Eat Right for Your Type
Posted by Lucy Nixon on Fit Fare.
Would you like to find out more about your genetic profile - why you gain or lose weight, what diseases you are susceptible to, and how you react to stress - and which diet and lifestyle plan is right for you?
Well, who wouldn’t? And if you could make changes to your lifestyle now, to keep yourself healthy in the future, knowing that this would be helpful - and more specific than just ‘eat less, do more exercise’ - would you?
I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo’s latest book The Genotype Diet a couple of days ago, and this is exactly what it promised.
I’m usually very skeptical about diet books - and about many self-help books in general - but this was very interesting indeed, even if a rather quick read.
The idea is that we all fall into one of six groups (or genotypes): Hunter, Gatherer, Warrior, Nomad, Explorer or Teacher.
Exactly which you are can be assessed by taking a series of body measurements and tests, all with Yes/No answers, so there can be little doubt about which category you end up in.
This was gently hilarious as my husband and I measured each other and tried to assess each others genotype. We were entertained by the suggestion that we should pop down to the local police station and ask to pay to be finger-printed … here in the UK, we’d probably be cautioned for wasting police time, once they’d stopped laughing. (I gather things are different in the States, so this is just a cultural difference.) So we used the children’s printing equipment - and were astonished to find that we both have consistent patterns of white lines breaking up our fingerprints. There is apparently a correlation between this and coeliac disease, which our eldest daughter has, and which occurs in my husband’s family. Mine is a strongly reactive gene-pool (asthma, psoriasis etc.). We stopped laughing at this point, and started concentrating. Once we’d got all the red ink off our hands.
It turns out that I’m a Hunter, and he’s an Explorer, both of which are ‘reactive’ genotypes, liable to lead to autoimmune disease (and, as I said, both of us have this kind of genetic history). But he was delighted - Explorers usually are quirky entrepreneurs with above-average intelligence. Hunters are detail-oriented, with a heightened sense of fair play. Both those are true …
Dr. D’Adamo proposes a different diet plan for each genotype. The recommended Hunter diet appears to be high in certain meats, and suggests eliminating wheat. Now, I’ve been vegetarian for about 27 years, for philosophical reasons, and will not be adopting the eat-meat suggestion, but it might well be worth eliminating wheat. I have lived gluten-free in the past, and found it to be helpful.
What isn’t given enough explanation in the book, and what I would have found interesting, are the reasons why, for example, it is suggested that I should eat beef and lamb, but not pork, or eat almonds, but not brazils. And why does the Hunter do poorly on most cheeses? What is the difference in these foods?
I’ve only had the book for a couple of days, so can’t tell you whether the plan is effective or not yet - but I may well implement some of his suggestions, and let you know how I get on in a few months.
And if you’re intrigued, and would like to find out more about your own genotype, you can buy The Genotype Diet
