Iron for Women: Plant Sources, Vitamin C and My Anemia Story

Beautiful soul, I've lived with anemia, so this one is close to my heart. I know the heaviness of that tiredness, when your body feels like it's moving through honey and no amount of sleep fixes it.

Learning to nourish my iron with love, and getting my levels checked properly, changed how I felt in my body. I want that for you too.

Menstruating women need about 18 mg of iron a day, compared with 8 mg for men. Vegans are often advised to aim for more, because plant (non-heme) iron is absorbed less easily.

Lentils (about 6.6 mg per cooked cup), chickpeas, tofu, tempeh, pumpkin seeds, sesame and tahini, cooked spinach, quinoa, fortified cereals, blackstrap molasses, dark chocolate and dried apricots.

Vitamin C can dramatically boost how much plant iron you absorb. Squeeze lemon over your lentils, add red peppers to your tofu stir-fry, eat strawberries with your oats. Easy, delicious, powerful.

And keep coffee and tea away from iron-rich meals, about an hour apart, because they reduce absorption.

If you're tired, pale, breathless or dizzy, ask your doctor for a blood test including ferritin. Don't take iron supplements without testing, too much iron can be harmful. Food is beautiful support, and sometimes our bodies need more. Krystal x