Sara back up and running with vegan friendly IRON+
Our bodies need iron to make haemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that enables the cells to carry oxygen around the body.
If your body doesn’t have enough haemoglobin, your tissues and muscles won’t get enough oxygen to be able to work effectively and you could feel constantly fatigued and find it difficult to concentrate. This was the case for Sara Pearce, 39, a Demand Planner from Peterborough, and amateur runner. She decided to become a vegan in May this year, Sara was advised by her friends that she would need to supplement with iron & B12, but, with a busy lifestyle just never really got around to looking into it. Sara explains; “After about three months of becoming vegan I was feeling mentally and physically exhausted all the time.” Regarding vegetarian and vegan diets and supplementation the NHS says: “If your diet isn’t planned properly, you could miss out on essential nutrients. Vegetarians need to make sure they get enough iron and vitamin
B12, and vegans enough calcium, iron and vitamin
B12. Women are thought to be at particular risk of iron deficiency, including those on a vegetarian or vegan diet.” Sara continues: “Talking to my running coach, he asked me how my iron levels were. It was only then that I thought back to the advice I had been given when I changed my diet. “I had no idea what my iron levels were like, or if low iron levels were causing my exhaustion, but as I had recently seen Iron+ online, I decided to give it a try.
“It was incredible” Sara continued, “after just five days I felt so different, much more like my old self, the Iron+ supplements helped me massively... I’ll continue to take them.” If you are concerned that you have symptoms of iron deficiency you should talk to your doctor. If you do lack iron in your diet it can be treated easily, either by a change in diet or by supplementation. Restoration of normal iron levels can’t be corrected overnight. You may need to take iron supplements for several months or longer to replenish your iron reserves. Many people notice a difference after a week or so, but it can also take longer.
Ask your doctor when to have your blood rechecked to measure your iron levels, to be sure that your iron reserves are replenished.