I have several posts across my blog discussing various things I had to change about my diet and supplements to get my iron and CBC tests normalized. I thought I would summarize the main points here for those who would appreciate having all the relevant information in one place.
-
Correct dietary imbalances between copper and zinc. For me in general, this meant increasing my consumption of animal foods since I was taking in too much copper through my diet. Animal foods are the best sources of zinc. Zinc from plants doesn’t absorb into the body as well, and many plants tend to have as much, if not more, copper, which effectively cancels out any zinc that might be obtained from them. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you may want to discuss your situation with a nutritionist to find appropriate sources of zinc. I like to combine meat with sources of copper like beans, nuts/seeds, and sweet potatoes.
-
Correct dietary imbalances between iron and vitamin E. When I got my copper and zinc in balance, my iron intake increased. This resulted in symptoms that I discovered over time were due to vitamin E deficiency, which was caused by the excessive iron intake. I began adding sources of vitamin E to meals to balance out the iron that would be in the rest of the meal, like the meat and beans. I would add foods like kiwi, mango, papaya, nuts/seeds, spinach, and buttery spreads to increase the vitamin E content. The Boost shakes with 100% of the RDA of vitamin E work great with cream of rice, instant grits, and other foods with high amounts of added iron. I drink Bai Cocofusion with the microwaveable meals I get from the grocery store when I want something quick.
-
There are websites and apps available that can be used to look up nutritional information for foods. I haven’t used any regularly in a long time and will normally just look up a new food I want to try online rather than through an app. Early on, as you’re learning the amounts of copper, zinc, iron, and vitamin E in foods, the websites and apps are essential tools. Take a look to see what apps and websites are out there and stick with what works for you.
-
Be mindful of vitamins and supplements you may be using that could interfere with iron utilization. For me, the Nature Made multivitamins and extra vitamin D supplementation caused issues. Switching to the Centrum Women’s multivitamin finally got my iron levels normalized. After my ferritin levels finally started going up, I bought a calcium supplement at the store with extra vitamin D because the one without vitamin D that I usually bought was not available. Before I had finished the bottle, my ferritin was back down. Once I switched back to a supplement without the vitamin D, I started feeling better, and over time, my ferritin started going back up again.
-
Make sure that the rest of your diet and lifestyle are healthy as well. There may be other factors that I’m not aware of that could also interfere with iron utilization. Making sure your diet and lifestyle are healthy could minimize or even eliminate these other factors. Consume a reasonable number of calories each day. This would probably be around 2,000 calories for most active adults. Exercise consistently. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in a variety of colors each day. Eliminate any reactive foods from your diet, dealing with exposure from trace residues as needed. See a doctor you trust regularly for checkups and preventive care. Do what you can to handle or deal with other health issues. I now use stronger glasses and hearing aids to help my body handle weakening vision and hearing loss, which the inner ear damage I have in both ears makes harder. Modifying how I do certain things has also helped my body to cope with the inner ear damage. I’ve added other supplements as needed to deal with other health issues.
Hopefully these tips will help others who are having issues optimizing their iron levels to get them to where they need to be. I had dealt with iron issues over many years that finally came to a head in 2016, when I began trying different things to get them fixed. I’m very thankful to God for leading me in the right direction to find the things that I needed to address and to figure out how to address them.
If you like this post, please consider subscribing by e-mail and/or grabbing the RSS feed. Feel free to comment on this post or use my contact form to send me a message. Also, please consider sharing this post to your favorite social media sites. Thanks!
RSS - Posts
