Iron Deficiency??

[Mom2three]

Hi everyone, I am new here. I drastically changed my diet about 4 weeks ago, to about 90% raw food. I am juicing vegetables twice daily also.

Something odd that I've noticed in the past week or so is that my gold rings are turning my fingers black! I know what we paid for these rings and they are not cheap jewelry. LOL So I did some research and found that it is often caused by iron deficiency.....If that is true, how do I get more iron in my diet? Or should I take an iron supplement.

It's interesting because my Mother also changed her diet to raw at the same time as I did, and last week she had a blood test done and they told her she was showing low iron levels.

Tracy

[khackett]

Eat more broccoli?

We have anemia in my family, so we're pretty careful about watching iron levels too. I eat a TON or broccoli and that seems to do the trick!

Or? Come to boston and drink some of our tap water. ;)

[Revvell]

IF you are juicing fruits and veggies, it's highly unlikely that is the cause yet, to be on the safe side, here are a couple of suggestions ~

1) be sure to add LOTS of dark, leafy green veggies

2) get some organic or at least un-sulfited prunes, dark figs and/or raisins, soak overnight and then eat and drink the juice. You'll have some wonderful bm's!

3) green smoothies!

4) SALADS filled with spinach, kale, chard, etc.

Personally, I wouldn't take iron supplements. From what I've heard from folk who do, it does the opposite of what the fruit will do. The last thing one wants is constipation while the body is cleansing itself with all this great food you are giving it.

Injoy ~

Revvell

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi and welcome!

You might want to look into an iron supplement for now (try to find the most natural one you can, perhaps getting it from a health/whole food store as opposed to a drugstore).

Meanwhile, here is a small list of iron-rich foods. Also, keep in mind that vitamin C helps increase absorption of iron, so often times I'll juice spinach and oranges together. I have been low-iron anemic most of my young adult/adult life.

Okay, here's that list:

Sprouted Mung (1 cup) - 1.4 mg.
Chard (1/2 cup) - 1.3 mg.
Chestnuts (10) - 1.2 mg.
Dandelion Greens (1/2 cup) - 2.1 mg.
Endive (1 cup) - 1.0 mg.
Mustard greens (1/2 cups) - 1.8 mg.
Raw spinach (1 cup) - 1.7 mg.
Almonds (1/4 cup) - 1.7 mg.
Cashews (1/4 cup) - 1.3 mg.
Walnuts (1/4 cup) - 1.9 mg.
Apples Juiced (1 cup) - 1.5 mg.
Dried apricots (1/2 cup) - 3.6 mg.
Avocado(1/2) - 1.3 mg.
Banana mashed (1 cup) - 1.6 mg.
Cantaloupe (1/2 medium) - 1.6 mg.
Dried prunes (10) - 3.3 mg.
Juice (1 cup) - 1.5 mg.
Raisins (1/2 cup) - 2.9 mg.
Fresh tomatoes (3'') - 0.9 mg.
Tomato juice (1 cup) - 2.2 mg.
Watermelon (8'' X 4'' wedge) - 2.1 mg.

One other thing, with the various greens recommended, most doctors/nutritionists will tell you to eat them cooked due to better assimilation of the vegetable...but, well, we want the raw, right? So, if you have a dehydrator, you could consider marinating and then dehydrating to soften them down a bit to improve digestion of them or just marinate them period for a day or two in the fridge to soften them.

But what Revvell suggested about the green smoothies is a wonderful idea too and one I also implement!

[khackett]

Green smoothies?

What goes into that? I love my veggies but eating them pureed seems "blegh"y to me, so perhaps I'm missing something vital! :P What do you usually put in there?

[Rawkinlocs]

Me, personally, I usually do: a couple of bananas, a few strawberries (fresh or frozen that I usually freeze myself), a handful of spinach or a couple of kale leaves, a stalk of celery and some water to help it blend and not be too thick. If need be, I'll add a few dates for sweetness and to take the edge off of the greens. If you do the ratio just right, you won't even taste the greens. When you try it out, taste it and if it still tastes too "green" for you, add a little more of a strong-tasting fruit (such as the strawberries or blueberries).

They're great! Even my kdis drink them! Also, check out the recipe section and even this area as there are a few threads floating around with the article written by Victoria Boutenko and her "Ode to Green Smoothies" where she talks of the benefits of them and lists some recipes for various green smoothies.

But I was surprisingly pleased with the flavor of celery added to my smoothies! Banana, pineapple, celery is REALLY good IMO. Just be sure to blend WELL as to break down all the green particles and the celery strings!!

I've also put parsley and lettuce in them and it's still just as good.

[khackett]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !

There's FRUIT in there!

Hahaha, I thought you were drinking ...I don't know, straight up kale or whatever, and I was all "...whoa. I must be SCORES behind these guys; I couldn't drink that!"