Posts Tagged ‘Iron’
Pumpkin Seeds for Strength
Last night I made Pumpkin Seed butter. I needed an iron boost… (this will be a whole other post) and pumpkin seeds are an excellent source of iron! So you may be asking yourself, what do you do with pumpkin seed butter? Well, just about anything that you would normally do with peanut or almond butter. I have a terrible habit of eating nut butters out of jars with spoons. I’ve been doing this since I was little. And I’ve gotten more than a few friends and roommates begrudgingly hooked on the habit over the years.
This pumpkin seed butter is an excellent additive to smoothies and also a great ingredient in raw energy bars like the ones in the Thrive Diet book. I like to make variations on Brendan Brazier’s bar recipes and keep them wrapped in wax paper in the freezer for snacking and quick breakfasts.
So to make the pumpkin seed butter…
Soak the desired amount of seeds for at least an hour. (you don’t HAVE to soak them, but they will blend easier and break down more easily in your digestive system).
- Add pumpkin seeds (2-3 cups) to food processor or high powered blender. (I love my 3HP K-Tech)
- Add sweetener to taste (suggestions include: local raw honey, raw agave, grade B maple syrup, or stevia)
- Add a few pinches of salt (use Celtic sea salt or Himalayan pink salt for added minerals)
- You may need to add a little coconut oil or water for added creaminess when blending especially if using stevia.
The chart above is from the World’s Healthiest Foods, they are a great resource for nutrition information on plant-based foods: www.whfoods.com
Finding Partners in Health
Selling the bakery has really been an impetus for me to address some underlying health issues that I have been let sliding for some time. Yesterday I had an appointment with a naturopathic doctor here in Portland to talk about solutions to my low iron levels, digestive troubles, and fatigue. I also have an appointment with a new endocrinologist next week!
I know it might seem like anyone who is able to run 70 mpw should have plenty of energy, but it’s all relative. I used to have energy coming out of every pore of my body… I never sat still!
Any athlete who is trying to push their body in any capacity, even if it is just recreationally, knows when something is off. As athletes we demand more from our bodies and frankly require a higher level of health. Having a doctor or health care provider that understands this is IMPERATIVE. I always try to get referrals or interview a doctor before I see him/her to make sure that they work with athletes, or in the very least understand the increased demands that training places on the body. This goes for Primary Care Providers, ND’s, Acupuncturists, Masseuses, OB’s, Endocrinologists, Allergists, etc. They have to be willing to treat your symptoms and not treat to a broad desired range that might work for the general public.
For instance, some doctors consider a “normal” serum ferritin (shows how much iron is stored in the body) range to start as low as 18 mcg/L and I’ve even seen ranges starting as low as 3 mcg/L! A common recommendation is for runners to be over 30, however, many top athletes and coaches strive for ferritin levels over 100 mcg/L. It’s one of those things that is very dependent on the athlete. We have a girl on our team who has naturally high iron, and she starts to feel terrible when her ferritin gets down to the 60’s. This is why regular blood tests are a good idea, so you have a health history and can see changes over time. We test our team 2 x per year to establish baseline levels and make sure that everyone is staying on top of things.
The increased demands that endurance sports place on the body just mean that we have to pay extra attention and make it important to find great partners in your health. If you aren’t receiving the treatment that you need, don’t be afraid to show your doctor research and get second or third opinions. Be your own advocate!
For the Love of Chocolate
Dark chocolate is my favorite dessert. Often I have a double whammy of my homemade cocoa with a few squares of premium chocolate. The irony is that I never liked chocolate until after I discovered that I was allergic to gluten. I’m not sure why, I just hated the waxy consistency and felt like it was over-dominant and overly sweet. Even as a child I always gravitated to the more subtle flavors like cinnamon or vanilla.
Actually what made the difference was all the chocolate research and tasting that I did for my cookie recipes. I became obsessed with chocolate production, with cocoa mass content, with the purity of the ingredients and with the absence of soy lecithin…. something that I very much contribute (along with low quality milk solids) to the waxiness of my childhood Halloween candies.
It’s no secret that cacao is a superfood. The bean is high in antioxidants and a delicious source of minerals… including IRON. Next time you are shopping for dark chocolate, look at the nutrition label and check the iron count. The brands vary, but all the bars that have a high cocoa content should supply a really decent amount of iron! It by far my favorite iron-rich foods… pumpkin seeds are second!
