By Yusra Hamdi
Your body’s metabolism is a blind process; it doesn’t see anything but “calories” as simple as that. Want to lose weight? Calorie deficit. Want to gain weight? Calorie surplus. Whether you want to lose fat not muscles or gain muscles not fat, you have to track your macros (carbs, fats, protein ) within the same caloric range. Finally, here you will find your ultimate guide
So technically speaking knowing your blood group is very important, it is indeed but that’s only in case you are planning to do a blood transfusion or having an organ transplant operation, in which case I’d tell you to be careful!
There is no single evidence or based research that encourages the idea of “you restricting your food intake or limiting yourself from eating certain kinds of fruits/vegetables/lean meat to lose weight!”
Here I am going to break the bad news to you “your body type is not a determinator of the type of food you should eat” it only helps you find the type of clothes that suits you the most.
In truth, to understand the science behind the process of weight loss/weight gain, there are some facts you gotta know and stick it to the back of your mind.
Fact 1: The calories you eat is the only source of energy your body burns to keep going besides the basal metabolic rate “which is the amount of energy burned every day to keep your heart pumping blood, your kidneys working, etc…” and the latter can be calculated individually based on your weight, height and gender.
It doesn’t matter from where you get those calories whether from an apple or a yummy chocolate chip cookie! But I don’t think the amount of calories consumed by your body is related to/ defined/controlled by any means to your blood group or your body type! So what about the people who said and already lost weight following the blood group diet?! Let me talk you through this, The biggest proponent of this diet, Dr. Peter D’Adamo, has sold over 7 million copies of his book, Eat Right 4 Your Type. It seems unusual that such a popular diet could have no effect.
In truth, the blood type diet does work, just not at all because of people’s actual blood types.
Researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T) have found that the theory behind the popular blood type diet–which claims an individual’s nutritional needs vary by blood type–is not valid.”Based on the data of 1,455 study participants, we found no evidence to support the ‘blood-type’ diet theory,” said the senior author of the study, Dr. Ahmed El-Sohemy, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Nutrigenomics at the U of T.
El-Sohemy says that a previous lack of scientific evidence doesn’t mean the diets didn’t work. “There was just no evidence, one way or the other. It was an intriguing hypothesis so we felt we should put it to the test. We can now be confident in saying that the blood type diet hypothesis is false.”
Nonetheless, last year, a comprehensive review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found no evidence to support the ‘blood-type’ diet and called for properly designed scientific studies to address it.
In short, Your total body weight “I.e. 70kg” is the net process of calories intake and calories burned and nothing related to your blood type/ blood group. So here the question may arise which pops in your head at this very moment “why should we eat healthy food, fruits and vegetables or why does it matter to track our macros?” Kindly move to
Fact 2: The macros you eat play a very crucial part in your body fat and muscle composition and why is that important? Because this will give you a good quality of life, will protect you from some modifiable diseases such as high cholesterol levels that might lead to an increase in blood pressure or central obesity that aids in developing diabetes type 2.
Not to mention if you are an athlete aspiring to
Fact 3: 80% diet, 20% exercise
Well yes that piece of information is so true and it’s also proven and a lot of papers confirmed that exercise only contributes to 20% of the process, should I go on?! What I need to paraphrase here is that there is no room for your blood group or your body type to change the ratios or contribute to the process of weight loss/gain.
Actually, if I were in your shoes, I would care more about my exercise than my blood group and that’s because little do people talk about the other health benefits of exercise; the boost in energy, the enjoyable experience, the sweet rush of endorphins, the regulated sleep cycle, the controlled appetite and most importantly how exercise helps in the process of anti
So kindly, do it for your body, mind and soul!
Fact 4: The philosophy of trial and error.
“Learning doesn’t happen from failure itself but rather from analyzing the failure, making a change, and then trying again.” What does that have to do with this topic?! Here comes the answer; There is no rule you should follow to lose/gain weight, all you gotta do is understand what suits your body. We are all different, our bodies work in different ways, so learn to listen to your body; if a certain food makes you nauseous/bloated/uncomfortable then try to eliminate it, don’t push it too hard to eat it because your body type or blood group says so. For example, If you don’t like avocados then screw avocados and replace it with another type of food of the same nutritional value.
The same scenario goes with the different types of diets out there; the Keto diet, the Mediterranean diet, intermittent fasting or the low carb diet.
Try whatever you want, listen to your body, see the results and adjust accordingly.
Lastly, there is no shame in seeking help from a dietitian, endocrinologist or even a psychiatrist. Provided that you tried desperately to lose/gain weight and this issue has been causing you significant discomfort. Sometimes there are some health conditions that require professional help to guide you reach your goal through the rightest/fastest/healthiest way possible or treat an underlying illness that might be the reason why you can’t lose/gain weight. So please keep an open mind and always remember that no matter what the problem is, it has absolutely nothing to do with your blood group or body type!