With all the hustle and bustle that each individual has to deal with every single day, we barely find time to stop and take a closer look at our diet. Poor diet often results to deficiency. One typical problem is iron deficiency. Indeed, iron deficiency could result to anemia. How can this be resolved? In most cases, eating iron rich foods can already alleviate this health problem.
The Problem With Anemia
Iron is the key in transporting enough amount of oxygen for tissues within the body. It binds with the molecular oxygen in the lungs and transports this to all other cells. Without enough supply of iron for the body to use up, it would be too difficult to transport oxygen around the body. This results to iron-deficiency anemia.
How serious is this type of anemia? Among the common symptoms of this is the insatiable feeling of being tired and weak because the cells do not have enough oxygen. Those symptoms are usually accompanied by paleness of hands and eyelids too because the hemoglobin in the blood is not oxygenated so it does not have the rich red color.
The Importance of Iron From Food
To be able to avoid this type of anemia, it is important to eat sufficient amount of iron rich foods. These are important since losing iron could occur during typical daily activities like urination, defecation, sweating and menstruation for women. Ideally, an average adult has to consume at least 18 mg of iron daily. This will increase though if iron deficiency anemia has to be resolved or for special cases like bleeding during pregnancy.
Photo Credit: James Bowe
If you are changing your diet and incorporating iron rich foods, you should understand that there are two different types of iron. Foods which c! an from animals have heme iron. This type is easily absorbed by the body. On the other hand, vegetables have non-heme iron. These can still be used up by the body but it is not easily absorbed.
The highest level of iron can be obtained from foods like pinto and kidney beans, liver of animals that are organically raised, rice bran, lentils, organic dried peaches, prune juice, black strap molasses and raw beet greens. These iron rich foods have more than 5 mg or iron in every serving.
Average amount of iron can be gained from apricots, dates, lean cut of meat, spinach, chilli and lima beans. These iron rich foods are packed with about 3 to 5 mg of iron per serving.
The list of foods that have impressive amount of iron does not end there yet. You can also indulge in seafood like clams, oyster, mussels and shrimp. Pumpkin seeds, baked potato with skin, sardines and liver from chicken, pork or beef would do great too.
There are available meds and supplements which could provide iron for your body too. These can be effective. However, it is still best to consume iron that is in its rawest form. The iron which you can get from organic and natural food has impressive effects on your body because this is not processed or altered in any way.
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