So, I thought I would share some of my favorite eating and baking chocolates…. (a note of disclaimer: the darker the better for me!) And although there are some lovely raw chocolates, they don’t have the complexity of flavor that I find from some of these amazing chocolate gurus. Here are my faves in order for least intense to most hard-hitting.
1) Sweet Earth Baking Chocolate- 65% Big Baking Chips
Small chocolate producer in the Bay area. These are the big chips I used in the Sift Bakery Double Chocolate cookies. They are organic and Fair Trade Certified, vegan and soy free! They have a number of other quality items too. These were my snack during long days at the bakery!
Just the right amount of bitter bite and smooooth. When this goes on sale at New Seasons, I buy a case full. This bar is truly astounding. Organic with just three ingredients: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, raw cane sugar. They have an Allergy note on the website, saying that the machines are cleaned to a very high standard. I have never had a problem with these and I am very sensitive. There are many other chocolate bars that I’ve tried and won’t eat again because of reactions, but these feel very clean to my system. Chock it up to German fastidiousness.
3) Theo Chocolate’s Venezuela 91% Bar
This company is from Seattle and it rocks. The Origin Bars all have distinct flavors, like fine wines or coffees where you feel you are tasting the nuances in the soils from different regions of the world. hmmm. And 91% is just hardcore, but not bitter. I love it. The higher the cocoa content, the less I feel like I need to satisfy the jones. No soy, no dairy, it’s beautiful!
4) Michel Cluizel’s Noir Infini 99% Bar
OK, I admit that 99% cocoa content sounds extreme, and maybe it is… but this bar is sweeter than expected. The first time I bought a tiny square of it at Portland’s chocolate boutique (HEAVEN) Cacao, I was expecting it to taste like chomping on a square of baker’s chocolate. Was I wrong! The Noir Infini is an intense experience and not for the mainstream snicker’s addict… but it is a cocao-lover’s dream. In addition to a tiny amount of sugar, it contains bourbon vanilla, a hint of orange and undisclosed spices. Lucky for me I can’t taste the orange, I just taste intensity.
Here’s my cocoa recipe again:
1-2 TBS Raw Cocoa (I love Nativas Naturals)
pinch celtic sea salt
2 packets stevia (I love NuNaturals)
6-8 oz Hot H2O
2 oz Coconut Milk (like SoDelicious- I use the unsweetened)
optional: sprinkle of cayenne or cinnamon or both!
New Beginnings
It’s June! And this is the first post on this beautiful new website courtesy of Rebecca Churt’s awesome design skills. She has a great blog called Food for Thought where she explores cutting edge ideas for marketing, blogging, and social media.
This Spring has just felt like a time of constant change on so many levels. With the current climate of uncertainty so many people are stepping back to take stock of their lives. The recession has had far-reaching consequences already, and I would argue that they are not all necessarily negative. For me, it has meant a re-evaluation of my habits, possessions, activities and occupational trajectory.
May marked the sale of my gluten free & vegan cookie business called Sift Bakery. It was a nice end to a year and half long balancing act of obligations that taught me an enormous amount about the food industry and many aspects of business, including what I do and don’t want out of my next venture. The cookies are now being produced by the wonderful vegan distributors Earthly Gourmet. And they can still be found at Whole Foods and local food co-ops around Portland, as well as many other locations that will be listed on their website.
Selling the business has given me the energy to really try to resolve some of my long standing health issues…. especially my iron levels. I have even been running with a little more direction lately, since my husband has decided that I should attempt to get back into racing shape. We’ll see. If I can get my iron up, I will think that anything is possible. I ran the Phoenix Rock N’ Roll marathon with a friend for fun in January and managed an easy 3 hours without much training. After a string of incidences including illness, a Mexican vacation, and a 2-week snow storm, I opted to run with a pace group- which made the effort feel like a hard training run!
The weather recently has made everything feel lighter. And I’m intending on continuing my “Spring Cleaning” well into the summer… detoxing my home and cleansing my body with a focus on intention.
Wishing you health, lightness, and energy.
Dana
Vegan Athlete Tips: Brendan Brazier
After suffering an intense bought of stomach pains, cramps, and intestinal distress due to a “non-constipating gentle” iron supplement on Monday night… I’ve been re-reading everything I can about vegan iron sources and blood building.
