a surprised, interested, shocked and amazed one);

additives and preservatives - remember, prematurely preserving the body;

genetically modified organisms - these are foods that have been messed up (DNA crossed and things of that nature) in order to produce results that are not naturally occurring;

improper chewing - face it, if you don't chew something fully then it is much more difficult for your body to work with. focus on chewing more and eating slower!;

and a poor mental attitude - you know it. when you are down in the dumps and don't have a good attitude, it takes a toll on your body. Your body LISTENS to you. That's right. If you keep telling yourself you are sick, you will be sick (hypochondriacs). There is much power in words.

So, those are the things that stress our bodies, here is the order in which the stresses begin to affect parts of our body:

1. The digestive system is initially affected

2. The colon is affected by the undigested food and becomes toxic.

3. The liver and gallbladder are the first to be affected by the toxic colon.

4. The kidneys and bladder are then affected.

5. The lungs are toxified by kidney weakness.

6. The circulation is next to be affected.

7. The heart and spleen are then affected.

8. The muscles and soft tissue are next to be affected.

9. The spine is then affected.

10. The brain and nerves are then affected.

11. The endocrine glands are last to be affected.

12. To be about restoration, the body heals in the reverse order of the above.

So if these stresses are not dealt with - they can kill you. Seriously. Any questions?

Nerves

So, the nervous system. Let's start with the "fight or flight" response. This is a response that our body has when we have a stimulus that is out of the ordinary and exhibits some sort of danger to us. You've felt it before - you are driving in a car and someone pulls out in front of you and you slam on your brakes as to not hit them. Your heart rate increases, you may sweat a little, your body tightens. You know what I mean. Unfortunately and fortunately, when a stimulus like this comes in, our body treats it as life or death. That includes any stresses that come in. Our body reacts as if "if we don't get out, we could die". Things move into overdrive - pump that adrenaline and get things going so we can do what we need to to get out of this situation. That's how frail old grandmas lift up cars that their grandchild is stuck under. When this happens, part of our nervous system tells everything to get into defensive mode.
You know your tail bone? It is called the coccyx and is at the end of the spine inside the opening of your pelvis. It is four tiny little bones that curve a little, but not too much. The outer covering of the brain and spinal cord end at the coccyx. When this life or death reaction occurs, the coccyx curls forward and tightens that outer covering of the brain and spinal cord that is connected to it. It does this so that if our body endures some type of trauma, the brain and spinal cord will be more protected from sloshing around and busting.
Our bodies were not designed to be constantly in this fight or flight mode. We cannot always have a tense body with a high heart rate and lots of adrenaline flowing. Therefore, God gave us the ability to go back to normal! Now you may ask, how does the body know to let go and turn adrenaline production and heart rate and all that back to normal? There is another section of the nervous system called the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the part that resets everything back to normal and tones things down. It basically comes in and says "its over, now chill out and go back to normal".
Now, as I mentioned, when any stresses from our daily life come in, we react with this life or death response. This causes our bodies to constantly be going in and out of "man I'm gonna die!" and "dude chill out!" When we keep calling on this response, the fight or flight, our body can get stuck in that mode and literally ignore or not allow the parasympathetic (chill out) to do its job. That results in people not getting over their stresses very well. They live in conditions that their body was not intended to live in as constantly as it does. That results in fried nerves. What happens when we get fried nerves? Muscle spasms, more stress, heart problems, seizures, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Dementia, slower reaction time.
So, what do we do? Good question, I'm still trying to figure it out. This is my big problem - I get stressed and stuck in this mode and get chest pains. I have found that I am deficient in a neurotransmitter that tells my body to chill out. I guess all I can offer as a suggestion is to take more time to chill out. Talk to people about your stresses. Take time to relax. One awesome way to help things along is to lay on the floor with your feet up against a wall. It gets all your blood back to your core. You can't be angry in that position either. Try me!

(If you have any questions, please ask! I try to make as much sense as possible but if I don't, I won't know unless you say! I TRIED to make it shorter!)

CRAP!

