more iron info than you can shake a stick at aka the coca cola wars
Hmm. Since someone —
To remain unnamed [Lulu Malone!] was advising me to take iron tablets with milk and chocolate and she shops at whole food stores which should generally indicate some knowledge of nutrition except not this time [sheesh] here is —
more iron info than you can shake a stick at
Iron is absorbed by receptacles in the body that do double duty absorbing a whole lot of other things as well. And, any time you take iron in combo with any of these other things, the other things get first dibs and iron gets shunted. [That is because iron is harder to absorb than most other things being, well, iron.] That means, you can take iron till you are blue and not get any iron into your system at all if you are doing it wrong.
Iron blockers include components in carbonated beverages [sodas are out], caffiene [tea and coffee are out and so is chocolate], components in cigarettes [smokes are out], alcohol [booze is out], ibuprofen [pain relievers are out — gee guess when you need the most iron AND pain relief?], all the mineral and metal supplements like calcium [milk is out cottage cheese is out yogurt is out regular cheese is out and so is any juice with calcium additives], magnesium, copper, zinc, etc. etc., and some other forms of iron. Like the iron in spinach. It blocks other iron. So. Eat spinach, which gives you a minuscule amount of iron, and a steak which gives you more? You get the spinach iron, but it blocks all other iron so you lose the steak iron. [Do not ask me why, iron is just really really weird that way.]
Meanwhile, the body cannot metabolize iron without vitamin C and folic acid. So again you can be stuffing iron like a ninja but, if you do not have folic acid and vitamin C in your system? Choke down all the iron you want, but no iron for you.
That is why I was crying the other day about having to take iron but wanting a Coca Cola. Iron is a bitch to metabolize. Moreso for me because I got some sort of delicate flower gene that quails under iron metabolize this duress. I still smoke the cigs, [no way in hell am I going five hours without a cig every time I have to take the damn iron a cig is one small blocker I can live with that — let us hope], but if I don’t take the iron clean with no other blockers? I might just as well not take it because I will get iron sick with no iron benefit oh irony [I so did not say that].
And I have to take the damn iron.
And clean means skipping chocolate and milk Miz Malone.
This has been a public service message from —
Your Friendly Neighborhood Adams Girl
ps : one of the best iron supplements out there is floradix iron & herbs it contains iron and vit c and folic acid so you get the supplements to metabolize the iron with the iron — also it is liquid and hella easier to stomach than iron pills
15 Responses to more iron info than you can shake a stick at aka the coca cola wars
Ha! You’re hilarious, lovable, and disseminate useful information to the public! All in one swoop.
I was, actually, kidding, ya know. I am a nutritional dominatrix with my own diet–very strict. I was anemic, and was able to get my iron up with pills, but did watch taking them with other supplements. I eat a TON of meat, though, so that helps. Red meat is a girls best friend [wink]. Screw diamonds. Give me a nice hunk of flesh any day–especially in tight jeans and no shirt.
You know, Max, smoking depletes the body of Vitamin C.
Yeah I know. Sigh. Fortunately, though, there are these little tablets I can take and that helps out.
Why is everything I like so bad for me? Geesh.
For real I needed the update. I am starting to feel like a witch in the woods with all these odd supplements and remedies I give Zach.
Does Zack have to take iron? Guys usually do not and you can actually get iron poisoning if you have too much of it though that is pretty rare.
Zach takes iron every other month because his iron is low. We get bloody noses from low iron in our family. It’s mal nutrition really, he eats no red meat, nothing green but the occasional pea ( yuk!) He doesn’t eat fortified cereal very often because of the gluten in the wheat. His soy milk sometimes if the one with calcium. I am going to try it when he is on almond milk.
Lulu, is it true you should have a steak with a glass of orange juice? I prefer red wine but maybe I can sneak some in – of course, that’s sounds like a recipe for a stomach ache.
Oh! How bodybuilder-ish of me lol
I meant a glass of orange juice with your steak.
They tell you to drink OJ with iron [in the sitch you are talking about, in the form of steak, but they tell you to do it with iron tabs and liquids too] because OJ has high concentrates of vit C which helps you metabolize iron and an acidic content that helps break it down. You have to have a pretty tough stomach for the combo though.
I will try it but only if I’m eating a cheap piece of steak which will never happen but if it does I won’t miss it going back up.
Do not do it. It will be ghastly, the OJ will completely clash with the flavor of the steak, and half the orange juice out there these days has calcium additives so will not work anyway. Better to have a glass of red wine. It will help break down the steak so will increase iron intake, it is good for the heart and blood, and it will taste better and won’t arm wrestle the steak later.
I have to agree with Max on that one, Stil. Red wine.
I have had quite a few blood tests to check my vitamin and iron levels, and have had success getting my levels back to normal by taking my supplements in different groupings throughout the day, to minimize their little conflicts. Once you digest them, and they are in your system, it seems to work well. I now take groupings different days, since I am back to a more normal balance.
I am convinced that the most evil thing we consume is sugar. I think it trumps fat. The key is body synergy, and not consuming things you don’t need. I try to stick to what our ancestors ate over 10,000 years ago. That is what our bodies evolved to utilize most efficiently. “Modern” food is not edible, and mostly toxic.
Hey Californiablogging–I have seen that you have a child with illness–I just wrote a post at my place about yeast, and treatment for it that my be helpful. I have a multitude of symptoms that have been getting worse for over two years, and now that I have found this, I am getting well at a dramatically quick rate. Yeast is linked to autoimmune disorders, Autism, and many other profound illnesses!
I hope it can help you, too!
On a VERY intense and long aerobic workout – a day long Shodan grading, which really is a lot of fun – one young man, while doing an intense isometric tension exercise, a kata, just simply froze stiff, like a statue, and fell over. And he couldn’t move. Turns out later he was fine. He just had a habit of eating a lot of spinach. Yes, a lot of spinach. Spinach poisoning. All the un-metabolized iron blocked the normal muscle, lactic acid recovery system and he just seized up. He drinks orange juice with it since. True story. Not me.
His name was Popeye, right?
:-) No. But we called him that after.