Question
Does this plan seem to help? What are your thoughts on it Nurse Red? Has anyone used this eating plan on the road?
Cindy
Answer
Are you referring to EAT RIGHT For YOUR BLOOD TYPE? It will work, but takes about 8 weeks for your body to reset to the new pattern and for you to start losing weight and start feeling like you have more energy. This is an interesting concept, as the book goes into just more than food, but also herbs and other supplements that you may use and how it affects your body. I read about stone root there for the first time--it is an herb for sinuses that is awesome--it does better than Claritin or anything you can buy over the counter, with no sideeffects whatsoever. I have given away so much of it now--I have lots of people saying the same thing. (I don't sell it--but you can purchase it I am sure in your local health food store.) You know that the doctor who wrote the book has a huge website? Sibyl
Answer
YES! That is the book I'm talking about. I just started reading it and am in the process of addapting my eating habbits. However I leave Tuesday for my orentation and training with Werner. I'm hoping that I can at least apply some of the information durring my training. I'll have more control over when, where and what I eat when I'm in my own rig.
How long have you been using the plan? How is it going for you?
I'll have to try and check out his website.
Thanks for your response
Cindy
Answer
The doctor has written a companion book--full of recipes. his web address is http://www.dadamo.com Someone gave me the original book to see what I would think about it. It really took me some time to get to it, and then it really got me interested, because of the correlation between blood types and diseases and all the research that had been done on that. At the time my son was pursuing a biochemical degree and his professors at UA were into blood types and specific diseases related to those blood types. I went back and checked the blood bank records for all our open-hearts for the last 2 years and found out to my surprise that yes they were all typically Type A or Type O and that Type O's truly had less clotting factors than Type A--they were (Type O's)the ones we typically had to give clotting factors to after open-heart if we had to give clotting factors. So his book really got my attention. Type A's clotted easily and were more prone to sudden cardiac death due to clots in the coronaries--and problems such as clogged carotids or clogged femerols. I am a type B and because of ancesteral lineage from the HUNS--which came from the Himalyas into the Germanic area, we can eat high fat and not have cholesterol problems--but are more prone to strokes because typically did not eat veggies--and lack of magnesium caused this to develop rampantly in Type B's. Well, my grandfather and grandmother-all German-Swiss and their nine brothers and sisters all died of strokes. You know this research got started years ago when they were looking into breast cancer and why certain women did well with chemo and others did not. Did you come to that part yet?
I did one thing--I did eliminate everything with corn--corn syrup, etc. related to corn in my diet because of my blood type and I have less problems with weight gain. Sibyl
Answer
You know, we got into a discussion on this back in October--I think October 23, when newyorktwo brought up the topic of Coley Cancer Therapy. Here is my reply: But before you read the reply, let me tell you that if you are getting into trucking, stress and long-term stress is a much bigger factor in your over-all health and what your health will be like in the years to come as a truck driver. Read Hypoglycemia in the medical archives--we really got into a discussion that started out first as a discussion on low blood sugar and escalated into a discussion on overall what happens when you drive a truck over time. These changes in HOS is only going to make that worse, I am afraid.
Anyway, here is that other reply from October based on the research Dr.Dadamo did:
I think that the Coley therapies are ignored, NY2, in hospitals because if you are not in a teaching hospital alot of what is happening in the field of biochemistry is never filtered down to the general patient population. That is one of the reasons (that and managed health care) is why I went to work in Atlanta. I felt I was beginning to get behind the times.
Vaccines play a big part in the general picture. I have heard both pros and cons on this subject. And now Nurse Red's reminder to get our flu shot and Mary's reply to make sure we get our pneumonia shot brings several things to mind.
Our immune system works pretty hard to define "self" and destroy "non-self." This is pretty important because otherwise our immune system could start attacking our own tissues. Actually sometimes it does and then we have the so-called autoimmune diseases like lupus. Its really very simple: the immune system has two basic functions: recognizing "us" and killing "them." In this respect your body is like a big invitation only party--you know the drill, show the invitation or get thrown out.
Nature has given our immune systems some very sophisticated methods to determine if a substance in the body is foreign or not. One of these methods is chemical markers called ANTIGENS. These are found on the cells of our bodies. Every life form has them. One of the most powerful antigens found in the human body is the ones that determine your blood type. The different blood type antigens are so sensitive that when they operate like they are supposed to, they are the immune system's greatest security system. When a suspicious character shows up at your front door (like a foreign antigen from bacteria) one of the first things your immune system does is compare it with your blood type antigen to tell whether it is friend or foe.
Your blood type is named for the anigen you possess on your red blood cells. Blood types are Type O, Type B, Type A and Type AB.
When your blood type antigen senses that a foeign antigen has entered the system, the first thing it does is create antibodies to that antigen. These antibodies are specialized chemicals made by the cells of the immune system. They are designed to attach to and tag the foreign antigen for destruction. Our immune system makes antibodies specific to each foreign antigen. And while this is going on, the bacterial and viral invaders try to change or mutate their antigens into some new form the body will not recognize. A virtual battle really.
What happens when an antibody encounters the foreign antigen? A reaction occurs called agglutination or literally gluing. The antibody attaches to the say viral antigen and makes it very sticky. When cells, viruses, parasites and bacteria are agglutinated they begin to stick together and clump up, like criminals chained together. This makes disposing of them easier for the body than if the foreign antigen was allowed to move around freely by itself alone.