So, poop. Well I guess first of all, what really IS poop. I mean, everybody knows they get this nasty brown stuff (most of the time brown. if its black you've got even more problems...) that comes out of their butt everyday. For some, it doesn't come out everyday. And I have to say that though that may be more normal as of late, it is NOT healthy. You may think that you are okay just because you friends poop every other day just like you, but sometimes what is common is not right. So that is the case here. But poop is really remnants of our food that our body could not make use of from that meal.
As gross as it may sound to some, from your mouth to your anus, it is one continuous tube. It changes shape, direction and pH along the way, has some valves that block off certain sections, but it is one continuous tube. A great way to think of this tract (called the gastrointestinal tract or GI tract) is as a conveyor belt. You put the food in the top, it moves through the esophagus, stomach, small intestines and colon and then comes out the anus. Now, if you are eating the real natural nutrients your body needs, you won't have too much to come out. But let's face it, in this world there is no way that anyone of you (or me) is eating 100% natural and organic foods every meal of everyday of every week of every month.......you get the picture. We are all taking in fake nutrients and preservatives and some stuff that our body can do absolutely nothing with.
----SIDE NOTE: Did you know that morticians are having to use less and less chemicals to preserve bodies when people die? Do you know why? Because we are beginning the process of body preserving by eating preservatives - we are helping the future morticians that will have to embalm our bodies. Preservatives are in anything (for the most part) that sits on the shelves at the grocery store. Those things are preserved so they will have a long shelf life. It does the same thing to our body that it does to the food.
Anyways, our body absorbs and takes all the nutrients that it wants and can make use of and then what happens to the rest? It goes into the large intestine, moves up, over and down - gets some of the water sucked out of it and comes out our butt. That's if all is working well. If you are not drinking enough water everyday you will have problems pooping. Well, what is enough water? Here's a little equation to help. Take your weight and divide it in half. Now take that number, you should drink that many ounces per day. Here is a visual, lets say someone weighs 200 pounds:
200/2=100, so that person should drink 100 oz. of water per day. Make sense?
So that is one thing that will help.
Another thing that could help you get your poop regular is enough calcium and magnesium. Calcium causes the contraction to move the poop along, and Magnesium causes the relaxation. But in order to make use of calcium, you have to have Vitamin D. Honestly, eat a variety of vegetables and you will get that thing moving.
Another problem could be parasites. Parasites like to live in the valves and feed on the stuff that comes through. They can leave the valves open which will cause the stench of the poop to come up the GI tract which would result in a person's breath smelling like poop.
Why does our poop smell? Because the fecal matter is literally rotting and fermenting inside the warm environment of your intestines. But, if you get that poop out constantly and don't let it sit there, you won't have smelly poop. Not only that, but you won't have smelly armpits! That's right, the rotting fermenting fecal matter in our bowels omits its smell from not only our butts,but our armpits as well. If you allow your GI tract to really work like a conveyor belt - 1 meal in and 1 meal out - you will not have smelly armpits or smelly sweat. What a deal!
So what if you eat and are still hungry? Well, it is your body saying that it needs more nutrients because it didn't get it in the meal you just provided. An obvious way that this can happen is if you ate something that had no nutritional value in it whatsoever. But what if you just consumed some really healthy, natural foods? Here is an explanation: Our small intestines has several folds and hairs in them that help create a larger surface area of nutrient absorption. But if you eat a lot of foods that are sticky and hard to break down (not like a fruit roll up, but that their components are sticky and hard to break down in the GI tract), they will fill in the folds and create a smaller surface area of nutrient absorption. Things that do that are white flour, white sugar, pop, french fries, cheese, processed foods, etc. Just take it from me - in all cases those foods are not your friend. Wheat is also a huge NOT FRIEND! But that is another story for another day.
Now, if you have been eating that way your whole life, which most of us have, doing a cleanse is a good thing - it gets all that crap (no pun intended) out of you. You really should be doing regular body maintenance every spring and fall. You do regular maintenance on your car, why not on your body which is much more important? But don't cleanse in the winter, you won't get rid of nearly as much as you cold in the Spring or Fall.
Tomorrow - the nervous system and STRESS! =] Well, maybe not tomorrow, but the next time I post, how about that?

Also, a little disclaimer I forgot to share: This information is intended for educational purposes only - not to diagnose or prescribe anything. If you feel you have a serious medical condition, consult a professional in that field.

Here it Goes....

Whoa. The blood is pumping, adrenals working overtime, brain overloaded, heart leaping and mind worrying. It’s a “like whoa” time. I am interested, I am engaged, I’m ready to go. There is so much information that I have obtained over the last 3 days that it is hard to remember it all. But, as I was in there taking feverish notes, I was thinking of you all the whole time. “What can I remember that will be beneficial to them?” So many things. These first twenty hours of class kickstarted the next four years of my life. It showed me how much of a ride this is going to be; how different I will be at the end. I already feel a little different. I won’t be using the microwave anymore or eating anything from it, I won’t be drinking while I eat and I won’t drink out of water bottles-just to name a few changes. I can see the changes I will be slowly making. I am so geeked to share it all with you. Unfortunately (yet very fortunately) there is way more than I can say in one posting. You guys will get bored and stop reading. So, for the next week – or however long it may take – I will tackle certain topics that we touched on and that I have information on.

