Deepening our Roots and Replenishing Iron - Part 2
A holistic approach to Iron deficiency
In Part 1 of this little series on Iron, we explored how when you are prone to iron deficiency it’s really common to also be anxious, highly sensitive, shy, have an aversion to conflict, find speaking up difficult, have experienced high stress or shocks in your life. We now understand that the nature of iron tells us alot about why this is, and gives us a hint towards how we can support ourselves holistically when we tend towards iron deficiency (if you haven’t read Part 1, I highly recommend heading over here first to get the most from reading on).
In our body, Iron has alot to do with how grounded, warm, confident and embodied we feel. Today let’s head into the realm of remedies, from this holistic understanding or Iron to tailor our care and effect the most change in all parts of our lives.
Let’s explore
what supports us to overcome our tendency to iron deficiency
What else are we thinking of when it comes to low iron
what happens when we have too much iron
why I will interpret your test results differently to a GP
rich food sources of iron
which supplemental forms of iron I recommend
how to increase your absorption of iron
Overcoming your tendency to iron deficiency
You are probably reading this because despite all your efforts to increase your iron levels, low iron persists. You’re doing all the right things (iron rich foods, iron supplements, gut support for absorption) and may have had an initial increase, to find six months later your levels are low again.
Alongside addressing iron deficiency, we need to also address your tendency to iron deficiency with practices that emulate the amazing qualities of Iron. In a way, this shapes a home in you for Iron. Grounding, warming and directive practices are the language of Iron, and bring us into our body and individuality.
Grounding Practices
Feeling at home in your body
Massage and Body work
Movement and exercise, especially if your work life is body sedentary and head busy (thinking, writing, typing, talking). Dance, yoga, running, swimming, somatic practices like Non-linear movement that invite you into your body. Whichever most speaks to you is the best one for you.
Regular time outdoors in nature, off screens, moving your body.
Try a Shakti mat
Weave the Nervous system restorative herbs into your life with herbal teas. Herbs that help release tension and invite us into a greater presence. Chamomile, Lavender, Passionflower, Withania, Reishi, Holy Basil are all beautiful in this area. My free webinar on the adaptogen herbs is over here if you’d like to learn more.
Creative practices like clay, painting, weaving and bees wax molding.
Therapeutic work like Psychotherapy, Sandplay therapy, Art therapy. A process that allows you to face inner challenges with support and move through them is ultimately grounding and restorative, and invites you deeper into your body.
Warmth Practices
Inviting you into your body
Warm baths with epsom salts
Foot baths and foot massage
Incorporating warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, cumin, clove, star anise into our meals, warming up your digestive fire.
Warm clothes, Unless it’s a full Summer heat wave, give yourself an extra layer of clothing to warm and enfold your body. Wear a singlet under your clothes, have socks on indoors and avoid having your lower back/kidney area exposed. In Summer this could be an extra layer of breathable cotton, or in winter a layer of merino thermals.
Directive Practices
Your inner Mars
Speech and the spoken word. Join drama classes, singing lessons, poetry reading, toast masters. Read aloud to yourself at home. Practice articulation, breathing, projection of your voice. Do vocal warm ups each morning. Put your voice in the space and notice how you feel. As a daily practice, speech makes an incredible difference to feeling ‘in’ your self, which grows iron rich embodied courage and bravado over time.
Join a debating team or group, or even a book club! Practice giving your perspective on things in everyday conversations. It’s not about right and wrong, arguing or creating conflict for the sake of it, it’s about balancing yin listening (which you’re so, so good at) with yang speaking up (which is harder for you). Stepping into the ring and sharing your own thoughts. Every time you speak up and share a thought, you’re strengthening your Mars/iron muscles and bringing your presence to the room.
Improvisation games or movement that requires in the moment creative decisions and swift action is a great way to strengthen our Mars/iron energy. There is a great practice I learnt called ‘Make a decision, and do it now”. It’s done in pairs, but also possible on your own. If you have a willing friend, go for it! You’re going to take turns doing the process for about 5 minutes each. One person is the “doer”, the other is supporting. If you are solo, you’ll be both roles at once which is easy. Face each other, and the supporter is going to say “Make a decision, and do it now”. You (the doer), make an instant decision and enact it. Maybe you jump on the spot, run around, who knows. It’s your choice. Whatever you decide, do instantly. When the supporter senses you’re done with that decision, they say ‘Thankyou. Make a decision, and do it now.”. Do this for 5 minutes, and then swap roles. This process is designed to explore what decision and action are like for you in life, and strengthen your will and direction. Iron has alot to do with our will and action. Sit and reflect on the process afterwards and what came up for you. Was it easy, hard, how did you feel, what did you notice, what did it tell you about how you are or feel in life?
