This month’s testimonial is a special Q&A with long-term Blood Type Dieter and blogger Louisa Wah. She has been a friend of D’Adamo Personalized Nutrition for years and has followed all of Dr. D’Adamo’s protocols, starting with the Blood Type Diet and ending with SWAMI, which she is using currently. Read all about her journey below!

1. When and why did you start the Blood Type Diet?

I started the Blood Type Diet in 2010, when I finally reached my breaking point. I kept getting sick from eating foods that were considered healthy. I was diagnosed with huge fibroid tumors and ovarian cysts the previous year, and in an attempt to avoid surgery, I searched high and low for all kinds of natural methods and diets to heal myself. One of the many diets I tried after hearing this news was a vegan one, but it only made me weaker. While the fibroids did subside some during the vegan period, many new health issues started to crop up that made the whole effort more negative than positive. They included anemia, hypothyroidism, acid reflux, rapid muscle loss, dry skin, cracking nails and hair loss. I thought, "If the vegan diet was healthy, why would I experience all these symptoms?" When I stumbled upon Dr. Peter D'Adamo's Eat Right 4 Your Type book, the frustrations I experienced during my vegan experiment began to make sense. Unlike veganism, the Blood Type Diet took my individuality into account and didn’t assume that I was the same as everyone else trying the plan. After finding out I was a Type O, I began to incorporate eggs and meat into my diet. After just one week of eating this way, my long-standing acid reflux subsided, the dizziness associated with anemia disappeared, and my energy levels went up. I knew then that I had hit the jackpot!

2. What made you move from the Blood Type Diet to SWAMI XP2?

After half a year of eating according to my blood type with great success, I became curious about fine-tuning my diet because when I am interested in something, I tend to go all the way. Dr. D'Adamo has mentioned in his books the importance of knowing our secretor status in order to understand our body's ability to defend itself against diseases and other sensitivities to the environment. Having always been a sensitive person, both physically and emotionally, I thought it would be worthwhile to go deeper to find out about my secretor status. Besides, I was dying of curiosity to find out if I could have avocado (my favorite fruit) and soy, a staple in my culture. The secretor status was the first step in advancing my Blood Type Diet to see if I could enjoy these favorite foods. It turned out that I am a non-secretor, which meant I could have avocado but had to say "no" to soy. By making these small changes, among others, I began to feel even better than before. Avoiding soy, in particular, helped me clear the excess mucus problems that I've had since childhood. My success with this step drove me even further, as I dove into the Genotype Diet next. But the Genotype Diet food list presented some conflicts for me, so I decided to go all the way to try out SWAMI, because it would give me the most personalized food list possible.

3. What are the benefits of SWAMI XP2 that go above and beyond the Blood Type Diet?

The more personalized choices and the black dots! SWAMI gave me more options in terms of dairy, whereas the BTD didn't allow me any dairy at all. Even though I could only have five types of cheese based on my SWAMI food list, it was enough to satisfy my cravings. As for the "black dots," those are foods that I was allowed to introduce back to my diet after a 60-day "washout" period, which meant that I had a lot more food choices than before, including rye bread, which would satisfy my occasional need for breads. The little details made a big difference for me because I no longer felt deprived of any type of food. The added variety went a long way to increasing my overall happiness and ability to remain compliant long-term.

The most brilliant and innovative section of SWAMI that really surprised me was the one that focused on Genoharmonic Food. It shows food pairs that make the body turn on the good genes and turn off the bad ones more efficiently. This was a golden discovery that came along with the updated food lists in SWAMI, and something I utilize often.

4. Tell us about your Eat Right with Louisa Page and what motivates you to share your story and recipes?

Back in 2014, I started a blog, Facebook page and Instagram account to share information about the Blood Type Diet and photos of my BTD-compliant dishes with the audience in Hong Kong, where I was living at the time. As the BTD and SWAMI have turned my health around 180 degrees and truly transformed my life, I wanted to share this success. In 2016, I moved to the United States and continued to share, but this time I switched my posts to the English language to address both the U.S. and global audience.

I found that unlike my readers in Hong Kong, the U.S. readers are much more enthusiastic and responsive, probably because Dr. D'Adamo's work is much more known here and many have heard of or followed the BTD for years.

For me, eating right for my type has become a lifestyle and a routine that I have grown to love. Because of how good I feel from eating this way, I want to continue sharing my passion with the world so that more people will benefit from Dr. D'Adamo's pioneering and constantly evolving scientific discoveries.

Since I love cooking so much, I started to share cooking demos on YouTube and Facebook so others will be inspired to cook and eat based on their blood types. I am happy that I have been able to turn my passion into my profession. Besides teaching people how to cook online, I am also a personal chef for private clients who want to eat blood-type compliant meals to maintain health and to heal from chronic health conditions.

Recently, I have been certified as an integrative nutrition health coach. I now use my newly acquired coaching techniques to motivate and guide clients in building healthy eating and lifestyle habits based on their blood types, so they can be the best they can be based on who they are as unique individuals. I even am beginning to teach people how to make great Blood Type Diet appropriate food. On January 4, 2018 I will be at the Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn doing just that. I hope to continue spreading the knowledge of the diet to anyone who is interested.

I am also producing an online cooking class for those who want to learn how to cook right for their blood type and how to prepare simple, nourishing meals in a time-saving manner. 

My calling is to transform people's health "one bite at a time." This is what gives me a sense of purpose and what makes my heart sing.

We thank Louisa so much for sharing her story. Here are her social media pages. Be sure to follow her so you can join her on her continuing journey with the Blood Type Diet and all the levels of personalization that lie beyond!

Follow Louisa:   Facebook  |  Instagram  |  YouTube  |  Website

If you aren’t following us on social media yet, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. We will be sharing some of Louisa’s beautiful content as well as our own tips and knowledge focused on the benefits of personalized nutrition based on the work of Dr. D’Adamo.