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« on: February 18, 2020, 11:16:14 pm »
Inger,
First of all, I think you are a very experienced and knowledgeable individual in the raw paleo lifestyle. I admire your courage in not being swayed by popular belief and in openly sharing a lifestyle that most think is dangerous to yourself and, to an extent, to those around you. Watching your videos and reading your posts always inspires me to continue pursuing this lifestyle, and your cheerful attitude often brings me joy on sad days.
However, I think here you may have been getting all worked up over something which may not even be an issue.
There are many reasons why a blood iron test can come up high, the main reason being if your diet is high in available iron, which it is. The question is not just about how much you absorb though, but how much your body stores and how much it eliminates, and why. It could be that your body has issues eliminating iron, but so far you seem to have little or no evidence that this is the case, other than a suspicion based not on real experience but on a lab test that could mean many things - and which even the doctors have no concerns about.
Some of your solutions to the problem seem fine and well - more seafood, less red meat could certainly be what's best for you.
I'm skeptical of the green tea being of help - this in effect works by impairing your digestion. Even if it works for the intended purpose, there are many side-effects of impairing digestion like that. Now if you enjoy green tea with your meals, and don't want to give it up, or perhaps you need the caffeine boost or want something warm to drink, that's another matter altogether, and I'm sure you can be healthy while including it. But to include it for health reasons seems counter-intuitive.
About blood donations, if you are doing this for humanitarian issues, that's fine and well. But to do this as a health practice seems bizarre to me. When you are injured and blood comes out, it hurts. Blood is designed to clot on contact with air so as to close the wound as soon as possible. Can you imagine paleo people willingly bleeding themselves on purpose and for enjoyment or as a form of medical practice? Bloodletting only came about in an age where most people were eating a very unnatural diet, based on grains, which would actually promote anemia. Even if bloodletting was an effective method for reducing iron in the blood, this would only be necessary if your body has a problem eliminating iron, since elimination is what you're doing. However, it seems to me that creating new blood, with the great nutritional and building requirements it has, simply for the sake of eliminating iron, puts a big strain on your body, and I believe it could in fact be much more likely to age you quickly. We know that things that destroy blood cells (as well as other cells), such as alcohol consumption, age us faster. Here you are technically destroying (or rather, eliminating) blood cells on purpose. While you don't have to deal with the cleanup of dead cells that would result from heavy alcohol consumption, you do have to deal with the big task of constantly replenishing your blood supply. Finally, all of that new blood requires iron to make. So when you do that, your body is more likely to hold on to iron. I would worry that continually doing this would set your body up for iron retention.
You said that you might have a genetic mutation for increased iron intake. When do you suppose this mutation came about? Scandinavian people aren't particularly known for a heavy grain dependence, since little grain can be grown there. If anything we would expect to find this mutation in people who relied heavily on grains and thus needed such increased iron absorption - therefore it would be most likely present mainly in people from northeast asia, and to a lesser extent india, the middle east and europe and central and south america.
About the vaccuum cleaning, it could simply be the EMF like you mentioned, or more likely still, the air you are breathing. House dust is not the same as dirt in nature. House dust is full of toxic elements that come off the walls, off all kinds of plastic and treated wood and paper; particles from all sorts of aerosol sprays including deodorant and even poison (bug spray), soaps and detergents and other chemicals used in cleaning, etc. When you vaccuum a house, many of those chemical toxins end up in your lungs, nostrils and general respiratory tract, as well as on your skin and your eyes. They are then absorbed to your bloodstream and your liver and kidneys have to process many of them. Perhaps you could wear a cottonmask for blocking some of the dust you breathe in while doing this task, and see if it improves the issue. If it does, you could also add protective goggles and clothes that expose as little skin as possible, and avoiding makeup (which can make the dust stick to your skin more easily)
As a side issue, I'm curious as to where you are sourcing your raw coconut oil, since almost all coconut oils are actually cooked, even if they say they're not.