Funny Things Kids Say

This wasn't one of the kids in our class, but one of the older kids. Kids are all comedians these days.

My favorite food is pelican.
When I grow up I want to be a gingerbread man.

Funny Things Kids Say

Jared and I teach a dozen or so kids at church on Sunday. The kids range from ages 5 to 7. They say the funniest things. I will try to document them here every week.

I caught a GEM yesterday. All the kids were talking over each other for some reason and I don't think any one else heard one of the boys say this:

"I see blue people shaped like ghosts in my house."

I didn't want to reward him talking out of turn by asking him about it, so I just wrote it down.

Kids are awesome.

Inspired by Brenna's Parsley Pesto, I made Cilantro pesto, using cilantro instead of parsley, and pepitas instead of walnuts. I also added some peppers, both serano and bell peppers. It ended up turning out pretty good.

Brenna's Sweet & Spicy Tea. She let me have some today. It tastes as if cinnamon bears gave their lives for this flavorful wonderful liquidy goodness.

Iron Diet

Morning: Hemaplex Iron Supplement and orange juice
Bagel or oatmeal an hour or so later - since I'm supposed to take the iron on an empty stomach

Lunch: Spinach salad with parmesan, white beans, pumpkin seeds, bell peppers (red, yellow and orange) and balsamic vinegar
Something else an hour or so later - burrito or grapefruit or a piece of bread - because I'm still hungry

Snack: Green protein drink

B-12 sublingual dot when I get home

Dinner: Normal dinner plus some sauteed spinach w/ nuts (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, etc)

calcium/magnesium supplement before I go to bed

So yeah, vitamin C increases absorption and calcium/caffeine/alcohol decreases absorption. Spinach/Kale/Swiss Chard and nuts and beans tend to have a lot of iron, as well as some bread/bagels/cereal. Tofu and whatever is in the Morningstar fake meats have good levels or iron too.

I ate albacore tuna for the first time in like over 10 years thinking it would have iron. I went with the intention of trying salmon but the place was out of salmon. When I got home I researched it and tuna really doesn't have that much iron. oh well.

Felt pretty weird this week. Tuesday night had debilitating joint pain and migraine. Thursday had a severe, very embarrassing, emotional breakdown at lunch. Like the worst I can remember ever. Like someone died or something. And I've been very uncharacteristically apathetic about food.
Weird days.

Also, I found cinnamon bears at Ralphs. They are actually Ralph's brand and 2 for $3.

i am craving these right now. Anybody know who carries them? Ralphs?? Sav-ons?

Iron Depleted

CBC
White Blood Cell Count 3.9 (3.8-10.8 normal)
Red Blood Cell Count 4.02 (3.80-5.10 normal)
Hemoglobin 11.7 (11.7-15.5 normal)
Hematocrit 34.2 (35.0-45.0)

Iron, Total 28 (40-175 normal)
Iron Binding Capacity 447 (250-450 normal)
% Saturation 6 (15-50 normal)

Ferritin 7 (10-154)


So according to my CBC's I am slightly anemic per my low hematocrit (really not that bad though). I am, however, very iron deficient. A ferritin level below 10 means your iron scores are depleted. An iron deficiency can cause anemia and a whole host of other symptoms including hair loss, low body temperature, sensitivity to cold, night sweats, prone to infection, low energy, fatigue, paleness, high heart rate, etc.

If you are female 15-50 and have any of these symptoms or are at a higher risk from being a vegetarian or a regular blood donater, or if you do high-intensity endurance training, I recommend you ask your doctor to do a serum ferritin test the next time you are in. It's important that you don't take iron supplements unless you are actually iron deficient - I think its actually more common for people to actually have too much iron.

I think I will post my new iron diet tomorrow.