How I’m Naturally Increasing Iron

How I’m Naturally Increasing Iron. I’ve been working on increasing my iron again after becoming anemic, here is how I’m doing it with foods.

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Did you know there are ways to address anemia with whole foods? Instead of using synthetic supplements that can create more issues and imbalances in the body?

I personally had never struggled with anemia until this year. After going through a very rough miscarriage and losing a lot of blood I was just feeling so off. We did a bunch of bloodwork and my naturopath called me frantically, saying “please be careful to not do anything strenuous because your iron is so low you are at a high risk of fainting if you raise your heartrate”.

We were in Maui at that time and it all made sense why walking very far, or doing any exercise or snorkeling would make me feel so lightheaded. So I took it easier for the rest of our trip.

When we got home I did let her do an iron IV because I wasn’t pregnant anyway and we were getting ready to move across the country and I was hoping it would give me more energy. It didn’t. I actually didn’t notice any difference at all from it unfortunately. I also wouldn’t have done it if I was pregnant because I don’t believe synthetic iron is very good for you or very absorbable.

After that though I started working on raising it naturally with whole foods.

How I’m Naturally Increasing Iron

Beef Liver

First I increased the beef liver capsules I was already on as a multivitamin. Liver is such a good source of iron and it also has the necessary co-factors that allow it to be absorbed, like copper.

Where I buy high quality grassfed beef liver capsules – code WILSONHOMESTEAD for a discount

Multi Organs

Then I decided to switch from beef liver to multi-organs.

This multi-organ blend I buy has spleen included which is yet another great whole food ancestral source of iron. I also felt like it was just a lot more balanced to be taking a blend instead of just one organ long term.

You also might be surprised to learn that spleen has been shown to have higher heme iron content than that of muscle meats. Additionally spleen has been shown to have 5x more heme iron than liver! So combining the liver and spleen was really key.

This multi also includes heart, thymus, kidney and pancreas. Supporting our whole bodies and multiple organs will help your body get back to full health faster.

Thymus glandulars support many aspects of immune function. Most of the reported benefits of thymus extracts have been observed with cellular immunity. Thymus glandulars stimulate the production, maturation, and activation of T cells, a type of white blood cells. 

The pancreas is an organ in the digestive system whose primary function is to produce enzymes (amylase, lipase, and protease) required for the digestion and absorption of food. Lipase aids in fat digestion, protease digests proteins, and amylase digests starchy molecules. Desiccated pancreas is a rich source of vitamin C, B12, B2, B3, B5, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc.

Desiccated heart, or a heart glandular, is the richest source of naturally occurring coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) available in whole foods. Heart glandulars provide proteins exclusively expressed in heart tissue along with nutrients, cofactors, and enzymes that may support heart health, blood pressure health, and nutrition for mitochondria giving benefit to athletic performance.

Grass-fed kidneys contain essential omega 3 fatty acids, key to heart health, as these fats have been linked to lowering blood pressure, decreasing inflammation, and increasing blood flow. Packed with energy boosting B12 and one of the best-known food sources of selenium. Kidney also provides vitamin A, vitamin D, niacin, iron, zinc, copper, potassium, and phosphorus. Desiccated kidney helps support immunity, blood flow, thyroid function, fertility, and has powerful antioxidant properties.

– Perfect Supplements website

Where I buy multi-organs for the whole family – code wilsonhomestead

Acerola powder

I take acerola powder daily as a whole food source of vitamin C. Did you know that a lot of times synthetic vitamin C is actually ascorbic acid made out of mold and can be toxic? I try my best to stay away from ascorbic acid C. Acerola powder is literally just made from a variety of cherry that is super high in vitamin C.

Now, you might be wondering, why am I talking about vitamin C when we should be talking about iron?

Don’t worry, I promise it is related.

Vitamin C actually assists your body in absorbing iron effectively!

So every day when I take my multi organ I also take two capsules of acerola powder with it.

This is yet another reason why I don’t like most synthetic iron supplements on the market, because they usually include ascorbic acid which can actually hinder iron absorption instead of assist like a good form of vitamin C.

Where I buy high quality acerola powder capsules – code wilsonhomestead for a discount

Molasses

Molasses is another good whole food source of iron, and again with important nutrient co-factors like sulphur.

I make a little shot every day with a bit of orange juice, about a tablespoon of molasses and some acerola powder. Very high in both iron and vitamin C.

I usually do that at a different time of day than my multi-organs to spread out when I’m getting iron.

Bone marrow + selenium

My naturopath also suggested going on both bone marrow and selenium capsules as they both help with increasing iron and iron absorption. I split the bone marrow in two doses, two capsules in the morning and two in the evening with dinner. I take the selenium with my multi-organs and acerola at dinner time.

Eat lots of meat

Then lastly a really easy and delicious way to get more bio-available iron in is to eat a lot of red meat. I eat a lot of beef especially and also lamb. Every single day. It is the easiest food for your body to digest and has so many other vitamins and minerals besides iron.

Whole food is always best to try first in my opinion, because you know it’s in a form that your body can actually use. Instead of taking something synthetic which a lot of times doesn’t do much other than make you have very expensive urine.

So to revisit….

• I take multi-organ capsules daily (beef liver capsules are also good, or if you can find all those organs fresh and cook them up then even better).
• I take acerola capsules with the multi organs to aid in absorption.
• I take a molasses + vitamin C shot every day.
• I eat lots of grassfed red meat.
• I take bone marrow and selenium daily.

Also keep in mind

• Don’t stress about it too much, but it’s a good idea to take any iron supplements away from dairy because calcium can hinder iron absorption. I do not think it’s as big of a deal when you’re using whole foods, like if you were to eat beef liver and drink a glass of raw milk, you’re still going to get an increase in iron. But just something I like to keep in mind. Usually I take my iron supplements with dinner and I just have my glass of milk with breakfast or lunch instead of dinner.

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