Physical work, gardening, chopping wood, building, weeding, shifting soil, banging, pushing, stomping, shovelling. Feet on the earth, hands in the dirt.
What else are we thinking of when it comes to low iron
The two most common findings of iron deficiency I see is low circulating iron levels in your blood (low serum iron) and/or low iron stores (low ferritin).
There are a number of things we always investigate if you have iron deficiency. We’re always looking for the root cause, and also the impact low iron may have had over time.
Your gut health, digestion and diet. Digestive conditions and dysbiosis affect how we absorb nutrients, and can go hand in hand with inflammation and even bleeding in the gut. Checking your digestion, microbiome and diet is essential to find clues for the root cause.
Signs of inflammation, infections and acute illness. Reducing iron in the blood is a wonderful process our body enacts when pathogens are present and we’re immune compromised. Your body tucks iron into storage, so your ferritin increases and your serum iron levels drop, possibly to increase the antibacterial activity of copper in the blood.
Assessing the health of your thyroid. Iron is essential in making thyroid hormones, and symptoms of thyroid disease or imbalance are very similar to those of iron deficiency.
Checking for other nutrient deficiencies. Often, if we are low in iron we’re also low in other nutrients, especially B12, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, Selenium, and Protein. You may be missing out on them in your diet, or iron is needed for the processes of these nutrients.
Your menstrual cycle. Low iron very often makes periods heavier, which feels a little counter intuitive! It’s possible that low iron affects the lining of your uterus during your cycle, which results in a heavier bleed with more iron loss, and a spiral is created. By supporting the health of your cycle with womb tonics and other herbal support we can support iron replenishment.
Your emotional wellbeing and stress levels. Chronic stress, depression or anxiety is depletive, and can impact many aspects that contribute to iron deficiency. As we’ve been exploring, low iron exacerbates these symptoms. Support to find your centre and address anything sitting in your heart is an essential part of your care in replenishing iron.
If we find no clues in these areas we check heavy metals, as they can take the place of iron and leave you depleted.
What happens when we have too much iron
Unlike other nutrients there is no excretion pathway for iron in the body (very interesting) and iron overload happens when iron accumulates in organs and joints. It can be caused by genetic conditions like hereditary haemochromatosis, liver disease or excessive iron intake through supplements, or from multiple blood transfusions.
Iron overload and iron deficiency share a symptom, fatigue and weakness. Isn’t that interesting? It’s also if you choose an iron infusion you may still feel tired after it. Excess iron feels like you’ve got a weighted suit on, gravity is pulling you down and you don’t have the energy to stand upright. It is hard to feel buoyant with the extra pull of iron. Iron deficiency fatigue feels a little different; spacey, vague, exhausted and forgetful.
When we think of the tendency to iron overload, we’re thinking of swinging to the other polarity of iron deficiency. You might find you’re quick to anger or easily frustrated, feel uptight and impatient, prefer practicals over anything too cosmic. It can be hard to read the room or intuit someone’s feelings. You might upset people without realising how it happened. You might also experience flushed cheeks, high blood pressure, joint pain or general body stiffness.
In health we are always seeking a balance in polarities. This is where Vitalism lends us a deep way to interact with our health, when we’re listening to this tendency of iron overload we’re asking “how can we help lighten the weight of this iron and let this person feel buoyant and in tune?”. The answer is individual to each of us, which is why no two people’s treatment plans will be the same.
Why I interpret your test results differently to your GP
It’s really common for people to see me feeling so tired and at a loss. They’ve had blood tests and have been told everything looks normal. It isn’t uncommon for iron deficiency to go under the radar, and it is not an error. It is more often about interpretation.
GP’s and Doctors do incredible work. We have different roles in the community (which is why we work well in partnership). As a Naturopath I am going to interpret the results of your blood test differently than your GP, and this is because we are interpreting reference ranges differently.
I am looking at your iron results for levels to do with your optimal wellbeing. The references ranges give us a measure for disease (not for wellbeing). If your results fall outside the reference ranges it is telling us there is possibly a disease process happening, though you will most likely have been experiencing symptoms way before you got to that point. I am interested in what your blood tests tell me about how you’re feeling, inside and outside the reference ranges.
