I am (not exactly) Iron Woman

[mollyringle]

Incidentally, turns out my hematocrit levels (that's "iron in the blood," if you don't watch TV hospital shows) are a shade on the low side--32%, when they should ideally be around 35% or 36%. Doesn't exactly count as anemia, or at least not to any alarming degree, but upping my iron intake may be in order.

Thing is, I already take the prenatal vitamin, which is packed with the stuff, so I'd rather not add on iron supplements. Preferably I can do this with diet. To avoid interfering with iron absorption, coffee and tea are out (seems to be due to tannins as much as caffeine), and vitamin C is in. Animal sources of iron are absorbed much more easily than vegetable sources, so eggs and meat are also in--but spinach and legumes and so forth couldn't hurt.

And here's my own independently thought-up idea: dark chocolate. I noticed on my container of Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa (Dutch-processed; we're talking the non-sweetened powder, for use as an ingredient) that one tablespoon of the cocoa has 15% of your RDA for iron. Now, they're probably going by the non-pregnant person's RDA, which is something like 18 mg/day--at least for women; men require less. Assuming that's the number they used, then one tablespoon of Special Dark Cocoa has 2.7 mg of iron. Beef tenderloin has about 1 mg per ounce. Oh, and also note that regular Hershey's Cocoa has only 4% of your iron per tablespoon, or 0.72 mg. So make it dark! The Special Dark variety also has the benefit of making your chocolate recipes turn out very nearly black. It's quite cool.

Thing is, how do I consume this lovely stuff without using milk? For calcium-rich foods also interfere with iron absorption. Well, one possibility is molasses, which is just about as iron-rich, tablespoon for tablespoon, as our Hershey Dark there. So maybe I make myself a little drink of hot water, cocoa, and molasses. Could throw in some spices for flavor. Hm. Would be better with hot milk, but doesn't sound too bad, all the same. Bottoms up.

P.S. Just be careful, since, as you know, molasses occasionally busts loose and goes on killing sprees.

Comments

[elycia.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who found the relaxation/meditation and breathing techniques she learned in yoga classes to be HUGELY helpful. (In her case, she ended up having a C-section when the baby started showing distress, but she made it through *many* hours of labor w/o meds. She was also having her first child at 41, so you're in a much better position there.)Dunno if you're into taking yoga classes at this stage, but thought I'd pass it along.

Oh, and Total breakfast cereal has 100% of your RDA of iron per serving--easy way to get more iron, esp. now that they have some interesting flavors. (Sez one who is *chronically* anemic, to the point of serious illness on occasion.)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

*nod nod*
Mostly what they teach in childbirth classes, as ways to deal with labor (before or without medication) is breathing and relaxation. From the little yoga I've learned, it's pretty much the same thing. I already know it helps when I'm stressed or feeling ill in general, so I figure it's got a good chance in labor too. They talk a lot about the "fear-tension-pain" cycle, a cycle that in my easily-stressed existence is definitely real. So if you can eliminate the fear and tension, you can lose a lot of the pain.

Yes! Grape-Nuts, actually, have nearly 100% of the RDA for iron. :) Though the difficulty is our tendency to eat cereal with milk--and calcium interferes with iron. Doi. Come on, nature, cooperate a little. Still, can't hurt to have the cereal...I'm convinced it fills in the corners at least. *doses you with some of the extra red blood I seem to have these days*