I found the article bellow on a website called In a Vegetarian Kitchen. It’s an interview with Brendan Brazier, the vegan triathlete and author of one of my favorite books: The Thrive Diet.
The book is filled with great recipes and advice that I use often as a resource. He has some great recipes and really advocates gluten-free eating.
I agree with the underlying principles that Brazier presents, especially his explanation of stress.
I talk about the cummulation of stress often with my athletes. It’s not just stress from training that takes a toll on the body, but all types: nutritional (from eating the wrong foods or not enough), emotional (from work or relationships), and environmental (from toxins and polluntants in both our homes and the outdoors). Basically, the idea is that the system is overwhelmed by the sum of all these types of stress… and you can’t handle enough good stress if you are up to your neck in bad stress. This is why it’s nearly impossible to have a great workout or race after a devasting breakup, or at the end of finals week.
Check out the link bellow for Brazier’s tips on vegan eating as an athlete:
A Tale of Two Cookies
We were gone all weekend at the Stanford Invitational track meet in Palo Alto. The weather was simply phenomenal and left me wondering, “why don’t I live in the bay area?” This point was driven home when we disembarked in Seattle to a sleeting 38 degree afternoon. And although Portland was a few degrees warmer when we finally landed, it was raining even harder.
So, after a beyond-muddy long run on Sunday, I decided that I would usher in nicer weather with some Spring Cleaning. Sometimes there is no greater satisfaction than bringing organization to chaos and disarray! OK… so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I have been obsessed with cleaning and detox more than ever lately. I just want to shed any unnecessary baggage and live lightly, freely. I have recently donated significant portion of my clothes, weeded out unused kitchen items, and shredded loads of old receipts and papers.
In the spirit of domesticity and my new creative energy, I embarked on two new cookies- both vegan and gluten free of course…. Pumpkin Seed Hippie Cookies & Sunbutter Delights… one for me and the other for Ian.
1/3 C raw agave (amber)
1/3 C erythritol
1/2 C almond butter
1 C quinoa flakes
1 C almond meal
1/2 C rice flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp celtic sea salt- ground (or kosher salt)
3/4 C pumpkin seeds
Splash of almond milk for added moisture.
Cream coconut oil, sweeteners and almond butter together. Then add dry ingredients mixing well. I mixed these with my hands! If you want it to be sweeter, just add a few sprinkles of stevia. Drop dough in small mounds or spoonfulls onto cookie sheet. (I use the silicone liners so they are non-stick, if you don’t have these you will need to greese the cookie sheet).
Bake for 12-16 minutes at 300 degrees until edges get golden.
3/4 C Raw sugar or evaporated cane juice
1/4 C Fruit sweet or apple juice concentrate
1 C Sunflower seed butter
1/2 C Garfava Flour
1 C Potato starch
1/4 C Tapioca Starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer wisked with 2 Tbs warm water
Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown.
Behind the Scenes… “You… The Distance Runner”
I found this article particularly comprehensive relating to diet, bone health, and iron issues in competitive distance runners…
Distance Running
excerpted from:
http://www.healthline.com/hlbook/nut-distance-running
To go long distances, especially those longer than 10,000m, runners place a premium on relying primarily on aerobic metabolic pathways during the majority of the run. Runners who are capable of doing this rely mainly on fat for the majority of fuel, enabling them to limit the usage of carbohydrate. Carbohydrate storage is finite, but fat storage is, from a practical standpoint, limitless. The higher reliance on fat enables long-distance runners to run very long distances. It also enables them to preserve carbohydrate for moments during the race when they require fast acceleration (e.g., at the end of the race or while passing another runner). According to one study, only 2 to 7 percent of the total energy burned in aerobic activity is derived anaerobically.24 A small amount of carbohydrate is used even when maintaining aerobic activity, so distance runners must develop strategies for delivering carbohydrate during the run. A failure to do so will result in either low blood sugar or low muscle glycogen, both of which impair endurance by leading to premature muscle fatigue.
Keeping this in mind, distance runners must consider the following nutritionally relevant factors for their sport.
