Seems like I am low in iron. I have been following the BTD for Type 0 since the beginning of the year. Is there something I could be missing out on by following the diet? i eat lots of beef, leafy greens, figs, etc. Not sure why I might be low in iron... ? Any suggestions?

Heavy periods?

Molasses could be a welcome addition

Yes, true, I was thinking it could be due to that...
How much molasses, do you think?

I don't know..

A quick Google search returns this website: http://www.irondeficiencyguide.com/

Check this image;


Perhaps you're consuming too little vitamin C or too much spinach?

Have you had your iron level determined by a blood test? Lots of thing can cause fatigue other than low iron, and you want to treat the problem you actually have, not the problem you think you have. Have you had your ferritin (stored iron) level tested?

Too much iron can be as harmful as too little, and our bodies don't really have ways to get rid of excess iron. So you don't want to supplement iron unless you're certain you need it. I remember reading somewhere that iron feeds bad microbes, and the body sometimes stores away circulating iron in an attempt to "starve" the microbes. Artificially inflating your iron count (as with iron supplements) can cause more harm than  good if this is the case. If this is the case, your ferritin level will be normal or high, even as your circulating iron is low.

If you have low circulating iron because of a bacterial or fungal infection, then you want to treat the underlying infection, and then your iron level will normalize itself.

Thanks Ruth, I went to donate blood last week and was told that my haemoglobin levels were too low to donate blood. They did take some blood to send to the lab and I am awaiting results as to whether I am low in iron.

I do have heavy periods and I also have PCOS and ulcerative proctitis (but not many flare ups since starting BTD).

Anway, I am not overdoing it now with extra iron rich foods and I'm not taking supplements unless the Doctor recommends it after I get the results back from the test, I'm just trying to boost iron uptake by eating a bit of vitamin C foods such as a bit of tomato with my beef, etc. Also eating a few teaspoons of molasses, and have started eating pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds again, which I'd kind of forgotten about for a while..

I'm just not myself lately, and, being an O positive, it's partly because I have a knee injury which has been ongoing for about 4-5 months now, so I'm not able to be as active and do as much vigorous activity as I used to. Hope it gets better soon.

do try looking into resetting your genes through diet

http://www.4yourtype.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ED011

lastly, let swami do the math for you

For heavy periods:


http://www.dadamo.com/protocols/8.html

http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/nutrition/iron.aspx

http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/nutrition/calcium.aspx

http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/nutrition/essential-fatty-acids.aspx

http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/nutrition/

http://www.vegansociety.com/downloads/PBN.pdf

Quoted from ruthiegirl

Have you had your iron level determined by a blood test? Lots of thing can cause fatigue other than low iron, and you want to treat the problem you actually have, not the problem you think you have. Have you had your ferritin (stored iron) level tested?

Too much iron can be as harmful as too little, and our bodies don't really have ways to get rid of excess iron. So you don't want to supplement iron unless you're certain you need it. I remember reading somewhere that iron feeds bad microbes, and the body sometimes stores away circulating iron in an attempt to "starve" the microbes. Artificially inflating your iron count (as with iron supplements) can cause more harm than  good if this is the case. If this is the case, your ferritin level will be normal or high, even as your circulating iron is low.

If you have low circulating iron because of a bacterial or fungal infection, then you want to treat the underlying infection, and then your iron level will normalize itself.

Ruthie you are a fount of fascinating information!  I just had my iron tested and the serum ferritin is higher (123) than the serum iron (70). Both are within the 'normal' range but I was wondering why one was higher.  Does this mean I'm fighting an infection?

Three years ago my ferritin was 35 and iron was 184 but I have no idea why it was high then and lower now.  

I'm not familiar enough with ferritin levels to know what's considered a "normal" or "high" number. Nor do I know if they even use the same units for the two blood tests. I just know enough that "too much iron can be dangerous" and "if your iron count is low, check ferritin level before supplementing."

The body will put "just the right amount" of iron into circulation and store the rest. If the circulating iron is low, it's either because of an infection (extra in storage) or iron deficiency (when there isn't any, or enough, in storage) in which case iron supplementation makes sense.