Hey guys, I'm Anastasia from Happy
Bellyfish and today we are going to
talk about iron
Iron deficiency is
pretty common nowadays, it especially
concerns women and more so pregnant
ladies
I myself had no idea about iron deficiency
until I became pregnant.
During pregnancy one of my blood tests
showed my iron levels below the norm and
I was prescribed high dose iron
supplements. The doctor was even more
convinced in my need of a supplement
when she found out that I was mostly
consuming plant-based foods and that red
meat was not a staple in my diet.
As I
believe that the best source for
vitamins and minerals is food I refused
the supplement and I was given three
weeks to bring my iron levels back to
normal. I adjusted my diet and with the
help of Srikant's cooking skills the guy
who is cooking on this channel we
created the meal plan and followed it
and in three weeks we raised my iron
levels back to normal standard
On a side note: different countries have
different standards of what the
appropriate iron level is, so what was
good for my doctor could not be good for
your doctor
In this video I'm going to
share with you what exactly I ate and
what foods especially plant-based foods
you should include in your diet to avoid
iron deficiency
I will also leave a few
links below to the recipes that you can
use at home and I will also share with
you my personal meal plan during
pregnancy check the links below
I did not take any supplements or any
additional vitamins and I'm healthy, my
baby is healthy and we had a wonderful
delivery and postpartum recovery
Yes, there is a difference between the iron
that is found in animal foods and in
plant-based foods and the one that you
find in animal foods is easy digestible
however it doesn't mean that you can't
meet your iron needs with the
plant-based food. It's just important how
much you eat and how you combine your
food to improve your digestion and
absorption.
so which foods should become
a staple in your diet?
First of all make
sure
that every single day you eat a little bit of beans or lentils
there are different ways you can cook them
you can make delicious soups,
or curries, or you can even prepare
loafes with them pies and sauces
Another powerhouse for iron is seeds
flax seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds. You can create tasty pastas
with them, you can just make a pasta
sauce and pestos with the seeds, you can
bake with them or just throw them and
have them as a snack. A special attention
goes to sesame seeds and the paste made out of them, tahini. Probably it's a known
word to you. Please make it at
home it will be much fresher and also
cheaper than from the shop. How to eat
tahini? There are delicious sweets you can
create with that or you can simply take
a banana, take an apple and combine it
with tahini on top and have it as a
snack. It takes no time to cook and it's
so good for your iron
For the grains opt
for quinoa or buckwheat
For breakfast have a bowl of organic oatmeal and make
sure that it's not a ready-made oatmeal
and that it's not fortified
leafy greens
are probably the best-known iron source
out there. I'm talking first of all about
spinach, Swiss chard and also beet greens
if you're fond of comforting vegetables
opt for potatoes with skin. Yes, only with
skin, only if you eat your potatoes with
skin they will have the iron you need.
bake them and add some dried tomatoes on top
yes, dried tomatoes have completely different
nutritional profile than the fresh
tomatoes. And there are also your iron
powerhouse. And here we have also good
news for you. Also there are some sweets
which are wonderful when it comes to
iron. First of all I'm talking about
molasses and about jaggery (gur)
original organic
non-processed cane sugar and also about
dried fruits like apricots. And here is
the secret tip. Yes there are delicious
spices that also have a lot of iron. First of all it's fenugreek seeds, cumin
and even ground turmeric. And no, I'm not
telling you to eat a bowl of turmeric or
fenugreek seeds, even one teaspoon is
enough which you can easily add to your dishes
It's important to say that when
it comes to minerals and vitamins
absorption it's very important not just
what we eat but also how we eat it
it's crucial what foods we combine and
how we do it
so for iron to increase your iron
absorption you should always include
vitamin C with each of your meals.
Vitamin C is not just lemon juice though
it's also a wonderful thing to sprinkle
on top of any meal of yours but it's
also found in products like red bell
pepper, green peas, tomatoes and parsley
be brave to mix these foods! And a secret
trick one of the best vitamin C boosters
is the green chili - yes, fresh green chili.
Cook one of your favorite curries daily
and you will have no problems with your
vitamin C in the meal. It's also crucial
that you don't mix your Iron-rich meals
together with foods that contain
caffeine and the foods that contain
calcium. It means that when you have an
iron rich meal do not have a coffee or
black tea right away before or after the
meal in fact make sure you have at least
two hours between your meal and your
coffee cup. Same goes to the foods that
contain calcium so mostly it's dairy, you
should not eat a yogurt or have a glass
of milk with your iron rich meal. You do
need to have at least two hours in
between. Another two products that you
should abstain from if you want your
iron to be absorbed correctly is refined
flours, I'm talking about white wheat
flour first of all, and also refined
sugar. Yes you should exclude them from
your diet
anyways not just for the iron
so what did I eat, what did my daily food look like?
For breakfast I would have a bowl
of quinoa with sun-dried tomatoes and
pumpkin paste. For a snack I'll eat a few
soaked apricots and also a few soaked
walnuts. Then comes the time for lunch.
For lunch I would eat a bowl of lentil
or a bean curry with a bit of rice on
the side or a little bit of buckwheat
for snack number two I'll eat a banana,
an apple and a tablespoon of tahini,
at least a tablespoon because it's so tasty
for dinner I would eat spinach cooked
with potato with skin and a bit of green
chili and a kale salad. Or a kale salad.
depends on my hunger on the day
I'm sharing a complete pregnancy meal plan
on our website.
it's a meal plan that I followed and it
also includes all the nutritional
information and tables of foods that
contain iron and that contain all the
vitamins and minerals that you need
It's 90 percent plant-based
you can also find
a lot of delicious recipes in the
recipe section on happybellyfish.com
I hope
you enjoyed this video now head over to
happybellyfish.com and check out some
amazing online programs and cooking
classes that we are offering together
with food experts from all around the world
Eat healthy, keep your belly and
taste buds happy!
