Foods with Iron

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Talirae9
Talirae9 Posts: 23 Member
in Food and Nutrition
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?

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  • hsk1019
    hsk1019 Posts: 235 Member
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    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
    Sullivanwilson Posts: 30 Member
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    Cream of wheat. It's packed with iron. Tastes fabulous on a cold winter morning too and keeps me full for hours.
  • zerafa99
    zerafa99 Posts: 10 Member
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    Dried apricots, water cress, eggs, spinach, liver, all have lots of iron.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    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
    TimWilkinson101 Posts: 163 Member
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    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
    displacedhawkeyeguy Posts: 1
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    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
    Talirae9 Posts: 23 Member
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    Thanks y'all! I've never had kale so I'm def goinng to try that! Guinness on the weekends! ;)
  • ZombieSlayer
    ZombieSlayer Posts: 369 Member
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    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
    courtclerkkris Posts: 173 Member
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    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
    ZombieSlayer Posts: 369 Member
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    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
    stylistchik Posts: 1,436 Member
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    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
    CapsFan17 Posts: 198
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    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 :wink: Hope this helps!
  • Raclex
    Raclex Posts: 238
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    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.

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