Went to the Doctor today, aka the Chiropractor and aka my pops… Who was concerned my iron and potassium levels were low and I had a bit of inflammation. I have a feeling this is due to my training load this past weekend, 6 hours in the saddle and Sunday Brick Workout. Pops was not to concerned about the inflammation for this reason, and prior check ups had shown minimal build up. But he did question my diet and how much red meat, spinach and other iron rich foods I am eating. I will admit that my red meat intake is limited, and normally eaten once per week. However, I eat spinach with the best of them, levels pop-eye could not keep up with.

Being a little curious, I take this to Google, to learn a little bit more about the importance of Iron. Turns out, “Iron is essential for athletic performance. One of its major functions is to carry oxygen to and carbon dioxide away from all the cells in your body. The brain also relies on oxygen transport and without enough iron you will find it hard to concentrate and feel tired and irritable. Iron is also needed to maintain a healthy immune system. If you don’t have enough iron you may be prone to more frequent infections.”

I still have yet to do thorough research on what causes inflammation, but it could very well be a lagging indicator of an Iron deficit. To be sure this does not keep up, I will be including a few additional Iron rich specific foods into my diet;

1. Lean red meats: 2-3/ week
2. Fish: tuna and salmon 1-2/week
3. Spinach: as much as I can handle
4. Vegetables: as much as I can handle
5. Wheat Germ- got the tip from pop, so we will see

Any other suggestions, drop me a line. In the next addition we will be exploring Potassium, not actually sure there is anything to explore, my thought is eat more bananas… We will see!

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