Iron level help!

Meat free sources are dark-green leafy vegetables, such as watercress and curly kale, iron-fortified bread and cereals, beans & lentils, nuts, apricots, prunes and raisins.

I am iron related anemic too, and unfortunately, if you are like me, it doesn't matter what you eat. You have to take the supplements. I have tried high iron diets, but medically I am screwed. I know that my integra (awesome super prescription iron) is too expensive some months (COME ON GENERICS!) but over the counter supplements aren't terrible. But I have to take 4 for every one of my prescriptions.

Trust me, it isn't something you want to mess with.

Also, I do smoothies with bananas, ice, spinach and orange juice and strawberries. You can't taste the spinach (it ain't pretty) but orange juice makes iron absorption easier. And bananas are also high in iron. And obviously, avoid calcium for two hours before and after taking iron.

the iron in spinach is not easily absorbed. meat really is the best source. make sure you are getting enough B12, if you are vegetarian you could be deficient.

you should go to your doc for more supplements, chelated iron is best.

( just heard this info yesterday on a health show)

No matter what I eat, I need to take supplements. Even the over the counter ones are better than nothing.

Beans & dried fruits are higher in iron.

Green veggies and red ones too. Beets and beet juice are very good. Or everything red I was told before. Cherry, Grapes...not sure how much is in there but it helps. If you eat meat, liver works too...lol

brocolli, spinach, chocolate has a little iron in too also cinnamon has an unexpected amount of iron in it! try some cinnamon

I am also anemic. My doc reccommended vitamed.com. They have a 150mg iron supplement that is not too expensive. She also recommended taking the iron with B-12 to help it be absorbed into the blood better.

Google a list of high iron foods. Eating heme & nonheme iron together helps absorption, as does having vitamin c with iron. Calcium hinders absorption, so try not to eat iron-rich and calcium-rich foods together.

That said, if you know the dose you were Rx'd, you can pick up both iron & vitamin c over the counter for about $5 a bottle.

I take 300mg of ferrous gluconate (70mg elemental iron) daily (with 1500mg vit c) that I got OTC (in addition to a higher iron diet), because when I was Rx'd it, I found out that my insurance doesn't cover 'nutritional supplements' so my doc suggested just picking some up at Walmart for cheapness.

I am iron related anemic too, and unfortunately, if you are like me, it doesn't matter what you eat. You have to take the supplements. I have tried high iron diets, but medically I am screwed. I know that my integra (awesome super prescription iron) is too expensive some months (COME ON GENERICS!) but over the counter supplements aren't terrible. But I have to take 4 for every one of my prescriptions.

Trust me, it isn't something you want to mess with.

Also, I do smoothies with bananas, ice, spinach and orange juice and strawberries. You can't taste the spinach (it ain't pretty) but orange juice makes iron absorption easier. And bananas are also high in iron. And obviously, avoid calcium for two hours before and after taking iron.

Like you I could never eat enough food to cover my deficit, I take iron twice a day and I eat right too. I am back at the doctors office in the morning for a blood test and I'm hoping that I can get down to 1 pill a day. Don't mess with this ladies, it's not worth it.

Which supplement were you on? My iron was super low, and I got put on ICAR-C and my levels went back to normal in 2-3 months.

Also, I have a smoothie recipe that is almost the daily recommended dose of iron. If you have access to Sam's and can get their Naturade protein powder or find one similar, here is the recipe. You can get the green max powder from swansonsvitamins.com

2 cups soy milk
2 scoops protein powder
1 scoop green max powder
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1/3-1/2 cup frozen mixed berries
2 tbs flax seeds
1 tbs chia seeds

Which healthy foods are reliable sources of iron?

Beef Liver
Spinach
Lima beans
Lentils
Potato, with skin
Navy beans
Organic beef
Organic chicken
California avocado

http://www.24hrfitness.co.uk/nutrition/2010/foods-containing-iron.html

apples,spinach

I have found by tracking the foods I eat on MFP that the biggest percentage of iron comes from fortified cereals, pastas and breads. Spinach and other dark leafy vegetables had some, but not as much as a bowl Total or even Cheerios.

I have pretty bad iron deficiency anemia (I've had to have iron infusions before). I just started taking some carbonyl iron ("tender iron" you can find it online or in nutrition stores) because I can't stomach normal over the counter iron supplements. It's not horribly expensive and it absorbs better than the other supplements if you have absorption issues. Might be cheaper than the prescription stuff! Often with iron deficiency that is prolonged it's due to malabsorption issues and simply eating more iron enriched foods won't totally restore it to the level it needs to be.

My favorite to help with my iron levels are the quaker oatmeal squares cereal, one cup is 90% of the daily value, but you could also pick up some OTC iron pills to get you through. If you're that anemic, though, you should probably head to the doctor.