Iron Deficient

wonhundred

Hey all,

In the past my doctor told me I have low iron and I started taking pills for that. I ran out and haven't had time to get any since school started (I'll probably get some once I go home for the summer), but just tracking my food intake the past few days I see I only get about half my daily recommended intake from food. What are some really good sources of iron? I'm a vegan by the way.

Karyn1120

Go with spinach...baby spinach in a salad is a great way to get some iron.

lmnosser

http://www.ironrichfood.org/

this site has some recipes on it. also, thyme has a ton of iron if you're into that.

lawkat

I eat beans lentils, tofu, quinoa, brown rice, cream of wheat with blackstrap molasses, spinach. Make sure you also up try to eat something with vitamin C (tomatoes, oranges...) when you are eating those foods. Vitamin C helps to absorb non-animal iron sources. Caffeine can deplete iron, so limit your intake of that.

kaatielove

Why dont you order them online? You can get them from GNC online
That's where I get them.

abZ0

Had that problem myself a lot.
There's a few things you can do to help.
A lot of people eat plenty of iron but don't absorb enough of it.
Instead of drinking coffee, milk based drinks or tea with food - especially iron rich foods, drink orange juice.
Fresh orange juice contains vitamin C of course and you need a lot of this in small regular amounts for your body to absorb the iron.
If my iron levels are down I up the amount of red meat and green veg I eat and drink plenty of orange juice. It seems to help a lot better than the pills.

Edit - you're vegan? Beans then are good. Sunflower seeds also - although they are high calorie foods.

TubbsMcGee

Go out and buy some prenatal vitamins in the meantime.
I'm anemic and the iron pills my doctor originally gave me ate a hole through my intestines. Jamieson Natural Source Prenatal vitamins will give you 180% of your iron RDI, without the tummy ache. And they're reasonably priced, too.

If you're looking for natural sources in food: red meat, iron fortified cereals and oatmeal, spinach, beans, lentils, etc....in combination with vitamin C will help you absorb the iron better.

wonhundred

Hey all thanks for the advice!! I added spinach into my daily smoothies, that's the progress so far. I also had oatmeal this morning and slowly it's adding up

marquesajen

Blackstrap molasses?

Laceybaby1967

I do all my cooking in a cast-iron pan.....no worries with it!

sapalee

made some asparagus last night and it had quite a bit (half a bunch was like 29). Dark chocolate has a little. Oysters have a lot but if you're vegan...

sabinecbauer

Rather than spinach--which, sadly, has nowhere near as much iron as Popeye would make you think--try asparagus and, better than any veg, cream of wheat. A 1/2 cup serving of cream of wheat gives you 50% of you daily iron requirement.