Primal & blood donation page

[TriGirl]

Hi Mark, I donate blood about twice a year and was wondering if you could do a topic on this? I only donate twice because my blood percent gets to low which makes me tired and affects my workouts. They always give me iron supplements afterwards, but in my mind living primal should be enough so a post about the affect on the body and the way to treat it would be great! Just for clarification voluntary blood donation is very common in Denmark and in my mind it is a great way to help people who really need it!
Hope to see something about it in the future
Lonnie

[Diana Renata]

Good idea.

I'm a regular donor and look forward to my donations. Eating a hearty meal the night before and drinking plenty of water definitely helps. Lots of iron-rich foods the week before (very easy to do with a Primal diet.)

I'm curious to see what Mark has to say on the subject. Especially when it comes to post-donation food/drink. A lot of donation sites I've been to hand out fruit juice and cookies. At best I get away with raisins and water until I can go somewhere to eat real food. >.<

[yodiewan]

At best I get away with raisins and water until I can go somewhere to eat real food. >.<

Haha. I usually just wait to eat till I get home. Fortunately I haven't had any "pushy" people lately. I've had to take a break since I went to Haiti last year, but I'm once again eligible (as of today actually!) so I plan to donate soon.

[RitaRose]

I donate as much as possible, but a couple of months ago was my first time since going Primal.

I had to laugh because they said I wasn't heavy enough to give a double, like I usually do. Gotta love that.

Anyway, they offered me the usual cookies and juice, but I had brought along a small carton of coconut water. It really seemed to help, and I didn't get my usual migraine. I'm not sure if that was because of taking less blood or replacing the juice and cookies with coconut water.

[rolfdevinci]

Regularily donate here. Same deal with the crappy snack food......but they do serve coffee(wink). I usually don't need anything to be honest and feel strong even after the donation.

That said they tested me for platelet donation and I failed......no big surprise...

Rolf Devinci Cycling: 96000 Per Microliter Of Blood

[Paleobird]

I donate every 8 weeks too. Since I've been eating more offal, particularly liver, my iron levels have gone way up. (They always test for that before donation to see if you can handle it.)

Yes the snacks are crappy but at least here they have progressed away from doughnuts to fruit. That is the one day I allow myself a big glass of orange juice.

[jammies]

I donate every 8 weeks too. Since I've been eating more offal, particularly liver, my iron levels have gone way up. (They always test for that before donation to see if you can handle it.)

Yes the snacks are crappy but at least here they have progressed away from doughnuts to fruit. That is the one day I allow myself a big glass of orange juice.

I didn't realize you could donate blood if you were taking cancer meds - am I recalling correctly that you are a breast cancer survivor and still take one of the aromatase inhibitors?. I'm curious because I never donate because of my RA and the drugs I take. If they aren't a problem, maybe I should reconsider....

I second the motion to add in liver and organ meats. I eats lots of red meat and still test low for B12 - I think organ meats are important for full health.

[Paleobird]

I didn't realize you could donate blood if you were taking cancer meds - am I recalling correctly that you are a breast cancer survivor and still take one of the aromatase inhibitors?. I'm curious because I never donate because of my RA and the drugs I take. If they aren't a problem, maybe I should reconsider....

I second the motion to add in liver and organ meats. I eats lots of red meat and still test low for B12 - I think organ meats are important for full health.

No. They have a list of all the medications that would bar you from donating and I'm fine. After this trip I have coming up I am going to have to take a year off from donating because I'm going to Africa. Risk of malaria and all that.

Idk about your RA meds but it wouldn't hurt to call and ask.

[yodiewan]

I donate every 8 weeks too. Since I've been eating more offal, particularly liver, my iron levels have gone way up. (They always test for that before donation to see if you can handle it.)

Hopefully that will be the case for me too. I used to donate every 8 weeks, but one time my hemoglobin test prior to donation was 11.something. I'm a male and that is below the normal range even for ladies. I went to the doctor and my ferritin was totally depleted. He prescribed iron pills and my level went back up eventually. This was all before I started eating primal really, so maybe with the inclusion of liver and more red meat in my diet, more frequent donations will be possible again.

[Animord]

I live in Ireland and they won't take my blood because I lived in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and they are scared I might have mad cow disease! It really annoys me, the English were fine with my blood for years. Hopefully that will change again because I really liked donating.