Anemia is a condition that develops when your blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells or hemoglobin. It impacts a large number of women between the age group of 15-50. Long term use of iron tablets can end up harming the stomach more than treating the condition.
In this video I talk about :
- Recognising anemia in your body. Breathlessness on exertion lack of endurance; fatigue and unusual drowsiness; Pallor of skin and mucous membrane. The link between Anorexia & dyspepsia, weak digestion , reduced appetite
- The 3 big factors that cause it: Excessive bleeding, bad stomach and nutritional deficiencies
- Treating with Naturopathy. Learn how to use ‘food as medicine’. Why and how citrus vegetable juices can be used to manage anemia.
(0:33) In this video, we are not going to go into those. We are going to talk about the simple anemia which is low red blood cells or a lack of hemoglobin in one’s body. (0:49) Let’s understand how we can use food as medicine to deal with anemia.
(0:54) Now, remember in the beginning of this video, I mentioned that one of the symptoms of anemia is that there tends to be indigestion or low digestion and a general sense of weakness in the body. (1:07) So what we don’t want to do is put very dense foods, right? So there is always the talk of using millets like ragi and sometimes even bajra to treat anemia. (1:17) But if you are already someone who has a weak digestion and a suboptimal stomach, then dense nutritionally dense food is not what you want to start with.
(1:28) What you want to start with are actually the juices which will help you significantly deal with making blood and the citrus fruits here have a very big role to play. (1:38) So sweet lime, what we call masami in Hindi is your biggest ticket item here. What you want to do is at least have 300 ml of that juice, empty stomach.
(1:53) Please don’t add anything to that juice. So about 4, 5, 6 masamis depending upon the size of the masami of the sweet lime, just juice it and just have it. (2:04) If you notice that you also have more calcium deficiency along with a blood deficiency, then oranges will work better for you.
And again, it’s the same quantity. (2:14) So have at least 300 ml of that empty stomach, preferably first thing in the morning. (2:21) If you are someone who has more of the B vitamin deficiencies and specially B12 is coming up for you, then what you want to also include is pomegranate juice.
(2:33) Now again, annaar juice or pomegranate juice needs to be had empty stomach. The quantity here can be about 200 ml and just consume it as it is. (2:46) The other juices which really help with anemia are two vegetables.
One is beetroot and one is carrot. (2:54) The way to have beetroot juice is to again have 300 ml minimum in quantity. So about 2 to 3 beetroots or what we call chukandar in Hindi depending on the size of it.
(3:06) One cucumber or kheera and this is where you also add some gooseberry or amla to it. (3:15) Now just remember the actual ABC juice is not apple beetroot carrot but amla beetroot carrot and it is exactly to be had in this ratio. (3:27) So 2 to 3 amla, 2 to 3 beetroot and about 6 to 7 carrots is how you bring it all together and make sure that you get at least 300 ml of juice and you consume it.
(3:40) Like I said, if for some reason you are not using carrot here, you can also use cucumber here. It will still remain as your ABC juice. (3:49) If we are not in the winter season in India and amla or gooseberry is a problem, then this is the only time we add a little bit of lime to the juice.
(3:58) Again just remember I spoke about not using too much excess of lime and lemon when you have anemia. (4:04) So once you have taken out the juice, just add like just half a lemon or a little bit of lime to this juice and consume it. (4:12) One can also add spinach to carrot and have that juice
he only people who should not do it is if you already have a slightly loose stomach or a tendency towards IBS, then don’t use raw spinach. (4:27) Otherwise what you can do is use carrot as the base of the juice. So 6-7 carrots, enough to give you 300 ml of juice and a handful or what I would call a palmful of raw spinach washed properly can be added to that juice and had.
(4:51) The other food items which are not in juice form but actually in whole food form that work best for anemia is actually consuming a lot of apples or a lot of grapes when they are in season. (5:04) Now the way you want to do this is make sure that you at least have one meal of this fruit and you have it only as a mono fruit. (5:12) So my recommendation always is that if you are going to do this as a one meal thing, then choose a time between 8 am to say 12 and just consume that one variety of fruit.
(5:24) So apple in apple season and grapes in grape season, right? And you just keep having that from 8 to 12 and then you are done with it and then you can shift an hour later to your cooked food. (5:37) Do not mix the fruit with the cooked food under any circumstances. (5:43) The other food items that help a lot with anemia and can be had more in snack form is actually raw coconut, dates and if you are slightly diabetic then instead of dates please use chawara or what is called the raw date.
(6:01) The way you want to consume it is actually as a snack so you can have it anytime during the day especially if you feel you are getting more allergies and a lot of infections then I highly recommend using raw coconut often on in your food and as part of your diet. (6:20) Now all this will help you with anemia but just remember that the red blood cells have a cycle of 120 days i.e. it takes 3 months for new red blood cells to get formed. (6:34) So when you want to try these things, you want to do it for a period of at least 3 months and then see if you have seen a significant change or not.