Iron - Food sources.

[Grumpy72_ga]

Since y'all seem to have a wealth of varied information I thought I'd try you first.... years ago when I had my first dd I found a recipe for an Iron Cocktail drink - which I think had blackstrap molasses, dried fruit and OJ - but I can't find either my recipe or the resource I found back then!

My iron isn't terribly low but low enough for me to scratch my head, plus having bowel issues naturally I'd rather run the other way from constipating Iron Supps.... just wondering if anyone has any non-meat ideas for Iron boosting.

FWIW, my bp is way low - after the Pre-E that brought Erin...

I also thought this would be a good question to post for those of you heading into the final weeks before your little ones come, both because this is the point your Iron tends to start dipping and also for after the birth when your Iron also drops a bit.

Anyone got tips for me??!

[texaspeach]

my iron was a little low too. The nonmeat sources my mw suggested were beans and egg yolks (do eggs count as meat?)

I'm taking floradix now though. It's disgusting! I haven't had any trouble with constipation from it though

[Koalamom]

I drink nettles infusions for iron (and loads of other good nutrients.) And I take MegaFood Blood Builders that is a whole food iron. I prefer Floradix, but it is way too expensive for me. I get it a vitacost.com pretty cheap. And non constipating!

Also I love loads of steamed kale, swiss chard, and spinach.

I was terribly anemic with my dd, and I was a 9. This time around I just tested at a 10.7. This is agood number for me. I am doing alot better this time around.

Also, I eat a citrus or vitamin c when I eat something that is high in iron to boost absorption.

And cook everything in cast iron.

What is your iron count anyway?

[Pernillep]

I have resorted to Floradix as well. I tested 10.9 which is pretty good for me but I would rather go into labor on the high side as I bleed a lot with DS and it took me forever to get back to normal.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Nutrition. You may also want to cross-post in the general pregnancy forum

[CrunchyMamaToBe]

Nuts and dried fruits have surprisingly high iron levels. Not sure if you eat fish/seafood, but mussels are supposed to have a lot of iron as well.

[cristeen]

Red meat has the most bio-available iron. Cook it in cast iron, and even better.

[annettemarie]

I just came to post about cast-iron as well.

[almama]

Curled dock (also called curly dock and yellow dock) has fantastic stores of iron. The best source is in the root which needs to be made into a tea or other.

Yes, it is the weed that grows all around.

We eat the leaves when they are young. They make a great soup. My kids and I just used the seeds to make crackers.

http://www.answers.com/topic/curled-dock
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...eficiency.html

[redcanoe]

Dark leafy greens and quinoa are great for iron!

[EnviroBecca]

Sorghum syrup has as much iron as molasses but tastes better. I like it on oatmeal with cashew butter, raisins, and cinnamon, all of which also are high in iron. Obviously you don't eat a LOT of cinnamon at one sitting, but by the ounce cinnamon has more iron than most foods.

Here are lots of ways to use kale. Spinach also is high in iron, but there's something else in it that makes the iron less usable.