You’re tired. Bone deep tired. Maybe your periods are heavy. Or you’re always cold, wrapped in layers while everyone else feels fine.
Iron deficiency is one of the most common, and most overlooked, forms of nutrient depletion, especially among those with a menstrual cycle, women in the postpartum, athletes, and anyone recovering from chronic stress.
The usual advice? Take an iron pill. Eat some spinach.
But here’s the thing… iron pills often cause constipation, nausea, or gut irritation. And spinach contains oxalates that actually block absorption. What your body really needs is not just more iron, but the right iron, delivered in a way it can use.
1. Choose heme iron over non-heme
Not all iron is created equal. Heme iron, found only in animal tissue, is the form your body is biologically primed to recognise, and is up to four times more absorbable than plant-based non-heme iron. It doesn’t require conversion by the gut, and it’s not sabotaged by anti-nutrients like phytic acid and oxalates.
In fact, non-heme iron doesn’t just absorb poorly, it can actually compete with and block heme iron uptake, making deficiency worse.
The most potent sources of heme iron are liver (beef, lamb, chicken), spleen (nature's richest iron source), heart and shellfish such as oysters and clams.
It's very important to note the key distinction in eating iron from natural sources rather than taking an iron supplement.
Most conventional iron pills are made with inorganic iron salts, ferrous sulfate, ferrous fumarate, ferrous gluconate, or, in some cases, literally ground iron filings, tiny metallic particles intended to dissolve slowly in stomach acid. Imagine swallowing a handful of iron shavings and expecting your digestive tract to accept them gracefully.
While this approach can technically raise serum iron on a lab test, it does so at a cost. These dense, metallic forms are:
- Highly reactive, creating oxidative stress in the gut lining
- Difficult to absorb, leaving much of the iron unutilised and free to feed harmful gut bacteria
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Irritating to mucosal tissue, triggering nausea, bloating, constipation, or even gastritis over time
This is why so many people start taking iron pills only to abandon it a few weeks later, overwhelmed by side effects no one warned them about.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Iron is not inherently harsh or toxic. When it comes in its natural, heme-bound form, woven into the protein matrix of organs and blood, it is gentle, absorbable, and biologically familiar. Your body recognises it immediately because it is the same form of iron you’ve been using to build red blood cells since before birth.
2. Detox from heavy metals
Here’s a lesser-known (but critical) fact… you can have plenty of iron stored in your body, but still be anaemic. Why? Because aluminium and other heavy metals hijack your bone marrow’s ability to produce haemoglobin.
- It accumulates in bones, weakening structure
- It blocks red blood cell production
- It sabotages oxygen delivery even when iron levels are “normal”
But wait! Before you start googling dramatic detox protocols, please pause. We don’t want you hurting yourself.
Many so-called “heavy metal detoxes” are marketed like a purification ritual, promising to cleanse every toxin from your cells in one cathartic, violent sweep. They rely on subtraction, stripping minerals out of your body without first replenishing what you’re already missing.
This is why so many people end up worse… depleted, sicker, and more anemic than before.
We’ll be publishing a full guide to safe, nutrient supported heavy metal detox soon. For now, know this...
- Real detoxification depends on cellular energy. When your body is chronically underfed nutrients, it can’t generate enough energy to power the liver, kidneys, and gut to excrete toxins.
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Your body doesn’t need dramatic, forceful interventions to “detox”.
That narrative is marketing, not science, and often unsafe. True detox is never about purging or suffering, it’s about adding nourishment so your body can clear toxins in its own time, safely and sustainably.
In the meantime, start by reducing your exposure.
Common places aluminum hides include:
Conventional deodorants and antiperspirants
Cookware (especially old or scratched aluminum pots and pans)
Some medications and over-the-counter antacids
- Low quality protein/collagen powders. Especially if they are sourced from factory farmed animals, processed at high heat or lacking third-party testing. Marine collagen can especially harbour heavy metals due to polluted waters.
3. Add spleen to your diet
Among all the ancestral foods that restore iron, spleen is the most overlooked, and perhaps the most essential.
Rich in heme iron, copper, and vitamin C in a naturally balanced ratio, spleen offers exactly what the bone marrow requires to build healthy, oxygen-carrying red cells. Unlike isolated iron pills, spleen is a complete matrix…protein to stabilise absorption, cofactors to unlock utilisation, and enzymes to soothe digestion rather than irritate it.
Historically, spleen was part of many traditional diets. Hunters knew to consume it first, believing it held the “power of the blood.” In Chinese medicine, spleen was revered for its ability to invigorate qi, the vital life force
Blend a small amount into mince, stews, or meatballs. You won’t taste it, but your blood will feel the difference.
