Vegetarian Diet Ideal for Type A Blood

How convenient! My blood type is A positive and I’m a vegetarian. I’m convinced that some people fare better than others eating meat-free, so perhaps blood type does have something to do with it. But some criticize the “Eat Right for Your Blood Type” diet claiming it’s nothing more than a scam, which may be true however I go by how I feel. I simply feel better — healthier, more energetic — as a vegetarian.

Recovering from Caffeine Addiction

Day 5 without caffeine. I’ve been forced to face the fact that all the soy lattes I drink cannot possibly help my iron levels. From what I’ve read it seems tannins in coffee and tea inhibit the absorption of iron, so I’ve switched to decaf — which is probably something like switching a recovering heroin addict to methadone.

I doubt caffeine addiction is really anything like heroin addiction, however I behave like an addict when I feel as though I can’t survive without that cup in the morning. It’s this compulsive behavior that drove me to quit the first time. I switched to Cafix “the coffee alternative” and Pero coffee substitute, which are both quite horrid yet surprisingly I got used to it — that is until I discovered Starbucks with their fancy soy drinks. Now here I am several years later short hundreds of dollars and with low ferritin levels.

Iron

I know several women who have been anemic at one point or another — incidentally, omnivores — so these suggestions from Martha should be of interest to all women not just vegetarians.

When I was pregnant several years ago I had a horrible compulsion to eat ice. (At the time I didn’t realize this is a symptom of an iron deficiency). I was already taking prenatal vitamins, yet I was still low on iron.

And just recently I discovered that my ferritin levels are low. I’m not exactly sure what that means, however my physician explained that my stored iron is low, which suggests I do need more iron. Martha’s suggestions are helpful, however,  I already include those foods in my diet (although there’s only so much spinach and kale I’ll eat — not a fan.). Looks like it’s back to the iron supplements.