A few years ago, my mother-in-law introduced me to the concept of eating for your blood type. There’s a diet for that? Yup.
Basically, the book consists of four specialized diets which cater to the four major blood types: O, A, B, and AB.
As an A+ bloodtype [and GPA, I might add!], the book detailed that a vegetarian diet was the ideal program for me. Woohoo! I prefer a meatless diet, so this seemed like a perfect plan. My husband, having read over the book with me, decided he wanted to try to eat for his blood type, as well. He is an O.
Crap. The meat-eater.
Well, this was going to be interesting. Two opposite diets trying to coexist in the same household. Could it work?
Since I’m the main cook for the household [AKA, my husband only knows how to make scrambled eggs and flip a burger on the grill], I decided to review the food items that we’re shared between the two diets and try to prepare meals that worked for both of us.
Ummmm, yeah. That really limited our options.
Per the O-bloodtype diet plan, carbs were the enemy. [Boy, that sounds familiar.] His diet should be primarily composed of lean meats, green vegetables, and limited sugars, even from natural fruit. My diet plan was filled with soy, veggies of all colors, and strictly forbade most dairy products.
Together, we could eat broccoli. Awesome. Well, we were guaranteed to lose weight, that’s for sure.
So I decided to look at the column of foods that were “allowed,” but were suggested to be eaten in extreme moderation between both diets. That opened up chicken, eggs, and a larger variety of shared vegetables. Well, at least we had some commonalities.
Over the next four weeks, my husband dropped weight like a champ. Living on primarily grilled steak and chicken, along with roasted asparagus, zucchini, and broccoli, the weight fell off of him like water. Considering he wasn’t overweight to begin with, we were both stunned at how great he looked.
On the other hand, I was eating a diet comprised primarily of miso soup, pineapple, grapefruit juice, buckwheat noodles, and lots and lots of tofu. I gained six pounds. Huh.
Needless to say, I dropped the diet plan pretty quickly, going for a balanced nutrition plan that included lean meats back into the equation. One of the hardest things I’ve noticed with any vegan, vegetarian, or meatless diet plan is that I find it very hard to feel full, even when consuming meat alternatives. As a result, I tend to overeat, gorging myself with fruits and grains to try and satiate the hunger that never fully goes away.
Perhaps this is why I keep having bad results with any diet that fully prohibits any food group? Maybe it’s purely psychological; the moment you restrict a food, it’s all I want to eat. And, since I can’t have it, I find myself inhaling the foods I can have, trying to recreate the pleasure and satisfaction I assume the off-limit food would have provided.
Hmmmmm. Might have stumbled upon something interesting here.
Will explore that in a later post.
As for now, bon appetit!
~ Tori
The Memoirs of a Yo-Yo Dieter 