Live Right 4 Your Type

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 400 pages
• Published by: Putnam Adult December 28, 2000
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0399146733
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0399146732
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Weighs: 1.6 pounds

Product Review
The idea that blood type plays a role in health, wellness, and personality wasn't exactly new when Dr. Peter D'Adamo came out with Eat Right 4 Your Type in 1997. The idea had been around for most of the 19th century, and had gained quite a bit of currency in Japan. But it was a startling idea to most Americans, who made the book a bestseller that was translated into more than forty languages and spawned a similarly successful sequel, Cook Right 4 Your Type.

Now, Dr. D'Adamo--armed with new studies on genetic links between blood types, disease, and behavior--looks at the psychological and medical peculiarities that seem to predominate in one blood type or another. Type O's, for example, have lower than average amounts of a brain chemical called dopamine, leading to poor concentration, hyperactivity, and temper tantrums. A's tend to manufacture too much cortisol, a stress hormone that can lead to hypertension and has even been implicated in Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Type B's and AB's clear nitric oxide out of their systems faster, allowing them to calm down more rapidly than other blood types when stressed.

Dr. D'Adamo offers detailed lifestyle modifications for each type, including exercise programs, long lists of food to either seek out or avoid, and suggested treatment of specific illnesses. Some of this gets pretty arcane, including his recommendation of bladder wrack (a seaweed) for ulcer treatment of Type O's.

A big part of the appeal of this book series is that anyone reading it can become a participant by joining Dr. D'Adamo's blood-type registry at www.dadamo.com. Live Right for Your Type is peppered with testimonials from these registrants, giving the reader a sense that a true transformation in health, appearance, weight, and well-being is just a few diet and lifestyle changes away. --Lou Schuler

From Publishers Weekly
Author of the bestselling Eat Right 4 Your Type, D'Adamo delves more deeply into the influence of blood type in this follow-up volume, claiming not only that it determines the way individuals should eat, but also the way they should live. For each blood type he offers an extensive "prescription" for lifestyle changes, covering such issues as exercise, stress relief and sleep patterns, as well as supplements and foods. Type O, for instance, is advised to eat red meat and engage in aerobic exercise, while Type A is advised to focus on vegetables and try yoga. D'Adamo identifies the medical risk factors for each blood type, pointing out that, for example, As and ABs are at greater risk for developing cancer, while Os may be more vulnerable to mood disorders or destructive behaviors. In addition to his "prescriptions for living," D'Adamo offers a soup-to-nut diet plan for each blood type, complete with explanations of why various foods work for or against the body. While D'Adamo's plan is meticulously researched, readers may balk at the complexity not only of his text but also of the diet itself, which may create kitchen clashes when individuals of several blood types share meals. This comprehensive, fascinating theory will suit the nutrition-committed, but readers seeking a quick fix to weight and health problems may be left in a daze. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reader Reviews
I thought that Eat Right for Your Type was one of the most helpful self-help health books I had ever read. Live Right for Your Type is much more valuable than that one. If you have read neither, read this one. If you have read and liked Eat Right for Your Type, you will find this book a great improvement on that one. If your life seems strangely out of kilter and you and your doctors can't quite put your finger on what's wrong, I strongly urge you to read this book. It may well contain important clues for creating more "wellness" for you from the correct application of self-discipline in your eating and activities. The basic weakness of most scientific studies and almost all health books is that they look at average results for the whole population. The studies cited in this book are based on seeing major differences in the body chemistries of people with different blood types. In the same way that you can drown in an average of six inches of water (if that average expresses a range from ten feet deep to half an inch), the average health advice can make your health worse in some cases. Eat Right for Your Type was first published in 1996. That pioneering book summarized hundreds of research studies to define healthful eating for people with each different blood type. The underlying mechanism for this relationship is that your blood type influences your body chemistry in ways that create vulnerability or resistance to disease and an efficiently operating body. The four blood types are O, A, B, and AB. Type O people need the most animal protein (especially beef. Type A people need lots of vegetables. Type B people should eat a varied diet. Type AB people should eat smaller, more frequent meals. Based on that book, many people reported remarkable gains in health, vitality, and weight loss after changing what they eat. In my case, my weight is now 31 pounds less than on my old way of eating (one that my Mother, who has Type A blood, had encouraged all my life -- but I am a Type O person). Many such case histories are reported in Live Right for Your Type. Live Right for Your Type includes all of the diet information of Eat Right for Your Type, and adds to it insights into personality development, stress management, digestion, disease, and aging. Space does not permit explaining each of these links here, but personality traits are related to different ways that brain chemicals are created and processed by people with different blood types. Type O people, for example, are more easily stimulated into "fight or flight" responses and stay in them longer. Genetic influences are the beginning of how these factors influence you. Your genes for blood type and other traits come from your parents. From these genes, you get a phenotype (one of the four blood types), a secretion status (whether you secrete antigens into your other bodily fluids or not, as well as into your blood), a Rhesus Factor (positive or negative), and your MN blood type (MM, NN, or MN). All of these concepts are well explained in the appendix of the book. There are also instructions for how you can send away to be tested so you will know what your characteristics are (a total cost of $51.40). In the main body of the book are many explanations of how each of these factors have been associated with the different aspects of life. The heart of the book though comes in four sections where all of the information about each of the four main blood types is summarized. Yup, there I was in the Type O group with my quick temper, inclination to stay stressed out once stressed, oversensitivity to caffeine and alcohol, impulsiveness to create variety, and blissful reaction to exercise. Dr. D'Adamo definitely had me pegged. To me the greater insight was when I looked at the type for my wife. I had become concerned about some health vulnerabilities she was experiencing. Yup, there they were. And the things that help her were the items listed. I heaved a big sigh of relief. Whew! It's natural. If you want to take all of this further, there are instructions in the book for how to get more instructional material and to order special food supplements for each blood type. Normally, I find such offerings offensive. In this case, I had the opposite reaction. I don't know where else to get information that will help me, and I want to know more. Unlike many books that are based on one study or one hypothesis, this book is built on hundreds of studies. These are cited in the back of the book. Although I did not look any of these up, these seemed to be from reputable sources. There is some speculation in the book. I was fascinated to see that some of the brain chemistry related genes are located next to the blood type genes in DNA. We don't know enough yet to know what that means. It may mean nothing, but it is certainly interesting to think about. After you have finished following advice in this book and feeling better, I suggest that you think about people you care about who are potentially living and eating in ways that don't match their blood types. Please do share this book with them. You will be giving a very precious gift. Live more naturally, in keeping with your true physical self! Comment | | (Report this)