Bloody Iron!

When I went vegan, I planned to check my blood levels after lets say, the first year, so I could make sure the the diet does no harm to me. Every time someone approached me with praise – how wonderful it is, that I am a vegan (what did not happen very often as you can imagine) – my answer was "Wait until we see the blood results."

So here I am sitting with my new numbers from my first vegan blood result.

I had expected the cholesterol levels to improve over the 15 months, what they did. So the cholesterol did improve. Which is no surprise.

This little buddy lifts weights 10-times his own weight. Read below what his secret is.

But how about iron? Women before and after menopause get told to take extra care about the iron level.

Iron. As in red meat. And more meat. And even more meat. That's what the doctor's tell their patients: Eat more meat.

When I became vegan, I expected to develop a hunger for red meat. The hunger as an indictor, that I am missing something in my diet only meat can deliver.
Only that hunger never occured. I kept waiting ... nada.  


Another iron-aspect is related to milk. In school we hear how important milk is. It makes us strong. What most people don't know because no one educates us: milk actually limits the assimilation of iron. So with every glass of milk of scoop of cream or slice of cheese, you hinder your body to get the most out of the iron in your diet.

Sorry, cow. No milk for me. 

The healthy iron range (at least that the doctors say) is between 40 and 150.  Before becoming vegan, my iron was at a decent 66. Rather low, regarding the healthy range, but still healthy.

You can imagine my surprise and to a certain extent when I read the blood test result. My iron number did not just stay at the level where it was before, when I was an "omnivore", it  improved to impressive 99. Well, this might not impress you, since we are talking about my iron, which is really not the most impressive topic, but I can tell you, I AM impressed!

99 is excellent. Does it prove that those established opinions are wrong?
I would not go that far. What I do say though is, that this number proves how contraproductive the regular milk-intake is - iron-wise. Not just iron-wise, but for today I stick with the iron.
Ok, I've ruled out the disturbing milk. Only leaving out the milk alone won't do the job. 

To be able disturb any intake, you have to have an intake in the beginning. So where does my plant-based iron come from? I can assure you, there are other iron sources besides rusty pans.

The following friendly aliens supply me with iron. "Aliens", because I assume that most of you will not be all too familiar with those products:

 

Any lentil is good. Lentils de Puy deliver the best taste and stay al dente. No soaking required. 

Simply boil them as you would boil potatoes or noodles, just a little longer.

 Sesame. They add a nice flavour and make any salad complete. Plain or roasted, comme tu veux!

 Chickpea flour -mostly in form of a backup for fancy recipes. I don't really need it, but I keep using it.

 Canned lentils - the most backup'y a backup can get.

 Cashews above hummus. The hummus is made of chickpeas, sesame and olive oil.

Skeptics and doctors (the same? ;-)) point out, that the plant based iron is not as valuable as the iron that comes from animals, that the body can not absorb it properly. Non-heam and so ...

That's why I like convetional tests like the blood test. Looking down at those numbers any skecptic can not deny that plant based iron does the job.

A nice side effect is that all these iron sources also provide a decent amount of protein, in case you worry about my protein intake. ;-)

source: https://de-de.facebook.com/ThisVegansLife

Any questions?