Iron?

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adwilliams03
adwilliams03 Posts: 147 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Anyone have some suggestions for getting more iron into their diet? My stomach can't handle iron pills, and I already put a ton of spinach in my protein shakes every morning. I don't eat red meat or pork.

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  • never2bstopped
    never2bstopped Posts: 438 Member
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    Most breakfast cereals are fortified with high amounts of iron.
  • FunkenWagnel
    FunkenWagnel Posts: 131 Member
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    Dark chocolate
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Leafy greens. Beans. Peas.
  • adwilliams03
    adwilliams03 Posts: 147 Member
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    I do like breakfast cereal, even if I only eat it on occasion at night. Might have to shift my calories around to allow for a bowl a night. And yes to everything else. I love all of those things!
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
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    chicken livers are very high in iron - if you chop it finely you can add it to other things - like bean dishes - and it just adds a little richer taste and a good amount of iron, but isn't as overwhelming as eating it on its own.
  • Swiftlet66
    Swiftlet66 Posts: 729 Member
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    adwilliams03 wrote: »
    I do like breakfast cereal, even if I only eat it on occasion at night. Might have to shift my calories around to allow for a bowl a night. And yes to everything else. I love all of those things!

    Kix cereal has 45% of daily iron needs in 1 and 1/4 cup for only 110 calories... I increase my iron intake only before and during my period and this cereal really helps with the blood flow and cramps! That and canned sardines or oysters has quite a lot of iron too. Usually seafood in general has lots of iron.
  • miriamtob
    miriamtob Posts: 436 Member
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    Red meat, black strap molasses, raisins, nettle tea
  • piggsies
    piggsies Posts: 2
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    Many beans have plenty of iron. I would also suggest blackstrap molasses, as a tablespoon has around 45% of the daily recommend amount to my knowledge. Lentils also have plenty, and for a tablespoon serving, sesame seeds have a notable amount at 7% of the recommended daily event.
  • arostganomo
    arostganomo Posts: 6
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    Fortified foods are great, but keep in mind that there are certain foods you should avoid having in an iron-rich meal. These are called iron inhibitors and they hinder absorption of the iron. They include dairy, plant dairy, tea and coffee. So fortified cereal, yes, but if you have it with milk or plant milk, most of the iron will pass through without being absorbed. Vitamin C, on the other hand, helps absorption, so if you can stand dry cereal with a glass of OJ, that would be fantastic for your iron levels. You can have your milk, tea or coffee a bit later (think an hour, maybe two) and then it won't affect absorption.

    Leafy greens contain a lot of iron, combine them with a vitamin C source for best effect. Add some lemon juice to a broccoli stir fry, or have bell peppers in a spinach salad. Beans are great too, and as an added benefit they have a lot of protein (if that is important to you). There are some herbs and spices that have a lot of iron, like cinnamon, you can smuggle those into several meals.

    Personally I take a multivitamin that has iron when I remember to, never more than once a week. My stomach can't handle iron pills either, but with the multivitamin I've never had a problem (probably because those pills used for a quick boost contain ridiculous amounts of iron while the multivitamin just has 100% or less, depending on the brand, of what you need per day). And I have a sensitive stomach in general.
  • DataSeven
    DataSeven Posts: 245 Member
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    See if you can get a Rx for Ferramax brand iron capsules. I've been on normal iron pills and they really do a number on your gut. Ferramax, as long as I take them with food, don't bung me up or make me stomach sick. You'll still notice um.... a change in color of your poos, but that's about the only change I notice.

    Other sources of Iron in my diet are fortified breakfast cereals, oatmeal, etc.... and tinned beans.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    never2bstopped wrote: »
    Most breakfast cereals are fortified with high amounts of iron.

    The only problem with these is that most people eat them with milk and the calcium prevents the absorption of iron.

  • tinascar2015
    tinascar2015 Posts: 413 Member
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    No matter how many iron-rich foods I eat, my daily report always has be iron deficient. I've never cared much for breakfast cereals, so I don't get it that way. I've given up taking that report seriously where iron is concerned. I take a multivitamin every other day.

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