Are you really getting enough

[Chicklady]

Iron? We're always told to get vitamin supplements without Iron, yet I have a heck of a time hitting 100% of the RDA for Iron unless I eat lots of liver on a given day.
any of you pc fitday/similar program users noticed how your Iron intake is? If you do hit 100%, what are you eating????

[Chicklady]

Ok, 32 folks looked and no one knows if they are getting enough iron???

[Elizellen]

When I started using fitday I didnt know much about the reports you could look at so didnt worry about the RDA etc, but looking back I see I averaged above my RDA for iron most months while using a multivitamin without iron.

I did use a tablespoon or two of flax most days, which seems to be quite high in iron (about 27% of RDA for 2T according to fitday).

Here is a list of foods high in iron - seafood seems good!
http://www.weightlossforall.com/iron-rich-food.htm

[Chicklady]

Am i not eating enought meat? I eat until i'm satisfied :shrug: I eat a serving of greens every day. I don't think I can stand any more liver than i eat (2-3 times a week)

[quotidianlight]

I don't really worry about it. If you eat a wide variety and don't have super heavy TOM your iron should be fine. The RDA's have a tone of padding in them for the average person (they do that because some forms don't absorb as well as others, some vitamins block absorption and some women need a lot more than others for monthly and just genetic variation). I like Elizellen eat flax daily. I don't really eat liver but I eat buffalo. Regardless I average around 75-80%. As long as I don't have low iron symptoms I don't worry about it too much. Plus iron is one of those minerals that we store so I figure the times I go way over sort of make up for times I go under. I don't eat the same foods all the time and tend to vary a lot.

When I was vegan and hardly ate any iron at all I always tested fine. I was told it had something to do with recycling or replacing my blood volume or something that had something to do with not having a very heavy TOM. If you look at mens vitamins most are iron free for similar reasons.

[Chicklady]

I do have one sympton---frequent lethargy. I like to blame that on not sleeping as well working the night shift, but I'm not too sure, since I do have heavy periods.

[quotidianlight]

How are your other vitamins? How much flesh are you eating? Are you getting most of your iron in veggies? I like to have a small amount with eat meal if I am exercising a lot or I just sleep all day long. I eat a wide variety of meat as well. One thing I have noticed is without my supplements (B vitamins) I feel like the walking dead, so it may be iron or another mineral or vitamin you are missing. If you think you are low iron, you could go over your supplements and fiddle with them to make sure and if not find a low dose iron only supplement to test out... you may only want to take it the week before and during your TOM.

[Chicklady]

my other vits are ok. the only other supps I take are cod liver oil and salmon oil. I only take a multi if I'm low on anything (other than Iron)

[quotidianlight]

You might still look at your B's. If you are under stress you need more than the RDA

[Georgiana]

My iron is also low in Fitday, but considering that I eat at the university canteen I don't have too many food choices. However, I spent a week home this semester (where my mom cooked for me), but I still couldn't bring my iron intake anything close to the RDA.

Here are my percentages:
- at the uni: ~ 55%
- home: ~ 65%

They never give us liver at the uni, but I do eat pate a few times a week. I try to keep it under control though, because the ingredients are not listed on the label.

My Fe % increased when I was home because my mom cooked a lot of spinach recipes. I also ate liver a few times, and she made devil eggs using liver.