Last week I gave you guys an update on my anemia diagnosis and how I’ve managed it in the last 18 months with the help of supplements. I thought today I we could talk about preventing iron-deficient anemia with a healthy diet full of iron-rich foods.

Did you know that around 20% of women and 50% of pregnant women have low iron levels? (Source) Including these foods in your diet can help up your iron and lower your chance of winding up a statistic.

Spinach

Spinach is my go-to plant-based source of iron. I add it to EVERYTHING! Some ideas for adding spinach to your diet include green smoothies, spinach salads, spinach with eggs, a bed of spinach under everything, sauteed spinach…the options are endless with this extremely versatile veggie.

Beets

I love roasting beets for my spinach salads. Double the iron!

Red Meat

For many years I steered clear of most meat, especially red meat. These days I regularly enjoy ground beef and steaks from my favorite local farmer Just 3 ounces of red meat features 2.1 milligrams or more of iron. I don’t go overboard but I try to eat red meat at least once a week these days.

Eggs

I love that eggs can take you from a breakfast scramble or omelet to hard-boiled on a salad at lunch to “put an egg on it” at dinner. Like spinach, they are extremely versatile and work well so many ways.

Dark Chocolate

1 ounce of dark chocolate contains 2.3 milligrams of iron. Thus a reason to have dessert every night! 🙂

Pumpkin Seeds

Surprisingly, squash and pumpkin seeds are loaded with iron! Sprinkle some on your morning yogurt parfait or oatmeal or top a salad with them.

Wheat Germ

Wheat germ is an iron-rich food that I include in my homemade granola and oatmeal.

Nuts

Did you know that cashews, pine nuts and peanuts include up to 9% of your daily iron? See, there’s a reason I top everything with peanut butter! 😉

In addition to all of these foods, you need a lot of Vitamin C! According to the CVS website, you should include plenty of foods rich in vitamin C when you eat foods that contain iron. The vitamin C will help absorb more of the available iron.

If you need help with getting your Vitamin C in every day, CVS offers a USDA Organic Radiance Platinum Vitamin C supplement with 120 milligrams of Vitamin C.

And if you missed last week’s post, these are the supplements I take in addition to my iron-rich diet.

Read all about them in this post! They are all available at your local CVS.

What iron rich foods do you include in your diet?

How do you ensure you get your Vitamin C in?

This post is sponsored by #CVSHealthySolutions but the experience and opinions are all my own. Thank you for reading and I hope this post is resourceful and helpful for you!