i turn vegan one year ago and for the past 5 months i became 100% raw foodist, (because of this website) but have not experience that extra super energy and i keep experiencing paleness. (i already heard all about detox). So i went to get a blood test done since i was low energy. Blood test results:

Iron: normal count supposed to be 284,
my result 4....extremely low, my doctor told me to start taking iron supplements which i did not believe in taking supplements since i thought the greens juices and salads and nuts would give me everything i needed. I guess i was wrong! plus i have i throat infection so i was prescribed penicillin. This have made me upset since i've been trying to detox my body for a year now. the last thing i wanted to do was to take medication, so i don't know what to do about the penicilling, i had this infection on and off for years and i thought by now it would be gone it was for a while but it came back
i guess i can not depend on greens for iron (tried it for a year, juiced a lot of vegetables, carrots took barley and had salad and nuts everyday, plus i was fasting once a week)
Penicillin? what are my options?
any comment would be appreciated
ana

I wonder! could it be? I wonder if such a problem is due to lack of nutrient in the food, check my post in gardening on nutrient dense food. i got a suspicion that's the problem. greens are supposed to have all those good things in them but as the minerals in the soil get used up the plant can't get it. and farmers in general arn't taught what they need.

Hi ana,


Could you post a typical daily menu for us? It might be that you're eating your greens etc. everyday but not eating enough of them/or the right type.

Did you tend towards being anaemic before you were raw?

Also, did the Dr test your B12 levels to see if it was iron-deficiency or pernicious anaemia?


I have always been slightly anaemic too, as is my mum. I get problems with it from time to time. I get a lot of bruises on my legs, so thats when I know to eat more dark green vegetables like watercress, dark green salad leaves or nettles. This always helps!


Skye,

x x x

Hi Rawsome,

Sorry to hear about your health.

I read in another form that water chestnuts are very high in iron - 90%. Not sure how much you have to eat. Try to find the info on fitday.com

I eat raw egg yolks and milk products and that helps with the iron and B12. I also supplement with muti-vitamins/minerals for vegans.

For your sore throat. You might want to read "The cure for all diseases" by Hulda Clark. Also, taking colloidal silver and parasite zapping will likely help. I had a very bad, bad cold with the full blown symptoms about 3 months back and I used colloidal silver and zapping to get better. I also used fenugreek seeds to make tea to cut the mucus. I had a friend that had a bad sinus infection and I gave her colloidal silver. By the end of the evening she sounded better than at the beginning of the 8 hours. With me, everyone that was sick like me at work was on antibiotics and had gone to the doctor. I just continued my regimen and got better without the drugs.

Email me if you want more info.

Best wishes,
Therese

I would take echinacea before considering penicillin.

You could try Floradix to boost your iron. Then look for good dietry sources.

X

hey rawsome

i read that nuts inhibit iron absorption, if they're not soaked or sprouted

look it up

and good luck

it sucks being anaemic

Hi Rawsome,

for vegans to get iron requires more than just eating things with iron in them. Iron from plants is hard for the human body to absorb, but it can be made a lot easier with the help of Vitamin-C. Eat an oranage 30minutes before eating some high iron foods. Greens can provide a lot of iron, but you need the vitamin-C to help the absorbsion. Parsley is really good because it contains lots of iron and lots of vitamin-C. You could make some tabolu (but use hemp seed rather than bulgar wheel since it's been blanched), which is a nice high iron/vitamin-C dish.

Here's a little info on heme vs non-heme iron:
[www.vrg.org]

Take care,
Ian.

Apparently Organic Maca powder contains 1.5mg iron and 28.6 mg of vitamin C per 10g. Gives you tonnes of energy and regulates the hormones too.
Good luck!
Anna

thanks to all for the replies i appreciated very much

My daily menu for the last 6 months of vegan diet:

At 6:15am one 8 once of fresly juiced carrot with a tspoon of barley max
At about 11:00 am another glass of juice with green pepper cucumber and an apple
At launch time a nice mix green salad with vinegar and olive oil or avocado
At about 3's an orange or any other fruit
At dinner time a huge mix greens with different vegatables
At about 9's a kale smoothi with banana, apple and 2 tbspoon flax seeds or a banana smoothie with flax seeds

i don't think i was anemic before since i did have blood test done prior to this and did not find any problem. i did some reading about iron and it is mainly contained in red meats and poultry, greens are supposed to have iron as well but like Reuben said the soil must be lacking nutrients. this is really dissapointing because it forces us to use supplements which iam not happy with.

