Recently my business partner came to visit me in San Francisco from Boston for a week. We are great friends, attended school together and then launched our business together.  We both eat for maximum functionality and optimum personal health, but one thing that became very apparent during the week she was visiting was that the food choices we make are very different.  I’ve written about individuality a lot and how the goal of learning about your food is to learn to eat what’s best for you. This week I want to share an interesting theory called “Metabolic Typing.” 

William Linz Wolcott traveled the world in the 1930s, hoping to discover a connection between modern eating habits and chronic degenerative diseases. One thing he learned - and an idea to which we’re certainly not strangers - is that no single way of eating is healthy for all people. Life just has too much variation when we consider genetics, climate, environmental conditions, culture, local produce, and heredity.

Wolcott wrote a book on this subject in which he argued that people function best when they put the appropriate fuel in their bodies - and that fuel is different for everyone. I agree with this statement. We’re all individuals and we must eat to suit our own tastes, needs, satiety and health. What is one person’s gold, is another person’s poison. 

Metabolic Typing Quiz

Wolcott defined three primary metabolic types with ranges existing in all of the types.  Below, I have posted some questions based on Wolcott’s book that he utilizes to determine one’s metabolic type (the full quiz can be found in his book). Consider answering a few of these questions (and jot down your letter choice) to get a sense of where you might fall in the Metabolic Type evaluation below.

When you are feeling irritable, anxious or angry, does eating fatty foods or meat make you feel:
a. Worse
b. Neutral
c. Better

An ideal breakfast would be something like
a. Nothing or something very light
b. Fruit, eggs, toast
c. Eggs, potatoes with butter, bacon

Your ideal climate would be
a. Warm or hot weather
b. Temperature doesn’t matter
c. Cool temps - can’t stand too hot

Coffee is
a. Wonderful
b. Take it or leave it
c. Makes you jittery, nervous, hungry, shaky

Dessert preference is
a. Cakes, cookies, candy, fruit
b. Both A & C
c. Cheesecake, ice cream, creamy desserts

You get your most energy from:
a. Fruit, candy or pastries
b. Any food
c. Meat and/or healthy fats (e.g. avocado, coconut oil, etc.)

If you were to eat only fruit salad for lunch you would
a. feel satisfied until dinner
b. feel good but probably need a light snack before dinner
c. sleepy, irritable, anxious, need to eat before dinner

Metabolic Typing Results

There are approximately 60 questions in the quiz but this gives you an idea of the types of questions there are.  Wolcott’s theory is that those who answer more heavily “A” are Carbo Types. Those who answer more heavily “B” are Mixed Types. Those who answer most heavily “C” are Protein Types.

I have summarized his findings below on each type:

Carbo Type

Characteristics: Weaker appetite, higher tolerance for sweets, type A personalities, caffeine dependency
Guidelines: Smaller amounts of protein and fat as compared to carbs. Eat wide selection of vegetables, grains, fruits (both starchy and nonstarchy).
Reduce/Avoid: foods higher in fat and heavier proteins, caffeine, sugar, thyroid suppressing foods
Protein: Sustainable seafood, lighter chicken and turkey meats, pasture-raised eggs, low-fat dairy (if tolerated), tempeh, tofu, beans
Grains: Use abundantly. Amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, oat, quinoa, rye, sprouted bread
Vegetables: All
Fruit: All
Oils/Fats: Use sparingly

Protein Type

Characteristics: Strong appetite, cravings for salt, intolerant to low-cal meal plans, fatigue, anxiety, nerves
Guidelines: Eat high quality protein at every meal, snack as needed, cautious with carbs including grains, use juices judiciously, freely use healthy fats and oils
Reduce/Avoid: Allergenic foods, caffeine, fruit juices, sugar, foods high in oxalic acid, foods high in phytates, foods high in gluten and enzyme inhibitors
Protein:
Best - High quality meats such as grass fed beef, lamb, pasture raised chicken, sustainable seafood
Good - Pasture raised eggs, grass fed, organic dairy (if not allergic)
OK but not ideal - Tempeh, Tofu, Beans
Grains: Use caution to see if tolerated. May not need. Amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, oat, quinoa, rye, sprouted bread
Vegetables: All but use caution with starchy ones
Best: Asparagus, cauliflower, celery, mushrooms, spinach
Starchy/Moderation: Artichoke, carrots, peas, potatoes with butter, squash, beets
Fruit:
Best - Avocado, olive, apple, pear
Starchy/Moderation - Banana
Oils/Fats: All are great - Coconut, butter, ghee, flax, olive, sesame

Mixed Type:

Mixed Type is a combination of the two.

Of course, most people aren’t 100% one thing and 0% the other, but fall into some spot on the continuum between the two. We can’t over-generalize about people and what they feel best eating based on this abbreviated quiz or even the full quiz. However, knowing these kinds of things about ourselves and thinking about the foods we eat and how they affect our energy levels and the way we feel throughout the day can really help us learn to eat more to our liking and our particular metabolism’s needs.

So then what about you?  According to this particular theory, do you intuitively think you fall into a mixed type, carbo type, or protein type category?
Remember that there are ranges within each type.  Try experimenting with different “fuels” this week and assess how they make you feel.

Check out some of the other great tips and articles this week.

 

Catherine, a Holistic Health Counselor, trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in association with Columbia University and is a certified Nutrition Educator from Bauman College. She works on health goals in areas such as natural weight equilibrium, food cravings, sleep, energy and digestion.

If you are interested in personalized nutrition consultations for vibrant health, Catherine offers a free initial health history session for both local and distant clients - her furthest client, so far, lives in Spain! Please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Also, check out her other blog.