Food with iron

Some options include: spinach, lentils/beans, fish (salmon/tuna/halibut/sardines).... liver (if you're at all a fan).
or (a link with options): http://www.webmd.com/diet/iron-rich-foods#1

Clams/Oysters - They have as much Iron as Beef Liver.

I ate a lot of veg sources of iron and was still deficient with supplementation. My doc said iron from plants is not as readily absorbed as iron from red meat, even if taken with Vitamin C. I've been eating a few ounces of beef a few times a week and my levels have gone up and stabilized. If that's an option, I'd look into a little steak or hamburger.

TeacupsAndToning wrote: »

Please get your iron and ferritin tested before taking any supplements. People often think that they're low on iron when they actually aren't and having too much can be very dangerous.

This. You need your ferritin and Tsat (transferrin saturation) tested as well as your haemoglobin. There's a difference between iron deficiency (low iron stores) and iron deficiency anaemia (low haemoglobin).

Animal sources of iron are always absorbed better than vegetable sources of iron, and much better than most iron tablets ever are (in most multivitamins, the iron in them doesn't get absorbed enough to prop up the stores of a healthy pre-menopausal woman). If your haemoglobin and stores are extremely low, iron from your diet wont cut it, and an iron infusion may be in order.

Something you can't track, but which is awesomely effective is to cook in cast iron. Especially acid foods like tomato sauce or long cooking foods like soup. I was anemic as a youth but as an adult I've cooked something every day in cast iron. My levels are always great.

In the event this is helpful, I had lifelong anemia, severe up until 23, then borderline since. I hate side effects from vitamin/mineral pills (headache mostly) because the FDA doesn't require listing all filler ingredients if a vitamin/mineral pill contains more than 2 V/M. So, fillers are mostly milk products (I'm allergic), wheat products & sawdust... yes, sawdust. I don't know that sawdust will harm you anymore than eating a pinch of topsoil each day, but for instance, I'm severely allergic to all trees, so don't want to ingest them.

I began cooking only with cast iron in 2010 after a bout of chicken pox, followed by measles, meaning my immunity was shot despite always eating a fresh, organic diet with plenty of meat & within a few months, my iron levels were great. 7-yrs later & my iron levels are always normal. Perhaps it's a coincidence... & I don't see why it would be, given that up until 2010, I'd always been anemic. Even if you don't cook a lot, perhaps boiling tea water in cast iron will help... IOW, use a cast iron pot/pan everytime you need to cook/heat anything. I've even taken food I've cooked, then frozen & heated them in CI. Put it on low with the lid & it heats beautifully... albeit, not as quick as a microwave... but, it's been worth it for me.

Good luck!