Correcting iron deficiency through diet

BlondeBeauty5 wrote: »

UltimateRBF wrote: »

BlondeBeauty5 wrote: »

Hey everyone! My iron has finally started going up. Without a supplement! I was told over and over how I couldn't get it up without a supplement. Well I finally did. My ferritin was 5.8 in March. Now it's 12.7! My next goal is 20 and I'm gonna keep going until I reach 70. If anyone else is struggling with their iron and wants to know how to get it up, let me know. Why suffer through the side effects of iron supplements when you can get it up the most natural way, through diet!

In no way should people with iron deficiency take advice from you. You absolutely should not be implying that iron supplements are unnecessary. Take your attention seeking elsewhere.

I'm not seeking attention. I'm trying to help people going through the same thing because I struggled with this for 2 years. I AM NOT implying that iron supplements are unnecessary. Sometimes they are necessary. But you should always try the natural way first. I am fortunate that I don't have heavy periods so diet works for me when I eat the right foods. It doesn't mean it will work for everyone. I'm just sharing what worked for me because if I can help one person and stop them from going through the struggle I went through for 2 years, it's worth it. So please take your negativity elsewhere.

MrM27 wrote: »

BlondeBeauty5 wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

Add i recall, you were told over and over to eat iron rich foods and constantly made excuses. Glad you came to your senses.

I was told to eat red meat, spinach, etc. I didn't eat any of that and still got it up through foods I do like.

No sorry that is not the only thing you were told to eat. You were giving tons of suggestion and someone even did the Google search for you and posted an iron rich food network list. And you shot down every suggestion.

BlondeBeauty5 wrote: »

Thank you! Here’s what I did.

Breakfast:
3 servings of Frosted Flakes with a banana (You can choose any cereal as long as it has at least 25% iron per serving. If it’s greater than 25% iron that’s even better!)

Orange juice (This is the key here. When my iron kept going down, it was when I was waiting 30 minutes to have the orange juice because I was full from the cereal. But now I just have it right after the cereal even though I’m full because Vitamin C helps with iron absorption. It doesn’t matter that calcium from the milk inhibits iron absorption as long as you have this right after or with the cereal.)

Snack:
A serving of Honey Nut Cheerios dry (I have a couple strawberries afterwards for Vitamin C to help absorption. I just now started doing the strawberries so that’s new. But I would encourage some type of Vitamin C with this. You can also munch on any dry cereal you like. Multigrain Cheerios and regular Cheerios have more iron but I prefer the taste of the Honey Nut.)

Lunch:
I rotate between a grilled cheese sandwich and a turkey sandwich. We buy turkey slices but run out after a few days and I just substitute with grilled cheese until we can get more turkey. Turkey is heme iron, which is absorbed better even though it’s not red meat. My nutritionist recommended I leave the cheese off the sandwich but I didn’t like the taste of that so I have it with cheese and a tomato. I always have a tangerine with it to help absorption. Also, make sure the bread you buy is iron fortified. Most of them are. Mine has 8% iron for 2 slices. Every little bit helps.

Snack:
Candy (You have to add in some sweets right?)

Dinner:
Varies, tonight we had pasta with turkey meatballs and peas. You have the heme iron from the turkey which helps the iron from the pasta and peas (which are also iron rich) be absorbed better. I had strawberries and blueberries afterwards for Vitamin C. Another great iron rich meal we have sometimes is turkey burgers with baked beans and tater tots. And don’t forget to add in the Vitamin C. And then I usually have chocolate ice cream later for dessert.

So the most important things are to have Vitamin C with every meal and snacks, if you’re eating an iron-rich snack. Eating meat is also really important. You don’t have to have red meat, I didn’t. But I would encourage it if you do like red meat because it’s even more iron-rich. On some days, I would have double the meat (turkey sandwich and turkey for dinner). The cereal helped a lot too because it is iron fortified. I hope this helps other people who are going through the same thing and need to get their iron up.

So to fix the problem you went ahead and did the same thing you were doing all along, eating 4 bowls of cereal and turkey.[/b[