How to get enough iron (vegan)?!
Answers:
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
An easy, pill free way to get all the iron you need:
Get a cast iron skillet. (Ask your mom or grandmother, or check thrift stores)
Buy a large jar of organic apple sauce.
Heat the apple sauce in the skillet just until it bubbles.
Let the apple sauce cool in the skillet.
Put the apple sauce back in the jar, and refrigerate.
I used to have the same problem a while ago (though I'm not vegan or vegetarian, so bear with me).
What I did was completely change my diet and do exercise at least twice a week, especially aerobic exercise. That probably helped the most.
The vegetables that contain the most iron are red kidney beans, black-eyed peas, chick peas (if you don't like them as they are, try some hummus), brussell sprouts, broccoli, spinach and other dark greens (not lettuce), potatoes, full-grain cereals, watermelon, raisins.
Combining these with vitamin-c-rich fruits and such will help even more.
You could also take iron supplement tablets, maybe half per day (because if your body isn't used to absorbing much, taking the whole tablet would be a waste).
The first thing to understand is that the non-heme iron in veggies is not absorbed and used by your body nearly as efficiently as the heme iron in meat. So you need to eat a lot more of the iron rich veggies to replace the iron in meat.
Here's a list of veggies high in iron: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/vegetable…
The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) says the RDA for iron is 14 milligrams per day for vegetarian men and for women after menopause, and 33 milligrams per day for women prior to menopause. Looking at the first link, you'll have to work hard to get 33 mgs from veggies. But don't despair. Keep eating.
Popeye was wrong spinach is an iron Inhibitor - u should still eat it but not fir iron, choose silverbeet instead. Try brown rice, stir fry tofu and peas with a glass of oj a few times a week, black strap molasses, spirulina is awesome - I took it when I was pregnant as I think iron pills are evil and I was fine. You should have a blood test as well because it might not be iron that is your problem ( u could be pregnant) and too much iron is as bad as not enough.
Download a vegan food pyramid for more ideas on a balanced diet _any healthy diet requires NO supplementation
Veg*n 18 years
use a cast iron pans. Those heavy black ones. They leech iron into the food that is cooked in them and that is the kind of iron our bodies can use.
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2378.…
Eat whole wheat cereal. Bran flakes has 100% of daily iron in each serving. Eaten with your favorite vegan milk product and some OJ should bump up your iron count.
I have included a list of vegan foods and the amount of iron in them. If you are eating a varied vegan diet, you should not be iron deficient.
http://www.fatfreekitchen.com/nutrition/…
Do you have heavy periods? That can be a cause of low iron in many women; I know it was for me.
You can always take iron pills every day or every few days to supplement your diet. My mother (not vegan) takes iron twice a week and she isn't anywhere near as tired as she used to be.
If you go to this site:
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm
It tells you all about iron for vegans and where to get it.
THE FOLLOWING ARE RICH IN IRON :
Soybeans,Cooked Spinach, Swiss Chard (cooked), Peas,Chickpeas, Turnip Greens,Green gram and black gram etc.
Also go to this link given below....
http://food.vegtalk.org/minerals/fruits-…
Cream of Wheat has a bunch of iron in it. I try and have it for breakfast in the mornings.
green leafy vegetables, spinach and seeds as pumpkin, sunflower and nuts
Have you seen a doctor to check that is really is iron deficiency making you tired, and whether the cause may be something other than diet? There's a lot of health problems which can cause deficiencies, and tiredness is not always due to low iron.
My diet has:
* Grains, and I try to get as many wholegrains as possible rather than refined grains - such as brown rice, quinoa, brown bread, wholemeal pasta, rolled oats, etc. These have far more vitamins and minerals including iron, than refined grains.
* Lots of veg of all sorts, usually made into a stir-fry or similar sort of thing for dinner, and often a salad or salad sandwich for lunch. 90% I use fresh veg, sometimes canned (e.g. tomatoes) or frozen.
* Lots of fresh fruit, I love fruit.
* A few nuts and seeds, often sprinkled on my cereal (usually rolled oats, sometimes boxed cereals) in the morning. Walnuts and hempseed are good for omega 3's, and many other nuts/seeds have at least some omega 3's too.
* Soya products, such as soy milk, yoghurt, tofu
* Other bean/lentil/pea products, as these complement grains when thinking about protein
* Fake meat products - which are usually made of mainly wheat and/or soy.
* Occasional B12 supplement (often crumble a tablet into whatever I'm cooking). D2 supplement, especially during Winter when less sunlight falls on my skin. I'm thinking about starting to take a vegan DHA supplement too. I used to have a small sprinkling of arame seaweed in my cooking, for iodine, I should probably start having more of that again.
* tea - mainly redbush as it's my favourite. Not sure whether it has any iron in it, but I'm trying to give a complete picture of what I eat.
* sea salt and himalayan rock salt (have more minerals than processed white salt). Soya sauce and other sauces. Herbs/spices.
* Too many sweet processed snacks - chocolate and biscuits etc.
I don't think about iron in particular, as I don't have a problem with tiredness, so assume I must be getting enough. I don't really think about any specific nutrients. The way I think about my diet, is to have as many wholefoods as possible, and have a broad selection of foods from each of the main groups: vegetables, fruit, grains, legumes, and nuts/seeds. Food is quite complex so eating for each specific nutrient would get too complicated in practice. E.g. green leafy vegies such as brussels, broccoli, kale, chard, etc are high in iron, but also high in calcium, vitamins, antioxidants, protein, magnesium, and many other trace minerals - so I just eat the dark green leafies and get the benefit of all it has to offer, not just thinking about iron or anything else in particular.
I have a vegan friend who had been vegan 15 years, who had a blood test and his iron was way too high - his doctor told him to go give blood to reduce the level of iron in his body. He didn't take supplements or try particularly hard with his diet to get specific things. Many other vegans I have known have found they have the right amount, or too-high iron. From my understanding it seems iron deficiency is no more common among vegans than non-vegans - though it may be more common in vegetarians for some reason. It's a general misunderstanding that vegans must really struggle to get iron. Whether or not vege iron is absorbed well compared to meat iron, somehow or other the body usually adjusts and absorbs adequate amounts - or perhaps doesn't lose it through micro-bleeds into the guts, which I've heard some people who eat dairy products can often have without knowing. That may not help you now if you do in fact have a deficiency, but just food for thought.
Spinach is good in small amounts, but it is one veg which is high in oxalates, which bind to some of the iron and other nutrients and keep them from being absorbed. Other leafy green vegies are probably better sources of iron.
personal experience - vegan 6.5 years