Let me just give you for now a little tidbit and then an excerpt of my journal that I wrote on the first day. The first tidbit regards this wonderful creation that we are living in. Yes, I believe in God and creation and all that good stuff, but Christianity has little to do with what I am about to say. It plays a part, but if you wish to look at it scientifically, go for it. Think about this body, this vessel that we all own. They are all so different, yet so the same. We all have, with mutations and losses and problems set aside, the same body inside. They were all created to do the same things – to digest, to pump blood, to move, and on and on it goes. This, my friends, did not come about by chance. How could it? Our bodies are capable of functioning without our input. All of the things that our bodies do to keep us alive, we don’t have to tell them to do - they do it on “auto-pilot”. You don’t have to say – “Okay gallbladder, some fats are coming so release the bile so I can digest it” – no! The body does it on its own! It is spectacular my friends, spectacular. It gives me a better appreciation of what I have been given. And a better understanding of what I need to do. We need to take care of it. We cannot pump it with preservatives, fluoride-infested water, artificial sugars and fat enlaced foods and expect it to function properly. If you want your body to do what it is supposed to, you need to help it out by giving it the nourishment it needs. That’s what this whole journey of mine is about – figuring out how to treat our bodies right so they function correctly and we live the long and healthy life we were intended to.

So here’s the condensed version of my journal from day one:

“Well, day one. Not necessarily the best day ever – extenuating circumstances and all. But, I made it and am here. The Bed and Breakfast I am staying in is really cute, homey and smells good-just the way I like things. =] And would you believe there is not a Starbucks in sight?! I work at a Starbucks yet when I am there I don’t really want anything to drink. But when I have no access, I immediately get odd cravings. Hate that….

So, 4:50pm comes along and it is time for me to go into the school. Typical first day anxieties – where is my classroom? Will I have anyone to sit by? Do I have everything I need? On and on the doubts, fears and anxieties go. But, I figured that out in not too long of a time and was in my class. We got this one book that the instructor (who also started the school) made regarding the whole topic of this class, which is officially entitled – Body Systems, Anatomy and Physiology. Of course, my book was put together wrong and the pages are all out of order and in the wrong direction. Just my luck, right? Oh well, I can still read and comprehend it. The class got off to an unfortunate yet understandable late start. One of the instructors/students suddenly passed away this week and our instructor needed to tell the other class about it. It is my first day, I do not know who this woman was at all yet my eyes tear up. Things like that make me think “I guess I am cut out for this, I have a little bit of that empathy they are talking about.” Not to toot my own horn or anything, I have a LOT to learn in the empathy department, but I think I have some. I just hurt for people when things like that happen.

So we started class. I happened to be the one who traveled the furthest – 2.5 hours. Lucky me. So the instructor, her name is Bessheen, gave the background story of he she came upon Naturopathy and starting the school and all that. It is a fascinating story that I would do no justice to in any fashion by trying to tell it. It was totally a God thing though. The only thing I can repeat that she said was “You know how you come to the point where you finally realize what path you are on? Then you look back and find out you were on it all along but just didn’t realize it at the time?” (My paraphrase mind you. She said so much there is no way I could really quote anything she said) It’s so true. I am not nearly far along my path at all and there is a lot that I still am not recognizing yet. But looking back on things, I can see how I was on this path the whole time.”

That’s it for now. Not all that much interesting stuff, but enough for you to read for now. How about a teaser for tomorrow’s entry? Okay:

Did you know that Americans have 5-60lbs of rotting fecal matter in their bowels? Well they do! And tomorrow I will discuss my recent knowledge on poop and the intestines!

A New Journey

Hey everyone. This new blog is in response to a challenge by my brother-in-law. Last fall, I found that what God had in store for me did not lie in Marketing or Event Planning. God had bigger plans. His plans included (but are still not in any fashion limited to) me going to school to be a naturopathic doctor (or as I like to say thanks to kathryn 'docta'). The definition of naturopathy is as follows:
a system or method of treating disease that employs no surgery or synthetic drugs but uses special diets, herbs, vitamins, massage, etc., to assist the natural healing processes.

Basically, I will be going to school once a month on weekends in Mt. Pleasant, MI to learn all about naturopathy. It will be a hands on course that won't be easy. I know that this is one of the things I was created for, so I am really excited. I already started the homework. I know this won't be easy the whole way through though. Lots of homework, lots of papers and lots of classes. Not only classes at the school, but classes out of my home. After most of my courses, I will be holding classes at my house teaching other people what I have learned. Look forward to being invited!

So, this blog will serve a few purposes. First of all, it will be a great way for me to share what I have learned in school. I will be filling you guys in on things that I have learned and things that I don't understand, don't agree with, things I love and things I hate regarding this venture. There will be period of "drought" in my postings I'm sure, because I will only be attending the school once a month. It will also be a venue for you to ask me any questions. For me, I am not all about the money in this. So in that way, I have no problem answering questions and not charging you. But I cannot be answering questions for you everyday on absolutely every issue you have ever encountered. I will in due time have my own office and will be able to counsel and be of help. But for now, I can help you out for free. I will do my best to investigate and figure out the answers for you. But please, give me time. I will be working a lot and attending two schools for the next 5 months, so I won't be available 24/7.

I think thats all for now. If you have any thoughts or questions right off the bat, feel free to share them. I don't want this to be one sided, I want to hear from the people that read this. I can't wait for us to share in this adventure together!

Thanks for reading!! =]