As the winter months approach and the weather in the DMV area yo-yo’s from warm to freezing, you can start to point out the iron deficient from the iron sufficient very easily. On those slightly chilly days, me and my iron deficient posse can be seen shivering, wearing a ridiculous amount of clothing, and complaining about cold hands and feet. To remedy this, I found that taking a liquid iron and herbal supplement has helped me a great deal, and recently I was turned onto to another saving grace, black strap molasses.
I was visiting a friend in New York City and going through my “I’m so freezing I could die symptoms,” and she brought me a cup of tea with black strap molasses in it. Within three minutes, I felt like brand new and was warm from the inside out. Later I learned that black strap molasses, which is a black thick syrupy natural sweetener (that looks like tar), is not only rich in iron (2 teaspoons gives you about 13% of the daily recommended value) but a host of other vitamins such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, and manganese. It’s a lovely addition to anyone’s diet looking to get a nice daily dose of iron but beyond that it has been known to help with a plethora of conditions including constipation, acne, fatigue, lack of hair growth, and restoring loss of hair pigmentation (grey hairs). Say what?
If your thinking that the mineral content sounds groovy and your wondering how it gets packed with all this nutrition, then you should know molasses is the by product or “waste” from processing sugar cane or beet into table sugar. So, those of us who choose to avoid refined white sugar, because it has been stripped of its minerals; molasses is the by-product where all the minerals went in the first place. I’m not going to lie, it is an acquired taste and can overwhelm whatever you put it in, but it isn’t horrible at all. I’ve grown to dig it, especially because it’s preparing me to stay warm & cozy for winter. – XoXo Raw Girl
great info, thank you!