Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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i have iron deficiency anemia and am wondering if i am not absorbing nutrients well. how would i know? is there any downside to taking digestive enzymes to help with absorption if you are absorbing well to begin with?

flag	asked Aug 8 2010 at 17:32 vmary

	Do you eat much beef, buffalo or bison? All are high in iron. – Chris Aug 9 2010 at 3:30
	yes, i eat lots of beef. – vmary Aug 10 2010 at 18:12

Chris · Answer 1 · 2010-08-08 17:51:17Z UTC

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Signs of a health gut:

No constipation, diarrhea or food allergies.
Regular bowl movements that are quick, easy and pain free.
No undigested particulate matter or odd colors in stool.

Depends on what digestive enzyme product you are taking. I would suggest looking into starting with HCL.

Poliquin's Maximize Your Progress with Hydrochloric Acid

Read Ayers http://coolinginflammation.blogspot.com/

answered Aug 8 2010 at 17:51

Chris
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	from those 3 criteria i have a healthy gut. – vmary Aug 8 2010 at 22:31
	Those signs aren't that specific or sensitive, read Ayers. – Chris Aug 8 2010 at 22:45
	Thanks for the HCL link. I like that he considers the supplement a short term fix, not something you need to take forever. – patrick3000 Aug 31 2010 at 13:20

Eva · Answer 2 · 2010-08-09 06:41:00Z UTC

That was me that said iron levels can vary greatly according to your time of month. However, they should not be so low as to be anemic. My advice is go to fitday.org and see how much daily iron you are actually consuming. That will tell you if you are actually consuming plenty of iron or not. If you are, then that is a clue the prob might be absorption. Ironically (haha), when I check my intake totals at fitday, I get about 150% of my daily iron RDA, which seems plenty for me, but most of my other nutrient intakes are actually much higher. Apparently, my current diet is quite nutrient dense for most nutrients. Anyway, I tI actually was not getting the tons of iron I thought I was and one some days, it's even below the RDA. I think you should first check to see how much iron you are actually consuming and see if it is enough. If it is plenty, only then start thinking about other problems. SOme options could be that you are using up iron fast for some reason or you are not digesting it well, or your body is not efficiently utilizing it. Paleo is not a rigid diet so even if you are eating fully paleo does not automatically mean that you are eating a fully balanced diet getting all RDAs met. There are certainly combos of paleo foods possible that will be low in some nutrients. -Eva

Kikilula · Answer 3 · 2010-08-08 18:36:06Z UTC

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Have you eliminated all grains from your diet, especially all traces of gluten? There may even be traces of grains or gluten in one of the supplements you are taking.

Iron deficiency anemia sometimes goes hand in hand with celiac desease...

Coconut oil probably may help you, because it is mostly absorbed without any need for the body to break it down into other nutritients.

answered Aug 8 2010 at 18:36

Kikilula
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	i put coconut milk with coffee daily, and a lot of times with fruit. i haven't eaten any grains pretty much the whole year i have been on paleo, but my iron and ferritin were lower than when i started. someone said that maybe i tested too close to the end of my period when i was drained out. – vmary Aug 8 2010 at 22:33
	Maybe ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/58/5/705 – Chris Aug 9 2010 at 3:26
	One other aspect on blood iron levels ist, that your body can lower the level when it is fighting an infection - as well as its vitamin C level. In that case it doesn't mean, you should supplement, because you would help your infection instead of your body. – Kikilula Aug 9 2010 at 8:02
	in 07 my gi guy said my body was hiding iron from h.pylori bacteria. so i was put on triple antibiotics. then i began supplementing with iron. i read that if you respond to supplementation, ie your ferritin goes up, you are not fighting an infection. so my ferritin went up, but so did my h.pylori count. after supplementing 3 months i stopped. then for 2 years i did nothing and my ferritin went back to 5. i gave my body enough time to hide iron if it wanted to. now i'm supplementing. in 2008 i had a complete check of my gi tract. i;ll get another one in 2011. – vmary Aug 10 2010 at 18:19

what are the signs of a healthy gut?

3 Answers