bonny, if you take your iron supplements while playing Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" on your stereo at full blast, while yelling "I Am Iron Woman!!!", it will improve your body's ability to absorb iron. It's a proven fact.

I can taste it in my mouth, and I smell like breakfast cereal.

At the risk of sounding incredibly stupid/obvious/ignorant, I just wanted to point (because of the sentence of the breakfast cereal), that milk products are the kryptonite of iron.

But we knew that before, right?

Magnets?

HA! I've been joking about this all week...that magnet should be flying toward me.

I like the Wooly Willy idea...I had one of those!

A theme may be emerging here. At both clinics, the very kind technicians kept asking, "You don't eat red meat? Really?" as if it were a problem. All of my iron intake has been from plant based sources, though I DID eat some turkey yesterday.

Much as I want to do this, I just can't see myself eating 4 footed creatures for the cause.

And what folks said last week about 'normal' being different for people is really ringing in my ears. My normal was just fine for me...taking so much iron to gain that one, measly .1 point just isn't worth it. Nauseous and, ironically (see what I did there?) more tired than when I wasn't taking the iron.

Feh.

bonny, if you take your iron supplements while playing Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" on your stereo at full blast, while yelling "I Am Iron Woman!!!", it will improve your body's ability to absorb iron. It's a proven fact.

This is a plan I can get behind!

And yes, Shir, I have been avoiding dairy like the plague this week. I don't do much anyway, usually just a greek yogurt now and then...not even cheese, as a rule.

I know we have a variety of dietary persuasions here, but the most available form of iron (heme) is found in red meat, particularly beef and liver. Heme iron is absorbed two to three times as efficiently and can increase the absorption of iron from plant sources. (CDC on iron deficiency [link]

milk products are the kryptonite of iron.

But we knew that before, right?

Well, I didn't know that. I'm not one of the affected people, but I do love the hivemind for being able to share knowledge like this. Who knows when something will come along, and it will be something I need to know. Also, love the way you say it.

Yeah, calcium inhibits iron absorption.

So you actually are better off drinking a soda with your burger than milk!

but ice cream is ok, right? Milkshakes? Please! Don't take away Burger & Shake combo!! It's unAmerican! Wait! So would the cheese on a Cheeseburger be a problem too? OMG! We really should eat kosher!

I don't really have any ideas about iron. I haven't eaten meat since 1994, and my iron levels are consistently on the high end of normal, sometimes veering into too high. I even take iron-free vitamins.