Category Archives: Health/Fitness/Sport stuff

Eating For Your Blood Type (I’m AB+)

I was chatting with a friend about diet over a delicious meal of tapas at Movida Aqui when we briefly brought up the concept of eating for your blood type. I’m a rare AB+ with only around 3% of the world’s population in this category. It is also the last blood type to be identified so it’s the ‘newest’ in a sense. I’ve heard about eating for your blood type before from cousins living up near Byron Bay and haven’t really given much thought to it except that it’s all rubbish and a balanced diet is what’s important.

But curiosity got the better of me and I started looking around for information and cam across many articles, as one would expect with Google. Here’s what I’ve learned:

  • AB+ blood types have low stomach acid levels so we can’t digest large portions of meat very well … turkey and lamb in small portions are the best options OR solid tofu (this is a bummer because I do enjoy a good steak)
    • Note: chicken is not good because high levels of lectin irritate stomach (… and there goes my red meat alternative! Turkey it is.)
  • Smaller regular meals through the day better than large meals because low level of stomach acid means we are slower to digest (good news but must remember the key word here – SMALLER, not regular)
  • We should avoid carbonated beverages … dammit, there goes my enjoyment of vodka, lime, soda … then again, it also says avoid alcohol (not happening)
  • Finally some good news: we do well on grains! At least I can continue my mundane but satisfying affair with brown rice and oats.
  • It also says we do well with dairy but this is contrary to my low level lactose intolerance

Based on a lot of the advice from different sites around half of what I eat is not suited to my blood type!

Most advice from doctors and scientists agree eating for your blood type is nonsense and there is no link there. So. while it was interesting to read about a different approach and theory about diet I’ll continue to enjoy a beef steak and try to stick to a balanced diet.

Do you follow this diet? I’m interested to hear feedback please!

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Here are some links to sites I visited:

I Hit a Girl (and I Liked It…)

I had my first sparring session at DMMA last night as part of a boxing session. Fitted out in my new white gloves I paired with a girl who has trained to compete in the past so, naturally, I was a little bit scared. But with mouthguard in place I did my best to remember everything I’ve learned so far about where to keep my gloves, elbows, hips, feet, eyes and chin. So much goes into each move I was exhausted.

It’s also a very strange thing, for me anyway, to punch someone in the face. To aim for someone’s face is counter-intuitive to everything I’ve been taught and especially all that I’ve ever practiced. I’m a lover, not a fighter…usually…but I feel this can change. It has to if I want to survive in the ring. So, in these next few months I’ll be invoking the fighter within so I can get some more punches out.

I have a feeling this is going to take some time and many more sessions before it starts to feel natural… and some more training sessions with a pro boxer, my secret training weapon.

Watch this space (and your face!)…

Dominance Mixed Martial Arts (555 Victoria St, Richmond)

Rolling around on the floor with a sweaty man sitting on top of me, then changing partners so I had a different sweaty man locked between my legs was not the usual way I spend my Monday nights but it is going to be a regular activity for me now. Last Monday I had my first taste of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), starting with a 1.5 hour session of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) at Dominance MMA in Richmond.

I walked into the massive space, laid out with crash mats and a dedicated boxing area on one side. It is deceptively small from the outside shopfront and I don’t know why but for some reason I was not expecting to be confronted with about 80 sweaty men in singlets and Gi (uniform for BJJ). I should have picked up on the chick at the front desk’s excitement about more girls getting into MMA that I was one of five girls at DMMA – and only two others were there at the time.

So I asked the group “ok, who wanted to partner with the girl” and a lovely guy offered to partner up with me. It could have been awkward given the intimate nature of the moves (something I inappropriately got the giggles about when watching the pairs of manly men grappling on the floor) but I managed to use humour and a feeble reassurance “don’t worry, you won’t hurt me … if you do I promise not to cry” to diffuse any potential weirdness.

MMA is something I’ve had some insight into – a friend of mine recently came second in the national titles – and seems to be the kind of practiced and calculated but spontaneous rough and tumble I’ve been looking for. It is a mix of BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai and Boxing with classes scheduled through the week at my new local ‘hang-out’.

DMMA offers a free trial class and recommend starting with grappling (BJJ is in this category). We went through some drills – one where you lie on your side and use your feet to leverage your hip off the ground and bum back so you can move forward (it makes sense when you do it!) – and learned some holds. One was an arm lock is where you can potentially break someone’s arm and the other was a move where a person is on top of you and you wrap your legs around their neck, limiting their movement (and comfort).

Next Monday I’m trying the boxing, something I’ve bought a mouthguard for. I think the biggest challenge will be learning how to use my size and fitness level to my advantage because some of the men there are three times my size and weight. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Book in for your free trial session and see what you think!