Dans le Jus / Nutrition
Getting that Juicey Glow! Inside and Out!


Veganism 101: Iron. Are you getting enough?

Iron is found in every cell and has the following main functions:
Formation of red blood cells
Cofactor of enzymes and other proteins involved
Transports oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body.
If you don’t get enough iron you may feel tired and not have the energy to do the things you want to do. You may also look pale, be irritable and have trouble concentrating. Since iron is critical for brain development, a lack of iron may lower children’s ability to learn.
How much iron you need depends on your gender, age, and (for women) how heavy your period is.
Life Stage |
Males |
Females |
7 to 12 months |
11 |
11 |
1 to 3 years |
7 |
7 |
4 to 8 years |
10 |
10 |
9 to 13 years |
8 |
8 |
14 to 18 years |
11 |
15 |
19 to 50 years |
8 |
18 |
51 years and over |
8 |
8 |
Pregnancy |
|
27 |
- Source: Health Canada, Dietary Reference Intakes
SO a high absorption rate is not necessarily a good thing as the body has no mechanism for disposing of excess iron. In other words, iron from plant foods is more beneficial to the body because its absorption remains safely regulated. Whereas iron from animal sources can accumulate to levels which could be harmful. As well, there is no research that shows that vegans or vegetarians suffer higher rates of iron deficient conditions than the rest of the population. (See the footnote at the end of this post for the science behind these claims)


But the take – away here is that most people can get their iron needs met by eating a healthy whole food plant based nutrient rich diet.

Leitzmann C., 2005. Vegetarian diets: what are the advantages? Forum on Nutrition. (57) 147-156).
Iron Content of Selected Vegan Foods can be found here:
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.php
Part 3: Revive the Spirit: The Benefits of a Spiritual Cleanse



Suggested steps comes from http://www.loveorabove.com/blog/spiritual-growth/
Re-Juice Into Gear and Chase Away Those Winter Blues!
Treat yourself to some rich, dark chocolate, it helps boost serotonin levels easily when eaten in moderation. Serotonin is known as the “feel-good hormone” and is produced when the body is exposed to sunlight, but chocolate makes for a sweet substitute.
And most importantly…. Juice Away Your Blues!

Keep Calm and Go Organic!
3 great reasons Rejuice uses organic produce, and why you should too!
The number one reason people tend to avoid organic produce is price. These consumers are not convinced that the benefits outweigh the cost. Our hope is that after reading the following, you may find that there is a much dearer cost to your health, your families, and the planets, in opting for conventionally farmed produce.
Before we begin, note that when we say organic, we mean farming practices that rely on crop rotation, compost, biological pest control and that excludes synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, plant growth regulators or hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives, and genetically modified organisms. As opposed to conventional farming practices that not only utilize all the above practices but that are heavily dependent on pesticides. The sad reality is that even the inactive ingredients in herbicide and pesticide brands have been found to be just as toxic, if not more so, than the active ingredients, and these ingredients aren’t tested for human health impacts before being released.
There are many reasons we can give you why organic is better, but we are counting down our top 3 reasons:
- Organic Food Contains More Nutrients! The facts: According to a recent study by the Globe and Mail and CTV Newsof the nutrient quality of fruit and vegetables, compared to 50years ago, today’s regular fruit and vegetables contain dramatically less vitamins and minerals. The average potato has lost 100% of its vitamin A, 57% of its vitamin C and iron, 28% of its calcium, 50% of its riboflavin, and 18% of its thiamin. Similar results applied to 24 other fruits and vegetables. For broccoli, all seven nutrients fell, including a 63% decrease in calcium and a 34% decrease in iron. In April 2001, a US study examined 41 comparisons of the nutrient levels in organic and regular foods. In every case, the organic crops had higher nutrient levels - 27% more vitamin C, 29% more iron, 14% more phosphorus. At the June 2001 meeting of the American Chemical Society, a chemistry professor reported that organic oranges contained up to 30% more vitamin C than regular oranges, even though they are half the size. (Conventional orange trees are fed nitrogen fertilizer, causing the fruit to absorb more water, which makes them bigger.) In a French study, a cancer specialist studying the nutrient qualities of food grown in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France showed that for the twelve foods where his study is complete, the organic foods showed increased quantities of vitamins A, C, E, and the B group, increased elements such as zinc, increased minerals such as calcium, and increased fibre.
- Organic Farming Protects the Climate and Wildlife! The facts: Organic soil is full of living creatures, which carry carbon. In soil experiments across the globe, organically managed plots stored muchmore carbon than the conventional plots. In the Broadbalkexperiment, soil fertility increased by 120% in the manured plots, versus 20% in the chemical plots. The same results occurred in the Swiss experiment. A study in California’s Central Valley showed that as well as producing similar yields and suffering similar pest damage, organically managed fields produced 28% more organic carbon. By storing more carbon in the soil, organic farmers help to stop global climate change. A report by Britain’s Soil Association shows that wildlife is substantially richer and more varied on organic than on conventional farms. A typical organic field has five times as many wild plants, 57% more species, and 44% more birds in cultivated areas than a regular farm. Two 1996 studies show that organic farms have twice as many skylarks, and twice as many butterflies. Every time we eat an organic lettuce or tomato, we help restore wildlife.
And the #1 reason:
Organic Food is Safer: The facts: Farmers in Canada, Kansas and Nebraska who use the pesticide 2,4-D suffer a higher rate of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a cancer). The same applies to dogs that play on lawns that have been sprayed. In Sweden, exposure to phenoxy herbicides has been shown to increase the risk of contracting lymphomas six-fold. In the US, the death rates from myeloma (a cancer) are highest in rural farming areas18. And so it goes on. Migrant farmworkers suffer an abnormally high rate of multiple myeloma, stomach, prostate and testicular cancer. Organic farming carries none of these risks. There is a strong association between breast cancer and exposure to chemical pesticides. Atrazine, a common ingredient in pesticides, causes breast cancer in rats, chromosomal breakdown in the ovaries of hamsters, and hind-limb deformities in frogs. A Finnish study showed that women whose breasts stored the highest levels of a lindane-like residue were ten times more likely to have breast cancer than women with lower levels. (Lindane is a pesticide).
We can end all this by shifting to organic food. We can be healthier. Our children can be healthier. Our farmers and farm workers can be healthier. Frogs, worms, butterflies, skylarks and the soil itself can be healthier. All that it takes is to turn away from chemically grown food, and embrace organic food.
Guy Dauncey
#behappybehealthy
The information above all comes from Ten Reasons why Organic Food is better by Guy Dauncey. You can read the original article here: http://www.earthfuture.com/earth/cg-tenreasonsorganic.asp Guy Dauncey is the author of Earthfuture: Stories from a Sustainable World (ecotopian short stories, summer reading!) and Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change, winner of a Nautilus Award at the New York Book Expo (New Society Publishers). He lives in Victoria. www.earthfuture.com. First published in Common Ground Magazine, August 2002
Other sources: Rhodes, Nick Organic Farming for Wildlife on Kansas Farms Published: Spring/Summer Issue – My Wildlife Magazine