iron-rich vegetables Nutrition for intake and absorbtion
iron-rich vegetables Nutrition
as we have discussed before, in order to maintain a healthy iron balance in our body, we need a well balanced vegetables nutrition based diet, which will take care not only in the intake of the right quantities of iron for our body, but also make sure we absorb it well, so it doesn’t go out just as it went in – unused. this is what we will discuss in this post, so after reading this we will know the basics of what to eat for increasing and maintaining our iron levels.
Iron rich foods include:
- micro algae – spirulina
- seaweed
- dried fruits – figs, dates, raisings, prunes
- chickpeas
- beans
- peas
- pumpkin
- raw pumpkin seeds
- potato
- watermelon
- watercress
- parsley
- lentils
- turnip, leaf
- collard greens
- sesame seeds
- quinoa
- brussels sprouts
- almonds
- broccoli
- millet
other sources comes from the living kingdom, in foods such as liver, lean meat, oysters and mussel, but those are mostly recommended for people who are trying to over come a serious deficiency, or people with a chronic absorption problem, with the need of vast amounts of iron entering the system just to absorb a little of it. it is not recommended as a regular daily diet, as there are big minuses in eating large amounts of meat, and a vegetables nutrition diet should be sufficient for obtaining sufficient amounts of iron, especially since there are even more iron rich foods then in the list above, but i believe that this list should be sufficient for time being.
as for the amounts needed, as always, there is an argument in the scientific-nutrition community. there are averages agreed upon in different indexes world wide, different for man, women, age groups and more. The index used by the US and Canada is the DRI – which stands for the Dietary Reference Intakes. according to this index, the recommended amount for females between the ages of 19-50 should have 18mg daily, while man 19-30 should have 400 and 31-50 should have 420. there are different recommendations for children, infants, pregnant or nursing women, and it is actually best advised to be checked for iron and get a professional to give us the numbers we have. however, today’s technology doesn’t provide the ability to know what the individual need, and only these averages are available, and there for nothing can replace our ability to question ourselves, feel and develop our awareness for our body and its needs.
Next post we will discuss the absorption of iron, and how to maintain a balanced vegetables nutrition based diet and fulfill our need for iron.
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