Book your appointment now. 

First time : $80+gst 

Follow up: $50+gst 

Article featured in Wetaskiwin Times

Maybe you actually are what you eat by Lindsay Morey Staff writer

Tuesday, February 25, 2014 12:07:04 MST PM 

Holistic nutritionist, Wendy Vandenhoven creates a diet, lifestyle and supplements chart for the Type A dry blood sample displayed on the TV screen. 

Following a heart-breaking search to locate any red blood cells in a blood sample, Wendy Vandenhoven watched her mother’s magnified cells decompose on a TV screen in front of her. Her mother had chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML); cancer within white blood cells. After watching what her mother went through, she wanted to make live blood analysis more available to the public and she wanted to study it.

“When something like that happens and there are no answers, it makes you realize that you need to start to [treat your body better] before it reaches that point. It was my first view of how reflective this is to what is actually going on [inside of the body],” she said.

After practicing as a registered holistic nutritionist since 2008 and live blood analysis for three years, Vandenhoven is now bringing this alternative medicine to Wetaskiwin. The live blood analysis reflects what we eat and how we live affects everything on the inside. It helps to determine an optimal diet with aid of enzymes, herbs, antioxidants, etc. The service is available at Shanti Wellness for a cost of $80 for the first consultation and $50 for follow-ups.

Vandenhoven’s clients are everyday people who have something minor that a doctor hasn’t been able to address such as a chronic stomach ache or rash. She said the reasons vary why people want to get the analysis; some want to lose weight, some are scared because a family member died, some have cancer, while others want to feel healthier in general.

The Analysis

Two samples of blood are examined; one live sample and one with dried-blood, and clients are given a list of tested which foods should be eaten by which blood type. Vandenhoven said the 30,000 times magnified live blood sample can show things such as parasites, candida, bacteria, aggregation, fume or chemical exposure, viruses, and fat, protein and carbohydrate digestion. From the dry sample, Vandenhoven can identify nutrient absorption, organ stress, inflammation, muscle issues, etc.

According to Vandenhoven, these are the diets which each blood type should follow:

• ‍Type O (-/+): ‘The caveman’ diet which includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and meat. As Type 0’s ancestors were hunter/gatherers, their stomach acid can tolerate and digest meat easier compared to other blood types. They should eat less grains and dairy.
• Type A (-/+): ‘The vegetarian’ diet. People should try to limit the amount of animal products like red meats, beef and pork in their diet, as well as grains. Chicken, turkey and fish are favoured. Type A diets also include vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and beans.
• Type B (-/+) is the complete opposite of Type A; these people can tolerates a lot of meat but the two red flags are consuming chicken and corn, as Type B blood conflicts with the lectins in those particular foods. Vandenhoven said if B-Types eat in moderation, they have the easiest diet to follow.
• Type AB is a combination of Type A and B and is considered to be the hardest diet to follow as it is extremely limited meat-wise; only fish, turkey and goat.

It’s what’s on the inside that counts.

“What the analysis is telling you is that every meal counts,” said Vandenhoven.

She agrees no one’s diet is perfect but if we do have a cheat meal, we should follow up with four days of clean eating to undo the damage done to our cells. She suggests following the 80-20 rule; where 80 per cent of the food you eat is good and the other 20 can be cheat food, but of course eat in moderation and watch high fat foods. She says its best to look at your plate in quarters, where three quarters are filled with vegetables or fruits and the other quarter is protein. This approach is balancing the alkaline and acidity levels – the more acidic (animal and processed foods) there is in a diet, the more decreased ability for the body to absorb nutrients and minerals and repair damaged cells as it decreases the blood’s alkaline pH level.

The Times Under the Microscope

As a blood Type A, I was curious to see what Vandenhoven would see in my cells so I took the test without any changes to my diet. Since Type A’s should not eat too much meat, she suggested limiting it to three to four times a week or at least one meal a day. If I want to cheat with red meat, since I love steak, she said to supplement with bromelain, an enzyme in pineapple which reduces platelet aggregation (which can lead to risk of blood clots and strokes).

She said Type A’s are prone to gall bladder problems because of our intolerance for digesting animal product. She said it can be solved by drinking pure-pressed grey apple juice. She also wanted me to limit wheat consumption and take omega 3 since faded black streaks, called fibrins, appeared in the sample. They can cause inflammation and can lead to muscle pain, clogged arteries and plague build up.

Candida, an intestines bad-guy which is responsible for sluggish digestion, was also present. She said it can slow down the immune system and suggested to take a candida-spray supplement.

“We don’t want our immune systems busy battling these internal imbalances, such as candida. We want to keep clean and have our white blood cells taking care of invaders such as cancer,” said Vandenhoven.

Vandenhoven averages 10 to 15 clients each day as she travels around Alberta to such places as Lloydminster, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Calgary.