I started this blog because I wanted to talk about eating more healthfully and in a way that is also healthful for the earth. You know, how our food choices impact us as well as the greater community a.k.a. the whole environmental thing. On the topic of how food choices impact us individually, and me specifically, I recently  read Eat Right 4  Your Type and posted the following review on GoodReads.com:

After once again encountering serious digestive issues despite years of choosing healthy options (very little wheat, virtually no dairy, no caffeine, no soft drinks, choosing whole foods vs. packaged, limiting sugar etc.) and several cleanses, I’m intrigued by the idea that part of the key to my challenges may be to understand how blood type affects digestion. I’m willing to give it a go — am in fact giving it a go — but do so with some caveats to D’Adamo’s approach.

The information on blood type evolution is fascinating (see my review under Eat Right 4 Your Type Complete Blood Type Encyclopedia) and makes a great deal of intuitive sense, as well as being backed up by plenty of research. No problem there.

However, I do feel like the food recommendations are dated. For instance, they don’t take into consideration what we now know about the non-food-like chemical composition to genetically modified foods, which surely must also affect how things like soy and wheat affect one’s blood. I find it disturbing that a doctor of naturopathic medicine doesn’t focus at all on discussing the quality of the food being chosen. Not once do I see any mention of the dangers of choosing non-organic soy products, for example, or the value of pesticide-free foods.

It’s also concerning that there is no focus on maintaining one’s overall digestive system as a key element in maintaining one’s health. It may be that some people already know about that, but it bears repeating for the countless people who will not take the time to educate themselves and will buy the book as the next great quick-fix.

I feel D’Adamo’s research is also outdated in its fanfare around the genetic basis for disease. We all got excited about the idea that once the DNA code was cracked we’d be able to eradicate disease. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there hasn’t been a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. It turns out that DNA does not, on it’s own, solve the mystery and is not the miracle discovery everyone thought it would be. Dr. Bruce Lipton (The Biology of Belief) and others’ subsequent research in epigenetics shows that DNA provides a response to its environment but does not in fact control which genes are turned off and on.

All in all Eat Right 4 Your Type may be a piece of the puzzle, but like any other packaged solution it is not THE answer. We need to become knowledgeable about our bodies, how they work, and bring together knowledge from many disciplines to support our body in healing and maintaining health.