My Quest for Iron as a “Severely Anemic” Consciously Eating Pregnant Woman

It started out with a blood test that I requested.  I had been feeling very exhausted and sleeping a lot.  I figured it couldn’t hurt to draw some blood, check the iron levels. My doctor called me once the results were in to let me know I was severely anemic.  How severely?  Blood tests don’t look at iron directly, but rather at ferritin, which is is a body protein that is used to store iron. It’s the major iron storage protein of the body, so measurement of ferritin levels is an indirect way to measure the amount of iron stored by the body. I was rated a nine, when “acceptable” levels are, in general, 12-300 nanograms per milliliter of blood (ng/mL) for males and 12-150 ng/mL for females.  So the conclusion is/was I need more iron - stat!

My doctor was kind enough to offer me some free iron supplements from the clinic, which I gladly accepted... when I don’t need to spend money, I avoid it!  I also made a posting on Facebook about my dilemma and received lots of helpful information and ideas in regards to restoring my iron levels.  On the surface it seems simple enough, but as I tried to find a solution that fit with my conscious eating ideas,I became more confused, and even angry at times.

The first thing to understand about iron is how easily, or not, it is absorbed into the body.  The two main natural types of iron are heme iron, which is animal based and derives iron content from hemoglobin, and then there is non-heme iron which is vegetable based.  What’s the big deal?  Well, we absorb about 15-35% of the heme iron sources we consume, and only about 2-20% of non-heme iron we ingest.  So although any given food or supplement item may contain a certain percentage of iron, we actually only absorb a portion of that iron, and animal based iron is more readily absorbed.  To top that off, there are many types of foods that interfere with the uptake and absorption of iron, including milk and dairy products, beans and pulses, and even spinach (which happens to be a “good source” of iron, depending how and when you consume it).  Getting confusing yet?  And then of course there are certain substances that most of us regularly ingest, like coffee and tea, that have serious inhibitory effects on the absorption of iron, so much so that in all honesty, when I crunch the numbers, my caffeine intake is a very expensive luxury, in terms of my overall health and bodily function. Lame!  My conclusion when it comes to replenishing iron without supplements and doing it as fast as possible? Organ meats (gag!), lean red meat, or drinking blood? (Maybe a little extreme for some folk!)

So I get it - I’ve got to eat a variety of foods at different times to capitalize on available iron, and I’ve got to do this while not consuming my fave morning beverage.  But I still have to catch up, I’ve got to replace all that depleted iron, but how?  I have a couple options when it comes to iron supplements - there are liquid ones, vegetarian ones, capsule types, and all kinds of chemically derived iron supplements that I can load up on.

I start my quest with the conventional iron supplements from my doctor pictured here:

Now hold on!  Whoa, whoa whoa!  First things first, this iron supplement is some serious heavy metal, delivering a whopping 300 mg of ferrous fumarate per pill...Children have been known to die when they consume over 200mg of iron at once.  I’m pretty sure these wouldn’t kill me, but I do know that my kidneys and liver and going to have to do some heavy lifting to make use of all that iron, all at once.  But pure ferrous fumarate has an iron content of 32.87%, therefore one tablet of 300 mg iron fumarate will contain 98.6 mg of iron, so not terrible but still pretty heavy. Mollusks such as clams, mussels, or oysters  (which are the best naturally occurring source of iron) contain about 28mg of iron per 100g, so I’d have to eat 400g of these critters every day to equal the iron levels of one daily supplement pill.  Gets me thinking...

The icing on the cake, when it comes to these free iron supplements, is that they are LOADED with non-medicinal ingredients that have been relegated to the realm of POISON in my books for a number of years... D&C yellow no.10, FD&C blue no. 1, FD&C red no.2 and 3, FD&C yellow no.6, silicone dioxide, and sodium lauryl sulphate just to name a few!  Yikes!  Most of these food colorants are no longer in use in the E.U., they’ve been banned in fact, as they have been implicated in cancers and numerous serious neurological deficits.  You can reference this article here if you need proof http://www.naturalnews.com/032512_artificial_colors_food.html ... and there are plenty of other studies out there.  As for the sodium lauryl sufate, I have been avoiding that shit for years.  It’s a very common additive in conventional skin and tooth care products that actually alters our genetics when it comes to the skin, making it ultra sensitive and prone to all sorts of serious dysfunction.  (The skin is the largest organ in the body so I figure it’s pretty important).  So I don’t put this stuff on my skin, but now I’m supposed to swallow that along with all these other poisons to get my iron levels up?  Trying to weigh the positive and negatives here, and being anemic is starting to feel like less of a problem than trying to address it!

