Blood donation

Kollane

How much, if anything, would I need to eat besides my usual calories after donating blood? Drink a lot of water, yes, but eating wise.

tinkerbellang83

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/tips-successful-donation UK blood donation site recommends eating foods high in Iron after donation to help your body replenish itself.

sijomial

The metabolic cost of donating blood is about 650 cals. But that's spread out over the next month to two months.
Whether you want to account for it is up to you. It's in the food database by the way.

Cup of tea and a one of the snacks on offer is all I really bother with to help get the blood volume back up and keep blood sugar levels up.


PS
Thank you for donating - 8 anonymous donors helped save my Mum's life....

ruqayyahsmum

No info but thanks for donating

Im not allowed to donate but recieved several donations as a child in the 80's and both my babies had numerous transfusions to save them in the neonatal period

Blood donations save lifes

jrsc28

I donate regularly and I don't really do anything special the day of. I donated yesterday actually. I went before dinner, I had a cup of coffee afterwards and went home and ate my regular dinner and felt fine. Don't do a strenuous workout after donating blood. Do your workout for the day before you donate or keep it light that day.

I make sure I keep an eye on my iron intake and drink lots of water to make sure I'm getting enough on a regular basis, especially the week or so leading up to and after my donation. Chia, oatmeal, and leafy greens are some great ways to get more iron into your diet if you don't want to eat more meat.

Most importantly though, listen to your body. If you feel weak or faint afterwards, eat something that will bring your blood sugars up and drink lots of fluids.

CSARdiver

The difference is negligible. I would follow the recommendations set by Red Cross. Take it easy and push fluids afterwards.

There are some long term study results coming in tracking bio-metrics on regular donors over 20 years, which are showing a statistically significant improvement in blood chemistry results. The US cycling team has some interesting data showing recovery times and erythropoietin levels. All sorts of good things result from donating blood outside the obvious life saving.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

There was a thread on this awhile back (you might need to search for it). Some links shared in that thread indicated that there is quite a few calories of fatty acids (and small amounts of protein and trace calories of glucose) in the blood that was taken. There will be some calorie burn over the next weeks to replace the blood, but there is some CO from what is actually in the blood itself.

ETA: Here is the thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10461463/blood-donation

And the link:

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

Just to add I found this article -http://www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com/2010/09/calories-in-human-blood_15.html - which breaks it all down and concludes a pint of blood contains about 450 calories, the vast majority of which is in the red blood cells themselves.

So that's a bit less than 650 - however it's possible that difference represents energy lost in the process of building new cells. You never get back what you put in.

And that's still more calories than a Starbucks latte. Nearly twice as much

Thanks, @CattOfTheGarage for finding this.

ETA again: Just read through and found blood is mostly protein, not fat. Got the macros wrong, sorry.

Bianca42

I eat one snack and drink a small juice without counting it. That's the extent of my additional eating. I do exercise in the morning before going and then either plan the next day to be a rest day or a yoga day.

PaulaWallaDingDong

I tend to have low hemoglobin (not clinically low. Just too low for Red Cross standards) I just take a break from restricting the day before and the day of, and try not to pig out. It's much harder to be accepted when I'm restricting, but I haven't been turned down in a long time.

kclaar11

I just donated yesterday as well (double actually), and I typically do not change up my normal routine very much. Maybe just drink a little more water than normal