Hi, oh wise and resourceful ones...

I have a question. From what I can discern from Fitday, I do not get the US RDA of iron. I know Dr A says to get a supplement without iron in it, and I have one like that. I think the problem is that I don't eat red meat. No beef, no pork. I have been trying to up my intake of spinach, but I don't like it all that well except mixed in with a salad or in my low-carb tortilla roll-ups (okay, occasionally in an omelette, too). In my high-carb past, I used to eat a lot of fortified flour-based stuff and fortified cereal, so I was doing okay in the iron department. But now, I am confused.

Should I be taking an iron supplement anyway? maybe every other day? If not, what else can I eat to up my iron intake? or should I not worry about it? I am 30, so my usual cycle = iron loss, so I am concerned.

I tried to search here for questions about this, but was unable to find any that directly address my issue. Anyone have any suggestions?

thanks,
~rebecca~

Becca,
Maybe you should consider some blood labs to check your iron level.
Iron supplementation is dicey. If you inadvertently get too much it's very toxic.
The iron sources in leafy green veggies are a little hard to access. Spinach generally needs to be cooked to digest properly. It's got something called oxalic acid in it's raw form that's somewhat tough to handle for some people. If it's disagreeable to you, this could be the reason.
The best way I know of to get iron and other awesome minerals is from raw, fresh squeezed juices. Not from a bottle, fresh, like from Jamba or your local healthfood place.
Beets and various organic root veggies are good, as are other types of dark green leafies.
If you are lo-carbing you can make room in your plan for celery/kale/spinach or some variation. They taste incredibly great, especially after locarbing. You'll obviously skip the carrots and other hi-carb components.

Hi Rebecca,

Doug has given you some good advice there. I would definitely get your iron levels and haemoglobin checked before adding a supplement.

If you do wind up taking an iron supplement, or multivite with iron, just remember it is absorbed better in the presence of Vitamin C and the absence of caffeine. Calcium tablets can also reduce iron absorption.

HTH

Rosebud

Rebecca,

I have always taken iron (before LC) but I am going to follow the Atkins suggestion of no iron until I get my next blood work done. I took iron because my blood work always shows that I am anemic and has been this way since I was about 22 (now 41). A long time. Each time I quit taking iron, which I did often because I couldn't "feel" any difference and because...well, I was 22, my blood work would show that I was anemic. So I have taken it pretty religiously for 8-10 years. Anyway, that's what I'm doing. I figure it won't kill me to be anemic for a couple months and I want to know if thie WOE makes a difference.

Maggie

Thanks very much, everyone. Doug, I just don't know about "Kale Juice," but if cooking the spinach will help, I can try that. I am working up to liking it more, I have to say, but it isn't easy. As for a blood draw, that's a great idea. My 3 month re-check of my blood is coming up anyway (a promise I made to my doc when I went in for a blood draw before I began Atkins, as she wasn't too happy about it) so I will see if my iron/hemoglobin levels have dropped significantly (they were fine when I had the baseline test) and go from there.

In general, I have to say that it is like a big ol' jigsaw puzzle trying to figure out how all the vitamins & minerals work together with all the other chemical stuff going on inside you to give your body what it needs. Sometimes it nearly makes my head spin! So I'm glad there are other people on this board who already know a lot of this stuff; it makes it easier than wading through all of it myself, unaided.

Again, thanks a lot.
~rebecca~

ps. Does anyone know if adding pork back into my diet would help? I have been considering pork chops, etc, just for some variety from chicken & fish. Thoughts?

Rebecca,
Ha, kale juice - definitely an acquired taste,LOL.
Pork and beef would be good. Can you get good quality organic products? You don't need very much of them to get lots of Iron and B-12. They are in a very assimilable form in meat.
Over the years I've run the panorama of diet theories. I've been a raw-foodist. Vegan. Ovo-lacto veg. Now a carnivore. I'm sure all my old raw buddies would be convinced that I'm killing myself. Imagine my surprise at how much better I feel and look, lifting weights, adding muscle, doing lots of cardio and losing my spare tire.

Okay, so maybe I add pork back to my diet. If my iron levels are down, I will seriously consider it. I have been missing ribs ever since I went off pork & beef (15+ years), so it would be a treat to have them again. When you say I don't need much, how much is that, actually? One serving 1x a week? 2x a week? Living in the city, I have access to a number of markets where I can buy organic pork, so that isn't a problem.

Really, I don't have anything against eating meat, it's just that I saw "Faces of Death" when I was in high school and I haven't been able to touch beef ever since. It's hard to be a responsible consumer sometimes, you know? There's only so much you can control. But this WOE is convincing me that during my past aspirations to go completely veg, my reluctance to give up poultry & fish & my longings for ribs had to be something other than a weak will. So I'm glad to have the counsel of some who's already been through all the various permutations of that dietary rollercoaster; for once in my life, I'm trying to benefit from the experience of others and not have to learn everything the hard way.
Thanks a lot!