that is what they say about the beginning of march.
back when i lived in ohio, i am guessing this referred to snow storms, which were supposedly over by the end of the month. yeah, right, like that ever happened.
who knows! i just like this lion cartoon. isn't it cute?
i don't really think march came in like a lion for me. beginning of march i got my blood drawn and found out i was almost anemic. yes, yes, i can hear all the "i told you so's" -- from all those people who have been on my case for not eating meat for the last five or six years. i guess donnettes don't cut it..... it's a shame, really.
anyway, the doctor told me to get on the juice. and by juice, i mean iron pills.
my whole life i have been very bad at keeping on regimens. especially vitamin regimens. i only take vitamins after a night of drinking alcohol, as i am convinced it prevents hangovers. so when faced with the task of taking a pill everyday... i was quite nervous about my success rate of actually taking my iron pill.
in hopes to hype myself up for this seemingly very difficult self-care task ahead of me, i read everything i could on ways to increase iron absorption.
- iron is best absorbed on an empty stomach.
- it is also best absorbed when NOT taken with zinc or calcium, as they compete for absorption.
- BUT vitamin C helps iron absorption.
- take your iron pills 2 hours after eating, or 1 hour before eating.
i thought and thought......
breakfast.....post-breakfast snack....lunch.....lunch2....post lunch snack........pre-ride snack......post-ride lean1....dinner1: after-ride-before-michael-gets-home-from-work-dinner, dinner2: dinner-with-michael.........when exactly i could take this iron supplement to maximize my iron absorption!?!
the only logical time it seemed for me to take my iron pill was between 2am and 4am.
i was sure this was going to set me up for failure. after all, if i couldn't even get on a schedule to take a multivitamin for more than 5 days straight...how in god's name was i going to get up at 3am to take my iron pill?
i don't know how, but i think this is the best i have ever done taking a pill. my strategy is as follows. i drink a big glass of water right before i go to sleep, then i usually wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and stumble upon the bottle of ferrous fumarate that i keep next to the sink. and it is that easy.
anyway, my 'low iron' is how much rolled in.
the day after i got my blood test results and started my iron pill, i went on a 4 hour bike ride. the previous week i had been so sleepy, even one hour rides were hard. but when i got on the bike that day- i was ready to roll! i zipped along for a good hour-- clearly the one iron pill had solved all my problems!
well, that didn't last very long, as i crawled home up redwood road wishing i had a granny gear. scratch that, it wasn't the gear. i really just wanted to take a nap in the park. it was warm and sunny and napping sounded much nicer than bicycle riding.
well, that the beginning of march. so, yes-- in like a lion.
oh lions are so cute!(when they are sleeping!)
next up-- life in review: volume 3--the ides of march.... oooooooooooooooo
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