Vit A ????

Well I got my yearly labs back yesterday and let me just say WooHoo 
2 weeks after the holidays my hemoglobin A1c was 5.3, OMG!!!!!  I love this surgery!

Anyhoo, my vit A is a bit low, I was told to eat red, yellow and orange fruits and vege's, 3 times a day, so today I have carrots, sliced peppers and strawberries.  I'm also going to try tomato juice and or v8 (yes try, I'm 46 and have never had it, the thought of a liquid tomato has never thrilled me, I may actually try a bloody mary too )

Should I look into supplements, doc didn't mention it so I don't know if it's something worth looking into or not, because of the new plumbing.

Any other ideas??? 

Thanks,

Edie

I can relate to the V8 thing.  I do drink it now, warmed with a splash of hot sauce. 

Sorry can't help with the suppliment question.  I only take what I have to. 

Pam

See, the crazy thing about RNY is that we have some intestines bypassed.  And that bypassed portion is where the body grabs micronutrients (vitamins) from food --- since it's bypassed, we can't absorb micronutrients from food.  That's why we take vitamins and supplements.  So for your Nut to suggest you that you get extra Vitamin A from food seems silly to me.  

Yes, we'll get some of the Vitamin A from foods... but we can't rely on that as our main source for vitamin supplements. 

Vitamin A is one of the primary fat soluble vitamins that we malabsorb the most (A, D, E, K).  Here's a diagram that shows why... the 2 spots in the intestines that would normally absorb Vitamin A has been bypassed.  

So I'd suggest you look into supplements.  They make 'em in various doses.  My Vitamin A was just a touch low... not in the low range but a steady drop that was trending toward a deficiency ... so I found a low dose (5,000IU) to give myself a little bump.  You might want to look for something higher.  Calculate how much is already in your multi-vitamin and decide accordingly. 

Also remember that Vitamin A and Protein work together.  So make sure you're getting in all your protein to get that Vitamin A number up. 

Good luck
Pam

Thanks Pam,

My Vit A is barely in the low range, but from what I've read, I will NOT allow any of my labs to get really low before I do something about it! 

Thanks for your advice, I'm actually looking into a dry vit A already, sad to say it was not my nut that had the food recommendation, it was my weight loss doc!!

I've always wanted to say to you, HOLY MOLY, I can't believe your drive everyday! WOW, I could not do that every day!  My family has a cottage in Gladwin (for the past 36 years) so I am quite used to the drive up north and there is no way I would do your drive every day.  Not only do I feel sorry for you in the winter's crappy weather, but the summer friday nights have to be just as bad as any winter storm!  My exit off 75 is Sashabaw and I avoid it like the plague in the summer!

Edie

Yeah... the drive sucks sometimes.  I've always said that I hate construction season worse than winter.  But all the icy days we've had lately is starting to get on my nerves.  I've been late to work twice this week because of the snow/ice.  And yes, some holiday Fridays are even worse.  If it gets too bad though, I can take Dixie Hwy all the way to my house from Waterford and avoid the majority of it.  

Thankfully I get off 75 at Dixie Hwy -- so I miss the toward-Detroit traffic and rarly have slow downs on 75.  

I was offered the 4-day, 40-hour workweek but I turned it down.  Having Fridays off would have been nice, but my 12 hour days now would have turned into 14-15 hour days.  I have no social life as it is now, even longer hours would be torture.

I'm looking forward to this long holiday weekend though.  :-)