Of course we all know about getting the "wrong kind" of blood. This is the same kind of reaction. If I was a B blood type and got A blood it would be rejected by my body by clumping A blood cells together in my blood stream. This reaction can be so violent it can cause death.
But there is more: a similar reaction can occur between your blood and the foods you eat. This is because of a factor called LECTINS. Lectins are abundant. They are made out of proteins and they have agglutinating properties that affect your blood. Lectins are a powerful way for organisms in nature to attch themselves to other organisms in nature. Lots of germs and even our immune system use this super glue to their benefit. Our cells in the bile ducts of our liver have lectins on their surfaces to help them snatch up bacteria and parasites. Bacteria have lectins on their surfaces as well, which work like suction cups, so that they can attach to the slippery linings of the body.
It is the same thing with lectins in food. This is where we get into the thing NY2 mentioned about tomatoes. Many food lectins have characteristics that are so close to a certain blood type antigen that your body will recognize it as and "enemy." So for example, milk has B-like qualities: if a person with Type A blood drinks it, his sytem will immediately start the agglutination process in order to reject it. The lectin protein is resistant to the acid digestion in your stomach and then it begins to interact directly with the lining of the stomach or intestinal tract, causing the runs.
Or like the nightshade vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplant, and white potatoes. The intact lectin may get absorbed into your bloodstream along with your digested food. Different lectins target different organs and body systems. Once the intact lectin protein settles someplace in your body it literally has a magnetic effect on the cells in that region. It clumps the cells together and they are targeted for destruction.And guess what? the nightshade plants are very high in lectins and they love to target the joints.
Living in the country, there is an annual spring ritual in which the locals go out and collect the leaves and early shoots of pokeweed to make pokeweed salad. They say that it is a great spring tonic to clean out the blood after a winter of eating heavy foods. Food lectins, you see, can also interact with the surface receptors of the body's white cells, programming them to multiply rapidly.Pokeweed lectins are just such animals. They don't clump blood by gluing the cells together--they just attach themselves to the white cells like fleas to a dog--and cause the white cells to enter mitosis, or reproduction. But don't go eating pokeweed now that it is grown up and has the berries on it--it is very deadly at this stage.
But then how did I get off the beaten path? We were talking about vaccines. In the early 90's a very interesting study appeared in Lancet, which is like the JAMA is to us, except the Lancet is published in England. The question was whether you could predict whether or not breast cancer could be predicted to spread to nearby lymph nodes based on its characteristics. They took breast cancer cells and treated them with a stain (marked them) with a lectin from the edible snail. It was noticed that there was a strong association with the uptake of this snail lectin and the development of breast cancer spreading to the lymph nodes. In other words, antigens on the surface of the primary breast cancer cells were changing and this change was allowing the cancer to spread into the lymph nodes. The lectin it was soon discovered was highly specific to Blood Type A. In other words, as the cancer cells changed, they made themselves more A-like. This allowed them, in Type A persons, to bypass all of the body's defenses because they were welcomed as self. It is not that Type B or Type O don't get breast cancer or even die from it, but obviously the A-like intruders would be more easily detected and eliminated if they were to slip into a Type O or Type B system. Breast cancer markers are overwhelmingly A-like. Type A and Type AB patients then can't "see" their opponents. Everywhere the immune system turned, the cells looked just like them and they could not "see" the mutated cancer cells under their clever masks. Type O and Type B would be in a better position to fight it off, rounding up early cancer cells and destroying them. This could be one of the clues to survival rate.
The pneumovax vaccine (pneumonia shot) elevates anti-Type A antibodies. Type Os and Type Bs produced higher levels of anti-A antibodies when given this vaccine. Type As will not produce anti-A antibodies, but the Pneumovac in effect "wakes" up their immune systems and makes them more on the alert. The vaccine is safe; it is inexpensive and it prevents some forms of pneumonia. Most important it stimulates production of isohemaglutins--the so-called "Terminators" of our immune system. They are much more powerful than antibodies. Normally they float gently through our bloodstreams. But if they detect a virus or bacteria they change form to become three-dimensional and crablike.They agglutinate and kill their prey by themselves, requiring no help from the other normal cells of the immune system.At this point they are so prominent they can be seen by the microscope. Unlike the flu shot, you don't have to revaccinate every year. I think it is every 5-10 years. The shot is inexpensive--our health department charges $5.00. Other places it is higher. The vaccine is available in limited quantity--given to older people or people prone to respiratory problems, so you have to convince the nurse you really need the vaccine. Both my husband and I have gotten one. I had mine two years ago and I have seen a huge difference in how I got through the last two winters and flu season. I noticed that my sinus problems were not as bad either.
Along the same lines as NY2's Coley vaccines, Dr.George Springer with the Bligh Cancer Center at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, has been investigating the effects of a vaccine whose basis is a molecule called the T antigen. The T antigen is a common tumor marker found in many cancers. Healthy, cancer-free people carry antibodies against the T antigen, so it is never seen in them. Springer believes that a vaccine composed to the T antigen and tumor marker CA15-3 can help jolt and then reawaken the suppressed immune system of cancer patients, helping them attack and destroy cancer cells. He has been using a vaccine derived from the T antigen as a long-term treatment against recurring advanced breast cancer for the last 20 years.
If you want to read more about Blood Types and how different illnesses, foods, herbs, and even traditional medications affect each blood type there is a good book on the subject EAT RIGHT FOR (4) YOUR BLOOD TYPE by Dr. Peter J.D'Adamo. He has a website too www.dadamo.com