I started blending one medium size beet (/w its greens) daily (yields one cup) for about 2/3 weeks now. I was told that it's good for anemia and constipation. However, my urine turns red after eating beet. I'm worry that it's a sign of incompatibility. Is it possible to consume too much beet? I don't want to make the same mistake with beet as I did with carrot...

I used to juice carrot (8 to 16oz a day) along with some greens. My skin turns yellow. The juice book says that it's normal. Yet, I read else where that the yellow skin condition is an indication of excess beta-carotene failing to covert to Vitamin A. When such excess fails to leave the body soon enough, it will be re-absorbed back to the body and eliminated through the skin. It's not a good sign and usually means the liver is congested and cannot handle the conversion.

-TIA

I have misplaced my Green for Life book, so this is just from memory.

Victoria Boutenko talks about that in the above book. She says that this is a symptom of depleted stomach acid, and is easily rectified. Including greens in your diet is supposed to be helpful, but you may need to supplement at first with hydrocloric (sp?) acid tablets from the health food store. I have never tried this, but there are instructions in the book on how to figure out whether you need to do this, how to figure out how much to take and for how long.

You may want to track down that book if you are interested, or maybe someone on the site can give more detailed information.

Good luck!

Hi Sapphire,

That's great. I'm so getting this book. I did a search on the book at Amazon. Yes, the condition is called hypochlorhydria. Apparently, a lot of ppl including the author thought red stool and urine are normal as a result of consuming beet.

I have tried a couple of Digestive Enzymes (such as Digest Me and Digest All) with HCL acid, but of no help. Do you know any other brand? I heard Digest Gold or even Apple Cider Vinegar is supposed to be good.

-thx again!

Hi Rawie

It's quite normal for the wee to turn red on consuming large amounts of beetroot juice. I'm not sure it's down to depleted HCL, as it's rare to find someone whose wee doesn't turn red after consuming beetroot juice. Mine does, and I've been raw for two years (100%).

I suspect you're having too much beet juice for your body's needs, as I'm sure you had too much carrot juice for your body's needs.

Why? Because you say you're having the beet juice for 'anaemia and constipation'. Did you actually DESIRE the beet juice? Do you love the taste? Did you really WANT that beet juice each morning? You say you've been having it for 2-3 weeks daily? Didn't you get tired of it after a few days? Didn't it seem less attractive to you after a while? But you still took it because you'd read that it was 'good for' this and that.

If you take large amounts of one food, or smaller amounts repeatedly because 'someone else has told you it's a good idea', especially a fractured food like juice, I'm convinced that you run the danger of ingesting far in excess of YOUR body's actual requirements for that food and this excess will manifest in all sorts of ways!

I always thought red urine after eating red beets was normal and harmless.

"A consistently red color in the urine is something to be watchful of, unless you eat beets frequently. But what does it mean when you see the red urine only after indulging in the crimson tuber? It does not happen automatically, and only 14 percent of the population has it occur. It is actually a test your urine has given you to see if you are deficient in iron.

“Beeturia” is the name for this phenomenon, and it may at times occur because of pernicious anemia, which is a chronic condition caused by gastric atrophy which leads to deficient intrinsic factors to process B 12. On the other hand, beeturia may be genetic, as the capability to metabolize the betalaine, or betaine, the red pigment, is a recessive gene, and with two recessive genes, a person would inevitably pee red each time he or she ate beets. So red urine is not as simple a test as we would like. If it happens every time even if you make a concerted effort to ingest enough iron, it may be because you have one of these other conditions. Eating beets while eating a lot of other oxalic acid containing foods such as spinach, rhubarb, or chocolate has been said to cause the red urine as well."

[www.associatedcontent.com]

..you might try eating the beets and beet greens on separate days to see if the oxalic acid in the beet greens might be affecting iron uptake.... I always eat the greens, sometimes together, somtimes separately and on occasion have red urine.. just some ideas

I havn't consumed all that much beet juice but when I have I have seen 'beet red' in my stool but never in urine. I do believe what you have repeated about carrot juice and discoloration to be due to failings of the liver and NOT of the carrots pigmentation. So you might have SOME concern there...as discoloration in urine is NOT normal. but I wouldn't sweat it just yet. weigh any observed advantages over that concern.

[www.giveittomeraw.com]

I just got my blood test back. I'm a lot more anemic than I was a month ago. My biggest change in diet for the past 3 weeks is blending beet root, beet green, cilantro, parsley, watercress, okra, and swiss chard with some fruits (for sweetness) pretty much everyday.

Honestly, I don't like beet juice. Eating beet salad with olive oil is more enjoyable. Blending beet root with some other greens and fruits is acceptable.

As for carrot juice, I actually like it a lot. And, it seems to help me with regularity as well as anemia despite the yellow skin. 8 to 16oz mixing with other greens is hardly excessive for most ppl. I think my liver is probably really congested. The blood report did really indicates any liver disease though.

I'm totally lost here. I thought beet suppose to treat anemia. I'm going to lay back on both the beet and the carrot for the next month and see what happen.

