A Brief History of Individualized Diets
The original ideas behind individualized diets can be traced back thousands of years to many ancient civilizations, which include the Greeks, Romans and the Chinese. However, in 1956 a biochemist named Dr. Roger Williams advanced these theories in his book, Biochemical Individuality. Williams noted that each individual has personal reactions in the way their organs function, and to the speed and efficiency in which our cells perform specific functions. Additionally, he theorized that each individual has genetically determined and specific nutritional requirements, and that the underlying cause of most human disease manifests when those requirements aren’t met.
In the late 1960’s and 70’s an orthodontist named William Kelly, who also had degrees in biology, chemistry, and biochemistry further refined the theories of Dr. Roger Williams, and later teamed up with William Wolcott. Wolcott authored the most authoritative book on the subject of metabolic typing, which was appropriately entitled, The Metabolic Typing Diet. He furthered developed this system by devising an extensive questionnaire based on a plethora of metabolic factors and the findings of thousands of patients.
In the last several years an osteopath named Dr. Joseph Mercola has turned his attention toward the ideas behind metabolic typing and developed a system he terms, Nutritional Typing, which caught my attention because it made a great deal of sense. Mercola’s book inspired me to read the book, Metabolic Typing Diet, by William Wolcott, and my jaw literally dropped while I read the first 100 pages because it made more sense to me than anything else I had ever come across. Wolcott’s book had such a profound impact on me that I decided to withdraw my plans to go to medical school to become naturopathic doctor, and instead become a certified metabolic typing instructor for Metabolic Typing®. I truly believe this is the tool that will help me direct people in the best directions possible.
I originally created a system similar to Mercola’s Nutrional Typing and called my system, Nutritional Branding. However, after further investigation, I find Wolcott’s system to be much more precise and advanced than my system or anyone elses for that matter. Furthermore, I have come to understand that deviating from Wolcott’s established protocols can lead to negative repercussions. That said, I do NOT recommend deviating from the protocols that William Wolcott has painstakingly established over the last 30 years of research and experience.
What is Metabolic Typing?
Metabolic Typing is a science-based program which recognizes that we all process and utilize food for energy in very different and unique ways due to a host of genetic factors. That said, it is vital that a person’s diet be tailored to that individual because what works for one person may have no benefit on a second person, and can make a third person worse.
Of the eleven body systems analyzed by Metabolic Typing the 2 systems that are most responsible for influencing our metabolism and defining our unique dietary needs (often referred to as our bio-chemical individuality) are as follows:
| The Oxidative System |
This is the system responsible for the rate at which we convert our fuel to energy. Some people oxidize food at a rapid rate while others oxidize food at a much slower pace. People who burn through food (especially carbohydrates) need to slow down their rate of oxidation by eating more dense foods like high purine proteins & fats. Others who oxidize foods at a slower rate would need to eat less dense foods (fats & proteins) and eat more easily burned foods like carbohydrates. The overall goal is to eat in a way that creates balance in this system. As a result, a person is either classified as a FAST, MIXED, or SLOW OXIDIZER. |
| The Autonomic Nervous System | This system is responsible for all of our unconscious bodily functions, such as digestions, rate of breathing, dilation of pupils, heart rate, etc. The Autonomic Nervous System is the master regulator of metabolism, and is comprised of two branches; the sympathetic branch and the parasympathetic branch. When they are in balance they work as a classic push/pull system. For example, the sympathetic branch will speed up heart rate when necessary and the parasympathetic will slow it down. However, due to our genetics and other factors we are often more dominant in one of the branches. The goal is to eat specific foods that strengthen our weaker side and push toward balance in this system. |
Why Our Current Nutritional Guidelines are NOT Effective
The best scientific nutritional advice is that we must eat a well-balanced diet and eat regularly to stay healthy. Naturally this begs the question, what is a well-balanced meal? According to the government’s food pyramid, your meals should reflect the following guidelines provided in the 1st “food” pyramid. However, compare and contrast this generalized pyramid to the information you have learned in regard to someone who has nutritional requirements like that of the Eskimo, which is reflected in 2nd pyramid. This is another example of why the “one sized” diet philosophies do NOT work for every one.
| Current Food Pyramid Recommendations for Everyone | Food Pyramid Tailor-Fit for a an Extreme Fast Oxidizer |
| This is the Food Pyramid recommended by our Government for everyone in the U.S. On a side note, I find it interesting that the most recommended foods are the foods the government pays the farmers (food subsidies with your tax dollars) to grow. The four major crops subsidized for this purpose are Soy, Corn, Wheat, and Rice. They are used to create all the cheap fast-foods by providing cheap feed to our nations livestock, as well as all of the hydrogenated soy and corn oils to fry our fast foods in, as well as to create cheap chemical sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup. | This is what a healthy-food pyramid would look like for someone who was an extreme Fast Oxidizer and needed more proteins and fats in their diet. You can see how the general guidelines offered by our government could create potentially damaging side effects for someone with these genetic requirements. |
Understanding the Foundation
One of the reasons I love MT (Metabolic Typing®) is because it approaches health from a foundational level (the cellular level), which creates genuine health. Let me explain:
It is estimated that our bodies are made up of about 100 trillion cells. To give you an idea of how large this number is please consider the following:
| By the time 50 trillion seconds passes you would be over 1.5 million years old! |
Despite the body’s challenge to accommodate this vast number of cells, they must all function normally in order to sustain genuine health. This is accomplished by providing them with the perfect fuel-mix so they can create the maximum amount of energy to perform their individual jobs like re-generating new skin cells, detoxifying blood, and producing hormones, etc.
