Moderators: JeffN, f1jim, carolve, Heather McDougall
pinkrose wrote:Heike, congratulations on improving your diet!
I also have a history of anemia. So when I started McDougalling I was reluctant to give up the daily multiple vitamin and mineral supplement. However, after over a year of nutrition education here and improving my diet, I decided to give up the supplement. A few months later, all of my lab results were good!
I will give you the details of what I eat and you can compare it to what you eat: I eat over a pound of green leafy veggies daily and big servings of other color veggies--broccoli, celery, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, snow peas etc. I usually also eat about five cups of brown rice and a pound or two of sweet potatoes or potatoes daily.
Thanks so much for your eating tips!! I am trying to eat a huge variety of veggies but maybe I need some more of the green leafy ones you mentioned. I don't think I eat that much of it. After 6 weeks I am still a bit reluctant in giving up all of my vitamins Is it right that you do not take anything except the B12? Was there any change for you, except for the better? I am not taking a lot, just one multivitamin pill a day, which also contains the necessary amount of B12. In addition I have a condition called KPU which basically means my body cannot use a couple of vitamins from the B group as well as other people do so I need to supplement high amounts of it. Therefore I take some medication here too and basically that's it. It sounds great to me that after you have given up the supplementation your numbers were normal and good, wonderful.
I know I still have a long way to go with my cholesterol, that is why I wanted to stick to the plant based diet and not go back to meat. Thanks Heike
I think several of the above foods are high in iron and I have no reason to believe that I am now at risk for anemia. I also take a small B12 supplement weekly.
So I think you probably can get all of the iron and other nutrients you need without eating animal products if you will focus on eating the colorful veggies and unrefined starches.
Let us know how you do!!!
somnolent wrote:Hmmm...if I recall correctly, red blood cells live for quite a while (3 months), so it seems odd that you would suddenly become anemic because of 6 weeks on a vegan diet. Are you sure that you were not anemic before? And that you are anemic now?
somnolent wrote:I think it is easy for people to blame diet instead of looking for other causes. There are so many causes of anemia that it seems a little impulsive just to assume that it is diet.
Do you happen to know the rest of the numbers from your blood test, such as hemoglobin, hematocrit, and mcv?
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