Green Days Does anyone take an iron supplement?

[slimmingmadhouse]

Just curious as my teenage daughter has decided to become vegetarian, she doesn't like a lot of iron rich foods and as she has been getting quite lethargic I decided to get her an iron supplement. This got me to thinking how many vegetarian green days I do and wondered if I should be taking a supplement too. Does anyone else do this?

 

[jo_1991]

Personally I don't tend to do the green days, but as Slimming World stresses that it is meant to be about health not just a diet I think that it might be a good idea, especially if you are feeling more tired than usual, unless you are eating a lot of nuts which also contain iron (I think they tend to have a lot of syns though!).

 

[MissyLisa]

Hi. I am a vegetarian. I eat alot of spinach, broccali, but I still take multivitamins. Asda do some that are designed for veggies, theres 100% RDA of iron in there, as opposed to 20% in regulat vitamins.

All the other vital vitamins that us veggies miss out on are in there too. Theres a review of them on this link

Asda Vegetarian MultiVitamins - Review - Vegetarian Vitamins!!

Tell her to try those

Lisa x

 

[slimmingmadhouse]

Thanks for the replies. I'll have a look in Asda for them. I bought some Spatone today but a specific multi vitamin sounds great.

 

[ermintrude]

I take 200mg iron twice a day and have done for years as I just dont eat much meat. When I do have a meal with meat in I just skip the iron tablet that night. I have my bloods done regularly for other conditions and my FBCs are always fine. I also take B6 & B12.

Just so you know, if its specifically iron you're after it's a lot cheaper just to ask for ferrous sulphate over the counter, the stuff in the multivitamin packs on the shelves costs a fortune and usually only has tiny doses in. You also need to be careful with iron as it can be dangerous to have too much.

 

[slimmingmadhouse]

Thank you Ermintrude, I never knew that!

 

[Shirleen]

Also when taking the tablets don't drink tea or have any dairy or high calcium foods for an hour either side as they interrupt the absorption. Do make sure you're getting enough vitamin C as this aids absorption. It's much harder for the body to process iron in vegetables but make sure you include lots of dark green leafy veg like kale/ spinach as it contains iron and vitamin c.

I take Pregaday (the chemist will have this just ask) my doc prescribes it as I have iron and Folic acid deficiency and I can't take iron tabs as they give me the runs!!! Lol!

 

[slimmingmadhouse]

Thanks Shirleen. The iron supplement I've got at the moment you drink with orange juice and she eats quite a lot of fruit and dairy so I'm not quite so worried about those.