which foods are high in iron?

[juice]

i know about red meat and green leafy veg, but what else. i am not going on iron tablets this time. i was in agony last time with dd for 2 days as i couldnt 'go'

ta

have orange juice with the iron rich foods as that helps you absorb it. I think lentils are quite good for iron too.

solgar gentle iron dont cause constipation or upset tummy (from health shop or online)

dried apricots, molasses, panda bars are high in iron

Weetabix, surprisingly.

From a list given to me by the hospital where I had one of my children:

Weetabix 2 2.5 iron points
Cornflakes Large bowl 2
Ready Brek Small bowl 1.5
All Bran 1 oz 4
Special K 1 cup 3
Wholemeal bread 1 slice 1
White bread 1 slice 0.5
Chapatti 1 1
Red meat 1 thin slice 1
Kidney 3 oz 5
Black pudding 1 oz 6
egg 1 1
pulses 2 tablespoons 1/0.5 depending
Sardines 1 tin 2.5
Potatoes 2 medium sized 0.5
Raisins/sultanas 2 tablespoons 1
Spinach 2 tablespoons 0.5

Eat iron rich foods with Vit C rich foods, eg oranges, pineapples, graefruit, tomatoes, fruit juice, potatoes, green veg and salad. Don't frink with tea as this hinders absoption.

Women should eat 8 iron points a day
Pregant women 9 iron points a day
Breastfeeding women 11 points a day.

HTH.

Oh does that read OK? It should be in columns!
Food in first column, quantity in second column and number of iron points in third. Hope you can work it out.

mmm black pudding

Yup or 3 oz of kidneys and you are almost half way there in one go. Happy days, counting up my points (when I was breastfeeding).

thanks so much that is wondrful.

juice, try the supplement called spatone from health shops and large chemists
its a natural easily absorbed iron rich mineral water which you take with orange juice or on its own, it got my iron levels up in 3 days when I was pregnant and it has NO side effects that the ferrous sulphate tablets give you ie: constipation.

dark chocolate mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Yeah, why didn't my list from the hospital include chocolate?

Anyway, I also used to take Floradix which did not cuase any of the constipation problems associated with prescription iron.

my list from the hospital listed dark chocolate first as the best source of iron. Has to be 70% or darker so quite bitter but have at least one square after each meal if you dont like it on its own. Also fruit gums are high in iron. Spinach is particularly good and also dried apricots are very high too. I managed to get my iron count high just on mainlining these foods in a week it went up over a point, but that was before I was admitted for iron infusions this week!

I think if you start it early enough and eat a lot of the right foods then you can keep your iron level up, if you are already anaemic then the foods will help but you will need further help too.

You can also get extra iron if you cook food (particularly anything acidic) in cast-iron pans.