If you are a menstruating woman or have children (because they are growing which means increase demands on nutrition), then you need to be thinking about iron rich meals and foods in your / their diet because these groups in particular need more iron rich foods.
There are some simple strategies you can take to improve your dietary intake of iron and plants are actually part of that solution – which comes as a surprise to many.
Here are 5 plant foods/food groups to improve iron intake:
1. legumes (chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, black beans, soy beans and tofu)
2. nuts and seeds (cashews, almonds)
3. dried fruit (apricots, prunes)
4. dark leafy green vegetables (spinach, broccoli)
5. iron fortified foods (some bread and pasta, Weetbix, All Bran – which you’ll be able to read on the ingredient list/NIP on pack. There are a lot of kids I know who will ONLY eat WB for brekky – so parents, choose iron rich WB if you are)
Plant based, non-heme, iron is less readily absorbed by the body than the heme iron found in meat so one of the important considerations when it comes to improving iron intake from plants, is what you team it with and how you prepare your plant based iron rich foods.
In my PLANT BASED IRON RICH MEAL PLAN I dive into how to increase your plant based intake of iron by teaming it with the synergistic nutrients that improve absorption, and what foods you DON’T want to be teaming with your iron rich ones too. But the best part? This meal plan is CHOCK FULL of plant based iron rich recipes that are delicious and very carefully considered to ensure that your daily intake of plant based is OPTIMAL not sub par – which is so incredibly common!
You can find my PLANT BASED IRON RICH MEAL PLAN by tapping HERE or at brownpapernutrition.com/shop