After posting about this issue on my Facebook account the other day, I decided to definitely look into the Floradix liquid iron supplement (http://requiredforlife.com/floradix) .  This is a vegan friendly alternative to solve iron-deficiency problems that can be found at most health food stores.  For someone who hates spending money, this alternative came with a hefty price tag of $46 for 700ml.  Taking 20mL of this stuff per day, it would provide me with 20mg of iron per day, of the non-heme sort.  Like I said before, I’d only absorb 2- 20% of that kinda iron if I followed all of the iron absorption “rules”.  A bottle this size would last me just over a month if I ingested as suggested.  When I start to think about spending fifty bucks a month on something no-so potent I feel rather hesitant.  Many of my friends gave it rave reviews and even testimonials, but my skeptical mind will not let me discount the power of the placebo...  Hmm.

All this information is swimming around in my head, and I need to make some decisons, address the problem for my growing babe, and take some form of action, but what?  I started questioning the idea of measuring low iron levels in the first place.  I also considered the fact that many pregnant women, especially in the later stages of the game, are labelled “anemic” and “treated” with iron supplementation in a plethora of ways - as in, it’s not a rare condition.  Before my MD called me and told me I was anemic, I was just going with the flow, sleeping a lot because I felt tired... really tired.  I guess the real problem is that we have become so divorced from our environment and the natural food sources it can abundantly provide that we no longer really know how to eat anymore.  Do we listen to our bodies or do we make our bodies listen to us?  What are the consequences of ingesting such large doses of heavy metal in order to obtain a certain reading on a certain test?  For me these are deep questions.  One thinks a lot about a lot of things when having a baby.  At least I do.

I reluctantly swallowed back one pill from the doctor this eve, and said a tiny prayer to my dear kidneys and liver that they could handle what I was about to throw down.  I consoled myself about the unnecessary poisons that I consumed along with it, and asked my body to somehow take care of it, grab those toxins, and excrete them... even if it means I get really stinky armpits for a few days.  I’ll probably take another tomorrow, and then revert back to my multivitamins on a daily basis... at least for awhile.  I’ll also start eating more red meat (and I’m really lucky to have a freezer full of farm fresh meat that I met ready to go, thanks to some human angels).  That’s all I can do for now.

I would be interested in hearing some feedback on these discoveries, and some opinions, because we live in a world with a lot of information and choice.  I value experience and dialogue more than any “expert opinion” these days, especially when these “experts” are funded by the same companies that unnecessarily burden our food and supplement supply with deadly poisons.  

Why Use Cast Iron Pans Instead of Non-Stick?

Did you know that using a non-stick pan on high heat releases enough toxic chemicals into the air to kill a small bird resting on your shoulder?  Don't take my word for it, research it for yourself!

http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/healthandfitness/a/nonstickpans.htm

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5350341

Good Morning Super Berry Breakfast Shake

4 tbsp hulled hemp seed (16 g protein, 21 g fat, 251 calories)

100 g of organic mixed berries, or about 2/3 cup (1 g protein, 12 g carbs, 50 calories)
100 g of organic plain yoghurt (about 1/2 cup) (5 g protein, 2 g fat, 8 g carbs, 55 calories)

1 tbsp organic maple syrup (55 calories, 13.5 g carbs) OPTIONAL

1/4 cup organic cranberry juice (27.5 calories, 7 g carbs)

Put all these ingredients together in a blender, and mix on high until smooth and creamy. Pout into a large glass, and enjoy!

Total:
22 grams of protein, 23 grams of fat, 40.5 grams of carbohydrates, and 438.5 calories.

See? This is a totally balanced, amazingly quick breakfast drink that doesn’t come in a package, is made with entirely whole foods, and will leave you feeling full and satisfied into the afternoon. If you’d like to skip the sweetener, definitely add a banana instead.

Mixed Greens Salad With Chickpeas and Hemp

2 cups mixed greens organic salad (20 calories, 2 g. protein)

3 tbsp. hulled hemp seeds (188 calories, 12 g protein, 15.5 g fat)

1/2 cup cooked chick peas (130 calories, 7 g protein, 1 g fat)

2 tbsp mixed oil and vinegar salad dressing (1 part omega oils, 1 part olive oil, 2 parts balsamic or apple cider vinegar... Shake!) (120 calories, 14 g fat, )


Total 458 calories, 21 g of protein, 30.5 g of really good fats.

