Thursday, July 22, 2010

Sludgy health in a bottle

I had some routine bloodwork last week, and came back CRAZY low on the measure They use to assess the body's stores of iron. A healthy range for a woman is: 12-150 ng/mL. I measured a four! Ha!

It's nothing to be concerned about, as all my other numbers are fine, but my doc has told me to get more iron and come back in 2 months for a do-over. So, I'm trying to be good. I don't eat a lot of meat, and I don't like liver at all, ick. But I do like things like hamburgers, and edamame, and black beans. Also: molasses! Turns out blackstrap molasses is crazy high in iron.

Sorry about the terrible focus! But THIS is loud and clear:

Twenty percent! In a tablespoon! So yeah.. I'm adding that to my usual breakfast of oats & milk/yogurt. It's a little stronger-tasting than the other molasses I already had (which boasts 15% so even that isn't too shabby) and I'm sure I feel better already.

4 comments:

  1. My iron levels were also low the last time Dr. Vampire demanded blood.

    A vegetarian friend told me about blackstrap molasses, but I kept forgetting to look at the numbers. Thanks for doing it for me. :)

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  2. Now I've got this groucho marx song stuck in my head.

    http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=2048

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  3. that song was new to me - thanks!

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  4. oooo! What a yum way to get some iron. I think I'm feeling a touch low myself....

    fun iron-y type fact - spinach is considerably more healthy if you eat it cooked instead of raw. Your body can't digest all the wonderful things it has to offer unless it is broken down a bit. My mum was anemic for a while and had to stock up on spinach and such.

    Cheers!
    Daisy

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