Kvothe wrote:
funny, I agree that liver is good for you, but not that it tastes great. It tastes horrible.
How can someone with a Norse-derived name say that?
It's best when it's chewy and takes a long time to eat, so the flavor lasts.
Kvothe wrote:
funny, I agree that liver is good for you, but not that it tastes great. It tastes horrible.
How can someone with a Norse-derived name say that?
It's best when it's chewy and takes a long time to eat, so the flavor lasts.
I was endemic back in 8th grade I’m now a 10th grader and still take iron supplements daily. I’m not a vegetarian, so I would strongly recommend taking pills
You don't need supplements, or anything like that. I've been vegetarian for 26 years and have never had an issue. Anyone telling you you need supplements, whether it be protein or iron, just because you are vegetarian, is feeding you nonsense.
Caveat: Yes, some people need to supplement with iron, but it has nothing to do with whether they are vegetarian or not. Get your ferritin tested with a simple blood test before you assume you need extra iron just because you are vegetarian.
you don't need supplements wrote:
You don't need supplements, or anything like that. I've been vegetarian for 26 years and have never had an issue. Anyone telling you you need supplements, whether it be protein or iron, just because you are vegetarian, is feeding you nonsense.
Caveat: Yes, some people need to supplement with iron, but it has nothing to do with whether they are vegetarian or not. Get your ferritin tested with a simple blood test before you assume you need extra iron just because you are vegetarian.
It has a lot to do with being a vegetarian for someone who already has issues with absorbing iron. Do you realize how much spinach (non-heme) you have to digest to equal a steak (heme)?
Just because you have never had an issue doesn't mean others will not. It just means you are able to absorb and use the iron that you ingest sufficiently.
That being said, I do agree with regular blood tests to check levels and for some supplementation is not only not necessary but can also be dangerous if they absorb iron excessively. Although rare, this happens also. I knew someone who had a serum ferritin level of 870! Again, everyone is different.
So if you have an issue no problem eating nonsense!
Also, yes as another poster said calcium is an inhibitor but don't avoid it. Just make sure you cover that at a different time of the day. Your muscles need calcium to contract. The body robs it from the bones if it is not prevalent. Then you are prone to stress fractures.
I feel that I get enough iron from plant-based food sources but I take a supplement just to be sure.
I take Hemaplex, they have a vegetarian/vegan capsule so it’s pretty easy.
otter wrote:
you don't need supplements wrote:
You don't need supplements, or anything like that. I've been vegetarian for 26 years and have never had an issue. Anyone telling you you need supplements, whether it be protein or iron, just because you are vegetarian, is feeding you nonsense.
Caveat: Yes, some people need to supplement with iron, but it has nothing to do with whether they are vegetarian or not. Get your ferritin tested with a simple blood test before you assume you need extra iron just because you are vegetarian.
It has a lot to do with being a vegetarian for someone who already has issues with absorbing iron. Do you realize how much spinach (non-heme) you have to digest to equal a steak (heme)?
Just because you have never had an issue doesn't mean others will not. It just means you are able to absorb and use the iron that you ingest sufficiently.
That being said, I do agree with regular blood tests to check levels and for some supplementation is not only not necessary but can also be dangerous if they absorb iron excessively. Although rare, this happens also. I knew someone who had a serum ferritin level of 870! Again, everyone is different.
So if you have an issue no problem eating nonsense!
Also, yes as another poster said calcium is an inhibitor but don't avoid it. Just make sure you cover that at a different time of the day. Your muscles need calcium to contract. The body robs it from the bones if it is not prevalent. Then you are prone to stress fractures.
So I'm a vegetarian and I've never had issues with calcium show up in blood work. And even though I had a number of stress fractures when I was younger, I had more than one dexa scan that showed healthy bone density. The stress fractures were a bit of a mystery, from that perspective. I did have issues with iron and it's a lot easier to find easily absorbed calcium sources on a vegetarian diet than it is to find iron sources. So when I was severely anemic and trying to boost my iron levels, I was taking liquid iron on an empty-ish stomach 2x/day, first thing in the morning and before bed and got my calcium out of what I was eating for meals. Now that my iron is more normal, I just take one dose in the morning and the placebo pills in my birth control 4 days a month. I also try to cook in a cast-iron pan semi-often to get some iron from that so that I am getting at least a tiny bit of iron from something other than a pill. The iron found in leafy green vegetables is not easily absorbed.