Getting enough iron on a vegetarian diet

William F · 09-05-2015 6:03pm #1

I've been vegetarian for over 4 years now and I have to say I have rarely eaten vegetables up until last week.

I was depending mostly on smoothies to get my 'five a day' but it turns out veg and fruit are not the same. I discovered that green veg is high in Iron and I want to eat more as a result.

How much green veg will I need to consume to get my daily recommended allowance? I am certain I am Iron deficient and perhaps borderline anaemic. I run a lot too which is said to further decrease your levels of Iron.

Tar.Aldarion · 10-05-2015 10:40am

You should get blood tests to see your levels, it's a good idea for everybody to do them, I'm trying to do them once a year from now on.
Spinach + vitamin c is very good. AFAIK vit C increases absorption.

Here's a list
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.php

and some facts
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/#h2

even 100 calories of spinach is much more than the iron you need in a day.

Level 5 Vegan · 10-05-2015 11:00am

You could try plugging what you eat into Cronometer to get an idea of what you need to eat to reach your 8mg of iron per day or whatever the RDA is.

Keep in mind OP that the 5/7/9 a day of fruit and veg recommended depending on where you live is really a bare minimum, not necessarily the optimal amount for good health. Vegetables are good sources of a variety of essential minerals not just iron, a good habit to get into is to think about how you can get more salad/vegetables onto your plate every time you go to prepare a meal.

If you run a lot you probably do get through a bit more iron than more sedentary people, but you're also probably going to burn more calories and eat more food anyway so it's not really that big a deal from that aspect.

sok2005 · 10-05-2015 12:02pm

You would be surprised where you can get iron from. I have a three year old special needs kid who needs to be tricked into eating most his daily veg but he'll eat peanut and almond butter no problem and he loves tomato puree. I brought him to get his bloods tested recently to make sure he's getting enough of everything for optimal health and amazingly enough he had absolutely no deficiencies in any nutrient at all. Roasted chickpeas and Kale chips are easy ways to get iron too and as mentioned earlier have a piece of fruit after to help aid absorption.

--LOS-- · 10-05-2015 3:02pm

If you're concerned about iron levels just go have blood tests done and you'll know. Personally I think a bit of common sense, eat a varied diet, are you eating a variety of different foods from different food groups, variety of colours etc and there is good balance. People love to claim I'm anaemic and yet I've never had a problem with iron so be careful about self-diagnosing and other people who are not doctors trying to diagnose you just from appearances.

If you already like smoothies, maybe you might like to try adding hemp powder to them, I started doing that a little while back when I wanted to get some easy calories, I have it most mornings now, its great protein boost, but also a good source of fibre and iron, magnesium, zinc. But I also really enjoy the texture and taste of it. So I'd have 1 or 2 bananas, spoon of peanut butter, 3-4 TBS hemp powder, whatever milk I have usually soy or almond, and I love a spoon of cocoa powder or cacao powder in there, it feels like I'm having a chocolate shake, and a little bit of agave if ye like more sweetness. Or you could put spinach or kale in your smoothies, haven't tried that myself. But I like the hemp powder because its nice and filling too.

But I would definitely say never any harm to have blood tests and you might like to keep a food diary for a while to really see what you're eating.

ch750536 · 12-05-2015 1:25pm

Cook your food in an iron pan.

BMJD · 12-05-2015 10:10pm

ch750536 wrote: »

Cook your food in an iron pan.

Good suggestion - a vegetable balti cooked in the traditional iron pot is supposed to be a great source of iron

Level 5 Vegan · 13-05-2015 8:20pm

Yeah saw a paper about the iron pans and pots thing before, really funny how it's actually a thing. Quite reliable apparently.

tailendcharlie · 15-05-2015 9:23am

smash in the spinach and kale, its amazing the difference they have on your health and general well being. I was feeling my mood slip a bit at the start of the week, smashed in the salad, and instantly felt amazing, also get in the tomatoes, natural antidepressant:D:D:D:D ah i feel like i'm on drugs i'm so positive

sok2005 · 15-05-2015 9:33am

tailendcharlie wrote: »

smash in the spinach and kale, its amazing the difference they have on your health and general well being. I was feeling my mood slip a bit at the start of the week, smashed in the salad, and instantly felt amazing, also get in the tomatoes, natural antidepressant:D:D:D:D ah i feel like i'm on drugs i'm so positive

What are you smashing them into? Did you mean mashing?

tailendcharlie · 15-05-2015 9:36am

sok2005 wrote: »

What are you smashing them into? Did you mean mashing?

sorry my bad, its just a slang term for eating.................. like smash in the banana's or smash in the Lettuce

Tar.Aldarion · 15-05-2015 11:03am

I never thought about that with the iron pots, shocking to me, that's pretty cool. It increases loads for some foods!

Getting enough iron on a vegetarian diet

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