Getting enough iron is part of a healthy diet. Iron’s main function is to combine with copper and protein to make hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein that takes oxygen from the lungs to all the living cells in the body. The processes of life are not possible without this oxygen. The right amount of iron in the system also helps the body resist diseases and stress and builds up the quality of the blood. Iron also helps create myoglobin, which is only found in the muscles and delivers oxygen to them.
The good news is that an iron rich diet is easy to obtain, and iron rich foods do not necessarily have to be organ meats such as liver. Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, grains like quinoa and pumpkin seeds are also iron rich foods. Even dark chocolate has a good amount of iron. The following is a list of iron rich foods:
1. Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate is chocolate that does not have milk solids. It’s made of cacao, sugar, an emulsifier and some kind of flavoring and is ranked by how much cocoa solids it contains. It was a great day for many people when researchers discovered that dark chocolate is fairly rich in iron. It has 11.9 milligrams of iron per 100 grams of chocolate, which means it has more iron than ground beef, and cocoa solids have even more iron than dark chocolate. Because it is a plant product, dark chocolate contains non-heme iron. Non-heme iron is safer to ingest and easier for the body to regulate than the heme iron found in animal products. The body makes sure heme-iron stays within healthy limits.
2. Spinach
Beloved of Popeye, spinach is a green, leafy vegetable, but it is a bit controversial when it comes to iron. Spinach has a lot of non-heme iron. A cup has 36 percent of the daily value of iron. However, spinach also has substances that keep iron from being absorbed by the body. The most notorious of these substances is oxalic acid, which bonds with iron and makes it unusable. However, spinach is so packed with other nutrients that no one should hesitate to enjoy it as part of a balanced diet. Cooking spinach removes a good amount of oxalic acid, which makes more of the iron available. It’s also good to serve spinach with foods that are rich in vitamin C and low in calcium, which makes it easier to absorb non-heme iron. Serving spinach with foods rich in heme iron also helps.
3. Liver
When people think of heme iron in food they invariably think of liver. When they think of liver they think of chicken, goose, beef or calf’s liver though pork and lamb’s liver are also eaten. Liver is the most nutritious of the organ meats, but different types of liver have different amounts of iron. Interestingly, the iron found in chicken and goose liver is more than that found in the livers of mammals. Goose liver comes in with a whopping 28.7 mg per 100 g. Chicken liver has 11 mg per 3 ounces, which is a bit less than 100 grams. Three ounces of beef liver contains 5 mg of iron, while 2.5 ounces of pork liver has 13.4 mg. Though women of childbearing age need about 18 mg of iron per day, men and postmenopausal women only need about eight, so it is best to save most types of liver for special occasions.
4. Quinoa
Quinoa looks like a cereal grain, but it’s not. It is related to beets and spinach. Still, this South American native has been eaten since at least 3000 BC. Three quarters of a cup of cooked quinoa has 2.76 mg of iron, which provides around 5 percent of the daily value. Because quinoa is a plant, it provides non-heme iron. It is also rich in minerals such as manganese, copper, magnesium, phosphorous, zinc and folate and is a good source of fiber. It lacks gluten, which makes it a fantastic food for people on a gluten-free diet. The usual way to cook quinoa is to put one part of the grain into two parts of water in a pot. Let it come to the boil, lower the heat, cover, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. In other words, cook quinoa the same way as oatmeal or grits.
5. Pumpkin seed
These are also called pepitas, and there are some people who could eat them all day long. No one could blame them, for pumpkin seeds have a sweetish, subtle, nutty taste and a great mouth feel. Their non-heme iron makes them safe to eat in quantity. A quarter of a cup of dried and shelled pumpkin seeds delivers 16 percent of the daily value of iron, or 2.84 mg. Pumpkin seed is also a good source of zinc, and the different types of vitamin E found in the seeds gives it antioxidant properties.
They can be found in any supermarket and can be raw, roasted, shelled and unshelled. Indeed, a person can simply buy a pumpkin for Halloween, take the seeds out and clean off the pulp. Then, spread the seeds on parchment paper, and allow them to dry overnight. To roast pumpkin seeds, spread them on a cookie sheet. Make sure they’re in one layer so they don’t cover each other, then roast them for about 15 minutes in a cool oven that’s no warmer than 170 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s important to not roast them longer than 20 minutes because it can turn the fats in the seeds unhealthful.
6. Tofu
Tofu has been a staple of Asian food for millennia. It seems that every Asian culture has its own type of tofu, but basically it is soy bean curd. If a person can get a hold of some fresh soybeans, tofu can be easily made in their kitchen. Tofu is chock-full of all kinds of nutrients, and a 4 ounce block of firm tofu has 17 percent of the daily value of iron, or 3.02 mg. One of the things that makes tofu popular, ironically, is that it has no taste of its own but absorbs the tastes of the other foods it is cooked with while providing mouth feel. So it is used in soups, stews, stir-frys, casseroles, drinks and salads.