The reference range for ferritin, your iron stores, is (depending on the pathology lab) between 15 - 200ug/L. If you have a ferritin level of 16ug/L, this isn’t flagged on your test result and may be overlooked or dismissed. We know though that we can start to feel symptoms from <50 ug/L, and for people without a period it can be higher. Optimally we want people with a period to have at least 50ug/L ferritin to feel optimally well, and above 50ug/L if you’re getting ready to have a baby.
Ideal Iron Rich Foods
As you may have experienced, increasing iron rich foods in your diet isn’t the sole solution for iron deficiency but it’s definitely essential!
Did you know dried herbs and spices pack the largest amount of iron per 100g? Oregano, Thyme, Paprika, Cumin… though, it is difficult to eat 100g of dried herbs a day! It’s a really good reminder to lift our gaze from only increasing red meat or bringing in one or two iron rich foods, to focus instead on increasing a variety of iron rich foods in your diet. Herbs, spices, seaweed… I’ve made a printable Iron Rich Food list for you, with simple meal ideas and recipes. You can download it below.
Which Iron supplement to choose?
The most common form of iron prescribed by medical practitioners and dispensed by pharmacies is Ferrous sulfate, This form of iron isn’t ideal. It commonly causes digestive symptoms and has a low tolerability in therapeutic doses.
It is so important to support the health of your digestion while trying to increase your iron absorption so I avoid this form of iron. I recommend iron bisglycinate, iron amino acid chelate, or iron citrate as the best supplemental forms of iron to choose from. These forms are well absorbed by your gut and are very well tolerated digestively.
One theory for this is that the chelate (the carrier of the iron) carries it more effectively through the gut before releasing it in the duodenum (the site of iron absorption in the gut), rather than releasing earlier throughout the digestive tract.
The best dose for you always relates to your iron levels so always seek Naturopathic or nutritional support for the ideal dose for you. It is important to get this one right, and it’s important to only take iron supplements if you know your iron levels are low. Because we know it lacks an excretion pathway, we don’t want to overload you.
Tips to increase your iron absorption
There are many practical ways to increase how much iron you absorb from the food in your diet and from supplements.
Support your gut health. If you have digestive symptoms think of this as a core aspect in supporting your iron levels. We want to reduce inflammation, remove possible food triggers, support your microbiome, regulate peristalsis and the movement of your bowels. Increase hydration, include digestive herbal teas, anti-inflammatory foods and omega 3 fats is a great place to begin.
Encourage the diversity of your microbiome with fermented foods and a wholefoods based, varied diet.
Always take iron supplements in the morning, and generally with food. A very interesting study also found absorption was increased when taken after morning exercise. Iron has an affinity with the daylight, and can make for a restless sleep if taken in the evening (we’ll look more at this in Part 3 to come).
Enjoy your iron rich foods or supplements with Vitamin C, this also increases absorption. A simple big squeeze of lemon in water will do the trick.
It is true that haem iron (animal based food sources) are more easily absorbed than non-haem iron (plant based sources). Though when iron stores are low, haem and non-haem iron are absorbed similarly to each other so there is no need to push the red meat when iron deficient. In fact, too much red meat is pro-inflammatory which in turn will affect digestion and reduce absorption. A better choice is to increase the variety of your iron rich foods overall, enjoy an array in good measure.
Iron absorption decreases over time with increased doses of iron. In a way, your body gets comfortable having a lovely amount of iron daily and relaxes absorption. I recommend a monthly or weekly rhythm, 3 and 1 or 5 and 2. Take your iron supplement for 3 weeks and take 1 week off each month. Or, take for 5 days on and take the weekend off. This will re-engage your body in absorbing iron.
Take your iron supplement at least an hour away from other mineral supplements, especially zinc and copper. Their molecules, like iron, have 2 electrons in their outer ring meaning they have an affinity for the same bonds and receptors. It’s best to keep them apart so they each get centre stage opportunities to be absorbed.
The following foods reduce the absorption of iron. Try and avoid or keep these foods to a minimum near supplements or an iron rich meal. Soy, dairy, coffee, tea and high tannin drinks, phytates present in unsoaked legumes and nuts.
Always take iron supplements at lease 2 hours away from pharmaceutical medications, as they can interact negatively will each other.
Support your gastric juices. Low stomach acid reduces the absorption of iron. Enjoy lemon juice or a dash of apple cider vinegar in water before meals to support your stomach acid.
Next in this little series on Iron, we’ll explore the very beautiful Iron + Copper polarity and it’s meaning for feminine and masculine polarities. So, so interesting!
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