The First Step in Overcoming Anemia

Hey, guys.  Dr.  Axe here, Doctor of Functional Medicine.  Today I'm going to share with youmy five-step process to treat anemia naturally.  If you want to know the best anemia cures,you're going to find those in this video, including the best diet, supplements, alongwith triggers, things that can trigger anemia you absolutely want to watch out for. The first step in overcoming anemia is really nourishing your spleen.  Your spleen is anorgan that is responsible for red blood cell production, as well as keeping fluids togetherin your system.  If your spleen isn't healthy, that's one of the first factors that's goingto cause anemia.  There are specific foods that will actually help nourish your spleen,helping you overcome anemia naturally.  That first food group would be squash, specificallythings like pumpkin, acorn squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, those bright orange-coloredfoods.  Think fall harvest, those sort of foods are going to be fantastic for nourishing thespleen. So step number one is nourishing your spleen.  I would recommend getting one to two servingsof squash in your daily diet.  If you want some ideas, you can check out some of my recipesthere on DrAxe. com. The other thing that's very important for nourishing your spleen and red blood cellproduction are going to be green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, and chard.  Doing one servingof those a day, something like a kale salad or saut�ed spinach, is also very nourishingto your spleen.  Last, but not least, our bitter foods are good for the spleen, specificallythings like romaine lettuce, arugula.  You can even do bitter herbs before a meal asa supplement.  But anything that's sort of a bitter food is very, very nourishing tothe spleen. Step number two to help you naturally overcome anemia is you need to start getting your guthealthy with probiotics.  Now, listen to this principle.  It's not, "You are what you eat,"it is, "You are what you digest. " If you're not digesting properly and absorbing and assimilatingnutrients properly, you're not absorbing iron.  So for a lot of people, you might even betaking iron supplements, and they're not working.  The reason is that you're digestive systemisn't healthy, and you probably have a condition called "leaky gut. " Leaky gut doesn't allowyou to properly absorb iron as well as certain other vitamins, like vitamin B12 and magnesiumand zinc.  So you could be deficient because you don't have a healthy gut, and probioticsare really the first key into restoring your digestive health. In fact, a recent study out of Stanford found that when somebody supplements with probiotics,all of their B vitamin levels go up along with their iron.  So listen, treat the rootcause, not the symptom.  So many doctors today say, "Hey, just go and take this iron tab. "It's not fixing it.  You've got to be able to absorb the iron tab for it to work.  Sofor that reason, you want to add in probiotic-rich foods like real home-made yogurt, goat's milkkefir, sauerkraut, and other probiotic-rich foods.  Then taking a probiotic supplement,typically 50 to 100 billion IUs daily, can definitely help support your iron absorption. Step number two in overcoming anemia is getting those processed and junk foods out, especiallyexcess sugar and anything that can cause candida.  Oftentimes, candida and anemia are linked. So if you ever notice a white color on your tongue or in the back of your throat or ifyou ever tend to get any sort of yeast issues, you know that's candida.  Candida will blockiron absorption.  So diet is key.  In order to really overcome that, you've got to supportthe spleen, like I talked about earlier, but also eliminate processed sugars and grains. So again, if you are doing a lot of sugars, pastas, breads, cereals, any type of grainproduct or sugar product, that's going to feed yeast.  Replace those with healthy fatsin your diet.  Or if you're going to use a sweetener, raw local honey in small amounts,a tablespoon at most at a time, or stevia is the best option in terms of sweeteners. The next step in helping you overcome anemia is going to be actually consuming iron-richfoods.  Some of the best include foods like liver.  In fact, beef liver and chicken liverare by far the highest.  That might sound gross to you, consuming liver.  But I'm telling you,if you buy organic chicken liver at your local farmer's market or at your health food store,you can put it in a crock pot with chicken in equal ratios, or about a third liver, two-thirdschicken, and do a big crock pot with vegetables like carrots, celery, onions, sea salt.  Doa big crock pot with some liver in there, and that is the perfect meal to help replenishyour liver, as well as liver is very high in iron, as I just discussed, which is important,so again, getting liver in your diet. Also, other iron-rich foods you want to be getting in your diet.  Look towards meat, specificallygrass-fed beef.  Bison is fantastic and lamb.  But think organic, grass-fed red meats aresome of the highest foods in iron.  Also, spinach and kale and chard, getting those green leafyvegetables in.  So again, an ideal meal might look like that crock pot soup I talked aboutearlier.  Another idea would be a bison burger with a side of spinach.  Fantastic for helpingyou overcome anemia. And last but not least, lifestyle and reducing stress.  If you're emotionally stressed out,if you struggle with unforgiveness, anger, or have chronic worry and anxiety, those thingsreally deplete your spleen and your liver and will exhaust those organs.  So really makesure that you are scheduling in times of relaxation, times of fun during your week, getting plentyof sleep at night.  Those things will really help recharge your system and body.  If youdo those things, you're going to see fantastic results in overcoming anemia. Last little bonus tip here.  In Chinese medicine, again, anemia is very closely related to thespleen, and certain herbs actually help support the spleen, especially ginseng.  Ginseng isknown as an adaptogenic herb that helps your body better deal with stress.  So adding ina supplement like ginseng may also help really in supporting healthy blood.  Then beets, anothersuper food.  They really help with a healthy circulatory system and healthy iron levels. So guys, this has been myself, Dr.  Axe, talking about anemia natural treatments and naturalcures for anemia.  I hope you've enjoyed this video.  And hey, if you want to learn moreabout the best ways to heal naturally, make sure you subscribe here to my YouTube channel. You're going to find the greatest and latest health news available today.  Thanks, guys.