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Carao Fruit
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General Feedback
It occurs most often among people of Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African descent.
It is good to know if you are a trait of Hemoglobin Alpha, Beta, or worse, so that you can find the right solution to your health problem.
Check National Heart Lung and Blood Institutes' website for more details. Oakland, CA also has a center dedicated for children having this condition.
General Feedback
The type of anemia that most people probably hear about is called hypochromic microcytic anemia (meaning low color and small size of hemoglobin) of which the most common cause is iron deficiency, hence the recommendation from doctors to take iron supplements. It is said that about 20% of women of child bearing age are anemic due to this type of anemia from the loss of blood from menses. Finding out your iron ferritin levels is a start to see if iron supplementation would work for you, however, oftentimes iron supplements do not work and are potentially dangerous. There are many, many other types of anemia and causes, like sickle cell anemia or the mal-absorption of other nutrients like B12/folic acid/copper, or hypothyroidism (a reason many people have cold hands is because oxygen is not being carried there). A treatment plan for anemia first consists of finding where the anemia stems from and then assessing how to best correct it. For instance, is it low iron counts or is it because the iron is not being absorbed properly or not used efficiently?
I absolutely stand behind food sources for iron rather than supplementation because of the whole package that a true, whole food presents. Nature has supplied us with little packages of nutrition that include many of the synthesizing minerals and vitamins that are needed to treat our bodies. For instance, for iron to be fully absorbed it needs the help of copper, B12, folic acid and vitamin C (probably among a few others). There are many sources in the plant food kingdom that have this potent combination, such as green leafy vegetables. Animal foods do, according to convention, have the most absorbability of iron, but in this day and age animal products come with so much baggage, that it wouldn't hurt to eat some more raw spinach or romaine lettuce anyway. My point is, anemia can be caused by things other than low iron counts, and even then, iron supplementation is not the only route to treat low iron (ugh and yuck). Lisa saw improvement with chlorophyll because it is nearly identical to hemoglobin as it is the blood of plants, and it shows that nature is here to help, without all of the binders and fillers that give us trouble like iron pills do. Always consult with your doctor or naturopath to find the true cause of your anemia and take control of your health with education and a little bit of diet intervention.
Chlorophyll
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Well, I have an interesting story. When I was pregnant with my first son, I was also selling these amazing vitamins for a small company. Simultaneously, my midwife checked my blood to find that I was severely anemic. She warned me that it was so severe she would not be willing to deliver my baby if this was not changed immediately. Well, the company I was selling for had run a contest for sales and I won which included a luncheon with the founder who was also a biochemist. He was a very sweet man and I told him my predicament because at the time I was a committed vegetarian. He told me the answer was simple. To take liquid chlorophyll which I could obtain from the health food store. He explained (in a simplified manner, I'm sure) that chlorophyll is the "blood" of plants and helps facilitate the building of our blood. I immediately went and got that and added it every morning to my smoothie. The next visit to my midwife was astounding. She looked at me, her eyes wide and smiling and asked what I'd done. My blood was absolutely fine. When I told her she was thrilled and so was I!
I have since given this advice to several people and the results have been the same. One was my husband's granny who at the time was well into her 80's and the drs. threatened to hospitalize her if they didn't see her red blood count go up. My mother-in-law at the time knew how much I studied alternative healing and asked my advice. She immediately put granny on chlorophyll and voila! the next visit the drs. were astounded and couldn't believe it. I asked my mother-in-law if she explained but she said she didn't feel comfortable doing that.
Anyway, if you have issues with anemia, consider chlorophyll instead of iron. Much easier on the body... Lisa
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Blackstrap Molasses
Blackstrap Molasses
Blood Building Recipe
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I don't know who first gave us the recipe, but it is said that it really works:
Take a pound of beef stew meat (or any other cut you can get, no or low fat) and put it into a Glass canning jar, some do this without any added water, some add
only a little, not higher than the level of the meat. Put the lid and band on the canning jar, and put this into a canner or large deep pot, add some water and put the lid on the pot, bring to a boil, then simmer for 6 hours. All of the IRON is cooked out of the meat and into the water. Give this to the person who is anemic or anticipating surgery, and also give them Black Strap Molasses, the one with the highest iron, calcium and magnesium, listed on this website, ONE tablespoon along with the beef broth. This will shock the doctors, just how fast it will build the blood. We are giving my mother 1 cup three times a day. So you may need to cook several pounds, jars at a time. Our friends are doing this for us too, and one of them got about 1 quart of juice from 4 (four) pounds of beef.
IMPORTANT: Don't fill the jars too full, because when it is boiling you can lose some of the juice into the pot, and any juice lost is IRON lost. Leave at least a couple of inches above the meat in each jar. There are other treatments that will help and if you email me, I will reply with what else we are doing, that you may not have heard of, and you can ask your doctor for these too. The reason that this works so well is that the HEME from meat it very quickly absorbed by the body, but the HEME from vegetables is slowly absorbed by the body. You can find more information about this on the internet.
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BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS
I took the black strap molasses for pain in the ankle and leg due to the low iron, I do not think this helped with this but also take some tumeric power which undoubtably has helped and the symptoms are gone.
But I have noticed an increased in fine body hair on the arms and legs... what is this caused from? I also take a bit of cumin each day.
Look forward to your comments. Also should I lower the dose of the iron supplement or the molasses?
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Just want to say thanks.
Cream of Wheat
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Beetroot
Some years ago, my young grandson was diagnosed with ANEMIA.
Doctors advised on giving him iron tablets.
I took to the internet and did a whole lot of research on the matter.
The advice was simple, beetroot (Latin Name Beta vulgaris) or beet as some know it, has a very high content of iron.
I have no medical qualifications and am not advising that anyone should rush out and purchase beetroot.
However I have never ever heard of anyone developing any problems from eating this root vegetable.
One can also purchase the beetroot crystals from chemists worldwide, but I would just keep it simple and grate some fresh beetroot and add it to your salad.
My grandson is over his problem and just loves beetroot now.
Thank you all and best wishes from Ayutthaya Thailand.
John Moore.
Pumpkin Seeds
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Blackstrap Molasses
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Pumpkin Seeds
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Figs
Carao Fruit