How do you eat enough Iron?

Fionat29

Still trying!
For those of us using the MFP forum and especially the App, has anyone looked at the nutrients part and realised they NEVER get enough iron in their diet?
I've always thought I eat enough iron rich foods, but now I can see that unless I eat a fortified cereal, I very rarely get enough, so my question is: what other foods are rich in iron? I am a meat eater but obviously too much red meat is not a good thing, so what else is there?
I really don't want to start taking supplements as I'm a firm believer in eating what your body needs not just popping pills.
Any help would be great. Thanks.
 
I've looked at mine an I'm sure the levels must be wrong somehow! I had a load of green leafy veg and it just raised my iron % by a teeny 3!!! Same with the protein levels? I had a small can of tuna and a chicken breast on thurs but I was apparently over? surely that's not too high a protein intake?? Not sure how I can get any more veg into my day lol

I've switched to snacking on the leftover broccoli stalks (really really delicious raw and finely sliced with a dab of houmous!) from celery etc but it's not made much difference? Think I'm going to give it up and take the supplements as I'm not getting enough calcium either which worries me more!!

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I've looked at mine an I'm sure the levels must be wrong somehow! I had a load of green leafy veg and it just raised my iron % by a teeny 3!!! Same with the protein levels? I had a small can of tuna and a chicken breast on thurs but I was apparently over? surely that's not too high a protein intake?? Not sure how I can get any more veg into my day lol

I've switched to snacking on the leftover broccoli stalks (really really delicious raw and finely sliced with a dab of houmous!) from celery etc but it's not made much difference? Think I'm going to give it up and take the supplements as I'm not getting enough calcium either which worries me more!!

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Yeah, I've always been told that greens have loads of iron in but I eat tons of the stuff but apparently they haven't got as much as I thought. I might see if there is any official data on google.
 
NHS site says 14.8mg a day from liver meat nuts seeds dried fruit and dark greeny leafy veg but NOT spinach as it contains a substance that actually prevents iron being absorbed. Sooo looks like fortified cereals are the way forwards then lol

but I have been wondering if a lot of the homebrew entries on MFP just don't have an iron content listed? I've not been checking some of the brands listed to see if they have the full nutrition info or just the cals and fat?

I've been drinking a half pint of milk daily plus yoghurts etc and my calcium % has been zero some days!

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Yes that could be part of the problem. Alot of foods that I've put on the site have only had cals, fat, carbs etc listed, so there's no knowing how much vitamins and minerals are in the food.
 
Iron's the one thing I struggle to incorporate enough of in my diet. I'm often on iron tablets as a result. That's nothing new with the diet though - I was like that before too!

Pak choi is quite a good one that I eat a lot, but most green leafy veg have some iron. I suspect quite a lot of people are iron deficient without realising it.
 
There's a web site called fatsecret.com which has a list of lots of different foods with ALL their associated nutritional data. It might not have all the food you're looking for but what they do have seems complete.
 
I eat a lot of nuts, seeds and red meat XD Spinach is apparently great for boosting iron levels too, I think - and generally dark green leaves.
 
I have been wondering this myself! Every other day it says that I am going over my vitamin c! sometimes by 600!! other days I'm only slightly close! does anyone know if this is ok?
 
You can't overdose on vit C because it is water-soluble so your body just gets rid of what it doesn't need. Don't panic. Lol!
 
I decided to take a multi vitamin with iron, as my levels on MFP were too low in areas. Reading this thread though, it is probably the food entered on MFP that is not as accurate as we think it is.
 
Could it not be that when people input new foods into MFP, they only enter the correct cal info? Loads of things show as 0% for everything else, so your total results would be way out x
 
If you eat spinach you need to combine it with a source of vitamin C as this counterbalances the non absorbtion of the iron
 
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