Anemia - Causes, Nutrition and Natural Medicines

[SoulWeaver]

Okay I've just typed a whole big informative post and lost my internet for a second when I wanted to preview. Of course I lost the whole post... ahhhh how lovely. So hang on, I'll write something soon enough.

A sister on here asked me to write something on iron deficiency anemia, as I've done a lot of study on it on my journey, please check this thread out even if you have other types of anemia because I'll be writing about other nutrients essential for blood building, etc.

Praying for your healing if you're struggling with this. I'll be right back and first I'll write about some misconceptions regarding iron.

 

[tourist]

I feel that the best medicine is natural medicine. Modern medicine just treats symptoms without addressing the root cause. Some of the potential side effects are worse that the condition the drugs are suppose to be treating. The drug companies and as lot of physicians have no desire to see any condition cured as that would lead to a loss of profit. It is all about the money.

Processed foods are unhealthy too due to how the food is processed and the additives to improve the taste and to increase the shelf life. The more organic and basic your lifestyle the healthier you will become.

Jesus is the Great Physician. Naturally.

 

[SoulWeaver]

Very well said tourist and I agree whole on that one. Organic way is always better, but in some difficult cases inorganic iron compounds like ferrous sulphate must be administered, when pros outweigh the cons. The natural way of fixing anemia has only one drawback, it's much slower. Do not expect to fix it naturally as soon as with over-the-counter medicines. Some exceptions to this would be liquid chrolophyle, which is over-the-counter but relatively "natural" and it is said to replenish haemoglobine very fast and gives very quick results. It is usually given to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers to fight the iron loss. But it takes some time to refill iron stores.

Okay, let's start on the first misconception. Your ferritin or iron reserves might be very low, yet you might not have anemia, but the body will not be functioning at its peak. The body always struggles to keep the situation in the blood smooth. So when the bloodwork shows bad situation, it means it is so bad that the body cant cover it up anymore. Anemia shows when your iron reserves have already been depleted, so if you have (iron deficiency) anemia your ferritin is already low.

You have probably noticed that "normal" iron references for women are lower than those for men. This is not so because women naturally have less iron, but because of women's higher iron demands, they are generally low on iron. The "normal" values that are driven so low reflect the poor nutritional status of women nowadays, rather than their lesser needs.

Further of interest for men and women with hair loss and related to this, if you have fixed anemia and wonder why is your hair lost due to anemia not growing back, the answer is most likely that you need to raise ferritin levels >70-100. God has designed the body to keep and preserve you. The body is making sure your heart and other vital organs have enough iron to function in the future, even though there is enough for blood cells, the body doesnt want to waste resources. Once you raise your ferritin and cause it to abound, the body will be enabled to also put iron into "external" members like hair and nails. Even if you had hair loss for any other reason, iron will most likely help you in this regard. This only goes further to show that what doctors call "normal" is far from "optimal".

 

[SoulWeaver]

Two important factors in anemia that every good doctor will make sure to check are blood loss and thyroid function.

Thyroid - Especially if there is persistent anemia, check your thyroid. Low ferritin, low hydrochloric acid and low thyroid go hand in hand.

Blood loss - Do not expect to have anemia improved if there is a constant blood loss. This could be haemorroids, intestinal ulcers, occult intestinal bleeding (determined by the occult blood stool test), excessive monthly bleeding (google if you are unsure how much is normal). Any of this, no matter how minute, will make the healthiest person anemic and weak in the long run. If you're just taking pills or eating iron rich foods and not fixing the bleeding problem, you're taking them in vain.

 

[SoulWeaver]

Iron absorption is increased by: high stomach acid (for this reason try to get the most of your iron for breakfast when your hydrochloric acid is at its peak, also for lunch), vitamin C, fructose, heme iron (animal sources of iron like meat, liver or egg yolk), meat protein, taurine, cooking in cast iron (especially acidic foods). Vitamin C increases the absoption of plant iron up to 20 times. It is also a great idea to eat your meat with green vegetables.

Iron absorption is decreased by: too much calcium/phosphorus. This would roughly be dairy, fish, coffee and carbonated beverages (these are a real iron blocker). Try to eat your dairy or fish for dinner when your stomach acid is weaker, far away from your "iron" breakfast and lunch. Drink your coffee at least 2-3 hours apart from your meals or replace it with iron-rich cocoa.

Next post will be dealing with food list.

 

[blue_ladybug]

SW, you need to cite the source(s) of all this information.

 

[SoulWeaver]

I'm sorry, this is the study I've been doing for years Sis so I normally cant have the sources.
I offer it "as is" and disclaimer, no I am not a doctor

 

[blue_ladybug]

Iron absorption is increased by: high stomach acid (for this reason try to get the most of your iron for breakfast when your hydrochloric acid is at its peak, also for lunch), vitamin C, fructose, heme iron (animal sources of iron like meat, liver or egg yolk), meat protein, taurine, cooking in cast iron (especially acidic foods). Vitamin C increases the absoption of plant iron up to 20 times. It is also a great idea to eat your meat with green vegetables.

