Steak is delicious (sorry, Melly, it’s true)

Today I had the most delicious steak for lunch. Thick sirloin, grilled to perfection. Mmm.

I have to say, I didn’t miss red meat at all during my years as a vegetarian, but I also may not have realized that some of my lethargy at that time was due to anemia (the rest of it was due to being a teenager and pining after unattainable boys).

I learned this about myself by going to Red Cross clinics with my good friend , whose goal it was to join the “100 donations” club. CWF would already be hooked up to the pipe, blood chugging merrily out of her veins as though her bone marrow just couldn’t wait to be making a fresh batch. I would still be standing forlornly at the nurses’ station, willing the stupid drop of blood floating in the iron test vial to sink, sink, sink damn you! My tiny heart would be bursting with the milk of human kindness, the desire to “give the gift of life” overcoming even my intense fight-or-flight response to needles, but after a) fainting after three donations, and b) failing the iron test twice in a row, I am now officially on the Red Cross shitlist, and have been asked to please not continue wasting their time and also eat more liver, thank you.

I wish I could blame my deathly pallor on anemia, too, but I think I have to chalk that up to genetics and a disinclination to use self-tanner. They say the average adult has nine years worth of B12 stored in the liver, but I’m pretty sure mine has about three hours’ worth on a good day. The upside to this is that, unlike many people who approach steak with a fearful lust born of the knowledge that their cholesterol levels are about to soar, I consider it a gift to my weak-ass hemoglobin.

Sure, there’s iron in green vegetables, beans, dried fruit, almonds, seaweed, etc. All of which I also enjoy. But there’s something to be said for just sinking your teeth into another animal and being all, “that’s right, bitch, I AM at the top of the food chain”. On the other hand, many of my most treasured food treats (tea, chocolate, red wine) interfere with the absorption of iron, but am I going to avoid them just to increase the amount of oxygen that my stupid, needy muscles get? HELL NO.

In other news, I am seeing and for dinner tonight (more meat?) and to get their keys so that I can sit on their cats while they’re away this week. Also, tomorrow and his wife are in town, and I can’t wait to give them both tremendously big hugs and kisses. Yay!

9 thoughts on “Steak is delicious (sorry, Melly, it’s true)”

  1. Something my nutritionist told me – non-meat iron sources are generally “non-heme” iron sources, meaning that it’s hard for the body to absorb them. Apparently, a solid dose of vitamin C (like, say, an orange) significantly improves the absorption of non-heme iron.

    I can’t give blood because they’re afraid my heart might explode – I have a form I need my doc to fill out.

  2. I have no problem with anemia as a vegetarian, but I’ve been told I have very low blood pressure, which is why it always takes me SO DAMN LONG to donate blood. For real, I am always there for ages, while all the nurses stand there and mutter about me taking up a bed.

  5. Your… heart? Might… explode?

    What the hell could possibly be that wrong with you, man? You go to the gym more than almost anyone else I know. You are extremely fit. You carried my dresser WITH ONE ARM. WHY DID YOU LET ME LET YOU TRANSPORT MY FURNITURE AND HEAVY HEAVY BOOKS ALONE IF YOUR HEART MIGHT EXPLODE?

    Please tell me you were just engaging in a little playful hyperbole there, because I’m feeling some slight moving-related guilt OH GODS I FED YOU PASTA WITH BACON AND CREAM SAUCE AFTER THE MOVE YOUR HEART! YOUR POOR HEART! Aaagh!

  6. I have low blood pressure, too. I always think it’s a good thing, since my dad had high blood pressure and that was a bad thing.

    Plus, neither anemia nor low blood pressure has ever caused me to have health problems of any kind, and I figure as long as I can run at a decent pace for 60 consecutive minutes and not fall down dead, I’m probably doing okay re: hematology, circulation, etc.

    I will, however, be taking iron supplements whenever I manage to get myself knocked up (nine million years in the distant future on my 780549th reincarnation, when humans have become self-pollinating).

  7. I have premature venticular contractions, which, I am told, are not actually anything to worry about – I can run a marathon while having an attack if I like. It feels freaky as hell, but is actually harmless.

    The blood services people, though, didn’t know how to classify it, and so said I needed a note from my doctor before I could donate.

    At this point, I suspect I’ll disqualify myself in some other way before I get in to see my doc and get the note, but so it goes.

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