A little about iron.

Good evening,

Today we will discuss the topic of iron.

Many suffer from iron deficiency or anemia. The symptoms of this make people feel very fatigued all the time. This is because iron is needed to help facilitate the production of hemoglobin. The hemoglobin is needed by our red blood cells and the red blood cells are what deliver oxygen to all of our cells and organs throughout the body. If your body doesn't get enough oxygen, you will get tired. This is why iron deficient or anemic people are almost always tired and pale in color. In adults, work productivity is lower in individuals that are anemic, as well. Shortness of breath and headaches are some other symptoms many iron deficient individuals deal with.

Thankfully, get iron levels back up is pretty simple. There are quite a few ways that it can be dealt with, but we will just focus on ways to make sure how to get iron solely from diet. One way is to eat foods that are rich in iron. Some great examples of those are:

shellfish
spinach
liver
legumes
pumpkin seeds
red meats
quinoa
turkey
broccoli
tofu
dark chocolate (....yum)

While eating these foods is great for getting the iron in, some things can actually counteract the absorption of the iron. Tea and coffee are two of those substances that block iron absorption. This is because of the contents of these beverages. Calcium is the same way. To try to better the absorption of the iron, it would be recommended to stay away from those items with a meal high in iron. This is just to help aid absorb iron as much, as possible.
To help get even more iron absorbed, any source of Vitamin C would a great candidate to add to a meal. It has been proven that when eating vitamin C and iron, at the same time, iron absorption levels go up.
I find that super fascinating, and I hope you did, as well. Thanks for taking the time to read the blog.

Have a great morning/evening, wherever you are.
-Erika Smeltser