At my last appointment it was time to see if I'm at risk for gestational diabetes. With my last two pregnancies, I've opted out of this awful-tasting, near torture test. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a terrible tasting drink you drink then they measure your glucose levels in your blood a few hours later. It doesn't sound that bad, but to me, it was.
Anyhoo, it's not a terribly accurate test. In fact, most pregnant women whose blood sugar levels measure high after this test do not, in fact, have gestational diabetes. But gestational diabetes can be serious, and so it's good to get an idea of how your body is doing metabolizing sugar.
My midwife asked me if I wanted to take it two appointments ago, and I said NO!!! So instead, she does a finger prick test and measures my blood sugar with a glucometer (like a regular diabetic does many times a day). She had asked me to eat 1.5 hours before I came, then not eat until after our appointment. Easy peesy. From the same finger prick, another drop of blood was squeezed out to measure my iron levels. I was perfect on my glucose (meaning low- no high blood sugar here!) but my iron was low. My midwife gave me some samples of Floradix, a liquid iron/herbal supplement that's easy on the tummy. I really like it so far.
I wasn't terribly surprised about my low-ish iron levels. It's something I've struggled with before, pregnant and not. We don't eat a lot of meat in our house, and I take a prenatal without iron. Iron supplements make me feel sick for an entire day after I take them. Floradix hasn't, though. I do eat many iron-rich foods, such as legumes, black beans, spinach, etc. But since I'm in my third trimester, we will be eating more meat in our house. Iron is just too important in the third trimester to my baby, and my iron levels will be crucial to me after delivery. (I talk about why in this post). So I want to do all I can to try to up my iron levels. If that means changing my eating habits for a few months, so be it. I also make this iron tonic syrup from a recipe in my favorite pregnancy book. It's awesome and gentle on tummies!
I don't mean we're going to be raving carnivores. But we meat about once a week or less, and red meat hardly ever, so we'll probably be eating meat 3-4 times a week now, with red meat being one of those. My hubby was pretty excited when I told him we'd be eating more meat for a few months, as were my steak-loving daughters.
But you don't have to eat meat to get enough iron. Studies repeatedly show that vegetarians and non-vegetarians have similar iron levels. But iron is also complicated. Non-heme iron, from legumes and other non-animal sources is absorbed MUCH less efficiently than heme iron, which is found in animal flesh. An interesting twist to this is that if your body's iron stores are low, your body will increase it's absorption of non-heme iron (or if your stores are high, it will absorb less non-heme iron), whereas for heme iron, the absorption rate stays the same independent of your body's iron stores. Pretty cool, huh?
There are also a few tricks you can use to increase your absorption of iron. Vitamin C and carotenoids (think orange and red fruits and veggies and egg yolks) increase the absorption of iron. In meat, there is an unidentified factor that increases absorption. Conversely, calcium inhibits iron absorption. So when I drink my Calcium/Magnesium drink (which I do for nighttime leg cramps and restless leg syndrome) I do it at night, whereas I take my Floradix in the morning. If I took them at the same time, I'd be lessening the effectiveness of each.
Iron stores take time to build up in ones' body, so that is another reason why I'm going to increase my consumption of meat. It seems to be a bit more effective in a shorter time frame. If I had been smarter, I would have been paying better attention to my iron levels throughout my pregnancy and then could've gotten away with sticking to primarily veggie and legume sources of iron. My stores would still have built up, but it might have taken longer- which would have been fine if I had been on it.
So if you're a strict vegetarian, don't despair and think you have to eat meat to up your iron. You definitely don't. But my iron has been low for awhile now, so I am willing to change my habits to see if I can change it for the better. Don't be so stuck in a certain lifestyle that you're not willing to try something that will help you. For example, if you're puking your guts out from morning sickness, try some chicken noodle soup and saltines. You may be a strict vegan, but if that's what soothes your tummy, it's worth it. Or maybe you don't eat anything that's not whole grain. Saltines are simple carbs with not much to offer nutritionally, but they just might get you through a few hours without throwing up. So try them. You can embrace your eating lifestyle again when you are feeling better.
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