How It all Fits Together
When our individual cells join together in groups they create tissue, which joins together to create specific organs and glands – and theses organs join together to create body systems – and these systems come together to create us. That said, our personal health is dependent on the strength of our systems – which is dependent on the strength and efficiency of our organs, glands and tissues – which is dependent on the strength and efficiency of our individual cells.
It may help to think of good health as dependent on the following biological domino effect:
| Healthy Cells -> Healthy Tissues-> Healthy Glands-> Healthy Organs -> Healthy Systems =
Genuine Health |
This is the reason why it is absolutely critical to address health problems on a cellular level because once that foundation is set – all of our glands, organs and systems have an absolute chance to remain strong, efficient, and healthy … and this of course is what helps create genuine health.
Factors that Influence Our Biochemical Individuality
Just as we all share similar facial characteristics like two eyes, a mouth, and a nose, etc. We would all agree that these same characteristics are very diverse in their appearances among different people. Surprisingly, this same comparison of diversity can be applied to how we look on the inside as well. For example, if we were able to see inside of each other we would discover that some of us have small stomachs and others have large stomachs, some people’s heart’s are located directly in the middle of their chest, others have their heart toward left side and still other’s have hearts toward the right side, etc.
Even more astonishing is the variation in which our glands work. For example, the pepsin content of gastric juice can vary a thousand fold between normal healthy adults. Variations that can heavily influence how our bodies work are influenced by our ENDOCRINE SYSTEM. Factors such as how strong or weak our thyroid works, or how efficient our pituitary glands are, how sensitive our adrenal glands respond, or the hormonal output of our gonads all contribute to our unique biochemical makeup.
Blood Types are also a consideration of Metabolic Typing® because they present specific problems due to certain proteins in foods called lectins. Certain blood types can have a bad reaction to specific lectins. Factoring in your blood type information can be a helpful secondary source of information in identifying which foods may create a negative reaction in your diet.
The goals of Metabolic Typing are as follows:
1) To improve the way the body converts & uses food as energy
2) To balance body chemistry
In order to determine which systems are out of balance, an individual can fill out a lengthy Metabolic Typing® questionnaire that carefully analyzes the following:
| Dietary Habits & Reactions | Physical Traits | Psychological & Emotional Characteristics |
This is an online questionnaire that will determine your Metabolic Type as well as your specific diet plan and supplement recommendations. The goal is to determine imbalances within the following systems :
| Oxidative System (Fast-mixed-slow) Autonomic Nervous System (sympathetic & parasympathetic branches) Endocrine System (Pituitary / Thyroid / Adrenal / Gonad) Blood Type (A / B / AB / O) |
Based on the answers to the questionnaire we will be able to guide you to a dietary approach that should be extremely helpful in balancing any problems. Most diets will need a necessary amount of fine-tuning to accomplish the following:
1) Determine which foods will create the best fuel mix for your metabolic type
2) Determine what specific ratios of protein, carbs and fats will create the optimum mix for you
3) And which foods to avoid
Some benefits of the Advanced program are to:
1) Control cravings for sweets
2) Eliminate hunger between meals
3) Increase physical energy
4) Eradicate mood swings
5) Increase your sense of well-being
Once your optimum food choice & the proper ratios have been established, you will begin eating from the recommended foods list. After going on the right diet plan you will learn to fine-tune your diet, which is an easy ongoing process that you will master over time. After several weeks of positive results, we can add personalized supplements that will be specifically designed to support your dominant systems and strengthen your weaker systems; pushing your collective body systems toward BALANCE.
Once a proper diet & supplement program has been established we can begin looking for factors outside of nutrition that may be negatively affecting your health. The following are a list of blocking factors to consider:
| Candida Albicans Overgrowth | Heavy Metal Toxicity | Improper Mental or Emotional Attitude |
| Environmental Toxins | Prescription Drugs | Root Canals and Mercury Fillings |
| Food Allergies | Structural Stress (cranial-TMJ, spinal, etc.) | Lack of Exercise |
| Lack of vitamin D | Improper Sleeping Habits | Over Exposure to Electro Smog |
In Conclusion
Metabolic Typing is a PROCESS that many take weeks, months or years to complete. It gradually produces the desired results. If your goal is to achieve Genuine Health then I do not know of a better system available to meet that goal.
