Pescetarian/vegetarian non-supplement iron

opalastrophel
opalastrophel Posts: 12 Member
edited November 24 in Food and Nutrition
What are all you pescetarian/veggie/vegans going to to keep getting enough iron? It's the hardest thing to math into my calorie limit - I do eat a lot of leafy greens, and shellfish when I can get ahold of good stuff, but most of my other iron foods are fairly calorie dense (tofu, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes) so I eat them in quantities too limited.

Molasses, chia, and lots of homemade dark hot chocolate helps, but I can't seem to break 70% on most days without some serious juggling.

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited February 2018
    If I had iron deficiency, for whatever reason, I would have bought a Lucky Iron Fish.

    Also be aware that iron isn't necessarily on the label, and then not in the database either. A deficiency is diagnosed in the doctor's lab, not in your food diary.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,979 Member
    And if you have a deficiency then just eating food with more iron will hardly be enough. Filling up a deficiency with high potency iron tablet takes many weeks. Just with food I doubt you'd get anywhere near there, and then there's still the question of why you got deficient in the first place.
  • dragthewaters1991
    dragthewaters1991 Posts: 45 Member
    It really depends on your calorie limit. If it's low enough then no matter what your diet is, it's going to be hard to get sufficient nutrients without supplementation.

    I just checked my iron macros and my meal plan for today actually includes 132% DV of iron in 2075 cals (oops?) which is 105 cals under my maintenance limit including my exercise for today. Here's what I ate for some ideas.

    Breakfast: two boiled eggs; overnight oats made with rolled oats, unsweetened soymilk and ground flaxseeds, and topped with a banana and some Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain flax cereal; and a cup of tea. Total: 47% DV in 726 cals.

    Lunch: ginger kombucha, and a large salad consisting of raw kale, boiled acorn squash, raw beet, raw green pepper, roasted broad beans (these are pretty high in iron BTW, 10% DV in 100 cals), roasted chestnuts, EVOO, ACV, and dried herbs. Total: 39% DV in 607 cals.

    Dinner: mixed whole grain and "supergreens" pasta with EVOO, nutritional yeast, and salt; steamed green beans and raw tomato with dijon mustard on the side. Total: 38% DV in 582 cals (the pasta is really high in iron as well, the "supergreens" one which is by Ronzoni has 20% DV in 200 cals)

    Dessert: Go Raw lemon "cookies" (these are raw vegan cookies made from dehydrated coconut, sprouted sesame seeds, dates, and lemon oil) Total: 8% DV in 160 cals.
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