Long-distance runners are at risk of amenorrhea, low bone density, and stress fractures. The distances that these athletes run weekly to train may predispose them to stress fractures, despite the potential stimulating impact of running on skeletal mass.25 Although stress fractures occur more frequently in women runners than in men, all runners should ensure that their calcium intake is adequate to reduce the risk of fracture. Female runners are at higher risk of stress fractures because hard endurance training is often associated with cessation of the menstrual cycle. The reduced estrogen associated with amenorrhea is linked to lower bone density. Therefore, runners who experience either primary or secondary amenorrhea should seek appropriate medical advice to determine if rea son able steps can be taken to return to normal menstrual status.26
Female runners should take the following steps to reduce the risk of osteoporosis:
Consume calcium (1,500 milligrams per day) from food or a combination of food and supplements.
Avoid overconsumption of protein because excess protein is associated with higher urinary calcium losses.
Control the production of stress hormones (particularly cortisol) by maintaining hydration and blood sugar during exercise.
Avoid overtraining, which is associated with amenorrhea.
Inadequate energy intake is a red flag that the intake of vitamins and minerals may also be low. A study comparing the nutrient intakes of trained female runners who were amenorrheic, oligomenorrheic, or menstruating normally found clear nutrition differences between these groups, despite being matched on height, weight, training distance, and body fat percentage.27 The runners who were not menstruating had zinc intakes well below the recommended level of intake and lower than those found in the runners who had normal menses. In addition, the runners who had normal menses had higher intakes of fat and a more adequate total energy consumption. This suggests that high-carbohydrate diets, which are preferred for optimal performance, make it more difficult to consume the needed level of energy because carbohydrates have a lower caloric density than high-fat foods. Therefore, athletes should concentrate on consuming more food when carbohydrates constitute the main energy source. A failure to menstruate normally is a strong risk factor in the development of weaker bones and resulting stress fractures. Female runners have good cause to be fully aware of the adequacy of their energy and nutrient intakes because almost no injury is more frustrating or potentially career ending than the development of frequent stress fractures. Endurance runs require enormous amounts of energy (a marathon requires about 2,900 calories); they cannot be adequately trained for or run without an adequate total energy consumption. Food intake strategies, including eating snacks between meals and consuming snacks or sports beverages before, during, and after exercise, are important for ensuring that fuel consumption matches need.
Elite runners depend heavily on both fat and carbohydrate for fuel to accelerate and vary speed over the course of a long-distance race.
Surveys of distance runners confirm that total energy and carbohydrate intakes are below the recommended levels, suggesting that runners must make a concerted effort to consume the recommended amounts before, during, and after exercise.28,29 In a case study assessing the nutrient intake of an ultraendurance runner during a race, it was found that if the pre-event and during-event guidelines for food and beverage are followed, then athletes will have sufficient energy and fluids to successfully complete the event.30
Tapering activity before a competition improves competition performance.31 It does so by increasing glycogen stores, but it also makes the runner calmer, which gives the athlete an improved economy of running motion that enhances endurance. The importance of tapering exercise and of carbohydrate loading before an important event cannot be overemphasized.
Fluids are crucial. Fluid consumption should be on a fixed time schedule (every 10 to 15 minutes) to avoid underhydration and thirst. Perhaps no single factor is more important for ensuring a long-distance runner’s success than maintaining an optimal hydration state. Athletes should drink now, drink again in 10 to 15 minutes, and when they believe they’ve had enough, they should drink
more. Of course, the type of beverage consumed is also important.
A great deal of body heat is generated over the course of an endurance run, and this heat is liberated through sweat evaporation. Studies strongly suggest that a 6 to 7 percent carbohydrate solution with electrolytes is most effective in maintaining exercise endurance.31 It has been firmly concluded that acute heat exposure is detrimental to muscular endurance.32 Therefore, long-distance runners should develop the habit of frequent fluid consumption to maintain body water status, whether they are thirsty or not. A fluid intake of .5 to 1 liter per hour is sufficient to prevent significant dehydration in most athletes in mild environmental conditions, but a greater intake of fluids is needed for athletes running at higher intensities or in more severe environmental conditions in order to avoid heat stress.33
Distance runners typically have relatively low body fat levels. Successful long-distance runners are commonly thin, and this body profile may be advantageous to them in dissipating heat during long runs.34 However, since very low body fat levels are associated with amenorrhea, female athletes should seek a balance between low body fat levels and normal hormone function.