On Alcohol Consumption and Health

Drinking wine, having a beer with pizza, or a night cap before bed is not an unusual occurrence in most North American homes. Alcohol consumption is a socially acceptable (and some would even argue socially required) form of creating an altered state, one in which the consumer feels more at ease, relaxed, and generally has lowered inhibitions. Although there have been a number of studies conducted on the relative benefits of alcohol consumption (particularly in relation to red wine), there are also numerous studies which point out the not so beneficial effects of long term alcohol consumption.

Here are a list of facts regarding the long term effects of alcohol consumption on the body. Decide for yourself whether or not a drink a day is worth the price...

• Alcohol is also classified as a food because it contains calories. The average drink has about the same calorie count as a large potato but, unlike a potato or any other food, alcohol has no nutritional value. The calories are empty.
  

• Alcohol dilutes itself in the water volume of the body in order to travel through the system. Those vital organs, like the brain, that contain a lot of water and need an ample blood supply are particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol.
  

• The Liver: Located in the upper-right side of the abdomen, the liver is the body's largest glandular organ. Its complex functions are associated with dozens of processes of body chemistry and metabolism. It produces the bile that helps digest fatty foods; it manufactures heparin, an anticoagulant, it stores and releases sugar. The liver also produces antibodies that help ward off disease, and it cleanses the body of poisons, including alcohol. With small amounts of alcohol, this cleansing can happen effectively. When the amount of alcohol is high, imbalances are created which can lead to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), hyperuricemia (as in arthritis or gout), fatty liver (which may lead to hepatitis or cirrhosis), and hyperlipemia (build-up of fats sent to the bloodstream; which leads to heart problems).

• One effect of drinking alcohol is "blood-sludging" where the red blood cells clump together causing the small blood vessels to plug up, starve the tissues of oxygen, and cause cell death. This cell death is most serious, and often unrecognized, in the brain. With this increased pressure, capillaries break, create red eyes in the morning, or the red, blotchy skin seen on the heavy drinker's face. Blood vessels can also break in the stomach and esophagus leading to hemorrhage, even death.
  

• Other effects of alcohol on the blood include: anemia; sedation of the bone marrow (which reduces the red and white blood count, and weakens the bone structure); lowered resistance to infection; and a decrease in the ability to fight off infections.
  

• The Gastrointestinal Tract: The stomach, the small and large intestines, and the pancreas are each affected by alcohol. Alcohol increases acid in the stomach. That can result in gastritis or stomach or intestinal ulcers. The pancreas produces insulin which is necessary to regulate the amount of sugar in the blood. Drinking causes a steep rise in the blood sugar; the pancreas responds by producing insulin which causes a fast drop in blood sugar and the symptom of low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. 70-90% of alcoholics suffer to some degree from the disorder of hypoglycemia, chronic low blood sugar, as a long term effect of their drinking. Symptoms of hypoglycemia can include dizziness, headaches, lack of ability to concentrate, depression, anxiety, light-headedness, tremors, cold sweats, heart palpitations, loss of coordination, and upset stomach. In time, the drinker's overworked pancreas may stop producing insulin and diabetes can result. Conversely, a person with a family history of diabetes may be more vulnerable to problems with alcohol.
  

• Alcohol reduces blood flow to the muscles, including the heart, causing muscle weakness and deterioration. One outcome is cardiomyopathy (sluggish heart) which is common in alcoholics. Another outcome, arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), or "holiday heart,"is often treated in emergency wards after several days of party drinking. Muscle aches are a common symptom of excessive-drinking "hangovers."
  

• The Endocrine System: This system controls the body's hormones and includes the pineal, pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands, and the ovaries or testes. Alcohol sedates these glands, resulting in under-production of hormones; effects include increased susceptibility to allergies. Alcohol can effect sexual functioning in various ways. In low doses, it lowers inhibitions and may make a person feel sexier; but in higher doses, it can decrease sexual functioning: in men, by decreasing the frequency of erections, decreasing the maintenance of erections, decreasing penile size during erection, and increasing the amount of time between erections, in women by interfering with normal processes of sexual stimulation, and blocking orgasmic response. With chronic and prolonged use of alcohol in men, there is a shrinkage of sex glands and an increase of the "female hormone" estrogen. This produces secondary sexual characteristics, such as enlarged breasts and a decrease in body hair. Prolonged use of alcohol can cause infertility in both men and women.
  

