How to get iron up

[47chromosomes]

I'm just 10 weeks. My iron is low, and I'm not surprised because I feel yucky.

I eat iron rich foods (but not read meat), I cook on cast iron exclusively, I pair iron rich meals with vitamin C rich foods, I limit calcium intake to seprate times than when I am focusing on an iron rich meal. I don't know what else to do. I've been doing this all along, and then found out that I am low on iron anyway.

What else can I be doing to boost this?

[snoopy5386]

why no red meat? That would be a good start. I am taking Floradix. Seems to be working well, but is crazy expensive.

[47chromosomes]

the kind of red meat (ethically raised) that we would want to eat is too much for our grocery budget, so it is a rarity in our diet. Is Floradix a supplement?

[mbhf]

I like floradix as well, but I have had more success with rainbow light's iron supplement.

[thefreckledmama]

If you drink black teas, you should cut them out. Black teas block iron absorption, so basically no matter how much iron you're taking in, it doesn't make a difference.

I too ate lots of iron rich foods (including red meat), cooked in cast iron, etc...so I was shocked to have low iron-sure enough once I cut out black tea my iron levels improved.

[dovey]

You might also want to try consuming less dairy. Or at least not eating it around the time of your iron consumption. I used to eat dairy and had iron problems. When I cut it out of my diet, my iron levels went way up.

[craft_media_hero]

My midwife says Floradix or Hemostat.

Molasses, beans, greens, raisins/craisins, dried apricots.

I have also read that black teas (and coffee to a lesser extent) may block iron absorption. I know. That is one blow I can't handle so I drink my tea away from times when I'm eating iron-rich foods.

Also, calcium and dairy foods compete with iron for absorption so try to plan your meals/snacks with spacing those apart.

Foods high in vitamin C help iron absorption--so like a red pepper/tomato sauce over a very green "florentine" pasta along with some garbanzos. If you cook in cast iron, then you probably know that acidic foods bring more of the iron out of the cast iron cookware.

My sis would actually scrape her cast iron and lick it when she was prego!

You can do it without red meat if that is what you want.

*Oh! Just realized I was repeating a lot of what pps said! Oops*

[Mommy2Austin]

Floradix helped me, but not for long (especially because of the $$)

I ended up taking Chlorophyll. 2 tbs 2X a day in juice. Thats the only thing that brought it up and kept it up.

[isfa]

Do you like Cream of Wheat? My OB recommended it because one serving meets half of your daily iron needs. It's absorbed more easily because it's in food. And it is definitely a stomach soother for me. There might be a more natural version, but be sure to check the iron content.