when i got my blood test done i thout i would have problems with my B12 , but this was normal. it is my iron which explains many of the symptoms i was having thinking they were detox! so we have to watch for this.
ana

Try eating an orange, clementine or tangerine 20 to 30 minutes before each meal. I like clementines and tangerines because the are nice and small, easy to eat without filling you up or making a mess. I think the key is eating something high in vitamin-C a little before your meal, this allows your body to absorb a little vitamin-C and get mixed in with you're stomic juices ready to help with the iron processing. I'm not sure if the orange in the mid-afternoon will help as much as eating one before a meal.

Greens can have a high iron than meat, but they contain non-heme iron which is harder to absorb (especially without the vitamin-C). If the soil is lacking nutrients and minerials, the greens might appear a paler than they should. Go for the darker greens.

Good Luck,
Ian.

Can you really get that anemic from diet alone in that short a time? I don't think so.

This degree of anemia can be caused by internal bleeding, excessive menstrual bleeding, or parasites. If I were you I'd go back to the doctor and have some good comprehensive tests to find out just what's what. Once you know what's causing the anemia, you can find out natural methods to cure it.

Well,

for the past six months i stopped eating all cooked foods and was 100% raw eating a lot of greens and juicing green and carrots even using barley powder and soaking my nuts and to add to all this about 3 months ago i started using wheatgrass (2 oz a day six days a week) i thought i had it all covered!
when i started my new diet a year ago a did some colon cleansing taking some fiber for about 2 months just in case i had some parasites.
my menstrual cycles are normal. But i don't know about any internal bleeding??
hOw would this go about?
i did say i was anemic but my doctor never told me i was anemic, i realize now is not the same thing, he told me i had low iron 284:4. So i think i'll end up getting some liquid vegan iron since i donot believe in capsules. Unfortunately i'm considering starting to eat some eggs once in a while since they contain good amounts of iron, i guess this would be better than going back to eat meats which i donot want.
ana

My ferritin (iron) level was/is extremely low and I've been eating living-foods for 6 years now. I'm having my B12 MMA (Urine sample and not a blood sample. Urine B12 is more accurate than a B12 blood serum check) tested.

"Testing B12 status
A blood B12 level measurement is a very unreliable test for vegans, particularly for vegans using any form of algae. Algae and some other plant foods contain B12-analogues (false B12) that can imitate true B12 in blood tests while actually interfering with B12 metabolism. Blood counts are also unreliable as high folate intakes suppress the anaemia symptoms of B12 deficiency that can be detected by blood counts. Blood homocysteine testing is more reliable, with levels less than 10 mol/litre being desirable. The most specific test for B12 status is methylmalonic acid (MMA) testing. If this is in the normal range in blood (<370 nmol/L) or urine (less than 4 g /mg creatinine) then your body has enough B12. Many doctors still rely on blood B12 levels and blood counts. These are not adequate, especially in vegans. Is there a vegan alternative to B12-fortified foods and supplements?

If for any reason you choose not to use fortified foods or supplements you should recognise that you are carrying out a dangerous experiment - one that many have tried before with consistently low levels of success. If you are an adult who is neither breast-feeding an infant, pregnant nor seeking to become pregnant, and wish to test a potential B12 source that has not already been shown to be inadequate, then this can be a reasonable course of action with appropriate precautions. For your own protection, you should arrange to have your B12 status checked annually. If homocysteine or MMA is even modestly elevated then you are endangering your health if you persist.

If you are breast feeding an infant, pregnant or seeking to become pregnant or are an adult contemplating carrying out such an experiment on a child, then don't take the risk. It is simply unjustifiable.

Claimed sources of B12 that have been shown through direct studies of vegans to be inadequate include human gut bacteria, spirulina, dried nori, barley grass and most other seaweeds. Several studies of raw food vegans have shown that raw food offers no special protection.

