Are you thinking about making that new year’s resolution to improve your diet? Incorporate some exercise? With so many fads, information and buzz products on the market, where do you even begin? Regardless of whether you are trying to improve your health or just stay healthy, it can be challenging to say the least. With food manufacturers on one side and diet fads on the other, combined with constantly changing standards on what is considered healthy, one could get easily confused. It’s important to remember that everyone’s individual needs are different. So how do you know where to start?
A simple place to start that is guaranteed to improve your health regardless of your unique goals and body is to eliminate processed and highly refined foods, refined sugars, hydrogenated oils and artificial colors/preservatives. Eliminating those foods alone have been shown to drastically improve all aspects of an individual’s health.
If you’ve already succeeded in making those changes and still have health concerns, I suggest looking into The Blood Type Diet. Dr. Peter D’Adamo developed this diet based on years of research studying the individual on a biochemical level. What he discovered was that certain blood types tend to be sensitive to some foods, while others may benefit from them. Sometimes simply eliminating chicken from your diet could drastically reduce inflammation in the body. Weird, right? But completely true.
There are many factors to consider before anyone should decide to make drastic changes in their diet though. Genetics, lifestyle, stress levels and exercise all play a role in what individual nutritional needs are. For example, people often ask me if I’m a raw vegan because I am a Health Coach. Being “O” blood type and very active, I’d most likely be dead in a month (maybe by my own hand!) because that particular diet is not for my blood type. Those with “A” blood types, low stress levels, and doing non-weight bearing exercise routines (like tai chi) may actually benefit from such a diet. “O” blood types tend to benefit from The Paleo Diet (a dietary theory based on Paleolithic times when mankind was hunter/gatherer and most everyone was Type O). Others can benefit from a modified version of Paleo that takes into account their unique needs (for example A blood type bodybuilders).
If you don’t know your blood type but are having issues with headaches, upset stomachs, low energy levels, or worse, and have already cleaned up your diet, The Blood Type Diet is something worth looking into. Worst case scenario is that you learn something new about this amazing body of yours!
by Nicole Pinedo, Herbalist, Health Coach. Nicole is available for consultation at the Central Peoples location.