• Secondary Diabetes: Diabetes can result from prolonged, excessive use of alcohol. Because it is caused by drinking and not from a genetic disorder, it is called "secondary" diabetes. The symptoms are identical to genetic or "primary" diabetes. Abstinence from alcohol is a vital part of treatment for this disorder.
  

• Vitamins and Proteins: Those who use alcohol excessively deprive their bodies of essential nutrients. The drinker and the recovering alcoholic must pay special attention to diet. A diet high in protein not only provides many of the nutrients vital to recovery, but also keeps the blood sugar from too rapid change. It is better for those who drank excessively to get protein from eggs, milk, or vegetables, than from meats or cheeses. Because of an already-fatty liver, excessive drinkers cannot process the extra fat. When they eat meat, fruit should be eaten; it aids in breaking down fats. Vitamin supplements are helpful for people with drinking problems: these include, vitamins A, B, C and E. Protein supplementation may be important to reducing alcohol craving and maintaining emotional balance for alcoholics wanting to recover from their past heavy drinking. Similarly, a diet high in complex carbohydrates stabilizes blood glucose and reduces the low blood sugar state that can lead to craving alcohol. Understanding one's own special nutritional needs is an important aspect of recovery from excessive alcohol use.
  

(This information is merely the condensed form of an online article entitled “Biological Impacts Of Alcohol Use: An Overview”, By:  Michaele P. Dunlap, Psy.D,  Clinical Psychologist)

Additive Avoidance

When we go the grocery store, most of us expect the shelves to be lined with food, food being defined as “ any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth”. We trust that when we spend our hard earned money to feed and nourish ourselves and our families, that retailers are indeed, providing us with the food that we need.

Ahhh, if it were all so simple.  

Unfortunately, our food system is governed by a profit motive, first and foremost, and as such, much of what is now sold as “food” fails to measure up to it’s very definition. Most of what is now sold is packed, boxed, bagged, tubed, canned, or frozen, and contains a number of different chemicals to enhance shelf life, flavour, texture, color, or any other feature of the product that would make it more economically viable, and appealing to the consumer.  

Little consideration is given to the long term effects of ingesting such novel substances on a regular basis. Just how much calcium proprionate can one body handle? How much decomoposing carageenan does it take to cause a serious case of colon cancer? These are questions that are seldom asked, and more infrequently answered.  

There have been a few bold pioneers that dare to step out and question the FDA and it’s decisions to release substances into the public food supply that are “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS). There are scientists that have subjected these substances to the rigors of unbiased testing, and have come to some conclusions that would have a lot of us questioning the “safe” status of many of the substances we regularly ingest.

I’ve compiled a list of a few of the most common and most dangerous chemical culprits that you may very well find lurking in your food supply at home. Take a look at this list of awful additives, and maybe you’ll want to clean out your kitchen after you do!

• Natural Flavor - also known as artificial flavor, yeast extract, organic flavour and “spices” Was once known as MSG until the “food” makers found a way to extract and condense this nasty neurotoxin and call it anything they like! Essentially, this is a highly concetrated form of glutamate. To our brains, it is the protein in food that the human body recognizes as meat. So the brain tells the body to eat, and eat lots. Our brains are tricked into thinking that the body is getting something very nutritious when it’s getting nothing at all except some very toxic substances. How toxic? These concentrated glutamates build up in the brain tissue, and can cause lesions on the brain. Actual lesions. This has been proven with rat studies. MSG and it’s “natural flavour” cousin have been implicated in headaches and even permanent brain damage. Some recommended reading on this topic? “Excitotoxins” by Dr. Russell Baylock . In his book he describes how nerve cells either disintegrate or shrivel up in the presence of free glutamic acid, aka MSG. Nearly 100% of all processed foods contain some form of MSG, and the glutamates in MSG are absorbed directly from the mouth into the brain. For more information on natural flavor and all it’s cousins, please visit http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/dirty-secrets.html
  

• Carageenan - this is a commonly used food additive that is extracted from seaweed by using powerful alkali solvents, which would be capable of removing the tissue from your hands. As carageenan is digested in the human gut, it actually becomes carcinogenic. Dr. Joanne Tobacman of the University of Iowa has proven this using human tissue in her studies, and many other studies have indicated similar findings. These studies have far-reaching implications, but they have not been enough to remove this known carcinogen from our food supply. For more information on carageenan, please visit http://notmilk.com/carageenan.html
  

• Soy Lecithin - this substance is commonly used as an emulsifier, to keep fats and water from separating in foods like margarine, peanut butter, chocolate candies, ice cream, coffee creamers, and infant formula. It also helps prevent spoilage, and extends the shelf life of foods. So what’s wrong with lecithin? It’s a waste product of the food processing industry. It comes from the sludge left after crude soy goes through a “degumming” process. It is a waste product containing solvents and pesticides and has a consistency ranging from a gummy fluid to a plastic solid. It is processed using hexane. For more information about lecithin, please visit http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/lecithin.html
  

• Caramel -  No, this isn’t the sweet treat that you may think, it’s actually a coloring that’s commonly found in cola, brown bread, fruit juice, ice cream, and most recently in my vanilla flavoured organic yoghurt! This coloring has been implicated in a number of neurological disorders and has adverse effects on disease immunity systems.
  

