Running - There is an Inescapable Correlation Between Weight and Cardiovascular Efficiency - Part 5

     Copyright ?2007 Ed Bagley

Dr. Peter D'Adamo also addresses the personality question by saying that Os carry a genetic memory of strength, endurance, self-reliance, daring, intuition and innate optimism. All of those qualities I possess as well as being a risk taker.

I would be the last person in the world to be happy working as hired help for a major corporation, or as a bureaucrat in a public service position, or in the military as a volunteer soldier. I am a Vietnam Veteran but I would never have been a career military person.

I figured out real quick in life that if you have any intelligence, talent, creativity, productivity and especially integrity, you will find it much harder to progress and prosper if you are not self-employed in your own business.

I answer to myself first, last and always. Type Os like me are stable, reliable, dependable, responsible and accountable for their actions. If I screw up, I admit it, self-correct and get on with being successful. This could be why Type Os are known as loners.

Supplements can also be important. For example, a surprising amount of chronic joint pain (especially in the lower back and knees) in Type O patients (and certainly runners) has been helped with a short period of manganese supplementation, according to Dr. D'Adamo.

Manganese supplementation should only be done under a physician's supervision, even if you can buy the supplement over the counter.

Here are some other facts that are interesting from Dr. D'Adamo about Type Os:

1) Aspirin's blood-thinning properties can be trouble as Type Os already have thin blood.

2) Type Os should avoid penicillin-class antibiotics as their immune systems are more allergically sensitive to this class of drugs. I was given penicillin as a child; when given penicillin as an adult, I developed a severe reaction to penicillin. If I am given a shot of penicillin today, it will kill me within minutes. I am told that if I took penicillin in tablet form and my stomach was pumped immediately, I might have a chance to remain alive.

If you think D'Adamo's advice on this did not get my attention, you are dead wrong.

3) Try to avoid macrolide-class antibiotics. Erythromycin and the newer macrolides Biaxin and Zithromax can aggravate bleeding tendencies in Type Os.

The bottom line from Peter D'Adamo, who is a naturopathic physician and ridiculed by some other physicians who think they are God's answer to medicine, is this: Try to avoid over-the-counter medications as there are natural alternatives that work just as well or better.

When I researched the ingredient labels on foods at the supermarket I was amazed at how many food products include wheat flour, high fructose corn syrup and simple sugars.

Do you realize how much money the wheat flour, high fructose corn syrup and simple sugar interests dole out in research grants every year to medical research laboratories to prove the value of their products for consumers? It is in the millions, if not billions.

Is it any wonder why Dr. D'Adamo's clinical and laboratory research is discredited by some major money interests? A lot of what D'Adamo is saying about O blood types runs counter to their vested interests. Dr. Atkins suffered through the same criticism before he was proven correct.

I predict Dr. D'Adamo will eventually prevail as Dr. Atkins did. It just may take a number of years to happen.

I used to drink soda pop like water and now I drink water like I used to drink soda pop. A 20-ounce bottle of soda pop or even Gatorade is loaded with sugar. Most sports drinks are loaded with sugar.

A 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola Classic has high fructose corn syrup as well as 140 calories and 39 grams of sugar (thus 39 carbohydrates). A single, 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola Classic has high fructose corn syrup as well as approximately 265 calories and 65 grams of sugar (thus 65 carbohydrates).

I used to down 4 or 5 of these 20-ounce bottles a day and could easily put away a 2-liter bottle of Classic Coke on a weekend day. I have switched to plain water and the 23.7-ounce Grape Propel, which has a total of 30 calories and 6 grams of sugar per bottle.

I suggest that you consider doing the same unless you want to float away like I did. I got to the point where it seemed that if I ingested a grain of simple cane sugar my pancreas would automatically pump out 8 ounces of insulin to regulate the amount of glucose in my blood. I am kidding but you get the point.

My hormonal balance was so screwed up with excess sugar and wheat flour products, both adding fat I did not want, that I was gaining weight faster than putting bricks on a scale.

Now all of that nonsense is over. Coca-Cola will have to find another customer for its products.

In America it seems that we have a lobby for everything and every group. There cannot be two more powerful and effective lobbies in the United States today than the sugar lobby and the wheat flour lobby. They are literally part of many foods we eat.

No wonder we are getting fatter and fatter by the meal. Well, at least most of us. I am getting skinner every time I eat and drink. I will run faster too and will be happy to do so.

Lifelong runners like myself who have been training and competing forever (47 years plus) know that there is an inescapable correlation between your weight and your cardiovascular efficiency.

Essentially, when you lose 10% of your body weight, you increase your cardiovascular efficiency 10%.

When my weight drops 65 pounds from 225 to 160, I will have lost at least 28% of my body weight, meaning my cardiovascular efficiency will increase 28%. Trust me when I say that upon reaching my ideal weight, you will know.

I will be the guy screaming the news on top of my house for everyone to hear.

(Editor's Note: This is Part 5 of a 5-Part Article.)

1. Prev:Why Having A Weight Loss Plan Make Sense
2. Next:Safe Weight Loss - Five Surefire Ways to Make Sure You抣l Succeed With your Weight Loss This Time!