Foods with Iron

Talirae9

It's been a week since I started this and after reviewing my weekly totals, I am wayyyyy under on my iron intake goals. Any suggestions on healthy foods full of iron?

hsk1019

I actually started taking an iron supplement because I noticed the same trend over the course of a month. Also, many of the multivitamins out there that are gummy style don't contain much, if any, iron.

Sullivanwilson

Cream of wheat. It's packed with iron. Tastes fabulous on a cold winter morning too and keeps me full for hours.

zerafa99

Dried apricots, water cress, eggs, spinach, liver, all have lots of iron.

melaniecheeks

Don't rely on the information in the database - particularly for nutrients like vitamins there are many items which dont have these values recorded.

Your friends are: leafy green veg like spinach and kale, red meats, liver (if you can stand it!), dried apricots, molasses. Many breads and cereals are fortified with iron, too.

TimWilkinson101

Guiness

My dad (nurse) used to use that back in the olden days as a supplement for people who were recovering from operations and wounds where they had lost blood and were borderline anaemic.

displacedhawkeyeguy

I can think of worse ways than Guinness to get more iron. :-) I was going to suggest leafy greens as well. I try to avoid red meat or at least limit it to once or twice a week. Personally I stick with beans. I like to make a chicken chili, tortilla soup or even a minestrone. I put some spinach or kale in the bottom of the bowl and spoon some hot soup over top and let it sit for a minute to cool down. The hot soup wilts the greens and hopefully most of the vitamins and nutrients are retained since they weren't cooked to death.

Talirae9

Thanks y'all! I've never had kale so I'm def goinng to try that! Guinness on the weekends!

ZombieSlayer

http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000119000000000000000.html

edit to add: Don't forget spices. Adding high iron seasonings to high iron foods is a total winner. Combine with vitamin C rich foods to aid in iron absorption. Kept my daughter off of iron supplements that way.

courtclerkkris

Just for fun you might try cooking out of a cast iron skillet!! Not really sure how much it helps but folk lore says it helps!?!?!?

ZombieSlayer

Just for fun you might try cooking out of a cast iron skillet!! Not really sure how much it helps but folk lore says it helps!?!?!?

When you cook in an iron skillet, some of that iron does leach into the food. Add high acid foods, such as tomatoes, and the effect is greater.

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA364217

stylistchik

check out my diary, sometimes I take a supplement but I'm usually close or over even without it. I'm not too concerned since I used to have low iron and my mom/grandma/sister all do too.

CapsFan17

I work for WIC and we do iron screenings on our participants. We recomend any meat (not just red meat), fish, beans, dark green leafy vegatables (kale, collard greens ect), rasins, and iron fortified grains. One of the best iron fortified cereals is Multigrain Cheerios. So yummy! Also if you're having trouble with low iron stay away from tea and excessive milk; they block iron absorption. And pair your iron foods with something high in vitamin C, (chicken and brocolli, chili with beans and tomatoes, cereal and oranges.... )

Can you tell I say this multiple time evey day Hope this helps!

Raclex

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-iron.php

As per this article, dried herbs like thym and parsley (and others). Cocoa powder! Yep, cocoa powder ;-) Liver, clams, oysters, caviar, pumpkin seeds, squash seeds, tahini, sundried tomatoes, dried apricots and sunflower seeds.

Interesting as I also have low iron counts.