• Nitrates/Nitrites - commonly found in preserved meat such as ham, bacon and other deli selections and ripened cheeses, these are are known to cause the blood disorder rnethaernoglobinernia, particularly in infants. Also known to cause the growth of cancerous tumors, cause changes in chromosome structure, and cause birth defects. 
  

That’s just my top five, but there are A LOT of nasties out there. My advice? If you can’t pronounce it, don’t know what it is, and could concoct it in your kitchen or grow it on a farm, then you probably shouldn’t be putting it in your mouth. But don’t just take my word for it. There are a lot of great resources out there that do a terrific job of divulging the dirty secrets of the food industry. Here are some links, and sugegsted reads:

http://www.newint.org/issue135/action.htm

www.wholesoystory.com

Books:
“Diet for a Poisoned Planet: How to Choose Safe Foods for You and Your Family - the Twenty First Century Edition” By David Steinman

“The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Brains and Harming our Children”  By Carol Simontacchi

Additive alert! : what have they done to our food? : a consumer's action guide / prepared by Pollution Probe (Randee Holmes).

A Cup a Day?

So many of us wake up in the morning to the dreadful sound of our alarm clocks, and we haul our reluctant bodies from slumber, and up into the fast pace of our everyday lives. With little time for breakfast, or even a moment to pause and consider nourishing ourselves for the day, we grab a cup of coffee and head out to do the daily grind. Ah yes, the daily grind... something that relates to both coffee and our stress levels! And how do we respond to stress and fatigue?

We drink coffee!

• The average american drinks over 26 gallons of coffee per year. Coffee contains over 300 chemicals, and caffeine is only one of them. There are about 75mg of caffeine in the average cup of coffee, but in expresso, the caffeine content is over 100mg. Average? Over 3 cups per day, for more than half the American population.

• Aside from the fact that coffee pulls minerals out of storage in the bone tissue and hastens their excretion from the body, (this increases the potential for osteoporosis, PMS, menopause symptoms, gastrointestinal disturbances, and increased blood pressure) coffee is not kind to the brain either.

• Coffee is an addictive drug, in the same category as cocaine and amphetamines, affecting the same parts of the brain as cocaine, although different and weaker.

• Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world today.  At least 80% of the world’s adult population uses enough caffeine laced beverages and foods to affect the brain.

• Caffeine enhances the effects of dopamine (enhances sexual arousal and performance, increases hypersensitivity and hyperresponsivity, large muscle activity, etc).

• Caffeine increases the energy metabolism throughout the brain but simultaneously reduces the amount of blood flowing to the brain, so while the brain’s energy requirements are higher, there is less energy pumped in to meet this elevated demand.

• Caffeine increases the stimulating neurohormone, noradrenaline, and reduced the calming neurotransmitter, serotonin.

• Coffee increases the secretion of calcium from our bones, hastening the onset of osteoporosis.

• Coffee increases the rick of birth defects

• Coffee increases blood pressure, increasing the risk for developing heart disease.

• Coffee is implicated in seizure disorders

• Coffee contributes to insomnia, depression, and anxiety disorders.

• Coffee, along with sugar, is one of the most monied industries in the world. (What about coffee karma? The politics of equitable coffee production aren’t even being considered here! It’s a well known fact that some of the poorest nations in the world supply our coffee, and it is readily apparent that these farmers and producers are not the monied ones in the industry.)   For a little more on the story of karmatic coffee, click here.
  

Although having a cup of coffee might seem like the perfect solution in terms of alleviating your fatigue, it actually does way more harm than good. If you have trouble coming off your fix, try substituting green tea for your morning brew. Although it contains caffeine, it contains much less than the average cup of coffee and comes with the added benefit of being a rich source of free-radical fighting anti-oxidants.  

With appropriate sleep and adequate physical activity, pretty soon your coffee dependency will be a thing of the past!