Hey, guys.
Dr. Axe here, Doctor of Functional Medicine.
Today I'm going to share with you my five-step process to treat anemia naturally.
If you want to know the best anemia cures, you're going to find those in this video,
including the best diet, supplements, along with triggers, things that can trigger anemia
you absolutely want to watch out for.
The first step in overcoming anemia is really nourishing your spleen.
Your spleen is an organ that is responsible for red blood cell production, as well as
keeping fluids together in your system.
If your spleen isn't healthy, that's one of the first factors that's going to cause anemia.
There are specific foods that will actually help nourish your spleen, helping you overcome
anemia naturally.
That first food group would be squash, specifically things like pumpkin, acorn squash, butternut
squash, spaghetti squash, those bright orange-colored foods.
Think fall harvest, those sort of foods are going to be fantastic for nourishing the spleen.
So step number one is nourishing your spleen.
I would recommend getting one to two servings of squash in your daily diet.
If you want some ideas, you can check out some of my recipes there on DrAxe.com.
The other thing that's very important for nourishing your spleen and red blood cell
production are going to be green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, and chard.
Doing one serving of those a day, something like a kale salad or saut�ed spinach, is
also very nourishing to your spleen.
Last, but not least, our bitter foods are good for the spleen, specifically things like
romaine lettuce, arugula.
You can even do bitter herbs before a meal as a supplement.
But anything that's sort of a bitter food is very, very nourishing to the spleen.
Step number two to help you naturally overcome anemia is you need to start getting your gut
healthy with probiotics.
Now, listen to this principle.
It's not, "You are what you eat," it is, "You are what you digest."
If you're not digesting properly and absorbing and assimilating nutrients properly, you're
not absorbing iron.
So for a lot of people, you might even be taking iron supplements, and they're not working.
The reason is that you're digestive system isn't healthy, and you probably have a condition
called "leaky gut."
Leaky gut doesn't allow you to properly absorb iron as well as certain other vitamins, like
vitamin B12 and magnesium and zinc.
So you could be deficient because you don't have a healthy gut, and probiotics are really
the first key into restoring your digestive health.
In fact, a recent study out of Stanford found that when somebody supplements with probiotics,
all of their B vitamin levels go up along with their iron.
So listen, treat the root cause, not the symptom.
So many doctors today say, "Hey, just go and take this iron tab."
It's not fixing it.
You've got to be able to absorb the iron tab for it to work.
So for that reason, you want to add in probiotic-rich foods like real home-made yogurt, goat's milk
kefir, sauerkraut, and other probiotic-rich foods.
Then taking a probiotic supplement, typically 50 to 100 billion IUs daily, can definitely
help support your iron absorption.
Step number two in overcoming anemia is getting those processed and junk foods out, especially
excess sugar and anything that can cause candida.
Oftentimes, candida and anemia are linked.
So if you ever notice a white color on your tongue or in the back of your throat or if
you ever tend to get any sort of yeast issues, you know that's candida.
Candida will block iron absorption.
So diet is key.
In order to really overcome that, you've got to support the spleen, like I talked about
earlier, but also eliminate processed sugars and grains.
So again, if you are doing a lot of sugars, pastas, breads, cereals, any type of grain
product or sugar product, that's going to feed yeast.
Replace those with healthy fats in your diet.
Or if you're going to use a sweetener, raw local honey in small amounts, a tablespoon
at most at a time, or stevia is the best option in terms of sweeteners.
The next step in helping you overcome anemia is going to be actually consuming iron-rich
foods.
Some of the best include foods like liver.
In fact, beef liver and chicken liver are by far the highest.
That might sound gross to you, consuming liver.
But I'm telling you, if you buy organic chicken liver at your local farmer's market or at
your health food store, you can put it in a crock pot with chicken in equal ratios,
or about a third liver, two-thirds chicken, and do a big crock pot with vegetables like
carrots, celery, onions, sea salt.
Do a big crock pot with some liver in there, and that is the perfect meal to help replenish
your liver, as well as liver is very high in iron, as I just discussed, which is important,
so again, getting liver in your diet.
Also, other iron-rich foods you want to be getting in your diet.
Look towards meat, specifically grass-fed beef.
Bison is fantastic and lamb.
But think organic, grass-fed red meats are some of the highest foods in iron.
Also, spinach and kale and chard, getting those green leafy vegetables in.
So again, an ideal meal might look like that crock pot soup I talked about earlier.
Another idea would be a bison burger with a side of spinach.
Fantastic for helping you overcome anemia.
And last but not least, lifestyle and reducing stress.
If you're emotionally stressed out, if you struggle with unforgiveness, anger, or have
chronic worry and anxiety, those things really deplete your spleen and your liver and will
exhaust those organs.
So really make sure that you are scheduling in times of relaxation, times of fun during
your week, getting plenty of sleep at night.
Those things will really help recharge your system and body.
If you do those things, you're going to see fantastic results in overcoming anemia.
Last little bonus tip here.
In Chinese medicine, again, anemia is very closely related to the spleen, and certain
herbs actually help support the spleen, especially ginseng.
Ginseng is known as an adaptogenic herb that helps your body better deal with stress.
So adding in a supplement like ginseng may also help really in supporting healthy blood.
Then beets, another super food.
They really help with a healthy circulatory system and healthy iron levels.
So guys, this has been myself, Dr. Axe, talking about anemia natural treatments and natural
cures for anemia.
I hope you've enjoyed this video.
And hey, if you want to learn more about the best ways to heal naturally, make sure you
subscribe here to my YouTube channel.
You're going to find the greatest and latest health news available today.
Thanks, guys.