Iron, Olive Oil, and Cayenne Pepper

Who would have thought a vegetarian would be getting too much iron...?  Usually that's one of those items that people express concern over the vegetarian way of life.  Well, based on my experience (and blood results back today), cooking in an iron skillet almost every day has actually put me in the excess iron realm.  Iron in excess can actually be problematic.  So...  the nurse told me to switch it up with stainless steel every once in a while.  Who would have thought?  My iron levels will likely go down over the next few weeks as there is no "cooking" in iron here.  UPDATE: I later learned during one of the lectures that the iron one gets from iron skillets is not the kind of iron we should be getting...  so, out with the iron skillet!  stainless steel it is.

Olive oil is another one of those things I've been indulging in at home...  The reason I've been using more olive oil is because I've been cooking with flavor infused olive oils to add flavor to foods since reducing salt (because of the BP).  However, the nurse said olive oil, 1 to 2 tablespoons a day probably not a big deal, but more than that can potentially increase thickness of blood... not so good for high BP.  I guess I'll have to work on that because the olive oils from Bella Balsamic and The Pressed (mostly imported from Italy) are delicious!

One thing I can keep doing is adding cayenne pepper to everything :)  I have been using more cayenne pepper recently because I don't miss the salt when I use cayenne.  And, as recommended by the nurse, cayenne pepper is good for circulation. spice it up!

It's amazing to see how different the blood test results are from the ones I had just a couple months ago in early November.  Some numbers better and some worse :(  Cholesterol for one went up from 210 in November to 257 this week (updated number after recheck).  Bummer :(  But, nurse says people's cholesterol levels can drop significantly during the time here at HHI.  We shall see....  Apparently these numbers are less static over short periods of time than I thought....