4 Breakfast Ideas for Type O Blood

The Blood Type Diet is based on the premise you can improve your health with a diet similar to that of your ancient ancestors. According to Peter J. D'Adamo, the plan's creator, your blood type indicates which prehistoric people you're descended from.

Individuals with type O blood are supposedly related to ancient hunters and gatherers and are instructed to plan all meals — including breakfast — around foods that would have been available to these populations. If you have type O blood, talk to your doctor before starting the diet.

Critics, including Dr. David L. Katz, the director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, say the diet is too restrictive.

Fresh or dried figs, plums and prunes are considered beneficial for people with type O blood, says D'Adamo. Other fruit — including bananas, cherries, grapefruit, kiwi, watermelon, peaches, apples, pears and all varieties of grapes — are also acceptable for a type O diet, though you're recommended to avoid others such as strawberries, oranges, blackberries and cantaloupe.

For a quick breakfast for a blood type O, have a salad prepared from fresh chunks of allowed fruit, or eat several pieces of whole fruit. Try blending frozen fruit with fruit juice and a small amount of soy milk for a type O-friendly smoothie.

Following the type O diet will mean giving up muffins made from corn, oat bran or wheat flour, including English muffins. A morning muffin at breakfast for blood type O also works, as long as you limit yourself to ones prepared from permitted flours, such as spelt, barley, rice or rye flour.

The official Blood Type Diet site recommends muffins like apple-walnut for type O individuals. These muffins are made with light rye flour or a combination of rye and spelt flours, walnuts, stewed apples and water, juice or soy milk.

While whole-wheat and multigrain breads aren't allowed for type O people on the Blood Type Diet, Ezekiel bread, Essene bread and other breads prepared with soy, rye, brown rice or spelt flour can be included in meals.

A typical breakfast for blood type O might consist of toasted Ezekiel bread spread with a nut butter such as sunflower or almond butter, then topped with roasted, unsalted sunflower seed kernels. Avoid peanut butter, which is allegedly harmful to the health of type O people.

Type O individuals aren't advised to have many eggs per week. If you're of African descent, D'Adamo recommends not consuming eggs at all. As a morning alternative to scrambled eggs, experiment with scrambled silken tofu. After sauteing minced garlic and your choice of grated fresh vegetables like zucchini or carrots in a skillet, add the tofu and break it down in the pan with a spatula or wooden spoon as it cooks. Try seasoning the scrambled tofu with spices recommended for type O — parsley, cayenne pepper and curry, for example — and serve the scramble with toast or fruit.