Eat Right for Your Type; No Tofu for You! Book Review

Eat Right for Your Type is a book which relates the diet to blood type. The main justification for the four specific diets is lectin protein digestion and absorption within the stomach and gastrointestinal tract. A main critique of this book is the cultural and biological explanations behind the diet specifications and relation to blood type. In comparison to Dr. Weston Prices’ common findings on the benefits of traditional diet's high in saturated fats and cholesterol found in all indigenous societies, Peter D’Adamo’s recommendations of animal-derived fat sources are primarily lean meats. A specific concern is centered on the Type A diet recommendations, which eliminate meat and dairy while recommending a diet high in vegetable oils and soy protein through foods like tofu.
Tofu, like many soy products that are not completely and thoroughly fermented and aged for the appropriate amount of time, lack the digestive enzymes that make the minerals available for digestion and absorption. Peter D'Adamo's recommendations for vegetarians to eat tofu as a replacement for protein sources is ignorance. Tofu has enzyme inhibitors, that can block the bodies absorption of essential minerals, such as iron, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. Soy protein powders, soy isolates, are also high in mineral-blocking phytates, thyroid-depressing phytoestrogens and potent enzyme inhibitors that depress growth and cause cancer. These enzyme inhibitors can only be removed from the soybean through fermentation, not ordinary household cooking practices. It is a mistake to rely on tofu or bean curd as a protein food because of its high phytate content. Eating tofu with fish broth, like the Japanese, and not using tofu as a protein substitute, but as a small addition to the meal is recommended. Soy milk, often used as a substitute for cow milk, is also high in phytate content and can lead to mineral deficiencies. Phytoestrogens cannot be removed through the process of fermentation or modern processing, and are potent endocrine disrupters as well as goitrogens-substances that depress thyroid function (Fallon, 62).
The anitnutrients in modern soy products and soy flour can inhibit growth and cause intestinal problems, swelling of the pancreas and even cancer. Soy's high omega-3 content allows it to go rancid quickly when the bean is made into flour. Instead, choose traditional soy products that have been fermented for the adequate amount of time, such as natto, miso, or tempeh (Fallon, 477).
Tracy Taylor
Food Activist


Sources:
Nourishing Traditions; The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. Sally Fallon
Eat Right 4 your Type: the individualized diet solution to staying healthy, living longer and achieving your ideal weight. Peter D'Adamo.

The Benefits of Saturated Fat; Re-defining the Modern Diet

Saturated fats from natural, grass-fed, free-range animal products allow for immeasurable nutrient absorption, benefitting our cells, bones, muscles, tissues, organs, body and soul. The benefits of saturated fats are immense. For one, saturated fats protect the heart and keep it layered in fat storage that can later be drawn on in times of stress. Butter and coconut oil for example, provide special saturated fats that have antimicrobial properties while also fighting pathogens in the gut. Most natural, grass-fed animal foods that contain saturated fat also contain essential monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are oftentimes only utilized and stored properly through the consumption of saturated fats found in animal foods.

In our modern “American” diet, high levels of vegetable oil consumption correspond with many life-affecting and action-inhibiting processes. The obesity epidemic is one very large (no pun intended) red flag that alone describes the desperate state of health within our nations citizens, not to mention any other nation dependent upon westernized eating habits. Our health officials tell us to avoid certain dietary fats due to triglycerides; however what they do not tell us that triglycerides are made from the excess sugars in the liver, oftentimes from excess refined sugars (carbohydrates) that have not been used for energy. Supporters of the vegetable oil industry would justify limiting consumption of saturated fats through increased consumption of unsaturated oils; monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. This rise in unsaturated fatty acid as a main source of dietary fat corresponds directly with the rise in heart disease within our nation. Saturated fat consumption however, has actually declined while heart disease is still rising and today causes at least forty percent of all US deaths; a realistic killer.

Saturated fats have many undisputed benefits. On a cellular level, saturated fats make up at least fifty percent of our cell membranes. Calcium absorption can only be effectively incorporated into the skeletal structure with adequate amounts of saturated fat intake (at least fifty percent), and when a diet is rich in saturated fat, the omega-3 fatty acid is better retained in the tissues. Specific short and medium chain saturated fatty acids have antimicrobial properties that protect us against harmful microorganisms in the digestive tract. An interesting note is that prior to 1920 coronary heart disease was a rarity, and today analysis of clogged arteries suggests that only approximately 26 percent of the artery walls are saturated, while the majority of the rest is polyunsaturated.

Sources:

Nourishing Traditions; The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. Sally Fallon

The Fourfold Path to Healing; Working with the Laws of Nutirion, Therapeutics, Movement and Meditation in the Art of Medicine. Thomas S. Cowan

Nutrition: The Complete Guide; Official Course Text for ISSA’s Specialist in Fitness Nutrition Program. John Berardi, Ryan, Andrews

Tracy Taylor

Food Activist

Live. Love. Learn. Eat Well!

Eat Well & be Critical

In a world where there is so much to choose from, it's important to be critical. Every person in the food industry is going about their day, performing the tasks needed to be paid at the end of the day. Whether it is stocking shelves in the local grocery or convenience store, altering the genetics of our peppers, or picking the tomatoes that end up in our salsa and in our kitchen, there are many components to feeding the general population. This is why we need to look beyond the media advertisements telling us to look for Campbell’s, Kellogg, McDonalds, and Keebler, and make our own choices, based on what is truly available.

Our purchasing power has the ability to support our economy. One thing that every state and every town and city has in common is purchasing power. We are a consumerist nation, and if there is anything we collectively have the power to affect, it is consumerism.

Local economies are what ultimately drive the overall economic state of a country. By collectively purchasing locally grown and made products, we are not only helping out the local economy, but collectively helping out the larger economic state of our country. Walking into our supermarkets, it’s time to consider that extra trip to the farmers market for your produce, meat, and dairy. Not only is that fruit often better priced and tastier, but it supports your immediate community, putting that precious cash into the hands of those who directly produce our food.

The time to be lazy is over. When you are critical, you are speaking and acting. When you are critical you are expending energy. Getting your gears heading toward the Farmers Market every week is an active choice, and it requires that you become more critical of the food that is so purposefully convenient. Think for yourself, be critical, and make that extra move. Think Change.

Tracy Taylor
Food Activist