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What a great topic!

When I was in high school, I openly acknowledged my distaste for eating "flesh." All throughout my childhood I disliked meat and the idea that it came from living animals. It came to a head when I was around 9 and witnessed my stepfather beheading a chicken (yes, they do run around in a spiral after their head is cut off) and my mother served it boiled for dinner. When I became old enough in my opinion to denounce the ingestion of meat, I did so. I also developed an eating disorder, which is another topic altogether!

Now in my forties, I have come to see that I feel healthy and grounded with a diet that is meat based. Talk about a lesson in humility!

I have begun to understand the importance of one's blood type and the foods one must eat to remain healthy. My blood type which is O requires meat. The type O is the oldest type on earth, originating in Africa. I have found that eating lots of meat has aided in my health on many levels.

What is your blood type, Jeannette? I don't know, but what is the blood type of the typical Eastern Indian?

Here is my latest article on the book Eat Right 4 Your Type:
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You know, the Japanese are very aware of blood type and it's almost like asking "what is your sign" to ask "what is your blood type". In video games they would list characters' blood types along with their name and age and so on. I thought of it as silly until I did more research.

Apparently your blood type has a lot to do with your DNA background. So people from a certain geographic region tend to have a certain blood type. Which makes sense. And that then correlates with the fat burning properties of their systems. For example we know that people from some regions of the world have a much harder time losing weight than people from other regions of the world.

So if everyone from Samoa has a slower than normal metabolism - and everyone from Samoa has blood type A (I'm just guessing here) then the blood type does correlate with a type of body. So it's not that the "blood" makes them have a different kind of metabolism. It really has nothing to do with the blood itself carrying nutrients or such. It is that the blood type is a MARKER for their ethnic background which does have a different metabolism makeup.

I'm resurrecting this thread due to questions posed by another member, regarding eating meat as a Buddhist, and whether it goes against the precepts...
There is a sutta in which the Buddha explains that killing an animal for food is against the First precept, and is wrong.
Furthermore, dealing in the business of meat is not Right Livelihood, and it is also wrong to request or command, that someone do the killing for you, on your behalf, specifically.

So to Theravadan Buddhists, eating meat offered to you by a householder, who has prepared a meal for you, but has not killed the animal for you specifically, is acceptable.

However:
many Buddhists (and I would say they hail mainly from the Mahayanan tradition) attest that even buying meat indirectly killed, is still wrong, because if you weren't providing a market, the meat would not be killed....

Some argue that the Buddha ate meat, and in fact, died as a result of eating meat, that had gone off...
others claim that the name of the dish is actually misinterpreted, and that the food was actually a mushroom...

many state that it's OK to eat meat, because HH the Dalai Lama does...
It's for sure that he used to, as a result of a hepatitic illness he contracted during his escape from Tibet... and Tibetans, due to the unforgiving terrain, eat meat as a necessity for nutrition, as vegetables are extremely difficult to cultivate, or come by....

Given the enormous diversity of food now available to us, produced both nationally and internationally, AND the great and nutritious availability of meat or protein substitutes (together with herbal and medicinal supplements) there seems little excuse to keep eating meat....

And some people (like me) love it.
Really love it.
But want to give up, and have to do so gradually.
It's my choice, and I have no intention of condemning or criticising anyone, for whatever choices they make, in turn....

Would that some vegetarian Buddhists were so accepting.
But they feel strongly about it.

Discuss.

This could go on and on...

I have heard of eating for your blood type before. I am type o. I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian for around 20 yrs and have been vegan for the past 5 -6 yrs. I am also exceedingly healthy. I did have medical problems whilst a lacto-ovo, but since becoming a vegan I have never been healthier, so I am not sure about type o people needing meat to be healthy.

Sikpiksie

There are definitely a number of vegetarians who have been known to live a long life in great health. There are also vegetarians who get nutritional deficiencies. So it may come down to some combination we do not yet understand - maybe some body types thrive on a vegetarian diet, while others have a more challenging time with it.

We are barely learning about good fats and bad fats - for all we know there are good proteins and bad proteins too, and we may need to ensure we get enough of the "good proteins".

I'm sure you are right. Becoming a vegetarian is not just about cutting meat out of the diet and unfortunately that is what a lot of people do. The diet has to be balanced and I am very careful to ensure that I eat plenty of legumes, fresh fruit and vege and use wholegrains. I teach vegetarian and vegan cooking so I am also aware of what foods contain what.

Sikpiksie

In terms of the moral side, I certainly understand not wanting to eat sentient creatures.

But that being said, I should point out that the division between "plant" and "animal" is a fully arbitrary one. For example the Venus Fly Trap (which catches and eats meat) is known as a "plant".

On the other hand, coral is an "animal" which acts on instinct alone. Coral looks just like a plant. It's not sentient.

Plants do react to pain and heat - just like simple animals do. Plants are most definitely alive.

I love plants that actively move. Here's a cool video of a plant actively and immediately retreating from a flame -

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that is so interesting Lisa. I watched that video and the stronger response video

The venus flytrap works by having ultra-sensitive hairs stimulated by the movement of an insect. The movement of these hairs teiggers a hinge mechanism that shuts the trap.
The plant does not think for itself, therefore it is not a living sentient being.


Plants may well be alive, but they are not considered sentient because they have no cognitive ability to discern and use logic or reason.
Buddhists would not disagree that coral is a creature, and not a plant. And Buddhists are conscious of the need to maintain a healthy ecological balance.
Monks are forbidden from gardeing, or mowing a lawn.
This is not however, as many think, out of respect for plants, but out of consideration for creatures hiding therein...