ANEMIA. IRONING OUT FATIGUE - Part 2

BOOSTING YOUR IRON STORLS

If you suspect that you have anemia, your doctor will probably want to do a complete checkup to make sure that nothing serious is wrong. When the problem is not getting enough iron in the diet, however, it's almost always easy to correct.

If you like clams, you're in business. A bowl of 20 small steamed clams contains an astonishing 25 milligrams of iron. That's more than three times the amount of iron in a serving of chicken livers.

Meats, legumes, and vegetables are also high in iron. Mixing heme iron from meats with nonheme iron from beans and vegetables will increase absorption of the nonheme iron 10 to 15 percent, an appreciable amount," says Henry C. Lukaski, Ph.D., supervisory research physiologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

To get the most iron from your meals, be sure to have a little vitamin C at the same time. Vitamin C can "double the absorption of nonheme iron," says Janet R. Hunt, R.D., Ph.D., a research nutritionist at the USDA Human Nutrition Resource Center.

There are many ways to include vitamin C with your meals. For example, a tomato has 24 milligrams of vitamin C, 40 percent of the Daily Value (DV). You can also get vitamin C by drinking orange juice, pineapple juice, or other citrus juices.

Another way to mix vitamin C with iron is to eat more potatoes. One baked potato contains 20 milligrams of vitamin C, 33 percent of the DV, as well as 0.6 milligram of iron. Eating the potato with the skin will more than triple the amount of iron it provides.

One nutrient that you don't want to combine with iron is calcium. Especially when you're taking iron supplements, having calcium -rich foods in the same meal may set you back. "They compete for the same receptor sites on your cells," explains Fergus Clydesdale, Ph.D., professor and head of the department of food science at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The calcium and iron in foods also compete, but not as much as when you're taking supplements.

Dr. Clydesdale recommends spacing your calcium and iron 3 hours apart. For example, put milk on your cereal in the morning, but wait until later to take your iron supplement.

Really, you only have to remember one thing. If you're concentrating on getting the most iron in this meal, wait until the next one to include calcium-rich foods or supplements.

The same goes for coffee and tea. Both beverages contain tannins, chemicals that have a mild blocking effect on iron supplements, says Dr. Clydesdale. So don't take your pills with your morning coffee, he advises.

One easy way to get more iron in your diet is simply to cook your meals in cast-iron pots, says Dr.Lukaski. "As a rule of thumb, it increases iron by 2 to 5 percent," he says. And at breakfast, don't hesitate to have an old-fashioned meal. Because it's fortified with iron, a half -cup of cooked Cream of Wheat is loaded with 5 milligrams of iron. Instant oatmeal also contains iron, though not as much: about 3 milligrams in a half -cup.

TO BE CONTINUED ( VEGETARIAN DANGERS )

another healthy information Health info

Title Post: ANEMIA. IRONING OUT FATIGUE - Part 2
Rating: 100% based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thank you for visit foodsforheal.blogspot.com