Iron absorption is decreased by: too much calcium/phosphorus. This would roughly be dairy, fish, coffee and carbonated beverages (these are a real iron blocker). Try to eat your dairy or fish for dinner when your stomach acid is weaker, far away from your "iron" breakfast and lunch. Drink your coffee at least 2-3 hours apart from your meals or replace it with iron-rich cocoa.

Next post will be dealing with food list.

Cocoa is not iron-rich. Cocoa is basically sugar, preservatives and flavoring. Dark chocolate has some iron in it, though.. Better off eating dark chocolate rather than drinking cocoa..

 

[SoulWeaver]

Uhm... I was talking about cocoa powder... what dark chocolate is made of... it is very high in iron and it has no sugar or anything else. It is cocoa bean minus the cocoa butter. You brew it like coffee. I guess cocoa in America is different... you guys first think of processed stuff? Language barrier I suppose.

 

[blue_ladybug]

Uhm... I was talking about cocoa powder... what dark chocolate is made of... it is very high in iron and it has no sugar or anything else. It is cocoa bean minus the cocoa butter. Language barrier I suppose.

I'm talking about cocoa mix.. when it's watered down, the iron isn't as high..and cocoa mix is mostly sugar anyway..you'd get more iron from eating the cocoa powder itself..

 

[SoulWeaver]

I'm talking about cocoa mix.. when it's watered down, the iron isn't as high..and cocoa mix is mostly sugar anyway..you'd get more iron from eating the cocoa powder itself..

When I say cocoa I mean exactly brew cocoa powder Sis... we call the mix hot chocolate... that's crazy that everything is so processed over there. And I sometimes feel desperate writing at all on this forum, it's like you can never learn English, makes me dont want to write anything, everybody takes everything wrong

 

[blue_ladybug]

When I say cocoa I mean exactly brew cocoa powder Sis... we call the mix hot chocolate... that's crazy that everything is so processed over there. And I sometimes feel desperate writing at all on this forum, it's like you can never learn English, makes me dont want to write anything, everybody takes everything wrong View attachment 100708

you write english very well..but you have to remember also that the data for iron in your country is different than that in the usa.. for example, say a bar of dark chocolate has 5 servings, and 10% of iron, you divide that 10% by 5, and the iron content per serving is very low.. you would have to eat at least 3 bars of chocolate to get the recommended dose of iron per day..

 

[kodiak]

you write english very well..but you have to remember also that the data for iron in your country is different than that in the usa.. for example, say a bar of dark chocolate has 5 servings, and 10% of iron, you divide that 10% by 5, and the iron content per serving is very low.. you would have to eat at least 3 bars of chocolate to get the recommended dose of iron per day..

Sounds like a good idea. Who wouldn't want to eat 3 chocolate bars?

 

[SoulWeaver]

Cocoa powder is relatively unprocessed and there cant be that much of a difference here and anywhere. It's the cocoa bean minus the cocoa butter... cant be that huge of a difference.
I have read reports of people who have fixed their anemia surprisingly well just by drinking brewed cocoa powder twice a day. Iron from cocoa powder seems to be absorbed very well then. Cocoa powder is also included in some natural preparations with honey (I'll be writing the recipies later). So I felt compelled to include it and I said cocoa and not dark chocolate exactly because the percentage of cocoa in dark chocolate can be varying, etc. (And to get the DRV through food alone is hard for anything, s'a fact.)

 

[blue_ladybug]

the best sources of iron is natural iron, found in foods such as leafy green veggies such as spinach, dandelion greens, oysters are very rich in iron. A tin of oysters has 70% of iron.. I had severe anemia four years ago and spent 2 days in the hospital, and received 4 blood transfusions during that time. Believe me, I've also researched good sources of iron. Red meat is a good source, whether it's steak, hamburg or roast beef.

 

[SoulWeaver]

Agreed, but I was just giving a solution and suggestion for people who want to consider replacing coffee, which severely interferes with iron absorption. Cocoa powder instead of coffee is an alternative, and can help with anemia. For me, it is easier to replace coffee than thinking about having it apart enough from meals.

 

[blue_ladybug]

just be careful recommending people to drink cocoa because too much of it can give bad side effects such as the ones found here:
COCOA: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions and Warnings - WebMD

*taken from WebMD..

 

[SoulWeaver]

You do not understand anything that I'm trying to say, so I will stop now.

 

[blue_ladybug]

You do not understand anything that I'm trying to say, so I will stop now.

I understand perfectly what your saying. It's fine to exchange coffee for cocoa.. BUT you have to be careful because it does have bad side effects and interactions for people with certain health conditions and meds.. so don't go crazy and drink 10 cups of it at one time.

 

[inthewind]

When I say cocoa I mean exactly brew cocoa powder Sis... we call the mix hot chocolate... that's crazy that everything is so processed over there. And I sometimes feel desperate writing at all on this forum, it's like you can never learn English, makes me dont want to write anything, everybody takes everything wrong View attachment 100708

You mean like this?

Know Beans About It!: The Skinny On Brewing Cocoa