A critical factor in the performance of all endurance athletes is iron status, and evidence exists that endurance runners have reduced hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red blood cell counts when compared with strength and mixed-trained athletes.35 Iron status is sufficiently important that one of the more common illegal ergogenic aids used by endurance runners is erythropoietin (EPO),36 which stimulates the production of red blood cells, thereby enhancing oxygen-carrying capacity.37 Iron is an essential oxygen-carrying component of hemoglobin (red blood cell iron), myoglobin (muscle cell iron), and ferrochromes (oxygen-carrying enzymes essential for making ATP) in the mitochondria. It appears that hemoglobin status is of highest priority, so iron from other cells is cannibalized to support a normal hemoglobin production when iron stores (ferritin) and intake are inadequate. Therefore, a standard blood test measuring hemoglobin may appear normal while other iron-containing cells are depleted. For this reason, it is important that blood tests in endurance athletes always include a measure of ferritin, which should be at the level of a minimum of 20 nanograms per deciliter. Besides having an inadequate dietary intake, which is most common in runners who do not eat red meat or who are vegetarian, there are several other common causes of low iron status in runners:38-40
Excess iron loss in sweat
Excess loss of blood through the GI tract
Excess loss of blood in the urine (hematuria)
Excess menstrual blood loss in female runners
Poor absorption of iron
Intravascular hemolysis
New Iron Pills…. hmmm
OK- started another iron pill this weekend…. and I think this one will be relegated to the “Ian” pile once again. Although he has his own digestive issues, he seems to have a much easier time with the iron varieties than I do and he’s not gluten intolerant…. (or so he insists).
This one was from Wild Oats- their brand- and it said gluten free on the label. It is seriously the craziest capsule I’ve seen. The outside is clear and it is filled with different brightly colored beads. The nice thing is that it said slow-release, and the capsule contains vitamin C, folic acid and b12 to aid absorption… so I was thinking it would cut down on the amount of pills I take at night. (Although I do enjoy my chewable vitamin Cs!)
I might give these the benefit of the doubt… since it is almost that time of the month and my stomach might be ultra sensitive. I even had to stop doing the mile repeats in the workout yesterday because my tummy was making so much noise… PAINFUL!
So, I’ll give them to till the end of the week…maybe I won’t take any Friday night since I’ve got a tempo Saturday morning. Then it is back to the Gentle Iron for me.
uggh.
Stomach Blues
Last night while getting into bed, I had an overwhelming wish that I could snap my fingers and make my iron count sky-rocket. It is hard not to wonder what it would be like to have a ferritin of over 100.
Part of the frustration is that I have had a stomach ache that will be approaching two months next week. Not only that, but I stopped taking any iron about 5 days ago to see if I could get it to go away and it hasn’t. So… I took 2 of the gentle iron capsules last night (50mg) and I can’t say that I feel any worse this morning.
My hypothesis is that the iron “binge” that I’ve been on has further destroyed my intestinal villae and I’m having trouble digesting things again. I’m not sure what to do to make it go away right now.
This last month I’ve done a lot of reading about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and while it looks really interesting…. I have two main problems with applying it:
1) I don’t eat meat.
2) I run a lot.
I also think it is very strange that it allows some hard cheeses. They seem like they would be very hard on the system. At least I know that cheese is very hard on mine and can only be tolerated in small doses. It also seems like soluble fiber would be a good thing, like it is for most people with IBS. But the SCD people want to limit many of those sources including potatoes and sweet potatoes. Perhaps they are going for a lower glycemic index, but I haven’t read that.
I am thinking another food elimination diet might be in order, perhaps I’m being triggered by something else.
Pill Popping… a sample daily intake
Morning:
Levoxyl- on empty stomach of course… sometimes I’ll set my alarm and go back to sleep.
Midday or later morning:
Vitamin D
Zinc
Omega 3
L-Tyrosine (Thyroid support)
Kelp (Thyroid support)
Before Bed at Night:
Iron
B-Complex
Vitamin C
Rhinocort Aqua Nasal Spray (for my allergies)
I don’t take a multi because I don’t like having everything in one pill. It is convenient though! I just want to make sure that I give myself a fighting chance at absorbing everything… especially since my intestines are in a rough shape.
Any to add?