Reports that B12 has been measured in a food are not enough to qualify that food as a reliable B12 source. It is difficult to distinguish true B12 from analogues that can disrupt B12 metabolism. Even if true B12 is present in a food, it may be rendered ineffective if analogues are present in comparable amounts to the true B12. There is only one reliable test for a B12 source - does it consistently prevent and correct deficiency? Anyone proposing a particular food as a B12 source should be challenged to present such evidence."
By Vegfamily...

I'm afraid that once my results come back I'll be deficient in B12 causing low levels in iron.

rawdev,
thank you for the information. my blood test showed normal levels of B12 but very low iron, so i will a urine test done to make sure. At the begining of my diet i was taking a aublingual B12 everyday, but i stated reading different materials (even on this website) in which suggested we do not need any B12 supplements since our bodies produce it. Later on i decided to start taking it again (not very consistently)because my mental clarity wasn't all there! Now more than ever i think i will stick with it.

My guess is that your problem is not that you are not taking in enough iron but that you are not ABSORBING it well.

According to a naturopath in New Zealand:

Some common causes of iron deficiency are:

• Chronic blood loss (eg from peptic ulcers,
other digestive tract bleeding, heavy
menstrual bleeding)

• Malabsorption conditions (eg Crohn’s or
coeliac disease)

• Inadequate dietary intake, poor eating habits

• Excessive consumption of food and drink
that inhibit iron absorption, e.g., tea, coffee,
bran, whole grains and fiber supplements

• Very high intake of other minerals
Calcium, zinc and magnesium in particular can
interfere with iron absorption

Common Symptoms of iron deficiency:

• Cracks in the corner of the mouth

• Sore, swollen or smooth tongue

• Brittle, concave nails sometimes with
longitudinal ridges

• Hair loss, fatigue, weakness

• Shortness of breath

• Craving for ice, dirt, paint or other ‘non-food’
substances

• Pallor – pale fingernails, face, inner eyelid

• Poor resistance to infection

How to improve iron absorption:

• Take vitamin C with iron supplements or
iron-containing foods – vitamin C
increases absorption of iron

• Avoid taking coffee, tea and excessive
amounts of grain foods and fibre alongside
iron supplements or iron-containing foods
– these all decrease the absorption of iron

• Avoid taking high doses of calcium,
magnesium or zinc alongside iron
supplements or iron-containing food

– these can all inhibit iron absorption
Supplementing with iron is often recommended.
Beware though, not all iron supplements
are created equal. The key to optimal iron
supplementation is not ‘more is better’ but
rather taking small amounts of better absorbed
forms of iron. Remember iron absorption is the
important factor NOT iron content.

[72.14.207.104]

A little more info I found -- it COULD be parasites! (see below):

Q. 1) What are the causes of Iron Deficiency Anemia?
Ans: The causes are
Dietary iron deficiency
Blood losses such as
peptic ulcer disease.
malignancy.
menstrual bleeding
chronic hemoptysis
parasitism by hookworms
Other causes include
Previous gastric or small bowel surgery without adequate iron supplementation.
pregnancy
lactation
malabsorption syndrome such as celiac disease


Q.2)What are the symptoms of Iron Deficiency Anemia?
Ans: The symptoms are
Fatigue
Dizziness
Breathlessness due to exertion
Exercise intolerance


Q.3) What are the related signs?
Ans: .The related signs are
Skin or conjunctival pallor,
cheilosis,
glossitis;
brittle, ridged, or spoon nails,
tachycardia,
esophageal web (Plummer-Vinson syndrome) on upper GI endoscopy and
splenomegaly.


Q.4)What investigations are done?
Ans: The tests conducted are
Peripheral smear
Serum iron.
Ferritin
TIBC


Q.5) What are the treatment measures?
Ans: The drugs used are
Iron supplementation - oral or parenteral
Multivitamins.


Q.6) What is the prognosis?
Ans : Prognosis is usually good after regular follow-up of medication

Q.7) How can Iron Deficiency Anemia be prevented?
Ans : Regular intake of iron-rich foods e.g. apples and consumption of a balanced diet will prove beneficial in preventing anemia.

another source of iron:

sunchokes - 25% iron!

another source of iron:

sunchokes - 25% iron!

