Fri, Apr-01-05, 22:13
|
|
Senior Member
Posts: 255
|
|
Plan: Protein Power/6WBM
Stats: 181.5/139/129
BF:55%/27.5%/22%
Progress: 81%
Location: Chicago area
|
|
Jennifer, I was recently diagnosed as anemic, so I've been going through many of the same things you're going through. Green tea DOES inhibit the absorption of iron, so don't drink it with meals where you're trying to load up on iron. Also, calcium is a big no-no with iron - it also inhibits the absorption. A little vitamin C, on the other hand, AIDS absorption. My hemoglobin was low, my serum iron was down to 16, and my ferritin (my stored iron) was down to 3 - the low end of normal is 20!! IF you can take an iron supplement, GET ONE THAT'S CHELATED; your body can absorb it much much better and it doesn't cause gastrointestinal upsets (like constipation or nausea or diarrhea, believe it or not). I talked to my doc about a brand that Dr. Christiane Northrup recommends (Iron 27+, available only by mail from Advanced Nutritional Research, www.anrminerals.com or 800-836-0644, around $10) and she said that was fine, although I wound up getting a Rx for chelated iron from my doc because I was going out of town and didn't have time to wait to get something in the mail. The brand she prescribed was Chromagen and we did blood tests again just 11 days after I started taking it - hemoglobin normal, serum iron up to 55, ferritin up to 20 - all in just 11 days. (I felt a helluva lot better, too...!)
Just watch what you eat when you're trying to pack in as much iron as possible at meals - no green tea, no calcium, but yes, vitamin C. A little google search will pull up a complete list.
Hope this helps!
Michelle
|