low ferritin and foods to eat

Audrey-B

Cereal is a good option as a lot of cereals contain iron and when you drink a glass of orange juice or eat some fruit high in vitamin C along with your cereal it really helps your body absorb the iron in the cereal much better.

BUT......there always seems to be a 'but' with iron.......the milk you have with your cereal actually can stop your body absorbing the iron by up to 60% which is basically like having a caffeinated beverage with your meal. I have heard that some people actually pour orange juice over their cereal instead while others simply eat their cereal dry. In the info i was given by my specialist he said high amounts of milk or cheese with meals should be avoided if you are trying hard to raise your ferretin levels. I don't know about yogurt, as you will often read that where dairy products aren't suitable for certain conditions, natural yogurt appears to be ok and is not considered to be the same as milk.

Thanks for your post anyway. I will keep an eye out for that cereal

bittygirl

Hey thanks. I was totally unaware of the milk and cheese issue with raising ferritin. I eat a lot of cheese everyday on my salad. i wonder if I should stop taking my calcium pills too. Im taking 1000mg a day on top of what I eat.
thanks for the info.

sparkles916

Yep, it can be quite the schedule to keep.

For me, I try take my thyroid hormone on an empty stomach in the morning. Then, I take my iron on an empty stomach (best to do, but not everyone can tolerate it), usually in the afternoon. I have to make sure that the iron at least 4 hours away from the thyroid hormone and the iron should not be taken close to any calcium based food item nor supplement. Then I take my calcium with magnesium at night.

Since my multivitamin has iron calcium in it, I try to take it in early evening. I cannot take it early with the thyroid hormone, since iron will interfere. I cannot take it in the early afternoon with my iron, since the calcium with interfere. I don't want to take it too late in the day, since it has significant b vits and they will keep me awake. Late afternoon is the only sensible time slot.

Very complicated!

ChristineVA

All of the Total brand of cereals also have 100% of the recommended iron in them. Despite eating this for years, I somehow still managed to become anemic.

Anyway, besides the milk issue with the iron, did you know that wheat products or grains contain "phytate" which blocks iron absorption? Great, huh? So, really, how much iron are we really getting out of that fortified cereal?

I'm still eating it of course, because I like it, but I don't know what it really does for me. I was also making matters worse by having a hot cup of tea with my cereal. The tannins in tea also block iron absorption.

Audrey-B

Christine - i also love my cups of tea and sometimes really love a cup of tea with either lunch or dinner. I found a tea in my supermarket which only has 2% tannins in it and my specialist said that 2% does no harm. I also found a natural tea which comes from Africa, i think it's called Rooibos, and you can make it dark and add milk and it tastes very close to traditional black tea. Not exactly the same, but close enough if you love your tea fix.

It's so hard sometimes keeping tabs on what to have and what not to have, what food groups go ok together and which ones don't. I hear what you are saying about the wheat. I never knew that. I did read that rye is very good for anemia (and for tooth enamel). I often buy rye bread as i LOVE the taste of rye and am on the look out for rye flour for when i make crepes.

bittygirl - as far as i have read and the info i received from my specialist it is ok to have cheese and milk products, but not too much with your main meals. If you are worried about taking your calcium pills, you could have your calcium pills just before bedtime as that would be well after your dinner.

As my doc says, "you still have to enjoy life", even if you are trying to boost your ferretin. He says you can go ahead and have your cereal with milk, but at lunch and dinner time try to take greater care with food combinations/beverages. So that's what i do, sometimes i have the kind of breakfast i want and forget about all the restrictions and instead i will have an anemic friendly lunch and dinner. Other times i'll do the right thing at breakfast and lunch, but if i'm going out i wont stress over my dinner. So i'm sure it wont do any harm to mix things around a bit, otherwise you will go nuts attempting to do the right thing 100% of the time 24/7.

bittygirl

Thanks so much for the informative info. Definetly gives me something to think about. :-)

SmilingAngel

Hi,

I also have a question I am not sure about:
Is Coke really keeping the body from absorbing iron? A friend told me about that, but I don't know if it is true. He said it has something to do with the phosphate in Coke (??)?

ChristineVA

Yes, the phosphate in sodas will block iron absorption.

I don't believe this occurs with sparkling waters though or anything that doesn't use a phosphate to carbonate.

help wanted :(

does anyone have anymore tips on this sort of thing? things not to eat and drink or whats good to eat and try to boost your iron?

theartyone

This is true. I love porridge and started making it with soya milk instead- it actually tastes good. Other nice alternatives are rice milk and almond milk.

Audrey-B

Yesterday i bought a cast iron pan to cook my steaks on as somebody on here once started a thread on using cast iron and the benefits.

I'm not doing this thinking it will raise my levels a whole lot as i now know no matter what i do it will take a long time to get where my doctor wants my ferretin to be (100 - 150). It took me 2 years to get to 61 and now i'm sort of at a stand still. I also now know it's due to my thyroid condition as well as a lack of digestive enzymes, plus a small gluten intolerance (i say small as i don't have Celiac's).

If your ferretin is low solely due to your diet, you only need a diet change as well as a supplement and you will notice reasonably quick results.

If it's a major effort to get your levels raised then no amount of eating 'iron rich' foods is going to help as your low ferretin is as a result of some other illness. I spent months making fresh juices of which the main ingredient was fresh beetroot to no avail. I'm sure it helped somewhat and it's very healthy, but no amount of iron rich food was going to make a difference due to my other health problems. Virtually every person over on the thyroid board has a low ferretin or difficult to raise ferretin as well as being low in other things. A lot of them are gluten intolerant too.