Anemic and vegetarian

JillTwiss

Anyone else out there like me?

I'm finding it really hard to meet my RDA of iron. Ok, I'll be honest, I don't even come close. I currently take 3 65mg iron pills daily (per my doctor) and I do believe my hemoglobin is probably at an acceptable number now. I know the symptoms that I have when it's really low and those have now subsided.

So, my question really is, is there anyone else here with this problem? What do other vegetarians do to keep their iron levels up? I know I can Google "iron-rich foods" and find big lists, but I'm really curious to know how other people are doing it without meat.

BTW, I stopped eating red meat and pork almost 20 years ago and stopped eating poultry about 6 or 7 years ago. I do eat dairy and occasionally eggs.

Lynz888

I have both iron deficiency anemia and vitamin B-12 deficiency anemia. I'm not a vegetarian but my diet is often quite low in meat and I have the same challenge. I take supplements and try to include iron enriched foods, at the very least, once a day. (which is usually something like cheerios) It's definately a struggle! This is part of the reason I choose myfitnesspal over other calorie counting programs because it has the option to track iron. (yaaay!)

JillTwiss

Thank you! I don't think of Cheerios when I think of iron-rich foods. That should be easy to incorporate.

Lynz888

oh! and oatmeal too

xLyric

Yeah, I figured it out when they wouldn't let me give blood at the Red Cross. They told me my iron was too low, so I take a supplement now and eat a lot of spinach. :laugh: I'm taking B12 also, but I'd like to find a vegetarian B12 supplement rather than the one I take.

I keep forgetting to take them though and I think that might be why I'm so tired.

Other than staying up this late. :laugh:

Paige1108

I'm not a vegetarian. But I'm a girl and we girls need the iron. I don't know if you cook your veggies or if you prefer raw. But if you cook you can get yourself a cast iron skillet. Lots of iron and I think my food tastes better cooked in it than before. I also try to eat a lot of raw spinach.