Be positive and eat well

For almost two years now I’ve been a runner.  I’ve been slowly increasing my distance and am now doing two 15-18km runs a week.

I have found that running for more than an hour at a time requires some changes in what I eat:

a) To avoid getting runners diarrhea (lovely thing, let me tell you :), I absolutely cannot have any coffee before I run and I need to limit sugar, wheat and yeast in my diet.
b) To keep me from getting dizzy (which I tend to have a problem with) I need to drink a lot of water throughout the day, every day, and to avoid sugar.

I almost have my dizziness and digestion under control with a diet that doesn’t include any refined sugar, has limited wheat and yeast and lots of water.

However, in order to understand why I tend to have these issues in the first place, I sort of found an answer in the place I didn’t expect – it might have something to do with my blood type:

“Type Bs tend to have a problem with gluten in wheat products and wheat germ, which can cause a drop in their blood sugar levels, causing symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).”*

After reading this, I looked further into what are the specific items that I should or should not eat in order to get maximum benefit for my body from food.

NOTE: You can skip the rest if you’re not the same blood type as me :)

The only kind of meat that is good for me is lamb. That sort of sucks cause I don’t generally like lamb :|  The good news is that beef and turkey are neutral for me, so I’ll be ok.  The surprise is that I should avoid bacon, chicken, duck, goose and pork.

As for seafood, any kind of white or pink fish is good for me: cod, haddock, mackerel, monkfish, salmon, sardine, sea trout and sole.  The things I shouldn’t eat are all the things I don’t like anyway :) – anchovies, clams, crab, crayfish, eel, lobster, mussels, octopus, oysters, shrimp.

Eggs and dairy that are good for me:  cottage cheese, feta, goat cheese/milk, kefir, mozzarella, ricotta, skim milk, yogurt.  Butter, buttermilk, parmesan and whole milk are neutral and the only dairy I should avoid is blue cheese, which I don’t like anyway, and ice cream, which I don’t eat anyway since I’m now sugar free.

The only oil that’s good for me is olive oil. I should avoid everything else, with the exception of cod liver oil and flaxseed oil, which are neutral.

Nuts and seeds that are good for me: NONE :|  Neutral ones are almonds, chestnuts, macadamias, pecans, walnuts.  Everything else I should avoid, which is not a problem because I only really eat almonds anyway.

Next come beans and legumes.  The ones I should be eating are kidney, lima, navy and red soy beans; I should avoid pinto and black beans, and green and red lentils.  I love red lentils, so that’s a bit sad.  Chickpeas are neutral so I’m happy I can keep tucking into houmous.

From cereals I should be eating oatmeal, puffed rice and spelt.  Barley, buckwheat, cornmeal, rye and anything with wheat should be avoided.  That sort of sucks because I love barley in my soups and buckwheat porridge once in a while.

Since wheat causes insulin problems, the only bread I should be eating is rice cakes, gluten free bread or pumpernickel bread.  I sort of avoid bread anyway because sliced bread has lots of sugar and yeast that make me really bloated, but once in a while a raisin bagel is nice… I think if I have it once in a while I’ll be ok.

The only flour that’s good for me is oat or rice flour. Spelt is neutral, so is semolina pasta, quinoa and all kinds of rice. Buckwheat, couscous, barley, rye and whole wheat should be avoided.

When it comes to vegetables, the beneficial and neutral lists are very long and I won’t list them here, the items that I should avoid are artichokes, avocados, corn, olives, pumpkin, radishes, sprouts, tofu, tomato.  I’m sad about avocados, pumpkin and tomato (apparently tomato irritates the stomach lining and I do have a sensitive stomach…).

Lists of beneficial and neutral fruits are also very long, so here’s only the ones I should avoid:  coconut, pomegranate, rhubarb.  That is fine by me as I don’t eat lots of those anyway.

The spices that are beneficial for me are warming ones:  cayenne, curry, ginger, horseradish and parsley; the ones I should avoid are:  almond extract, barley malt, cinnamon, cornstarch, white pepper, black pepper and tapioca.

When it comes to drinks, green tea is good, but what’s even better: coffee and wine are neutral!  Bubbly sodas should be avoided, but I do that already with the exception of tonic for my G&Ts. I might just have to stick to white wine instead :)

So that’s the short of it.  I find it fascinating and informative, but I am not planning to never ever eat any foods that are in my ‘banned’ lists.  The main thing is that I have received confirmation that gluten and sugar are not good for me.

If your blood type is B+ – does any of this ring true to you as well – sensitive digestion, issues with blood sugar levels, etc.?

If you have another blood type – have you looked into what foods you might want to avoid?

If you don’t know your blood type – how come you don’t??? :)

If you think all of this is nonsense – I can relate, I thought so as well just a few weeks ago!

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*Websites I used for reference:

• Blood type B+ diet
• Eating for your blood type – B+, B-