Iron deficiency anaemia is one of the many conditions that affect Black women disproportionately. Valerie McKen shares three simple and natural steps to help reverse the effects of anaemia.
What is iron deficiency anaemia? The NHS says, “Iron deficiency anaemia is caused by lack of iron, often because of blood loss or pregnancy. It’s treated with iron tablets prescribed by a GP and by eating iron-rich foods”.
So, what can cause blood loss? One of the most common causes of blood loss among women is Heavy Menstrual Bleeding (HMB), also known as Menorrhagia. Again, according to the NHS: “Heavy periods are common, but they can have a big effect on a woman’s everyday life. They do not always have an underlying cause, but they can result from problems such as fibroids or endometriosis, so it’s important to get your symptoms checked out… In about half of women with heavy menstrual bleeding, no underlying reason is found”.
You know you have HMB when you to lose a lot of blood during your period or your periods last a long time, either through excessive blood loss during your period, passing large clots or your period lasts longer than seven days. Officially, a flow of more than 80ml or 16 soaked sanitary products per period is considered as Menorrhagia.
This condition leads to severe anaemia, which in the long run impacts on your daily activities and quality of life. Symptoms of anaemia include fatigue, shortness of breath, headaches and dizziness.
While we are clear that the majority of iron stores are lost through HMB, is simply popping iron tablets enough? For me, the quick answer to that would be no! Why not consider making natural changes to your lifestyle to help reverse the effects of heavy blood loss?
Read on for three simple steps to help reverse anaemia naturally.
How to reverse anaemia naturally?
The human body is remarkable and forgiving. Every day, its number one job is to look after you as best as it can based on what you feed it, physically, mentally and emotionally.
Step 1 – Quality Sleep
When it comes to trying to reverse anaemia, you need to firstly help your body clear and excrete excess oestrogen through assisting the detoxification process. You don’t even need to exert yourself as when you go to sleep, that is when your body really gets to work. This is where maintenance, clearing, decluttering and cleaning take place. Think about when your local supermarket is closed. There are staff who work through the night to restock the shelves, clean and tidy the store and get rid of unsold stock, so when you come in to do your shopping the next day, it’s all clean and tidy and ready for you.
This is why getting quality sleep is super essential! That is your first step. Focus on getting quality sleep. If you have difficulties getting to sleep, there are other health factors that need to be looked into and dealt with.
Step 2 – Love Your Liver
Your liver has a big role to play in removing toxins. It is where the bulk of toxins are removed. Studies show that a high plant based diet helps promote better health by reducing the risks of various diseases, particularly among Black people.
A diet consisting of nutrient dense raw fruit, raw vegetables and whole grains will give your liver the materials it needs to help your body detoxify toxins as well as help clear excess oestrogen. Less oestrogen equals more balanced hormones. Balanced hormones mean reduced bleeding. Reduced bleeding reverses anaemia. Reversing anaemia will allow your body to build new healthy red blood cells thus increasing oxygen levels. This means, no more exhaustion or thudding heartbeats.
Iron rich foods
Step 3 – Use Iron-Rich Natural herbs and Supplements
Reversing anaemia is more than just taking the iron tablets your doctor prescribes. This rarely ‘fixes’ the problem and might instead, prolong it as the underlying cause has not been dealt with.
You can also look into using iron-rich herbs and good quality iron supplement to help build quality blood.
However, if you suffer with any other condition that is causing iron deficiency anaemia, the best place to start is to find out what imbalances are happening deep within the body and ‘fix’ those. A great way to do this is through having a bio-scan. A bio-scan will show you exactly what imbalances are occurring and where about in the body they are occurring.
By following these three simple steps: 1) quality sleep, 2) nutrient rich foods 3) iron rich herbs and supplements and you could begin to reverse your anaemia within a very short space of time.