Rawie,

IMO, the beetroot isn't the problem. The greens may be, sadly. The oxalic acid in leafy greens can bind with iron and prevent absorption. So, parsley, watercress, herbs, broccoli and lettuces--good; chard, spinach, kale, cabbage--bad. I'd cut back on the sulfurous leafy greens, or juice them with lemons or oranges, or raw potato with the peel, for Vitamin C, which can aid absorption of iron if consumed simultaneously. How are you feeling otherwise: headaches, lack of appetite, pallor,lethargy, bloating, or excessive bleeding for some reason? Your doctor should be evaluating any other symptoms to find the cause(anemia is a symptom, not its own disorder). If you alter your diet but the problem persists, there are other tests that can be run, and should be, to determine the origin of your problem. Good luck, dear.

I would not juiced carrot, I would juice the greens and blend the carrot

Hi Tamukha,

I'm totally confused. I read that beet and spinach are very high in oxalic acid. Yet, they're known for treating anemia. I also read from Norman Walker's Juice book that *cooked* oxalic acids is the problem, raw is fine.

As far as the blood report goes, nothing really jumps out other than the super low iron and ferratin compared to a month ago before I started the beet smoothie.

There is one other thing though, my bad chlolestrole (LDL) has jumped 30% (compared to a year ago) despite the fact that I've adopted a 70% raw and vegan diet and also taking 2 fish oils and 1 krill oil a day for the past year. I suppose that's probably because of lack of activity after my foot injury. I was hopinp a good diet can make up for that.

I'm starting to think there're some other digestive issues (low HCL, low bile) going on. I thought raw greens suppose to take care of that. Unfortunately, my problem is probably more serious than I thought.

I totally agree with you that anemia is a symptom, not its own disorder. Unfortunately, my doctor just told me to stop the smoothie, eat more red meat and take some iron pills. *Sigh*

-thx again.

Rawie,

Yes, it is confusing. Beet tops and spinach are high in iron, and thus considered good ways to increase your iron stores. However, they do have that oxalic acid. By the way, I'll check Norman Walker's book, but everything else I've seen says oxalic acid is neutralized by cooking. The older cultures always prepare greens, raw or cooked with lemon juice, sumac, or something else with Vitamin C because it can counteract oxalic acid by binding with iron for uptake, increasing assimilation of the mineral. I always juice my greens with lemon--helps give a sprightly taste, too.

Is that amount of fish/crustacean oil per doctor's instructions? They act as natural blood thinners in some people. If I were you, I'd have a liver panel done; on a high raw diet, your cholesterol should gradually stabilize to the proper ratio.

Your doctor[sigh]means well, I suppose, to tell you to eat red meat, as it falls under the same category of advice as spinach: it's high in iron, which should increase your stores. The problem is, your doctor doesn't know why your iron is depleted, and until he/she actually does his/her job and finds the cause, he/she shouldn't be treating it as an isolated disorder[what is the matter with these people? uh, sorry]. This is a drastic example, but a cancer patient with a hemorrhaging tumor can get as many blood transfusions as he wants--he'll still be anemic. Please ask your doctor to give you an ESR(erythrocyte sedimentation rate) test to check for inflammation, and get an accurate hemoglobin and platelet volume count. And in the meantime, eat less dairy and more beans and blackstrap molasses. I've found the latter can really make a difference. Good luck.

Hi Tamukha,

I've also read that just leaving beet juice in open air would neutralize the oxalic acid. Norman Walker thinks otherwise, cooking oxalic acid is the cause of many disease. I will definitely add kiwi, apple, lime with my greens now.

Are you saying that blood thinner not good for anemia? I take the oil pills on my own. My doctor didn't recommend them. My cholesterol level was quite healthy a year ago. HDL:LDL was 60:78 a year ago; now is 61:108. A whopping 30% hike! My homocystein also went from a 6 to 8 after adopting a 80% raw vegan diet. It's kinda discouraging.....

My SED rate is 10, so no inflammation. Yet my lymphs is high though. My massage therapist told me that my lymph is really blocked. So, there's definitely inflammation; just not the type traditional medicine can measure.

For the CBC, my hemoglobin and hemotocrit had always been on the low side.

As for the liver panel, my doc says the standard panel (which includes everything in the liver panel except for the Direct Bilirubin) didn't show anything.

The other thing is my last period was a little heavier than usual. I thought it was just the beet trying to detox and the beet should replenish the lost iron anyways.

I've been off diary and eggs for months now. I have problems digesting beans, even lentils. That's part of the reason I haven't gone full vegan yet. I will definitely try the blackstrap molasses.

I actually tried thining out my smoothies a lot (drinkable consistency instead of paste) today. And, it seems to go through my system much easier. I wonder if I was taking too much (2 cups of thick smoothies for lunch and another 1.5 cup in the evening) and my system couldn't handle it and just perch everything out before I have a chance to absorb it.

-many, many thks again for your advices

my pee was red too when i start blending bit and start drinking in mornig..
i notice its goes away when i start blending more vegetable not just beet.

i blend big size beat, spinach, celery

so try something like that.. it might works for u.