What is your iron intake?

[Georgiana]

Since I started Atkins, I noticed that my daily iron intake is really, really low. Maybe it was always like this, but I never used Fitday before so I can't tell this for sure.

Anyway... I was wondering if it's just me who can't come up with a menu that has enough iron rich foods. My iron intake as shown on Fitday is:

Today: ~ 70%
Past week: ~ 56%
Past two weeks: ~ 60%
Past month: ~ 68%

Does anyone have a similar problem? I know that iron supplements are not allowed on Atkins, but to make it close to 100% only from food I should probably consider growing spinach in my dorm room.

[quotidianlight]

Re: What is your iron intake?

I am actually getting far more iron on this WOL than before. Aside from spinach I eat a lot of collards and Kale. I don't care for beef so I eat a lot o lamb and bison instead. Even mussels and anchovies are high in iron. Plus since you are eating a variety of foods including other vitamins you probably were not getting before your body will actually use the iron it gets better and fitday can't account for that or foods you input that don't list <5% iron. BTW, we don't absorb the iron in spinach that well but a bunch of broccili will help you absorb it better Here is a couple good list:

http://www.weightlossforall.com/iron-rich-food.htm

http://www.fatfreekitchen.com/nutrition/iron.html

http://www.healthcastle.com/iron.shtml

BTW: cucumber slices, brie cheese and pate is a good easy lunch with lots of iron.

[Georgiana]

Re: What is your iron intake?

Are we allowed to have pate?! I avoided it because I have no clue if it has sugar in it or not.

[quotidianlight]

Re: What is your iron intake?

Just check the ingredients. This is america and we put sugar in our sugar *laughs* If you can't find sugarless kind it is actually really east to make but that would mean me actually buying and staring at a giant fatty liver lol When I was a vegan I used to make great pates out of ground sunflower seeds and almonds. I look forward to having them again but real pate is pretty darn yummy.

[Georgiana]

Re: What is your iron intake?

They serve it sliced in the servery, so I don't have the pack.

[quotidianlight]

Re: What is your iron intake?

I wouldn't touch anything in a cafeteria to be honest. Often even the meat has been pumped with sugar. I get vacuum packed pate at Safeway or a fancy food store. It's pricey so I am thinking about making it myself since the recipes don't look super hard. I do know that some does have sugar or nitrites so I check labels on everything. The point is almost everything has a little iron in it and if you are eating a wide variety of food then you should be fine. If you are concerned your school nurse should be able to do a quick iron test.