apparently i'm anemic

[honeybeedreams]

found a bunch of recipes for anemia online:

http://www.wholehealthmd.com/hk/remedies/disp/1,1459,428,00.html

thought i'd share it since anemia is so common in pregnant women.

[~Shanna~]

honeybeedreams,
I've been trying to be proactive about this too. I have found a recipe for high-iron blackstrap molasses in Aviva Jill Romm's Book Natural Pregnancy. I will try to remember to post in once I'm back home with it in front of me. It boosts the already-high iron in molasses with some herbs. I usually don't worry a lot about keeping calcium and iron separated because it gets impossible (since they knock each other out), but I do try to make sure I stay away from dairy when I'm using the high-iron molasses. Bascially, I try to do high-iron for breakfast and high calcium in my nighttime snack, and everything else I leave up to God's good humor :wink

I also take a liver-supporting tea, you can find the recipe at
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.phpt=29661&page=29&pp=20 Post #573

The theory is that supporting the liver will help your iron absorption. I started taking it for a uterine fibroid, and have read that it helps with the above too. Good luck mama!

[honeybeedreams]

what do you eat for breakfast shanna? i am still having two soft boiled eggs and a banana.

i have the natural pregnancy book. how does she suggest using BS molasses?

thanks!

[~Shanna~]

For breakfast, I have a half cup of oatmeal with 2 T flax meal, 4-5 pecans, about 1 t raisins (dried apricots would be better, they're higher in iron and [i think] lower in calories). I used to mix in some soy milk and sesame seeds (and felt REALLY hard-core :lol ) but this is the one meal where I have started to separate out the calcium and try to back-load it towards the end of the day, away from iron. I usually have about 16 oz of milk, soy, tofu or yogurt smoothie around 9 pm or so, trying to get a lot of my calcium in when it is less likely to bind the iron. BUt it's all one big stream anyway, so who knows, you do what you can.

For the molasses, check the index of her book for "high iron syrup". She has you concentrate some herbs in water ( I can't remember which ones) and mix it with bs molasses. I then add about 2 T of this to my oatmeal. You could also just use plain bs molasses because it's so high in iron, but this is just a way to boost it a little more. Ideally, I would get some more protein in at breakfast too, but I find that I just can't eat that much in the morning, so I usually have a hard boiled egg or cup of yogurt around 10 am.

Have they advised you to eat liver? I just can't bear it, plus I'm not convinced that it's good for the baby, being such a filter for nastiness. I saw in my Dr. Sears book that a half cup of clams has almost as much iron as 3 oz of liver, so maybe have clam chowder a couple times a week?

[greeniegreen]

Just wanted to jump in and say that Floradix is an AWESOME iron supplement. Plus, I hear that it can help with morning sickness as well (so I'd better start taking that NOW).

[honeybeedreams]

going to the "city" this morning to see my mom. she was able to locate a bottle of floradix there, since i couldn't find it out here at all... she bought me a HUGE bottle for $35! i hope i can choke it down.

:gross

i have been feeling MUCH better since i started drinking the nettle tea... i carried a basket of laundry upstairs the other day and i thought i was gonna die. yesterday i wrestled a little tykes work bench into my son's basment playgroup and i was fine. so my iron must be better, cause i was SO breathless before. still dragging ass, but i hope that will continue to get better.

[greeniegreen]

Mixing it in a bit of juice helps. I'm off to start it this morning. Just had a horrible throwing up session. Ugh.

[honeybeedreams]

well, i figured out why i'm anemic i think...

we have very hard water... and i think the minerals in it are interfering with the absorbtion of the iron in my food. i have a good diet, there isn't any reason i should be anemic, and it was not an issue last time i was was pregnant.

buying bottled water tomorrow... greenie, hope you are feeling better...

[seahorsie]

I was anemic my last pregnancy & as a child. Should I assume I will be again this pregnancy? (haven't been in to see the OB yet). I've heard Floradix referred to in the past... what exactly is it?

[greeniegreen]

I was anemic my last pregnancy & as a child. Should I assume I will be again this pregnancy? (haven't been in to see the OB yet). I've heard Floradix referred to in the past... what exactly is it?

It's a whole foods iron supplement. Totally nonconstipating because it is easily absorbed into the system better than those harsh prescription ones.

[honeybeedreams]

i think if you go by how you feel you can get a better handle on anemia than you think (meaning you don't really need a doc to tell yu one way or another). using food and food based supplemets to treat anemia work WAY better than supplements. i got the floradix and was surprised to find it didn't have any nettles or yellow dock in it. i does have black charry extract. these are all excellent sources of food based iron.

also, vitamin C and B 12 are required for iron absorbtion, so it's essential to make sure that these are also in your diet. do not eat dairy at any meal where you are wanting to get iron from the food you are eating, including taking a calcium supplement.

when i managed the HFS, i saw that most people were able to treat there own iron deficiency through food much better than meds from the doc.

"the natural pregnancy book" by aviva romm has a nice section on anemia and how to treat it at home with herbs and food.

HTH!

[Momof3Girlz]

Just wanted to jump in and say that Floradix is an AWESOME iron supplement. Plus, I hear that it can help with morning sickness as well (so I'd better start taking that NOW).

I agree. I have found this stuff to work like a charm. When I get enough $$$ I will invest in a Large bottle of the stuff.

[seahorsie]

Which Floradix do you get? I went to Vitacost.com & there were several iron formulas...

[greeniegreen]

Which Floradix do you get? I went to Vitacost.com & there were several iron formulas...

I get this one (http://www.vitacost.com/FloraFloradixIronHerbs) but they also have a blend that is yeast free.

[Jasmyn's Mum]

I use spirulina for my anemia and I feel the difference within 2 days.

[honeybeedreams]

I agree. I have found this stuff to work like a charm. When I get enough $$$ I will invest in a Large bottle of the stuff.

i wouldn't get a big bottle unless you are gonna take it religiously... my mom got me a big bottle and you have to thro it out 25 days after you open it, which means there is enough in there for 2 does everyday for 25 days. and sometimes i don't take it, so i'm gonna be throwing some out at some point.

i think it's a bit pricy for what you get. i would be happy to take nettles and yellow dock and a black cherry chaser. i think that would work just as well. and not very expensive. last time i got a HUGE bag of organic dried nettles for less than that price of a bottle of that stuff.

but that's just me. i'm cheap. it is easy and quick though.

[emma_goldman]

I'm suscribing so I don't lose this thread...