LOVE, Namaste, Basia

Years ago a friend who had been in the Peace Corps was horribly fatigued. We were in Switzerland at the time. She went to a doctor who did a blood test. When she came back for the results he told her she was severely anemic and he said it was likely from parasites. It took some months to get her iron back up.

I think it's worth it to find out exactly why your iron is low and then you will know how to correct it. Just my opinion.

Hi,
My partner has had issues with anemia- low iron stores, low B12, and has found the same solution when she was eating cooked food or eating raw:

EAT SMALLER AMOUNTS OF FOOD!

Eating large amounts of iron-rich food did not help
When she eats smaller portions (no more than 2 cups of food per meal, 3 or 4 meals per day), her iron and B12 levels shoot up.

We think eating large amounts of food stresses out the digestive system and inhibits absorptions

I've noticed in myself and in some other raw fooders a tendency to overeat. It's hard to believe that one can get enough nutrients, but one really does become more efficient in absorbing nutrients and don't need to eat so much.- But one usually has to expereince it one's self (sometimes expereince it several times) before believing it.

It's crazy because my homocysteine and B12 blood work was normal but my MMA B12 urine wasn't...

I also had/have those symptoms of anemia. I experience cracking around the mouth, dry lips, dry skin, weak calf muscles (twitching/trembling), and left eye twitching.

I've been taking a Cal-Mag-Zinc supplement and didn’t help at all. So my ferritin is low and B12 is low.

Again, I've been eating living-foods for over 6 years now.

I personally think that people who eat straight raw-foods will see excellent results for the first few years but come the 4-5-6 year mark like me and others (Frederic Patenaude, Paul Nison, ……) will start to see bad effects.


Why Vegan?
Because I have the most love and admiration for all animals of the earth!!!
a rawvegan hopeful, rawdev4life!!!

Also, I would never be a nay-sayer or negative toward rawfoods because I am
a rawvegan hopeful, but man it's like the walls are crashing around me..............


Why Vegan?
Because I have the most love and admiration for all animals of the earth!!!
a rawvegan hopeful, rawdev4life!!!

rawsome,

I had this problem too. Here is the diet that worked/s for me: In the morning I ate 1-2 small handfuls of (soaked)nuts: (sunflower seeds, pepitas and almonds are the best- sunflower seeds are a complete protine source and pepitas too and have a lot of easily absorbed fiber) Then I eat a bowel of fruit- melons, kiwi(have more potassium than any other fruit), guava, mangos are great because they are very rich in vitamins and nutrients and they are easily absorbed by your body, unlike banans-which can lead to constipation.

Also,
I started juicing and included lots of spinach and a bit of kale.

I also eat some sort of seaweed once or twice a week-which I soak for at least 12hrs.

If you are eating nuts, you are getting enought fiber and do not need to supplement, which may be blocking absorbtion.

A side note: Something I have really gotten into is deep breathing- focusing in meditation in the morning and reminding myself throughout the day- the mind-breath alignment can help align us physically as well. I just finished a fascinating book called Breath by Breath by Larry Rosenberg.

Please keep us updated. I am especially interested to see if the vitamin c helps you absorb the iron.

Rawsome I should have ask you this before but;
Have you had your ferritin level tested?

Ferritin:

Ferritin is an iron-protein complex found in most tissues, but particularly the bone marrow and reticuloendothelial system.

Clinically, its importance is:

as an acute phase protein
as a non-specific index of liver disease
its close relationship to body stores of iron. Thus a low serum ferritin implies iron deficiency. Conversely, high ferritin can imply iron overload states. However, given the first two points in the list, ferritin levels must be interpreted in the light of ongoing inflammation and liver disease.

rawdev,
i'm sorry to hear tha your walls are crushing around you, even though i haven't been a raw foodist as long as you have i do understand how you feel, believing that raw food would have all the nutrients i would ever need, but i guess i was wrong and i'm gonna have to do some changes.
I thought ferritin was the same as iron?

michele
I donot think that my iron is low because of low absorbtion because if that was the case then i would have had this problem prior to changing my diet to raw. Also i took more care of my digestive system when i changed my diet, but just in case i'll get a parasite test done.
thanks for the suggestion.

Satya11,
i think i would need more than just fruits and vegetables to increase my iron, and i know this because vegetables and fruits (had apples everyday) is all i've been eating for the last year and my iron went down.