Is the Genotype Diet Too Complicated?
The author of the popular ‘Eat Right For Your Type’ and naturopathic doctor, Peter D’Adamo has now released “The GenoType Diet,” a book with everything a person needs to know about Epigenetics, a new science relating how your genes respond to your environment.
By using Epigenetics, according to D’Adamo, the GenoType Diet helps a person understand that the decisions he or she makes everyday will affect his or her body.
According to D’Adamo, it’s basically helping you understand how the series of choices you make throughout your life effects your body. It’s not really a diet book he notes, it’s just an easy way to eat healthy.
There are specific foods, exercises and supplements for each of the 8 ‘GenoType’s’.
But does it have to be that complicated?
Personally, I’m not sure.
Genetics do play a part in what works best for your body. Personally I know that certain fats affect me differently than others. Certain foods digest easier and I take better to certain types of exercise.
Others have also commented on why it’s necessary to get so detailed rather than working with the larger picture. And some of the recommended foods are not commonly known as ‘health foods’. For example, certain cheeses are considered ’superfoods’. Again, any kind of cheese is mucus building, processed and certainly not a cleansing and energizing food. So, many of the recommendations aren’t what I consider healthy.
However, I do know this much. In general, you have to follow a simple set of guidelines to live a healthy life. You can’t eat as much processed, fatty and sugary foods and be healthy.
The specific recommendations made by the author may be helpful as long as you include the following:
- concentrate on a diet of mostly fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seed and natural, living grains
- reduce or eliminate the effects of stress in your life
- drink lots of water
- stay active every day
- eliminate processed, convenient and most animal foods from your diet
- choose organic foods as much as possible
- get plenty of sleep
Using these suggestions alone will trigger weight loss, more energy, clearer thinking and just feeling better.
To read more about The GenoType Diet visit Amazon.
Related:
eat right for your type genotype genotype diet diet peter d adamo weight loss
For someone who apparently has not been involved in the Blood type diet theory and practice, and the interesting anecdotal success stories that arise from that (in their hundreds and more), this reviewer has actually done a good job in looking at the Genotype diet. Small errors are irrelevant in the big picture, and if he/she continues to study it, fascinating case studies will emerge. Yes, it is a bit fiddly to find which genetic group one fits into, but why should it be easy? Certainly easier and cheaper than having ones genes typed in a lab.
Once having done that, and given the Genotype Diet at least a fair chance (say a month or more) I think the reviewer may have a different story to tell.I issue that challenge.
I am a blood type B, Nomad Genotype (and there are 6 genotypes, not 8, by the way), which means that I have many superfoods that are animal proteins. I don’t question the validity of these dietary recommendations at all. I started following the Blood Type Diet about a year ago and, based on it, almost completely eliminated wheat from my diet. My persistent abdominal cramps and constipation, which I assumed had been due to lactose intolerance, ceased. I still eat my recommended dairy products and no longer suffer from irregularity, bloating or cramping. It was wheat, a “health food” according to society, that was causing me so many problems. I also strongly believe that eating gluten caused deterioration in my gut which makes it difficult for me to absorb nutrients which has lead to anemia. I now know not to eat gluten thanks to this diet and expect to see even more improvement in my health as my body reverses the damage I’ve done from on following the “one-diet-fits-all” approach.
I personally know other people who have followed the diet for two years (one of them is an O, which means a high protein, low-gluten diet) who have seen remarkable results from making this a part of their lifestyle. The type O has lost weight and lowered his cholesterol considerably; the type AB no longer suffers from allergies, hives, broken blood vessels in her eyes, a weird patch of itchy skin and she’s also lost weight without ever feeling hungry. I realize I’m mixing diets here but considering the same doctor developed both, I think they are good examples that his research is sound.
Even though I have a lot of animal protein superfoods, it is important to also consider the recommended portions, which are quite reasonable. Sure, I should eat meat and dairy but, according to my portion recommendations, they should not be the bulk of my diet.
This diet is not complicated. You figure out your genotype and you eat the foods recommended for it. If there are foods that aren’t on your superfood or toxin list, it means they are neutral and you can enjoy them for the nutritional value they provide and to give your diet a little variety. Pretty simple if you ask me. It may not be easy to give up some of the foods you were convinced were healthy for you or that you just plain enjoyed but that doesn’t make the diet complicated. It just means that you have to make a choice–and when people face choices they don’t like, they call it complicated so they don’t have to makes those choices.
Your genes are not the same as everyone else’s. My husband can eat high-fat, high-sugar junk food (and did) all day long and still stay very thin. I cannot. That can be oversimplified into saying he has a faster metabolism than I do but The Genotype Diet asks the questions “Why?” and “What can I do to change the way my body responds to food?” We all either curse or praise genetics for giving us the bodies and the level of health we have so why is it that when a doctor tells you how to use knowledge of your genetics to change your health, you balk at it? I think there is a fear of what Dr. D’Adamo teaches because then people might actually have to take responsibility for their health instead of taking the stance that you get the hand your dealt and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Get on the community forum at http://www.dadamo.com and read the testimonials for both of Dr. D’Adamo’s diets. See the level of intelligence of the participants. See how supportive and willing they are to give their time and knowledge to anyone who asks about any health question. See that Dr. D’Adamo himself posts on this forum which means he backs up what he teaches. He won’t receive criticism because the people who follow his diets are eternally grateful for the positive changes he’s made in their lives. And even if he does receive a little criticism, he’ll step up and respond to it. Plus, his site gives a little test to see whether the blood type diet or genotype diet is better for you. He’s not out to get everyone who follows the blood type diet to buy his new book. He just wants to help people be healthy. The man has integrity. And this way of eating works.
Maybe it appears to be complicated because you have stated there are “specific foods, exercises and supplements for each of the 8 ‘GenoType’s’.” There are actually only 6 GenoTypes as specified by Dr. D’Adamo. You may have overlooked that while you were reading it in order to make a thorough book review.