One of my main goals during the day is to make sure Oliver is getting enough iron. His doc said that we need to focus on that, and so I do. May I just tell you that this is kind of hard for me. I am getting better at it though. Let's just say Oliver likes chicken, but spinach, don't even try to fool him. And rice cereal, let's just say yogurt and applesauce make it edible.
This has led me to think more about my iron intake.
When I was little and I had a bloody nose or a scraped knee my mom and/or dad would say, "Well then, look at your blood. It's nice and dark. Looks like you're getting enough iron." To this day, whenever my nose bleeds or I get a cut, I check out my blood to make sure I'm getting enough iron. There have been times that my blood isn't a dark maroon like I like to see, but my love of iron-rich cereals I think is keeping me on track.
Iron makes your blood dark because it helps to build hemoglobin and healthier red blood cells. The more iron, the more healthy RBCs (red blood cells). Most people get just the iron they need from their diets in meat, beans, spinach, avocado, fruit, enriched pasta and cereal.
Cheers to dark blood! That sounds kind of wierd. I hope no strange internet searches lead here because I used the words "dark" and "blood" together.
1 comment:
Hey! I remember that too! Good dark blood.
So here's my question for you. How does this relate to the amount of oxygen in your blood? Doesn't darker blood indicate less oxygen? BP's Science, can you help in this area?
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