Today we're gonna cover two little-known secrets to boost your iron absorption and little bonus
These same tips also work for zinc absorption two birds one stone. Let's do it
One of the top three questions I get all the time is iron
What foods are rich in iron how to absorb more of it? So today we're gonna iron this out now
I made a video a while back covering the basics on iron so definitely check that out
Actually, you might be over here
The CliffsNotes of that video is that you can get tons of iron from animal sources like meat
But you can also get all the iron you need from plant sources things like chia seeds sesame seeds leafy greens like spinach
Grains legumes, etc
in fact
some of those plant foods have a lot more iron than a steak which is a surprise for a lot of people so
Bottom line we can get tons of iron from tons of foods
Now there are some caveats to watch out for the issue with the meat is the heme iron
a fair amount of the IRA to meat is heme and
That's been associated to a number of diseases like heart disease diabetes in cancer
So we want to go easy on the heme the iron from the plant sources on the other hand is a hundred percent non heme
So we're good on that front
Problem is the absorption is a little more variable. For example, a lot of people know that vitamin C helps you absorb more iron
Whereas tea and coffee block absorption. Okay, so that was all covered in that first video today
We're gonna cover two more tricks a lot less known, but just as powerful trick number one
There are certain amino acids that are rich in sulfur that help with iron absorption. Great doc
Where do I get those?
lucky for us two foods that are really tasty and really cheap have a ton of these amino acids onion and garlic the
Allium family as they're called they are really powerful in boosting iron absorption in our gut
Specifically non heme iron the type we find in plants and that is not associated with disease
For example getting garlic to beans helps you get 73 percent more iron out of them. That's huge
That's almost twice as much iron from the same food just by adding garlic that works for whole grains as well add some onions
you get
66% more iron out of the same amount of whole grain. Okay, that's pretty cool
But it's not all I told you that zinc absorption goes up as well
Right, if you had garlic to your whole grains you get a huge boost for some grains
It's more than twice the amount of zinc that a lien family just keeps delivering you
You don't need to worry about specific combinations or exact amounts
Just know that if you add garlic and onion to your foods
It boosts your iron absorption and your zinc absorption on the side as well. Okay, that's trick number one onion and garlic easy, right?
trick number two
Carrots carrots what do carrots have to do with iron turns out everything carrots are very rich in beta-carotene
That's where carotene got its name beta-carotene boost your non heme iron absorption
So having your legumes and your whole grains things like chickpeas lentils your rice your quinoa
With some carrots boosts the amount of iron you can absorb by about 65 percent
So let's put all of this together if you're somebody who has a little bit more trouble getting iron out of foods
Here's the complete list of tricks you want to have working for you first?
You want to eat iron?
rich foods
Of course lucky for us iron is everywhere legumes grains leafy greens
Everything as iron seeds like chia seeds and sesame seeds have a boatload way more than steak and you dodged that pesky
Heme iron too. You want to avoid foods that block iron absorption?
That beans not having tea or coffee
During meals or right before and after have your coffee an hour or so away from meals just to be safe
3 you want to use leverage the foods that boost iron absorption use them to your advantage?
Vitamin C. That means a spritz of lemon on your food or some broccoli or some red peppers onion and garlic
We saw that today and carrots have that powerful effect as well
Obviously, you don't have to have all of these tricks in the same meal or obsess over exact amounts
But this gives you a nice repertoire of tricks to play with and integrate into your meal planning
So know you're not limited by your genetics and you're not forced to eat meat to get iron if you don't want to you can
Get the iron without the heme best of both worlds. So did you know about those already the onions and the carrots and stuff?
I dug those up in some studies that I never hear anyone in nutrition talk about I was actually surprised myself
So I hope that helps let me know how those work for you and I'll see you on the next one. Ciao