Page 24 - MyMT EATS Recipe book (Proofed May 2017) (2)

IRON-WOMAN

When you are an ‘iron-woman’ you really are ready for endurance. I wish I had off known
more about the importance of iron, both circulating and stored-iron (known as Ferritin),
when I was undertaking the huge amount of training required for the Iron-Man Triathlon.
Iron really is your mineral of choice and when you don’t get enough of it, then stores
deplete over time. Once you are in depletion mode, it becomes really hard to catch-up
and for some women during their menopausal years; this can seem to take forever.

If you have a ‘bounding’ and irregular heart rate, get your stored iron (ferritin) levels
checked. Iron is a mineral that we need daily. Our body does not produce it. It binds to
red blood cells and this is where oxygen binds. If we are medically diagnosed as anaemic
or iron-deficient, then you will get breathless on exertion and increasingly
fatigued.

If you have the medical condition,
hemochromatosis, then your body stores too much
iron. You don’t need to add any more iron than
you are already getting.

Foods contain iron in either a heme or non-heme
source. The heme source from red-meat is more
readily absorbed, but in Circuit Breaker and Liver
Lover, MyMT™ wants you to reduce red-meat as it
is too acidic. Cut down to one or two meals a
week, then get your iron from non-heme sources.
Add Vitamin C to iron-rich meals to aid absorption
of iron.

Foods rich in both heme and non-heme iron
recommended in menopause are: