Are you veggie or vegan? Look out for these symptoms…
Blood deficiency in Oriental medicine may or may not mean anemia. You can go for a blood test & it can tell you the contents but not how much you have. Blood nourishes, moistens & cools in the body. When blood becomes deficient or not as vital as we would like it to be, we feel a little wizened, everything in the body feels less nourished, dryer, tighter, stiffer. Effects of blood deficiency appear before someone manifests anemia. Anemia is a more advanced case of blood deficiency in Oriental medicine.
Blood deficiency often has symptoms of fatigue, a tendency to easily develop tendonitis or other wandering joint pains, you might suffer from diffuse headaches - better for laying down. A tight neck and shoulders, or feeling easily frustrated, overwhelmed or simply easily startled - someone who would jump if there was a sudden load noise. If there is also a spleen and stomach qi deficiency, then individuals may bruise easily and find themselves often stuck in ruminating thoughts that cause them to worry or feel anxious. Female patients may have heavy periods. In severe cases, individuals may see brittle nails, and experience hair loss even tremors & shaking. Blood deficiency can make us more “sensitive” more intuitive as we tend to be less “anchored” in our body so more “psychically” aware. Women generally tend to be more blood deficient than men because they have periods, & children - but it is not a syndrome exclusive to women.
Insomnia- especially trouble falling asleep– is also a common symptom.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the pattern of blood deficiency is typically liver blood deficiency. There may be some underlying spleen and stomach qi deficiency that is inhibiting the proper absorption of nutrients from food. If the building blocks for creating blood are not being absorbed, then it is pretty challenging for the body to make blood.
It is important to note that the sensations of anxiety, stress, and overwhelm even depression from liver blood deficiency can feel quite debilitating at times. If you have liver blood deficiency, there is a real physiologic reason that you feel this way. Sometimes having an idea why we feel the way we do, can help us sit with the uncomfortable emotions or simply love ourselves a little bit more during the process.
The good news?
There is quite a bit that we can do to support and even overcome blood deficiency with nutrition based on Chinese medicine. Sometimes if it is severe or has been going on for many years, it is also helpful to seek out the care of an acupuncturists & herbalist to pair with your home-based nutritional focus.
Classically the advise is to consume a little meat, liver or bone broth to strengthen the blood. But in this article I will focus on how a vegetarian or vegan can strengthen & tonify their blood. From a Chinese medical nutrition angle we look at foods that support the liver and foods that look like blood to address liver blood deficiency.
Liver supporting foods:
Foods that naturally support liver blood are:
Dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, swiss chard, kale, brassica leaves, mustard greens, sorel, shiso, nettles ( traditionally eaten to purify the blood), beetroot greens)
Other green vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts
Beetroot - it is said because the colour is rich like blood!
Iron rich foods
It is also important to drink mushroom broth or eat cooked mushrooms almost daily. (especially shitake mushroom) 1/2-1 cup of broth daily can help build the nutrients for healthy liver blood
Iron rich vegetarian foods:
Legumes– especially black eyed peas, chickpeas (these have the most), next are white beans, kidney beans, soy beans (tofu), and lentils. Peas and all other beans do have good sources of iron.
Sesame seeds (black sesame seeds have 15% more iron than regular white ones).
Other seeds: hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds
Nuts like cashews and almonds
Dark green vegetables (overlaps with the liver supporting foods)
Mushrooms: oyster and white mushrooms contain good levels of iron in a one cup serving.
Whole grains: amaranth, oats, spelt, and quinoa contain good amounts of iron
Improving Iron Absorption is important for Vegetarians and Vegans
To improve iron absorption, it is important to eat iron rich foods combined with vitamin C. Many of the vegetables that contain iron, also contain vitamin C. An easy way to make sure you are pairing iron foods with Vitamin C is to pair it with fresh tomatoes or tomato paste, and/or add a squeeze lemon over your meal.
Eating foods high in lysine also helps iron absorption. Legumes and quinoa are good examples of foods high in lysine. These not only contain iron, but they also contain lysine. It’s a win win.
Avoid eating iron rich foods with coffee or tea at meals. Drinking coffee and tea with food can decrease plant based iron absorption by 50-60%.
Finally, cooking in cast-iron can help imbue your meals with iron.
Ways to support the stomach and spleen/pancreas
Root vegetables and orange/yellow produce support the Stomach and spleen/pancreas.
Eating consistently during the day also helps strengthen these organs. The stomach likes to be a creature of habit. Eating something for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a couple healthy snacks throughout the day can fortify the stomach. If you don’t have an appetite in the morning, that is actually one of the first signs of deficiency in the stomach, spleen/pancreas organs. Once these organs become more robust, you’ll start to feel hungry within 30 minutes of waking. In the meantime, try to eat something small within the first hour of waking to help your digestive system get back on track. Good options are whole seed bread toasted (see recipe for “life saving bread”) with nut butter or mashed avocado, or a chia pudding with poached fruit (can be made the night before), or a cooked breakfast of shitake mushrooms & spinach.
Finally, eating consistently also makes sure that you have the fuel for your body to meet all the energetic demands placed upon it throughout the day.
