Have you ever seen on a kidney panel on a blood test - urea?
On a blood test, urea is rarely given the attention it deserves. Usually even when it's marked as low, nothing is done about it.
This is an important topic for women to know about, since so many of you reading this will have sub-optimal haemoglobin right now. Urea and haemoglobin have an interesting connection.
So what can low urea mean and it's connection to haemoglobin?
1. low urea can mean low dietary intake of protein
2. and one haemoglobin is made of four protein chains
3. to have adequate levels of haemoglobin, we need an intake of dietary protein (along with iron, folate, riboflavin, B12, copper, Vitamin A)
So if someone has👇🏼 low urea, this can mean they aren't eating enough protein, therefore even if they rectify any other road-blocks in making more haemoglobin - like iron deficiency - without enough protein, haemoglobin production won't be ideal.
Optimal level of urea is 5-7 on a blood test!
But the labs don't flag urea as being low unless it's below 3.5 usually. So go through your old blood tests and have a look at your urea levels.
And if it's not high enough, you should have protein at EVERY single meal.
Best sources of protein include..
- beef, chicken... you know what - you all likely know that meat is a good source. So that means dinner is covered >
Let's go over how we can add protein to breakfast and lunch those are usually lacking protein.
Protein powders, you can add this to porridge, yogurt, smoothies, make protein pancakes. I personally use Bulk Nutrients protein powder. Aim to have 1 scoop daily.
Eggs - omelette with veg, poached with avocado, scrambled with butter
Peanut butter - putting it on porridge, or in your smoothie
Lentils
Salmon