4. Rebuild with copper and B vitamins
Iron doesn’t work in isolation. Copper helps transport it. B12 and folate help build red blood cells. Without these cofactors, iron may rise in blood tests but not in energy or symptoms.
Best sources of these cofactors:
Spleen and liver for copper and B12
Oysters, delivering a mineral synergy nearly impossible to replicate in a lab
Dark chocolate (a welcome indulgence) for trace copper
Pastured eggs and gently cooked greens for folate
If you’re rebuilding iron, make sure you’re also rebuilding what makes iron functional.
5. Understand what's behind heavy bleeding
Many women lose iron month after month without ever knowing why their periods are so heavy. And if the root cause isn’t addressed, even the best iron rich diet becomes a slow, uphill battle.
Here’s what most practitioners don’t explain...
Excessive menstrual bleeding is often the final expression of low progesterone, unopposed estrogen, and a liver too overworked to clear the hormones accumulating in your tissues.
This imbalance has many origins, chronic stress, under-eating, long-term low-carb dieting, exposure to environmental estrogens, or simply the relentless depletion of modern life.
Progesterone is the hormone of stability. It calms the uterine lining and regulates flow. But when your body is chronically undernourished or low in cellular energy, it cannot produce or utilise progesterone effectively. At the same time, estrogen builds up, sometimes from your own tissue, sometimes from chemicals in plastics and cosmetics, until your monthly cycle becomes an exhausting flood.
Many mainstream approaches rely on suppression…birth control pills or hormonal IUDs that mask the problem by shutting down ovulation entirely. These can offer temporary relief, but they don’t resolve the underlying nutrient depletion or energy deficit. You don’t have to suffer through “just being someone who bleeds heavily.” There are gentle, food-first ways to support hormone balance and reduce blood loss over time...
Eat enough to support ovulation and progesterone production.Focus on ripe fruit, for their abundant carbohydrates, potassium, and vitamin C, which lower stress hormones and nourish thyroid function. Include oysters, rich in zinc and magnesium to regulate pituitary signals for ovulation, and packed with selenium and iodine that support thyroid hormones essential for progesterone synthesis. Make liver a staple, its vitamin A, vitamin E, copper, and B vitamins provide the cofactors your ovaries need to sustain progesterone. Butter offers both cholesterol, the raw material for all sex hormones, and naturally occurring progesterone itself. Eat raw carrots and well-cooked vegetables daily to supply gentle fiber that binds old estrogens in the gut, preventing their reabsorption. Finally, raw and A2 dairy delivers bioavailable calcium and fat-soluble vitamins that ease PMS by lowering prolactin and supporting overall hormonal steadiness.
Use castor oil packs or magnesium soaks in the luteal phase to calm inflammation
6. Address postpartum depletion
Post-birth depletion is one of the least talked about causes of chronic iron loss, even though it affects millions.
Between blood loss, hormonal shifts, breastfeeding, and disrupted sleep, many women stay anaemic for years after giving birth.
In conventional care, postpartum anemia is often reduced to a single prescription: “Take an iron tablet.” But this approach overlooks the complexity of what your body is doing. You are not simply low on iron. You are rebuilding an entirely new hormonal landscape, replenishing bone marrow reserves, repairing tissues stretched and torn by birth, and producing breastmilk rich in minerals to nourish your baby.
True postpartum iron repair is never just about iron. It is about restoring what was generously given… heme iron for oxygen delivery, copper to transport and metabolise that iron, retinol to rebuild mucous membranes and glandular tissue, collagen to mend fascia and ligaments, and carbohydrates to fuel your thyroid and adrenal glands as they recover from the metabolic marathon of pregnancy and birth.
Eat abundantly to rebuild iron, minerals, and tissue:
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Spleen and liver: The richest sources of heme iron, copper, B12, retinol, and folate, all necessary for regenerating red blood cells and supporting hormone production.
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Raw dairy and gelatine: Provide bioavailable calcium, glycine, and proline to repair connective tissue and soothe the nervous system
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Colostrum: Contains immune factors and growth compounds that help heal the gut lining and strengthen postpartum immunity.
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Organs: Conveniently deliver the micronutrients pregnancy depletes most, iron, zinc, copper, vitamin A, and B vitamins, in ratios your body can absorb.
And a bonus… eating nutrient-dense organs, broths, and mineral rich dairy also enriches your breastmilk with the minerals your baby needs for optimal development.
