How Does a Blood Type A Diet Food List Look Like
It is a concept originally brought about by Dr. James L. D’Adamo, a naturopathy specialist. (2) However, it was popularized in a diet book by his son Peter J. D’Adamo, a physician. No evidence currently exists to validate the health benefits of particular blood diet types. (1)
According to Dr. Peter, blood types evolved at different points in human genetic history; because of that, your blood type dictates how you work out and how you eat. This simply means that there are blood-type diets.
What are Blood Type Diets?
Essentially, blood type diets are a feeding system that classifies food as harmful, neutral, or beneficial. This is determined by an individual’s blood type, among other factors.
According to D’Adamo, foods considered harmful for your blood type often cause agglutination of blood cells.
This is when the blood cells stick together and that makes you more susceptible to disease.
Embracing Blood Type Foods
Blood Type A Diet Food List
When you are on a blood type diet, you will be required to eat foods that are beneficial to you; not neutral or harmful.
Now beneficial foods are picked based on the molecules or lectins. With this diet, you will either be a nonsecretor or secretor and this is simply about your ability to release blood-type antigens into bodily fluids.
Ultimately, what you feed your body is in a way based on your secretor status.
Each blood type group has a food ratio. This is further dissected into food ratios for people of Asian, Caucasian, and African descent.
You may also want to note that blood type diets go hand in hand with supplements that you can find on the D’Adamo website.
Theoretic Blood Type Origins
Dr. D’Adamo claims that blood type A-positive became prevalent during the formative years of the agricultural era.
He further states that this is why individuals with that blood type easily digest carbs and vegetables but have a hard time digesting fat and animal protein.
Primarily, the A-positive blood type is vegetarian. People with this blood type are believed to be prone to anxiety and less robust immune systems.
D’Adamo’s diet plan promises more vitality, weight loss, better digestion, and generally a reduced risk of developing diseases.
Just like any other diet, you may use this plan for weight loss or to gain other health benefits.
It may also interest you to know that people who have used this diet have reported lower cholesterol levels as well as weight loss.
Nonetheless, there is no evidence to back up these claims.
While on this diet, you will be required to avoid simple carbohydrates, too much sugar, and processed foods.
Type A Diet Food List
As earlier mentioned, the type A diet requires you to eat organic, mostly vegetarian food.
Some of the foods in this diet include:
- Salmon and sardines
- Green tea
- Ginger
- Onions and garlic
- Green leafy vegetables
- Soy protein
- Legumes
- Peanuts, pumpkin seeds, walnuts
- Olive oil
This diet requires you to eat protein when beginning your day so you may want to go for a smoothie made from goat milk or tofu along with canned sardines.
You may also indulge in minimal amounts of animal protein such as eggs and turkey so it would be perfectly fine to include them in your breakfast meals.
The allowed grains, fruits, and vegetables can be eaten along with any meal of the day.
Foods to Avoid on the A-positive Blood Type Diet
As you may have imagined, the type A diet food list excludes a lot of foods which include:
- Fruits like mangoes, strawberry, oranges, and melons
- Pork, lamb, and beef
- Sweet potatoes, yams, potatoes
- Vegetables such as mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and cabbage
- Cow’s milk
- Venison
- Durum wheat, multigrain bread, wheat bran
- Catfish, herring, haddock, barracuda, and bluefish
- Refined carbohydrates such as white bread and pastries
- Refined sugar
- Most condiments
- Artificial ingredients
- Other oils aside from olive oil
Does the Diet Work?
With the level of compliance and limitations that come with this diet, you are probably wondering whether it works. Well, the thing is that there is no scientific evidence backing up the diet regarding whether it eliminates any health issues.
Dr. D’Adamo associates some health conditions with this blood type including cardiovascular disease, anxiety disorder, diabetes, and cancer.
Research studies have been conducted to examine if blood types put individuals more at risk of developing particular health conditions and one in 2012 found that type A blood type was associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
That said, more research needs to be done to uncover why this is so.
Another study in 2014 revealed that adherence to the A-positive blood type diet could bring benefits such as reduced cholesterols and blood pressure as well as reduced body mass index.
Nevertheless, as we had mentioned earlier, the said benefits were not ascertained to be associated with or influenced by blood types.
Are there Risks?
One of the best things about the type A diet is that it does not come with any specified health risks. However, as you have seen, it may be hard to adhere to and it is very restrictive.
Anyone adopting this diet should endeavor to get broad-based nutrition from a broad range of foods and that includes protein sources.
Final Thoughts
It is not hard to believe that the blood type A diet can lead to weight loss and lower cholesterol levels mainly because of its many restrictions. In that, it eliminates most of the foods that could affect your health negatively.
That said, there are no scientific studies that link an individual’s blood type to their need to eat or avoid particular foods.
Should you decide to adhere to this plan though, you want to ensure that you get as much variety as you can when it comes to the foods you eat.
This is the only way your body will get the nutrition it requires to function optimally.
Printable Blood Type A Diet Food List (PDF)
| Foods to eat on a blood type a diet | Foods to limit on a blood type a diet |
|---|---|
| Bread: Whole-wheat only | Sweet potatoes, Venison and generally anything that is not organic or vegeterian |
| Cheese: Cheddar and Cottage | |
| Chicken Eggs | Beverages to limit on a blood type A diet |
| Fish: Sardines and Tuna | Cow's milk |
| Poultry: Turkey | Most condiments |
| Ginger | Sugary beverages such as soda |
| Olive oil | |
| Garlic and onion | |
| Soy protein | |
| Peanuts, pumpkin seeds, walnuts | |
| Legumes | |
| Vegetables: Kale, Spinach | |
| Beverages to Take on a Military Diet | |
| Green tea | |
| Water |
See Also